Dr. Aditi Nerurkar

The first step always when you're going through a difficult experience is to normalize and validate that difficult experience. Understand that if you are feeling this way, you are not alone. It is not your fault. It is your brain and biology doing exactly what they should be doing. Your brain and body are not broken. There's nothing wrong with you.

The first step always when you're going through a difficult experience is to normalize and validate that difficult experience. Understand that if you are feeling this way, you are not alone. It is not your fault. It is your brain and biology doing exactly what they should be doing. Your brain and body are not broken. There's nothing wrong with you.

There is so much more right with you than wrong with you. That's what Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of my meditation teachers, has always said. It's very easy to start that self-critic, right? Like it's so easy for you to say to yourself, oh, something must be wrong with me. There's nothing wrong with you. This is the biology of stress and you are seeing the manifestations of that.

There is so much more right with you than wrong with you. That's what Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of my meditation teachers, has always said. It's very easy to start that self-critic, right? Like it's so easy for you to say to yourself, oh, something must be wrong with me. There's nothing wrong with you. This is the biology of stress and you are seeing the manifestations of that.

There is so much more right with you than wrong with you. That's what Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of my meditation teachers, has always said. It's very easy to start that self-critic, right? Like it's so easy for you to say to yourself, oh, something must be wrong with me. There's nothing wrong with you. This is the biology of stress and you are seeing the manifestations of that.

So the first step is understanding that. The second is to have a sense of self-compassion. We know that self-compassion is not a soft metric. In fact, it changes your brain. Self-compassion works directly on your amygdala. The amygdala, that small almond-shaped structure that you and I have talked about. How does self-compassion work on the amygdala?

So the first step is understanding that. The second is to have a sense of self-compassion. We know that self-compassion is not a soft metric. In fact, it changes your brain. Self-compassion works directly on your amygdala. The amygdala, that small almond-shaped structure that you and I have talked about. How does self-compassion work on the amygdala?

So the first step is understanding that. The second is to have a sense of self-compassion. We know that self-compassion is not a soft metric. In fact, it changes your brain. Self-compassion works directly on your amygdala. The amygdala, that small almond-shaped structure that you and I have talked about. How does self-compassion work on the amygdala?

When you are feeling a sense of stress or anxiety or these uncomfortable feelings, the volume of your amygdala is turned up, right? It's your self-preservation response. And so the goal is about dialing down the volume of your amygdala. The reason self-compassion works on your amygdala to dial down the volume is because it changes your neural circuitry. It helps you get out of your own way.

When you are feeling a sense of stress or anxiety or these uncomfortable feelings, the volume of your amygdala is turned up, right? It's your self-preservation response. And so the goal is about dialing down the volume of your amygdala. The reason self-compassion works on your amygdala to dial down the volume is because it changes your neural circuitry. It helps you get out of your own way.

When you are feeling a sense of stress or anxiety or these uncomfortable feelings, the volume of your amygdala is turned up, right? It's your self-preservation response. And so the goal is about dialing down the volume of your amygdala. The reason self-compassion works on your amygdala to dial down the volume is because it changes your neural circuitry. It helps you get out of your own way.

When you're feeling a sense of stress and this feeling of the dam breaking, you can't get out of your own way. Like we talked about, anticipation, thinking about the future, that's your prefrontal cortex. You have to get there. But if you're stuck in amygdala mode, you biologically cannot get there. So the first step, normalize and validate this difficult experience. Next, start small.

When you're feeling a sense of stress and this feeling of the dam breaking, you can't get out of your own way. Like we talked about, anticipation, thinking about the future, that's your prefrontal cortex. You have to get there. But if you're stuck in amygdala mode, you biologically cannot get there. So the first step, normalize and validate this difficult experience. Next, start small.

When you're feeling a sense of stress and this feeling of the dam breaking, you can't get out of your own way. Like we talked about, anticipation, thinking about the future, that's your prefrontal cortex. You have to get there. But if you're stuck in amygdala mode, you biologically cannot get there. So the first step, normalize and validate this difficult experience. Next, start small.

You have to also be authentic in this journey and discovery. So when someone says to you, oh, it's mind over matter, just think about something that you can do a year from now or six months from now. You are biologically inept and incapable in that moment to living in amygdala mode to use that prefrontal cortex to think about what you are going to achieve six months from now or a year from now.

You have to also be authentic in this journey and discovery. So when someone says to you, oh, it's mind over matter, just think about something that you can do a year from now or six months from now. You are biologically inept and incapable in that moment to living in amygdala mode to use that prefrontal cortex to think about what you are going to achieve six months from now or a year from now.

You have to also be authentic in this journey and discovery. So when someone says to you, oh, it's mind over matter, just think about something that you can do a year from now or six months from now. You are biologically inept and incapable in that moment to living in amygdala mode to use that prefrontal cortex to think about what you are going to achieve six months from now or a year from now.

It's not mind over matter.

It's not mind over matter.

It's not mind over matter.