Dr. Derek Suite - The Suite Spot
Synthesizing Science and Soul for High Performance
Hosted by Dr. Derek H. Suite, The Suite Spot blends neuroscience, psychology, and ancient wisdom to unlock elite mental skills, resilience, and momentum. Designed for athletes, executives, and high achievers, each episode delivers practical strategies, evidence-based insights, and affirmations to elevate your mind, body, and spirit.
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Dr. Derek Suite - The Suite Spot
Contagious Courage 1/7: Making Moves Monday
Courage fundamentally transforms our lives, not by eliminating fear, but by teaching us to act despite it. Let that sink in!
Drawing from ancient wisdom and cutting-edge neuroscience, Dr. Derek Suite explores how "contagious courage" works in our brains and communities.
When fear grips us, our amygdala—the brain's threat detection center—goes into overdrive.
But something remarkable happens when we choose brave action: our prefrontal cortex (the brain's rational CEO) begins to override panic responses.
Scientists have even identified the ventral midline thalamus, which functions as a "courage switch," helping us push through fear. Each courageous step rewires our neural pathways, making the next brave choice easier.
The most beautiful truth about courage? It doesn't require fearlessness. True courage means speaking up even with a shaky voice, standing firm on trembling legs, and moving forward while terrified.
As Susan Jeffers wisely wrote, "Feel the fear and do it anyway." This understanding liberates us—everyone experiences fear when facing the unknown, but the courageous person makes their move regardless.
Today's invitation is simple but profound: Make one bold move in the direction of your fear. Feel it, honor it, but refuse to bow to it.
As you practice this "contagious courage," you'll find it growing within you and spreading to those around you.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Join our community as we continue exploring how small, brave actions create meaningful change in our lives and beyond.
STAY AMAZING!!
Welcome back, welcome back beautiful souls, sweet spotters how are you doing? Movers, makers and high-stake game changers how are you doing right now? Well, you already know what time it is. Today it's Making Moves, monday, here on the Sweet Spot, and this week we're making our move with a mission. Yes, sir, I'm Dr Derek Sweet. I'm a board-certified psychiatrist who specializes in sports psychiatry and high performance. But more than that, I'm here. I'm here because I love helping people live a life. They love, a courageous life, a life aligned with purpose, even when the fear shows up. Yes, indeed. And that brings us right to what I'd like to talk to you about this week.
Speaker 1:This week's theme is contagious courage. You see, in stressful times like these, when fear is thick in the air, when stuff is just happening around us every day, something frightening is coming down the pike, courage isn't just something we need right now. It's something we catch, something we share, something we grow and infect the world with. When we refuse to let fear have the last word, we cannot let fear have the last word. No, sir, now hear me. Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's what you do while the fear is still in the room. This is what the Stoics called fortitude and it's what the scriptures called faith Faith in action. And it's what people in my field neuroscience are finally catching up with. Finally, the science is catching up with what the ancient scriptures already knew the power of courage. Studies are showing that when we take a very courageous action, even in small doses, we begin to rewire the brain, we begin to train the brain. Remember the amygdala We've talked about this so much on this podcast the amygdala, the fear center, the threat detection center of the brain. Well, that's what's overreacting when there's fear and when we take a courageous step.
Speaker 1:This is Making Moves Monday. When you take one courageous move, it could be the smallest move ever in the direction of overcoming your fear your amygdala starts to be less powerful because your prefrontal cortex remember that structure, the brain's prefrontal cortex, the CEO of the brain, the decision maker begins to override the panic. And that PFC, that prefrontal cortex, your CEO of your brain, has the power to override that amygdala. And yes, there's even another part of the brain in your thalamus called the ventral midline thalamus. I know this is a lot, but I definitely want to share with you that the prefrontal cortex gets help from other parts of the brain. When the brain understands that you're making your move, that you're going to be courageous today. So the brain recruits another structure called the ventral midline thalamus and they call that the courage switch. Is that not why that the brain is so configured? That God configured the brain so that the minute we take a courageous action, the minute we say we're going to make a move, brain structures start to move around. The threat detection center begins to calm down a bit and that there's this override function in your ventral midlife thalamus and your prefrontal cortex is going to help you.
Speaker 1:Wow, that is wild, but you know what really flips the switch. Let's say you don't care about the neuroscience. You know what this is Making Moves. Monday, let me tell you what will flip the switch on fear. It's making the move, it's taking action. You move even while you're shaking. That's courage. You speak up even when your voice is shaky and tremulous that's courage. You rise up and you stand up even when your knees feel weak that's courage.
Speaker 1:Yes, as Susan Jeffers wrote in her book, feel the Fear and Do it Anyway. I read that one in college. It really helped me out. Feel the fear and do it anyway. The book's title was all I needed to read, and a quote from that book is not only am I going to experience fear when I'm on unfamiliar territory, but everybody else is too. So today, let that truth sink in. My friend, fear is normal. There's nothing wrong with being afraid, but the courage that you're going to show is the choice you're going to make, regardless of any fear you feel. So your move today is to make one bold move.
Speaker 1:It's Making Moves Monday, so we've got to make a move. I don't know what you're facing. I don't know what gives you fear. Feel that fear, but do it anyway. Make a move anyway. All right, send the message to your brain, take that one step, speak your truth, apply some pressure to yourself and do it scared, but do it anyway. You get that. Here's an affirmation. I feel the fear, I honor the fear, but I don't bow to the fear. Today, I'm choosing courage.
Speaker 1:This is Dr Derek Sweet, and you're tuned into the sweet spot. You're in Making Moves Monday and we're discussing contagious courage. The minute you start to be contagious about your courage, you're going to find that it's just going to grow and grow and grow. Keep moving, keep rising, and I'll see you tomorrow. You know what tomorrow is it's Take Action Tuesday. My friends and we're going to keep with this theme of contagious courage, of contagious courage all week, all week long. This is what we're going to be working with, all right now. If you'd like to see and connect with me more, all right now. If you'd like to see and connect with me more, please feel free to join me on YouTube, on LinkedIn, on Instagram and on X. Talk to you soon.