2 Main Things That Dysregulate Your Nervous System
The speaker identifies pressure and judgment as the two primary factors that dysregulate the nervous system, explaining how unconscious self-criticism creates stress and cortisol buildup while preventing clear thinking. The solution involves adopting a compassionate inner narrative that validates progress rather than criticizing perceived shortcomings.
Summary
The speaker discusses nervous system dysregulation, identifying pressure and judgment as the two main culprits responsible for activating and dysregulating the nervous system. The speaker explains that people unconsciously create a 'pressure cooker' of stress and cortisol through negative self-talk patterns such as 'you should be further along,' 'you should know better,' and 'you should have the answers by now.' All of these statements constitute both pressure and judgment. This dysregulation causes physical contraction in the body, reduced mental clarity, and forces the brain to operate from a compromised state rather than optimal functioning.
As an antidote, the speaker advocates for adopting a compassionate inner dialogue. Rather than self-criticism, the approach involves self-validation through statements like 'you're all right,' 'I'm so proud of you for being brave,' 'you're right on time,' and 'there's no rush.' The speaker teaches clients to visualize their inner narrative as a separate external person to gain perspective on how damaging critical self-talk truly is. When applied to ambitious goals—whether related to earning money, building a brand, launching a product, or starting something new—the speaker illustrates how harsh inner criticism ('You're going to fail,' 'Who's going to buy from you?') undermines nervous system health and performance, contrasting this with the impact of supportive internal messaging.
About this episode
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Key Insights
- Pressure and judgment are identified as the two primary mechanisms that create nervous system dysregulation in the body
- Unconscious self-criticism using phrases like 'should be further along' and 'should know better' creates a pressure cooker effect that increases cortisol, contracts the body, and reduces mental clarity
- Visualizing the inner narrative as a separate external person making harsh criticisms ('You're going to fail,' 'Who's going to buy from you?') reveals the damaging impact of self-judgment on nervous system health
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] How much pressure are you putting on yourself because pressure and judgement, those two things, will absolutely activate your nervous system. They're the two main pieces that will actually create nervous system dysregulation in the body. So, the ways that you are unconsciously putting a pressure cooker of stress uh and and cortisol on your body just by saying you should be further along, just by saying you should know better, you should figure it out by now, you should have the answers. All of that is judgement. All of that is pressure. And that actually creates more contraction [0:30] in the body, lack of clarity, and then you're operating from a completely different part of your brain. But,…
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