Translator: Tanya Cushman Reviewer: Peter van de Ven
I was about five years old,
and I was holding the hand of my great-grandmother
as we approached our very favorite fast-food restaurant.
And as we approached the door, she stopped.
And she stopped right in front of the ordering screen in the drive-through.
And I thought that's kind of weird.
"Beep beep, vroom vroom, honk honk" -
she started making all sorts of noises,
and at the age of five, I was still pretty embarrassed.
So no one came over the loudspeaker,
and she had me go to the window and let them know we wanted to order.
And as we got that done and walked up to the window,
that chocolate chip shake came through
in a green, plastic alligator sippy cup.
I loved that order,
and it meant so much to me to spend that time with my grandmother.
But as we walked back home that day,
I asked her, "Why did we go through the drive-through?"
And her lesson boiled down to this:
anything worth doing is worth doing in an extraordinary way.
Many years later,
I heard the phrase - from the founder of my profession, BJ Palmer -
"Never take yourself too damn seriously,"
that immediately reminded me of my great-grandmother
and those experiences we had together.
To this day, remembering that lesson
of "Don't take yourself too seriously" and "Do things in an extraordinary way"
has affected so many aspects of my life.
Today, I want to talk about how it affects health potential.
Knowledge is power,
but knowledge about yourself is self-empowerment.
Today, I hope to offer you some knowledge that will give you self-empowerment.
Mind over matter.
As you sit here today, you are storing more health and more human potential
than you've ever been led to believe.
The idea, or the concept, of mind over matter
isn't just a fun ideal or a fun concept;
it's a reality.
And today, I hope to explain to you how,
as you bring more consciousness and more awareness
to your thoughts, actions and choices,
you can expand your health potential.
You see, it was once believed that our brains were plastic,
that they couldn't be changed,
that as we grew and as we developed through our growing years,
our brain became hard-wired.
That's simply not the case.
Neuroplasticity is the science that explains that it can be changed,
that certain connections in our brain can be strengthened,
others dwindle away and new ones created.
Neuroplasticity - this is the concept that as we choose our thoughts,
as we choose our actions, our habits, and as we experience life,
new changes are created all the time.
These can be done in a positive manner,
but can be done in a negative manner as well.
Let me show you how it affects your daily life.
How many times have you gotten home from work at the end of the day
and thought back, Did I even stop at that stop sign on the corner?
I know it exists, but I don't remember, actually, even slowing down.
Brain connections allow us to go through much of our life on auto-pilot.
We don't think, we just act.
Neuroplasticity in action.
How about this little boy who sees his mom in the garage lifting weights, right?
And he thinks, "I can do that."
He walks over, and he grabs that barbell,
and as he stands up, the weight comes with him.
How is that even possible?
It goes back to mind over matter.
His mind believed so strongly - and no one had ever told him differently -
that his body reacted, his body reacted to what his mind was saying,
and he accomplished the goal.
This is the same way we see stories of heroism:
people finding people under a car and being able to go over and lift it up.
Physically, they shouldn't be able to do that,
but the energy in their minds overtakes.
So, I personally experienced both the benefits and the destructive nature
of neuroplasticity to extremes in a very short time span.
Two years ago, I was asked to go on a mountain-climbing expedition -
eight mountain peaks in three days,
the Presidential Traverse in New Hampshire.
So when I was asked, of course my immediate reaction was no.
I wasn't interested at all.
When I realized that I'd made that decision out of fear,
I changed my mind.
Here's what happened:
I knew that physically I was capable and that I had plenty of time to train,
but mentally is what I needed to work on.
So I convinced myself that this three days in the mountains in the winter
was pretty similar to three straight days of shopping
and having to carry my bags the whole time.
So I thought, Could I do that? I could do that.
So I decided this mountain expedition is something I can absolutely accomplish.
So here I am, shopping in the mountains,
head of the pack, feeling great, doing well -
brain's on track, body's following.
But here's why it's so important
that we consciously choose our thoughts and actions.
Well, the human brain has apparently underestimated itself.
Neuroplasticity isn't all good news.
In fact, it renders our brains not only more -
sorry, it's so small -
not only more resourceful but also more vulnerable to outside influences.
So as I'm on this mountain expedition, and as I'm hiking away,
I come across this sign, and it says, "Stop.
The area ahead has the worst weather in America.
Many have died of exposure, even in the summer.
Turn back now if the weather is bad."
Well, it just so happens that our guide
didn't think a small blizzard was reason enough to turn around,
although I disagreed at the moment.
So we continued on.
But in that moment, my mind told my body something different was happening,
that there was no gift shop at the top of this mountain,
and the rest of that day was beyond difficult.
My body started to give out.
I had difficulty putting one foot in front of the other,
and it was all mind over matter.
The months I had spent with a 60-pound pack on my back,
walking on a treadmill or walking on a StairMaster
or outside, even in the winter, trying to prepare myself -
it was gone.
That shopping mentality completely disappeared.
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" -
a line from the song "Freewill" by Rush.
What this means to me and what I want to express to you
is that just because we're not constantly focusing
on positive brain-body connection,
doesn't mean we're not strengthening connections all the time.
That destructive aspect can take over if we're not careful.
In fact, most of us have been trained and wired,
that pathway laid,
for a seven-minute attention span.
Kids in school - attention issues.
In fact, the television probably has a commercial every seven minutes.
Even a video game - a new level or a new screen every seven minutes.
How many of us are guilty of Facebook every seven minutes, right?
So we're trained in this seven-minute attention,
and yet we come to believe that it's a medical epidemic.
Remember our thoughts also create our reality.
So how many people have a child come home from school sick
and automatically think -
America's worst-weather mentality -
the whole rest of the family is going to get it?
It's possible for you to believe
that you walked through a patch of poison ivy
and actually break out in a rash when you've never touched it.
That's how powerful our mind is.
There was a really cool research study done at Princeton University in 2002.
And in this study,
they invited a whole bunch of college students to a keg party.
What they didn't realize - the students -
was that these kegs were filled with non-alcoholic beer.
They only drank the non-alcoholic beer
all night long,
and at the end of the evening,
they were slurring their speech,
getting sick in the bushes.
Some of them even passed out on the lawn.
Mind over matter in action.
Their body believed what their mind was telling them -
that they were consuming alcohol -
and their body responded.
And so if students in college
can have a body that responds to the belief that they're inebriated,
how are our thoughts affecting our health?
When you go to the doctor,
do you believe you are handcuffed to your parents' health history?
That because everyone in your family
had obesity or diabetes or blood-pressure issues,
that you are going to get it too?
The truth is if you believe that to be the case, you're probably right.
So I want you to shift your perspective just a little bit.
Believe that the opposite can also be true.
You see, only 5% of our health issues are truly related to gene disorders.
The other 95% are directly related to lifestyle choice,
to chronic stress,
to toxins in our environment,
the way we think.
And so if we can positively affect neuroplasticity
and drastically improve our health outcomes
simply by the way we think,
then wouldn't it make sense to bring a lot more consciousness to that?
And because I'm a science nerd,
I like to know that the work I'm doing in my profession
is directly contributing to improving the brain-body connection,
that our wiring is improved directly through the work that I do.
So, in this really cool study -
and you don't have to be a neuroscientist to understand this -
you see over on the left-hand side of the screen,
there's a brain all lit up - whole bunch of red spots on it.
What happened was this woman was put into a functional MRI machine,
and they gave her the instruction, "Simply wiggle your left ankle."
All those red spots
represent areas in her brain necessary to be lit up, to work,
simply for her to move her ankle.
She was taken out of the functional MRI machine,
specifically evaluated
and given a very specific scientific adjustment
which was directly aimed at reducing interference in her nerve system
so her brain and her body could communicate better.
On the right-hand side of this screen, she was put in the MRI again,
and you can see the immediate effects of that specific adjustment.
All of a sudden, her brain was working so much more efficiently
that it freed up a lot of brain space for other things.
It doesn't just happen in the case of MRI, however.
We don't just see this represented in MRI.
There are different way to evaluate
how well our brain and our body are functioning,
how well they're connected,
where there's interference,
and track progress that we can make.
In my own office,
I have seen amazing transformations in people's health
from them understanding the value of these health connections.
I've seen children with autism, unable to make eye contact or speak,
suddenly regain these abilities over a period of weeks and months.
I've seen women who were told that they couldn't have children,
detected interference in the way their brain and body is connected,
and when improved,
suddenly they're able to conceive and carry child to term.
I have seen people with depression see life-changing experiences -
going from staying in bed all day and not being able to hold down a job
to being very productive in the community
and within their family and having children.
I want you to understand that this potential is within you as well.
Whatever your health story, whatever your health status,
you're storing so much more potential than you've tapped into,
and I want you to bring consciousness and awareness to that
so five years from now, you can look back and say,
"I'm healthier today than I was five years ago."
Most people never even conceive of that,
let alone realize they have the ability to make it a reality.
So, how do you start?
What do you do to start making those changes in your life?
How can you start taking action,
changing your experiences
or even refocusing how you think to make this possible?
I want you to take just a second to think back to a time in your life
where you were really proud of a decision you made.
Maybe it's as simple as
"Last night at the Gatsby party, I didn't have too much chocolate cake."
Maybe it's as simple as
"You know what? I got up this morning without the alarm clock."
Think of those small things that you do
that you're real proud of and you know are positive for you
and begin making them a habit.
There's nothing comparable to the changes that can be made
through that specific adjustment I mentioned earlier -
the way the brain and the body is connected
and immediately change to those specific changes to our neurology -
there's nothing that compares to it.
But once that potential is there,
once your brain and your body
are connected in a way that's going to optimize you for health potential,
there are small things you can do on a daily basis to help.
You see, I know children who are wired for health.
I know children who will see an apple and a cookie on a kitchen table
and most of the time choose the apple.
If that seems crazy to you,
I want you to once again change your perspective:
the opposite seems crazy to others.
Your thoughts also create your reality.
So as we're visualizing our day or going about our day,
plan it.
In fact, Dr. Joe Dispenza says,
"The only reason we don't create our day
is because we haven't yet believed or experienced that it's possible."
When you have basketball players,
one visualizing grabbing that basketball and making every single shot
and you have one actually practicing,
you put them up for a free-throw contest.
The one visualizing perfection will win every time.
Pay attention to your thoughts.
Start with the little things; start with what's manageable.
Instead of waking up in the morning and thinking, "Oh, it's Monday,"
wake up in the morning and think,
"What on earth am I going to do with this amazing day ahead of me?
Whose day can I make?
What am I going to accomplish
and what could this day look like at the conclusion?"
Focus on those things.
And most of the time, that doesn't begin with a snooze button.
So work on that rewiring.
Maybe rewiring for you is simply taking a different path to work.
You'll notice the stop signs and the traffic lights
because your body is not wired or used to them.
Start with the little things,
realizing as they become habits,
they will grow to be major transformations in your life.
The first rule of the super brain
is that your brain is always eavesdropping on your thoughts.
As it listens, it learns.
If you teach it about limitations, your brain will become limited.
But what if you do the opposite?
What if you teach your brain to be unlimited?
You have that potential.
I can't begin to tell you how amazing it feels
when you have consciously rewired how your brain is working.
On that day, shopping in the mountains,
I went through the highs
of "I can do this" and "I can't wait to get to the top"
to the lows of that America's worst weather mentality
and turned it around again.
You can consciously feel your body
responding to the way your mind is thinking.
You're extraordinary,
and you're cheating yourself,
you're cheating your family, your community, even the world
if you don't do everything you can to reach that potential.
Every time you do something new,
think about something in a new way,
you're creating a new connection.
Decide what's important.
Decide what you want your life to look like
and then take action to achieve it.
If you want to know what your thoughts were like in the past,
look at your body today.
If you want to know what your body will look like in the future,
look at your thoughts today.
You have unlimited health potential,
and the goal is to see that optimized.
My name is Dr. Staci Borkhuis.
I'm a chiropractor.
My focus is your neurology and your health potential.
My purpose is to teach, lead and inspire you
to live an extraordinary life.
(Applause)