The Courageous Podcast Episode #8: Brain Sherpa Dr. Nicholas Alp

2:31 - Initial conversations about courage and evolution

4:30 - What's going on upstairs

5:06 - Nick's background

7:15 - Interest in mental health, human interaction, along with verbal and non-verbal communication

7:53 - Common human needs and desires that drive us

8:59 - To understand yourself you have to understand your mind

8:46 - apply a skill set to the goal set, but what about the mind set?

9:50 - Brains only do two things - receive and process information and then they make judgement's

10:57 - Is it good for me, is it going to harm me, do I like it?

12:03- within our brains is a history of life on earth

15:03 - Deep within our brains, we are nothing more than lizards

15:18 - We are survivors because we are able to recognize and respond to things that are dangerous to us

15:37 - recognize the creatures we are, what fear is for, and how valuable it's been...

15:57 - a lot of those innate fear responses are not always appropriate ...acute fear...turns into chronic anxiety

16:46 - short circuit reactions to get to a better place in our brains

18:08- we are not compelled or destine to respond to every internal stimulus we experience have ... create space between the sensation/ emotion...and our physical and mental response

18:48 - practice expanding "that" space

20:42 - bring your attention to something immediate and infinite your breath

21:39 - Cognitive biases - proximity, intensity, negativity, and confirmation

27:02 - we always have a choice...we must give ourselves space to make a mindful choice

28:09 - daily active practice

29:00 - states of mind and ways you can take action

29:07 - push our fear - understand it, name it, and face it head on

29:41 - find a way to love what you are doing

30:03 - To be grateful and to serve and give

33:17 - Need to belong and connect with other human beings

34:50 - who's on your team and who isn't

37:21 - neurogene's evolving

38:57 - freeze or flight

41:47 - standard operating procedure is nervousness

44:21 - Effective action = focus on the right thing to do, practice, and then persist

45:32 - Be kind to yourself

46:49 - Move your body and get your mind out of that static place

48:20 - Central courage system hack

50:13 - Kind, compassionate and curious

52:26 - Building brain fitness