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Chapter 1: What innovative idea does Emily propose for old age homes?
My idea is we create old age homes that are kindergartens. Yeah. Because old people. They've done that. Wait, they have? So they've done a research study. They stole my idea? Come on. No, no. So they haven't done this for like as a business. Oh, it's okay. No, but there is actually research to show your idea would work. If I'm clear on your idea. This is why I need you in my life.
You know how many times I say things to people and then they'll be like, I don't know if that, and if I had you around, you could be like, there's research to show. Bam! This is What Now? with Trevor Noah. Well, I'm going to call you M on the brain, but what do your friends call you? They call me M. They call you M as well? M, yeah. I like this. M on the brain.
No, you know, at least you got it right because a lot of people think it's like Emon the brain. They think my name's Emon. Yeah. It's a common misconception. Because it's spelled E-M-O-N-T-H-E, brain. I mean, it just seems... Logical that it would be M on the brain. Although I can't judge them. If you don't read the person's name... Under their, like, you know, their tag. I guess it's Emon.
Emon the brain. I prefer M. Okay. Okay, M. But, um... This is what I like to call a selfish episode because I feel like Eugene and I are really just going to ask you to fix our brains for us. Perfect. You know what I mean? Because you're known as, and I've watched your evolution online, which has been really great to see from afar.
It's like you shared your journey studying, working in and around. What were you studying at the time? I was studying drug addiction. Drug addiction? Oh, wow. Investigating new ways to treat relapse to prevent drug addiction or relapse to drug addiction. Yeah. That's wild. And so when you were in university, what were you like going into study? Because how did you get into, was it neuroscience?
What was your focus and your passion at the time? Well, initially I was pre-med studying biology, absolutely hated it. And so I went up to one of my friends that was in my pre-med org I was in in college and I told him I hated it. I was like, what should I do? And he goes, well, why don't you try neuroscience? And I had never even heard of neuroscience at the time. It just sounded cool.
So I switched my major to it, immediately fell in love, like aced my first exam. My professor reached out to me. He was like, congrats, you couldn't have done better. And I was like, get me in the research lab. This is so cool. So I started studying learning memory, the perception of time all throughout neuroscience.
brain development in undergrad so that's what i was doing fell in love with research but i knew i always kind of knew that i wanted to be more kind of pre-clinical helping people more directly like studying learning and memory is cool but i wanted to be able to like help people and solve problems that doctors couldn't solve wait sorry what does pre-clinical mean
Like, for example, so preclinical research is sort of research that happens before, you know, we take a medication, for example, to clinicians to use. Right. So you're doing sort of research to investigate new ways to treat, for example, relapse or treat depression or anxiety or Parkinson's disease. And you so that's kind of like preclinical work before it goes in. to clinicians, basically.
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Chapter 2: What was Emily's academic focus during her studies?
the process of what's actually happening. Because you're saying this about vaping. You're saying, you know, disgusting. In my head, I'm like, oh, but there's strawberry flavors. I don't even vape, by the way, never smoked. But in my, I love strawberries. I'm like, that's how they'd get me.
But I can, I feel like I can have the same, I have the same story with like ice cream late at night or, you know, chocolate. And then somebody else might have it with social media where they go, oh, that's exactly me. Every time I pull it out, I've lost two, three hours, four hours, but I didn't actually want to be here. So how does that work?
First of all, what is happening to the brain when you're doing that? When you're doing something you don't necessarily want to do, but you keep finding yourself doing, what is happening to the brain? And then I want to get to how the rewiring actually works. Yeah. So what's happening is really just maladaptive habit formation. And that just means the formation of bad habits. That's all it is.
It's just learning. And I think, you know, in undergrad, I was definitely divinely led on the path toward studying learning and memory first, because then I really understand the process of learning. And that's really all it is, is you've just learned a behavior, your brain has learned a behavior, and it's learned to automate that behavior for So that it's no longer a conscious act.
For example, getting up in the morning and hopefully brushing your teeth is an automated behavior. How did you know? How will they know? They'll never know. Well, I'm hoping. I'm hoping that that's an automatic behavior for you. But before you move on from that, then why is it that...
good habits are harder to keep like i know that working out is good for me i know that going for a walk is good for me i know that stretching is good for me i know i know all these things and then i'll do them and i'll feel good after doing them but then i don't i don't find myself craving like a gym session i don't find myself being like you know i'll be nice right now a little bench press i know it's midnight but i can sneak in a little 250.
See, I like to do that sometimes, but I'll tell you, there's a couple things there. All right, so if you want to talk about the neuroscience of habit formation, the way that every single habit is formed is it first begins as a dopamine-driven activity, right? So when social media first came out, you weren't going on social media out of habit.
You went on there because you could connect with your friends or you could post something or whatever it is, right? You went on there for a goal, for a reason. Same thing with ice cream or vaping, whatever it is. You started it because it felt good. That's why you started. Okay. So feel good is the first thing. Right. And then that dopamine. So dopamine actually drives learning.
It drives neuroplasticity, which is the ability for your brain to rewire. So dopamine drives learning. And dopamine isn't just released when...
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Chapter 3: How did Emily's personal experiences shape her understanding of addiction?
I'd come back from shop but with Taco Bell guys I've never felt sexier in my life because I love food I was like and I'm walking to the bus and Gabriel Iglesias he's looking at me like from the bus and he looked and it was almost like we had the same thought because as I got to the bus he looked at me and he's like you've never looked harder and I walked on but that was the only time I ate it right and it was like okay whatever I was going to say what did you think it was meh it was okay it was whatever
But it wasn't something that like, it didn't stay with me. So genuinely, whenever I watch a Taco Bell ad, I don't have a, oh, I should get that now. But Pizza Hut or like a McDonald's, let them flash a McFlurry on the screen for half a second. Yeah. I will find that machine wherever it is. I will turn it on myself. Do you love ice cream? Hey, my friend.
He's the only guy I know who chews ice cream. Yo, bro, you know me and you love me. You see me. You see me, Eugene. Chews ice cream. He chews it. Even without the toppings? I chew it. I savor it. He's like an ice cream sommelier. This guy loves me. This guy knows me. No, but that's what I mean. It's like, so like the ads have more power over you when you've actually experienced the thing.
Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah, absolutely. Right, right, right. Because your brain has learned that it's rewarding. Wow. So then it becomes, now it becomes a trigger. That's how it can work on you. It's a trigger. Because now you've had it when you watch the ad or when you see like the social media thing scroll. This explains so much.
What you're saying also explains why going cold turkey on anything never works. Because anything that you love, there's a process to it. Like how we explained you going into the shop, choosing a flavor, paying for that, getting the reward of paying for it because you know, have it now, you put it in your pocket.
But all of a sudden, if the whole process is cut short, then the reward is not there anymore. Then you start missing the thing more. But I find that when you have the vape inside your car, but you choose not to do it, then you're slowly taking away the... I love that you made that point of like feeling stressed too, because that was another thing.
And that's why I decided to do it the way that I did. Because when you go cold turkey, it almost, especially when you're addicted to something, you feel this sense of like stress without it and not having it. And stress reduces activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is the area of your brain that allows you to control your impulses. Yeah.
So it actually makes you, and that's why, you know, when people quit an addiction or something and all of a sudden they feel stressed, they are more likely to relapse because your ability to control your impulses is reduced. But here's my thing. Do we quit things that we're addicted to because they're hurting other people? Or do we quit because they're hurting us?
Because initially, everything, there was a dopamine spike. I liked what I was doing. I was having too much of a good time at a strip club. Now I have kids. Now I have to think, do I tip strippers or do I pay for school fees? Is it the strippers or is it the kids? Am I stopping this because I want to stop or because they are crying because they are hungry now? Not the strippers, the kids.
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Chapter 4: What insights does Emily share about habit formation and neuroplasticity?
Yeah. Which are oftentimes easier to understand, I find. That's where I find science is often lacking, science and academia. My criticism of it is often the fact that, and maybe not of it, It does its job. And then I feel like there's not enough like sort of middlemen who are getting the message out. Yeah, yeah. So then it's just like a study and it's abstract.
And then it's just left to the devices of the world to be like, this is what it actually means. But then from the other side, there's very good salesmen. Yeah, yeah. People did try. I think... I read a lot of books that were written by people who grew up in the 60s and were raised by hippies.
The Gary Zukavs, Dr. Wayne Dyer, all of those people who kind of understood that to sell spiritualism, you're going to have to be a bit commercial and go around and bring your life experiences. I'm a doctor, I was in the army, my experiences brought me this.
But they knew that they were setting a time bomb that was going to explode in the future, 30, 40 years down the line, because people were not ready. And obviously, if you think of, If hypnosis was taken for what it is, hypnosis is one stage of past life regression. Is what? Is one stage of actually doing past life regression. I don't even know what that means.
But when it goes to a show in Las Vegas and it becomes people barking like dogs. Wait, but you can't just skip past what you just said. Eugene does this to me all the time. And then he just says a thing. I'm understanding what she's saying. Yeah, I'm not. I'm not. And I'm sure there's a lot of people who are not. But I don't even care about them right now. Just me. What did you just say? I think.
Yes. Hypnosis is just one part of doing a past life regression. What does that mean? So a lot of people. There's a doctor. I think you know about Brian Weiss. I don't know if I do know. He did a lot of work studying people. He was a professor, a doctor in university. He started having this patient who was struggling with certain issues.
And then he did hypnosis and then they regressed further and further back. And then he realized many... One Body Many Lives was one of his books, if I'm not mistaken. So he found out that a lot of things that people deal with is the body or your mind remembers what happened to you in other lives.
So when you go back in other lives, so people who have a fear of drowning, an unreasonable fear of drowning. So they've drowned in another life before. And somehow there's something that happens that triggers that memory. The smell of water or sea water or salt that triggers that memory. So to cure that fear, you have to past life regress them.
They have to go back into a life where something tragic happened. Yes. And that thing was associated with it. So it's funny. Half of my brain completely rejects this idea. Yes. But I mean, you know me. I always tell you these things. Half of my brain goes like, no. The other half of my brain goes... We've had a trauma specialist on the show, studied trauma her whole life.
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Chapter 5: What insights does Emily share about the impact of high school experiences on personal growth?
And all of it was if she really applied herself to the math and the science. And I used to say to them, just relax. School fees will be paid. She will pass. You won't have to deal with her for long. Just relax. And then the conversation I'd have with her every time was, I don't want great grades.
I want you to have the best time possible during this five years of high school, but just pass so I don't have to pay for it again. So that was the conversation for the longest time. And funny enough, I saw a TikTok of someone just the other day who posted all of their high school achievements, their badges, their certificates, and they go, in the real world, these count for nothing.
Chapter 6: How do elite athletes train their brains for peak performance?
It's like you have monopoly money in the real world. So you've missed out on an entire five years of experiencing your growth and your fundamentals or how you would have been forming as a young adult trying to achieve and impress people you'll never see again. Well, it's funny you say that.
I think people would are and would be shocked at how many of the biggest, most successful icons that they look up to never finished school. Do you know what I mean? So they'll be like, oh yeah, Mark Zuckerberg, you know how big he is? And you're like, he didn't finish. They're like, what do you mean? He went to, yeah, he went to the university and then he didn't finish.
He left to do this thing that we call Facebook. What do you mean? Countless names where they go, they went to the university and then they dropped out and they started a business and they left. No, but to your point. Yeah, absolutely. But we think that the one thing leads to the other. So we're living in this world where one thing leads to another.
You're living in this world where one thing leads to another. What was the first breakthrough? I'd love to know, even like on the ADHD side, because what you're saying to me sounds like a magic trick. Your brain can't focus. You're stuck in loops. And now I'm in this place where I literally, I'm writing a book right now and I can go and sit for seven hours and focus without anything at all.
Let's walk through that. How do you get there? How on earth did you start?
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Chapter 7: What is the significance of visualization in changing self-concept?
What was the first step? So like you said, it's been a journey over time. Like that's the way that neuroplasticity works. It's repetition over time. And so the beautiful thing about the brain is that it can change and it does change. And so, you know, I think a lot of people now, it's not that... they can't focus, it's that they have super well-practiced distraction. And you get really good.
You can't just move on from that. High definition LED television set. You can't just move on from that. Say that again, please. Mic drop moment. So a lot of people think that they can't focus or they're bad at focus. But really what it is, is that they have super well-practiced distraction. Remember I told you yesterday?
I said, if I didn't go fetch those sneakers at that time, it would have ruined my day. I would have been thinking. I know we're going to go on a tangent here, but I want you to help Eugene on this. Only now we're going on a tangent. Yeah, but I'm saying I'm acknowledging the tangent. Oh, okay. For this specific moment, because this is about you now only as Eugene.
How would you have helped Eugene with this? So Eugene, tell the story. How would I have helped Eugene? No, no, no. Here's an actual brain. Yeah. Walk us through the story.
Chapter 8: How can changing your internal dialogue transform your reality?
What happened? So I ordered these sneakers online. Okay. And then they arrived. But I didn't count for how far they were. In my head, I was like, it's six and a half kilometers. I can probably make it. But we had this as well to do. So I spent an hour thinking, if I go there... then I'll save myself all the grief of thinking about going there while I'm doing this.
But so basically, but also you're leaving out the most important thing you told me, which was- Yeah, we're leaving out a lot of details here. Yeah, yeah, details, Eugenie. Because how much time did we have? I'm going to tell you the story. I'm going to tell you the story. This is what happened to Eugenie. Are you here to convict me? No, no. Or to save me?
I'm like, for all I know, it's 10 minutes before you've got to be here and you're talking about traveling all the way to Brooklyn. So let me explain. Let me explain what happened here. It was Brooklyn. We were talking about it before we started. That's how much on his mind this event is. So I'll explain what happened because my friend told it to me. So what happened was Eugene ordered sneakers.
The only location that would have the sneakers was in Brooklyn. Eugene was in Manhattan. Eugene looked up where the store is. He was like, oh, I got to get this. It's near the Barclays Center. Google Maps told him how long it could take to get there. Eugene was like, I think I can do this. Now the time was going to be like super tight, but he's like, I can do it. I get there.
And then I spend like 26 minutes getting there. And then I'll spend two minutes buying the shoes. Because how long does it take to buy shoes? You just got to pick them up. And then I got to get back in the car. And then I come back to Manhattan. And then I've got the thing. Now I was like, but Eugene, isn't that going to be stressful? Then you just said no. If I didn't go pick up the shoes...
I would have been more stressed about the shoes the whole day. So when we were recording an episode of the podcast, I'd be like, I can't even think about anything, Trevor, because all I'm thinking about is those shoes. And while I'm talking to the guests, I'd be like, shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes. What time did the shoe place close? Did you end up getting them?
No, so he went and he got the shoes first. He made it. But it was a stress. So now I would like you to explain. I swapped one stress for another. From a brain perspective. No relief whatsoever. I'm like. I was like, go to war or stay married. So it was one stress for another because you sat there overthinking for a period of time and then you had less time to go and actually do it.
And were you stressed on your journey? I was stressed about getting to the podcast now. I was stressed on my journey going there. I was stressed coming back. But in my head, I was like, that stress compared to the stress of the whole entire day of not having the shoes. Because when would you have been able to get them if you didn't go right before? No, any other day. I'm asking you.
No, any other day. Any other day. Any other day is the answer. And by the way, I'm not judging you. No, 100%. You know I didn't even once. Never, you never did. Well, what were you guys doing before this? Because you were late today. So this was all on me. This is not him. Tell the story. This is not him at all. This is not him at all. You're a therapist now. This is not him at all.
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