Emily McDonald

Yeah, and I think on the topic of know thyself, I mean, the way that I navigate identity is really on two levels.

And so, you know, in the beginning of my journey, I kind of woke up right to the fact that, you know,

Maybe I'm not my thoughts.

Maybe I'm not my brain.

Maybe I'm not this body.

Maybe I'm, you know, the consciousness, the energy, whatever word you want to use.

Maybe I'm the divine life force energy in a human body expressing itself through me.

human experience.

Maybe that's what I am.

And so I think, you know, getting to know thyself from my, in my like personal opinion before going into the science is really more about actually stepping beside all of the physical.

So, I mean, for me, like meditation was just absolutely like

paramount in my journey and in my life and in my transformation, I would not be here.

I would not be where I am today without meditation.

And truly, that's where I feel that I've gotten to know my deeper inner self that is beyond all of the labels and the language that we use to describe it.

One of my favorite phrases was like,

That Tao that can be named is not the Tao.

And I always say like as soon as you start to kind of put labels and language onto it, you sort of take its power away.

And actually from the neuroscience perspective, it is true.

It's why when you're feeling anxious or emotional and you start to label the emotions that you're feeling, you activate the prefrontal cortex, which turns down activity in the limbic system, which are the emotional centers of the brain.

So you actually and it's the same reason why when you look at a sunset, as soon as you start to describe the sunset, you stop feeling it as deeply.