Speaker 1: 0:06

Hey now, beautiful souls, how you doing. How you doing? It's Trust Yourself. Thursday. Oh man, we're doing it. We are having an incredible week here, with Contagious Courage being our topic. How are you doing with your contagious courage, taking small steps and or big steps as you need to? I'm Dr Derek Sweet. You're listening to the Sweet Spot. It's Trust Yourself. Thursday.

Speaker 1: 0:36

For those of you who don't know me, I'm a board-certified psychiatrist. I work in sports psychiatry and I work with high performers, and I'm here to tell you that you, you, my friend, you have everything inside of you that you need. What you have in you is already enough. I'm here to tell you that greater is that which is in you than whatever you face in the world. That's the promise, that's the mindset. Yesterday, in Win it All Wednesday, we talked about a winning mindset being the fact that you understand that you were born to win and you must prepare to win and that you have to act like a winner.

Speaker 1: 1:20

But let's be real. With everything that's going on around us in the world right now, doubt is contagious, fear is contagious, and when you have doubt and fear working together, you get mistrust or distrust. And when we keep rehearsing those internal fears, what if I mess up? What if I'm not ready? What if I'm not good enough? What if this doesn't work out for me? That self-poison starts to spread in the mind, and it's not just in you, it spreads to everything around you. Our behaviors and our internal fears can spread. Spread into our families, into our teammates, into our co-workers, into our community. You know, the thing about fear is that when it's unchecked, it works like a virus. It spreads so quickly, so invisibly, and before you know it you can be surrounded by a viral hesitation, a viral sense of dread and doubt. But guess what? Guess what? Faith works the same way. Faith is contagious, action is contagious, movement is contagious, very contagious, and trust can be contagious. So you want to shift the atmosphere.

Speaker 1: 2:48

You want your prefrontal cortex, the CEO of your brain, that neurological structure we've been talking about ad nauseum here on the Sweet Spot by now, if you've been listening, you know that you have a prefrontal cortex. You know that this is the executive center of the brain. You know this is where your decision-making is and that you make command decisions out of the prefrontal cortex. You know that this is the executive center of the brain. You know this is where your decision making is and that you make command decisions out of the prefrontal cortex. But you know that in your limbic system, if you've been listening carefully, you have another structure in your brain that's a threat detector and it's the amygdala. Remember the amygdala we talked about it? It's a threat detector, it's the fear molecule, if you want to give it another name, and it looks for fear.

Speaker 1: 3:29

And if we don't trust ourselves, if we let the fear, the doubts, the anxieties and the pressures of this world take over, if you watch too much news, if you believe the hype, if you drink the Kool-Aid, whatever you want to call it, what happens is that that fear takes over and it spreads and it becomes contagious. So what you want to do is be sure that you guard your mind. You have to start with shifting your beliefs, making sure that you understand what you believe and who you believe and who you're listening to. Start with the belief that you were built for this moment and who you're listening to. Start with the belief that you were built for this moment, that even if you're scared, you're still equipped. Being afraid doesn't mean you're not equipped. You are equipped to handle this. Think of all the times that you have handled things that you have addressed, issues that you have faced, issues, the unknown or a dark moment, only to come through. That's what I'm talking about Remembering who you are and perhaps whose you are. That even if you're scared, you are equipped. Think about it. That even if you have doubts, you still have a destiny, then your destiny is good. You know, the stoics put it this way if you want to escape fear, don't live in ignorance. Seek out the things that will help you be stronger. And in the word, in ancient wisdom, in hebrews, it says don't throw away your confidence because it will be richly rewarded. That's in Hebrews.

Speaker 1: 5:10

What do they need these kinds of phrases for? Because fear and anxiety and doubt is part of being human. So every time we second guess our worth, our purpose, our calling, or we give in to somebody else's criticism, or we allow something that we read in to somebody else's criticism, or we allow something that we read about us or hear about us mess with our heads. We're giving fear more ground in the brain and we're feeding the amygdala more material for it to just run the show in our heads. And we can't let the amygdala run wild. Don't get me wrong. The amygdala, the brain's threat detection center. It has a purpose. It's there to protect you from lions and tigers and bears and snakes and all of these things. Of course you need a degree of that, but you can't sit around and let that thing just run half the time. We're just operating in fantasies. What if monsters? I call them? What if monsters? What if this happens? What if that happens and none of it really happens, right? So yeah, every time you take a step, every time you take a move, every time you take an action in the direction of what you're afraid in, you use the Van Gogh effect. Remember, I told you about the painter Van Gogh. I think we talked about it yesterday, where we said Van Gogh, one of the greatest painters in the world, said that when he heard the voice telling him you're not going to be good, don't paint. That's when he painted more.

Speaker 1: 6:37

Sometimes you have to take an action, a small action, just one step, and then another step, and that courage, it will begin to spread like a wildfire. Courage is contagious, my friend, and you've got to take a move, got to take an action and you've got to take a step. So what's your move for today? What's your action for today? What's your self-trust area for today? I want you to call out one self-doubt, something that you've been doubting or something that's not right that you're believing, and replace it with a truth, right. You want to have a trust that doesn't limit itself to just what you're thinking, and sometimes you have to step outside of yourself If you can't find that trust, if you're just really struggling. You got to pour in, you got to have some inputs that help you not think that way. So that's why I like to turn yes, I turn to science and I obviously like the neurobiology.

Speaker 1: 7:38

When you understand the prefrontal cortex and the midline thalamus and you understand the amygdala and the ACC and all these other parts of the brain. That's one thing, but I like ancient wisdom too, because they put it bluntly, here's one in Proverbs right Trust in God with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. Wow, just moving your thoughts into the divine, into the most high, into God. Just moving your thoughts into the divine, into the most high, into God. Just moving your thoughts in that direction. Literally, if you move your thoughts and your heart in that direction and you lean not to your understanding.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Guess what it says here. In all your ways. Submit to this and he will make your path straight. Suddenly you'll have a kind of clarity and when you're afraid and you put your trust in God, you put your trust in the Most High. You put your trust somewhere if you don't have it right, like it says in Psalm 56, I think it's verses three or something like that. But literally, you put your trust in God right and you will experience less fear. So that's the idea, because God is able to keep you in perfect peace.

Speaker 1: 9:00

So what's my message? Be blessed because you're somebody who trusts yourself and you trust your God and you recognize that you're not alone in this battle and you're not going to let the doubts and the fears and all of what you hear, the negative report of the world, just throw you into a tizzy and you can't function and you're paralyzed. No, you were born to rise. You've got a fire in you and you've got to silence and quiet down the lie Okay, the lie of the devil, let's call it like it is and you've got to move. In truth, that's what I'm talking about. I know I sound like I'm preaching, but it's really important that you cognitively reframe your thoughts If you don't believe in all of the spiritual mumbo jumbo. Well then, think about your cognitive apparatus, your brain, and you want to reframe your thinking. You want to put your trust in something bigger than you and you want to understand that courage is not the absence of fear, it's the ability to move forward in spite of it. I'll end with this, because this is Trust Yourself.

Speaker 1: 10:04

Thursday, I heard one of my guys, william Dyer. He's deceased now, but he's an amazing guru and I used to listen to him a lot, and one of the things I heard him say about fear and trust and I loved it it was this If you knew who was standing beside you at all times, you would never be afraid to do anything. You would never be afraid to do anything. Wow, that's just powerful. This is Dr Derek Sweet, and you've been listening to the Sweet Spot. My friends, this is Trust Yourself Thursday, and I want you to spread courage. I want you to know who's standing beside you. Join me tomorrow for Finish Strong Friday. I can't wait. And for those of you who would like to connect with me and enter a dialogue, please subscribe to YouTube and hit me up on LinkedIn, or hit me up on Instagram, or you can hit me up on Threads. Take care.