Your Brain Is Filtering Your Reality—Here’s How to Change It With Lori Rogers - #845

0:00Have you ever wanted to enhance your intuitive skills? Would you like to communicate with your pet, talk with deceased loved ones or do an energy healing on somebody? Well, let me help you. Come join my Angelica Tinnut training class. It's gonna be October 23rd through the 25th in Atlanta, Georgia, and you'll enhance your life in amazing ways. You're gonna learn how to communicate with spirit, develop and validate your intuition, facilitate healings and so much more. For information, go to askjulyrion.com slash AAT. That's askjulyrion.com slash AAT and enrolled today. See you in Atlanta. Here's something most people don't realize. Many of us are lacking essential minerals, even when we're eating a healthy diet. Years of over farming have stripped our soil of key nutrients, so the foods we rely on, even fruits and vegetables,

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2:02most people never think to ask. With more than 30 years of experience in the background as a successful inventor and business woman, July combines intuition, clarity and compassion to help you heal, grow and move forward. From connecting with loved ones who have passed to medical questions, pet issues, end-of-life transitions, and discovering your life's purpose, no question is off-limits. Wherever you are in the world, take a journey to the other side and ask Julyrion. Hi everybody, welcome to the Ask Julyrion show. It's where we blend spirituality and practicality to help you live a life of purpose and joy. What if one small shift in your thoughts could raise your vibration and change your life? Well today, we're talking about the connection between mindset, energy and spirit, and how choosing positive thoughts

3:03can open the door to guidance, clarity and flow. My guest is Laurie Rogers, co-creator of the Positive Activity Method, who turns stress and overwhelm into a powerful spiritual practice that transformed her life and work. If you're ready to feel better, align your energy and create more ease and abundance, this one's for you. Please remember to subscribe, leave a comment, and share this episode with your family and friends. Now, let's go talk with Laurie. Laurie, welcome to the show. What a delight to have you on with us today. Delight, that's a great word. I am just like jazzed. I have like shivers all over my body. I'm so excited for this. Oh, wonderful. Wonderful. We were just laughing before we recorded. We've been trying to do this for months. I think we said this day months ago.

4:03Well, you're busy. You're very busy. Do our thoughts actually control our life? Yes, unfortunately. That's what my belief is, yes. That the thoughts that we keep thinking and thinking and thinking over and over again, get implanted into our subconscious mind, our subconscious mind, which is such a loyal, faithful friend, wants to match our outside world to our inside world, our beliefs. So, yeah, I think it does. Do you think positive thinking is just hype or is it quietly rewiring your reality? It's hype if it's not done in the right way. And by that, I mean, I feel like it could be hype if, for instance, someone gave me a print that said, choose joy on it. Very innocent.

5:03I put it up on my one, like, okay, that just doesn't sit right. I can't just choose joy. And I added, I took a marker and I added thoughts that bring you in between the two words. So, by that I mean positive thinking is great but not if you're just shoving stuff in and overriding like you might be your depressed one day or your anxious one day or your sad one day. No, no, no. Everything's okay. Everything's great. Feeling good. Like to me, that's not authentic. And to me, it's pushing things in. But for me, what I do is I say, okay, even though this is happening today, Craig may be dysregulated, an order to ship on time. I'm late for an appointment. Even though I'm stressed and possibly anxious about these things, know what's all going to work out. I need to process this. It's going to be okay. My angels, my guides will help me figure this out. That's the way I look at it.

6:04That was a long answer for a very short question. Every morning when I get up, I intend to have fun, enjoy the day, and feel good. And I don't get specific. I stay out of the weeds on how it's going to happen. That's just my intention. It seems to work for me and my fully myself because I'm usually pretty happy. I mean, you know, if somebody, if something happens, I, if somebody dies that I love or whatever I'm going to cry and all of that. But I would say 99% of the time, I just intend to feel good and I do. And I find that the day unfolds in a way that it allows me to feel good. Is that, is that just nonsense? Or is that something that's going to be the more general you are? Is probably safer. Like I, I'll say in the morning, I greet this day with enthusiasm, which is true. I do greet the day with an enthusiasm.

7:0490% of the time. Okay, and the 10% I don't. Okay, whatever happens today, I can handle it. I'm still going to greet the day. And whatever happens, I can handle it. It may not be so joyful this morning, but it's okay. But if you've said that over and over to yourself every morning, you're, that's where you're living. That's the vibration you're living in. So maybe something does happen. And it knocks you down a few pegs. You probably don't stay down very long. You're probably able to sort of get yourself back up. You build up that resilience of vibration. Mm-hmm. I've done that for a long time, long, long, long, like many, many, many years. So did I lay new neuropathways in my brain? Of course. Yes. By doing that. Okay. Thank goodness. Neuroplasticity is there. Thank goodness.

8:04There was a read. And it, like boggles my mind that it was just discovered. Even though people have been doing this type of work for thousands of years, maybe they knew and we didn't. But it was interesting. But yes. You are, you are, yes, you are. The RAS system. The, it was the particular activator system. Yes. Yeah. Can you explain what that is and how it works? Well, I'll try. If you get the book Mind Magic by Dr. Dodie, by the way, just passed away last summer, very sad. But in his book Mind Magic, and he was a, um, a physician, a neurosurgeon that studied all of this work. He talks about the RAS extensively. So to, to my understanding, it is like you're in your subconscious mind. And it's the system that's paying attention to your thoughts

9:05and your words. And it's a blank slate, really. And you're giving it information. So it's listening. It's waiting. It's waiting to hear what you say repeatedly with deep emotion. And that's what it's going to match to your reality. That's what it match your outside world to this inside system. It's, it's brilliant that we were created this way. No one knows though. Okay. Not no one. I didn't know this. I didn't know that I was. Sub implanting things in my RAS. And without knowing it. So it's kind of good news, bad news. The good news you're doing that. The bad news. Oh, I'm doing that. Um, if you're not doing it in a positive manner, with all those negative things I used to say about myself, my body, my business, my, oh, yeah. Yeah, I'm not great. Well, I always think of the RAS is like, you buy a red Ford pickup truck.

10:07And then you drive off the lot. And it seems like every block you go down, there's a red Ford pickup truck. And you think, gosh, I never paid attention before. I never knew there were this many red trucks on the road until I bought one and it makes us pay attention to things and notice things that have been there all along. Right. Julie, an excellent example. Yes, an excellent example. So I think you bring up a really good, a really great point, Lori. And that is, be cognizant of what you're putting into your own brain and your own RAS with the thoughts that you think, because they can be good and attract good things. We're going to notice things that are coming out of the RAS and they can be good or bad. So it's a choice. And you're going to have more good feeling experiences. Is it really that simple?

11:09In my studies, and what I've experienced, yes. Yeah, I think it is too. My experience is it is too. Do you think that we block real guidance and call it logic? I did that for many years. I think my belief now is that when my mind is in the same way as that, when my mind, when my perceptions, when my mindset is more joyful and calm and at peace, I'm open to those ideas flowing in. You know, I used to think they were my ideas. You know, I'm not so sure about, I know they're not mine. Like, they're coming from somewhere. And thank you, Lord, thank you, Universe, for bringing them to me. When we're trying, and now here's the thing. I'm a mass major. I have a Masters in Statistics. Talk about logic. Like, I was black and white, two and two plus four. Like, this took time for me to understand that,

12:10you know, your anxiety, your fear, your worry, because of that logical mind wants me to worry, is blocking all that beautiful energy, all those beautiful ideas, all of that flow. Yeah. Yeah. So logic, we need logic in parts of our life. Yes, of course. But it's your energy and your intuition that's important as well. There's like a, I like to think of it like as a triangle. There's logic, intuition, energy. I'm sorry, emotion, emotion, intuition, and then and logic. So I got a communications degree, because I wanted a business degree, but I didn't want to do the math, because that advanced math made me break out in hives. So I would have loved to have known somebody like you who could help me and said, oh, it's no big deal. I was like, oh, please. Yeah. Just shoot me. I just know. Thank you. And so then I hired people that were really good at math.

13:10And I still have people that are really good at math that work with me. And so it's worked out fine. You know, that's what makes the world go around. But I love it that you've got advanced math degrees, because I'm an all of you. Well, see you. I wanted to go into business, but I didn't want to be in the business school. So I'm like, okay, what can I do? Stay in the liberal arts, take all these cool little classes, but still like be able to get in. And that's why I did the math. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fine. Yeah. Why do most people try to raise their vibration? And all they feel is being stuck. They just, they, they haven't figured out how to do it. Is in your opinion, Laurie, is it really hard to do? Well, it was hard for me at first. Yes. Um, you know, you have to, it was hard for me at first, because a, I didn't think I was worthy of it. Worthy of all the things I wanted or desired in my life, my goals. Anxious that it may not happen.

14:11How can this be? I was never taught this. How come I didn't learn this as a child? I never thought that I was worthy of it. I was taught this. How come I didn't learn this as a child? I never learned this in church or, or, or CCD. So, I think it's hard because we doubt, we doubt, we doubt, and our logical mind gets in the way. And we don't love ourselves. We don't have enough self love. And feel that we're worthy of it all. How should you get into this work? Was there a moment that forced you to question everything? Oh, yes. There was a more than moments. It was a series of events that happened all at one time. We have a swag business, Rodgers marketing, as well as our positive activity work. And in 2009, there was a recession in our country, very deep, and our business just sunk. So,

15:12in 2012, we were still sort of climbing out of it at that time. Now, if you remember, but in 2012, we were trying to climb back out. I was anxious. I was a worry wart to begin with anyway. I'm anxious, worried about funds, worried about how we're going to pay our suppliers. Are my clients ever going to, you know, come back and start buying? Some of them didn't even exist anymore. It was really tumultuous, like, business time. So, if you've already got this undercurrent of worry and fear and scarcity in you, you're like, the second thing that was happening at the same time, my daughter was a division one athlete in Boston. She got as a senior in college, hitting the head on the lacrosse field, post concussion, left her dorm, left the school, left the classes, left her whole entire life, as she knew it, had to move home. Dark room, no TV, no computer, no phone.

16:12It was, it was heart-wrenching to watch my beautiful, you know, energetic, smart, amazing daughter go through this. And for Neil and I too, because we loved going to the games, and I was so mad at the girl that hit her, and I was, it was just, it was just, aw, I'd like all this drenching of negativity, negative emotion, negative emotion, this is what was shying machine. And at some point, it was the forecast, just riding in the end, went along 700 feet down the window by searing the We were always forging the path, which we were happy to do and did that all through his school years and all of that. We, because there was no one ahead of us to forge the way.

17:15So when it went, when he came to him doing an adult program and an adult, we had to create it. There wasn't anything there. So it was worried and fearful. Oh my gosh, what's he going to do every day? Is he going to get educated? Is he going to be fulfilled? Is he? All of this stuff was building up. It was just, it was like, my heart was just in a cage. Honestly, I can't even get myself back to that feeling. It's been gone for so long, but it did not feel good. And my daughter, and I didn't know this at the time, was listening to books. And she bought on Audible or whatever it was at that time, Eckert Toley, the power of now. And she was listening to that. And she started meditating and she said, Mom, I heard about a wellness fair at the hotel down the street. Will you take me? And I said, because she couldn't drive. Her eyes were mess. And I said, Sure, what's a wellness fair? But let's go.

18:19And sorry, yes. So we drive it along this fair. And I walked around. They met all kinds of different practitioners, people of all shapes and sizes and information and books and presentations. Oh my gosh, what is this? What are you talking? I have chills thinking about it. Like, bought the books, went to the lectures. I studied it for like two or three months. I'm like, wait a minute. I'm worthy of anything I want. I, I just have to believe that I can have, I just have to change my thoughts and my beliefs. I can do these practices to raise up my vibration and be in love and appreciation as much as possible. I was mad at for honestly, I was a little annoyed and angry that I didn't know before the age of what the heck was I then. I don't even know 50 at the time.

19:19Then I said, OK, you know, because I'm tight day, I'm going to learn the heck out of this. I studied and I read and I went to different programs and lectures and really embraced it and I said, OK, I'm going to give this 21 days. And I'm going to change my mode of thinking. I'm going to change my perceptions of the world. I'm going to stop watching the news. I'm going to do these daily practices. I'm going to meditate. I'm going to do this. This isn't this. And I embraced it and because I couldn't stand feeling the way I was feeling and you know, weren't you? One day I remember I was driving down the street and I said, what would it be like if I just hit that tree? What if I just hit that tree and you know, I like shocked myself and back into reality. I'm like, can't leave Craig alone without me because I mean, Neil's amazing with them. But it's like I manage the, you know, his programs and such. And I thought I never want to say that again and be and everyone to think that again. And if there's things I can do that are free, simple, not easy, but simple and like do them on my own home at my own pace.

20:35I'm going to do it. I owe it to myself and my family for that matter. Let's face it, their energy is connected to mine, which I didn't know that either. So, do you think most of us have had that thought at some point in our lives where if I just drive off this cliff, I'm going to, it's going to be all better. I think I certainly have. I remember having that in my 20s and I, it wasn't, I mean, it was, I wasn't suicidal. But I do remember having a thought like that come into my head. Would it just be all better? I was probably going through some heartache from some dumb guy or something. But, but I think pretty much everybody's had that thought or most of us, I would say just for a nanosecond, then we go, oh, for having six, you know, I'll tell my little quick, being a drama queen. But my gosh, Lori, I haven't thought about that in 45 years. But, but I believe that most of us have had that thought.

21:43So, what was the actual catalyst that you told us about how everything was just so overwhelming? Was there an actual catalyst that led to what we would call a breakdown or a shattering of the old way of living and really helped you believe that there was something beyond yourself? Question number one and question number two, give us some more information if you feel led to do so about your son Craig. And what his journey has been and how that has supported you developing your spirituality. Sure. I can't remember a total breakdown breakdown, but it was a series of not feeling great and the being mad at people, being reactive all the time, being snarky and nasty. And I, oh my gosh, this isn't me being and not being able to go to a lacrosse game and not talk to the other parents because I'm so despondent about what happened to my daughter.

22:52Oh, just honestly, just that feeling of dread constantly. And I remember sitting on the beach one day, I'm like looking around at all the abundance of fun and everyone's having fun and abundance of water and blue sky and the sand. And I said, okay, look at all of this, look at all of this amazement around me. Right, I want to be part of that. I want to be part of that feeling and that, you know, realization. That's what I wanted. That's what's then I started like the next day, I think, was just changing things and making adjustments in my life. I also, with Craig, it took a little longer. So for Craig, it's so funny. All I think now, I think back now, all through his school years, all through his high school years and post high school, I thought we got to get him, you know, I want him to be, you know, educated.

23:57Make sure it gets educated. Was he verbal as a child? He had little words like he'd say mummy chips, mum french fries, tub time for tub. So we had like two or three word sentences. How old was it when he was tracking in two or three word sentences? Well, like today, you know, I mean, when he was a toddler, he's, he had some words as a toddler. Then we started to lose him around 18 months, 20 months into 24 months, where he started to walking, grinding his teeth. He had dark circles under his eyes all the time. He stopped sleeping. Um, and we, no smile, no laughter, no more eye contact and no words at all anymore. We just started losing him. And that was around that timeframe. And we, and back then, I thought, okay, I need to recover this child. I need to recover him. So we died just like poured right in and back then there wasn't really the internet to study things.

25:05This diagnosis was so new that doctors didn't really know what was going on. And we had to see how I help him. So we really had to seek out alternative people like holistic practitioners and different ways to help his body heal. And now with the onset of the spelling to communicate, which he learned to do, he's brilliant. So tapped in spiritually, he's teaching me now, all those years, I strived to teach him. And he's probably thinking, looking at me like, mom, you're a goofball. I don't need, well, anymore. It's you that need to learn all of this. So he, when I injured my leg and I was very despondent about it last summer and dead and I mean, I remember him telling me on the board, he would spell out on this beautiful board. Mom, you need to emotionally heal. And I didn't know really what that meant. I'm like, well, what do you mean? And I didn't know, and I've been doing this work for a long time, that our stuck emotions can make us sick or injure us in some way.

26:16And I learned more about that and I've helped release a lot of that and a practitioners that helped me release those trapped emotions in our bodies. He, yet last week he told me my consciousness is limitless and so is yours. So like, what? Where's this, I, where's this coming from? Because he said, God told me. I'm like, okay, I know. He's so tapped in. I asked him questions now because I, he, because he couldn't speak and he couldn't have this type of conversation, he was always listening and learning. And he's telepathic. So he, he learns that way. He, I said, how did you learn one of his, one of my favorite quotes that he spelled out was, when will the world realize the only truth that matters in life is love? Whoa, great. Wow. I said, how, where did you learn so much about love from Jesus Christ?

27:19Listen, I, I thought all these years I worried and fredded over him when he was in his place doing great. And he's in his early 30s now. Yes, he's 35. Does he live with you? No, he lives 10 minutes up the street with a couple that he loves and they love him. Wonderful. And he still only speaks just a few words, but he can spell things out on this chart. For those of you that are listening, Lori has a chart with big letters on it. And he, he points to the letters and then you write down the letters and then it spells it out. So he is still on what we call this laminate board. There are other spellers across the country, thousands of them that have moved on and they're able to have the motor planning to type on a keyboard. And then their computer speak for them. That's his goal. And I said, well, Craig, why do you want to type on a keyboard? He says, well, he says he spells.

28:28So people see how intelligent I am. So he feels like once he's by himself in front of a computer and he can type on the keyboard, what he wants to say, people, this is me, these are my words. This is one I want to express in thousands of spellers across the country are doing this. And it's an amazing documentary. It's free on YouTube. It's called Spellers, the movie. And it's about eight different young people that have discovered this program and it shows how beautiful and amazing and smart they are. And I, I was just blown away and we just started working with him when he was 31 and when he first started doing it. So the problem with the non speaking is because they, most of these non speakers have a praxia, which means the signals from your motor cortex, which is in the center of your brain, aren't getting to your mouth and your jaw and your tongue and whatever needs to happen to speak like this.

29:30And also to your body, like he has to really practice even pointing practice, practice, practice, practice. And it's, it's not a cognitive issue. As I tell you, I'm parents all the time if their child isn't speaking, they hear everything you say they understand everything you say it's not cognitive because the words, the knowledge, the beliefs, the ideas, their goals are in this section of the brain. And the motor cortex does not work very well, but every other section is so it's not cognitive. It's, I can't make my body do this. That's is well, and we had Susie Miller on the show who was part of the telepathy tapes, who's just a doll. And she talked about how so many of, if not all, of the autistic children and even adults are telepathic and that they communicate with one another telepathically.

30:32And there's a mountain top or something where they meet. It's kind of like where their clubhouse is. So it's called the hill. Your skin is your body's largest detox organ. So what you put on it is just as important as what you put in it. That's why I love Ann Marie's skincare. Their products are crafted with organic ingredients and made without harsh chemicals or synthetic fillers. So you can trust what you're using every day. If you're ready to treat your skin to something clean and nourishing, just go to ash julie ryan.com slash sponsors and click on the Ann Marie tab to receive 20% off. That's ask julie ryan.com slash sponsors and click on the Ann Marie tab. So it's called the hill and there's many hills where they gather consciously to learn things.

31:33They, it correct tells me like scientists come in and will teach them science things. You know, important like people we would know that have written books that have that are passed come into these hills and teach them. They conversed with one another Craig said to me one day spelled out to me mom. You need we need to go to St. Louis. I want to meet Laura. I said, who's Laura? I met her on the hill. She lives in St. Louis. I want to go meet her. You need to call her mom. He's telling me all of this on the board. I said, well, okay, well, time out, buddy. You're on the hill with her. Ask her her mom's phone number. How am I going to fight her? I still haven't been able to fight her. But I like, okay, so yes, it's amazing. And I don't, I mean, I feel like that's his private life. If he talks to me about it, we'll converse about it. But I don't like to intrude and ask him too many questions about it. But when he brings it up, I'm all ears.

32:37So a couple of years ago when he was like a year into spelling, he told me about praying to God and talking to God. And I said, well, how do you speak to God? And he said, I'm telepathic. But to be quite frank, Julie, I didn't know what that meant. So I had to look it up because I didn't know what it meant. And then I thought, wait, is he just saying that? And then it just really mean that. And he'll tell me, I just even know what it is. That's his brilliant. And he just knows. Yeah. Sometimes I feel like now when we're spelling together, like my thoughts get in his way. So I have to really concentrate on just the letters he's pointing to. And he knows what I'm thinking. He knows what everyone is his family is thinking. He knows his cousins, his aunts and uncles. He knows where they live. Even though he never interacted with them growing up. Because he just didn't know how that social connection wasn't there. He's able to tell his siblings now how much he loves them and his favorite things that he did with them.

33:41Growing up, he barely gave them the time of day or paid attention to them. So for his sister and brother to have that knowledge, like the other day, he told Amanda, his sister, you mean so much to me. It's impossible for me to explain it. Like, wow, that's amazing. Yeah. What a, and it's so nice that he can tell her that. Yeah. Yeah. Goodness. And just as an aside, Amanda is okay. She healed after her lacrosse accident. Thank you. Yes, she did. Yeah. Good. Okay. So having gone through all of this with your epiphany when everything seemed to be like, you know, going south on a hand basket, all at the same time to being able to communicate with Craig on this super high. Not only human level, but spiritual level, where has that led you now? How has that helped you forge your path into the work you're doing now?

34:52Or do you think it's had anything to do with it? I think it's deepened it in a new way. So a few years ago, as I'm doing this work, I'm thinking mind, I'm thinking my attitude, I'm thinking my perceptions, I'm watching what I say, I'm watching how I behave. You know, what not watching the news, you know, but then he brought in this spiritual aspect, which I think was missing. And because maybe part of me still didn't think I was worthy to be able to pray to God myself, which he tells me to do all the time. My angels ask my guides for help and Craig goes, pray to God. I can't get you right. Why am I, why am I not just going straight to the source? Right? So why am I just lingering over here with the little helpers or I pray to my dad or my grandmother and that kind of man, they're great. Thank you. Thank you guys.

35:56Mom, pray to God and ask him, I'm going to go, okay, he's guiding me spiritually, which is opened up a whole nother ball of act, shall we say that's made it even deeper and more profound for me. Yeah, in a spiritual way, and don't mean in a religious way, in more of an opening to what God is there for me too, he wants nothing more to help us. That's why he's here. Like that's why that's there, that eternal love, that that unconditional love is just here to help us. I never learned that. So it takes one time for that dog. Again, it's remarkable to me to Lori that this son of yours who's so brilliant and would be the last person. If somebody looked at your family dynamic, that would be the last person that they would see would be the one who would be guiding you in any way let alone spiritually when he's really not that verbal.

37:05His testament, I think, to him choosing you and his dad as his parents to come in to explore and experience things. First of all, in a family that was going to be accepting of him and was going to work their tails off to get him every advantage known to mankind as he was growing up. And secondly, to have the experience of being able to help lead you in your husband and the rest of the family in a way that's needless to say unconventional and yet so profound. I'm marveling at that. But it's interesting that you use the word acceptance when he was diagnosed to two and a half acceptance was the furthest thing from my mind. I wanted him recovered. I wanted my little toddler back. I wanted my happy little baby smiling a little baby back.

38:08I wasn't accepting of it at all. And it was years later than I am. And then years later, I'll say like 10 years later, working with a breaking practitioner and you know, did it and she said to me, you know, this was yours and Craig's choice to present this way to come into the world this way. I was show and wait with that. I would never have picked this. No way. This is so hard. He's so different. It's so difficult. We can't do family things like everyone else. You know, I would never have done that. And I sat with it. It took me a while to buy into that and to say, oh, shoot, you're right. Look at all that he's teaching me. What would I have been like without this experience in my life? I know I'm sure I would have liked myself. Certainly he grounded us as a family. Things were different. Yes, we had to adjust. We couldn't just go off on vacation in the regular way or do go to family events, the regular way.

39:15There were many things we didn't do because he couldn't handle the crowd or the noise or the whatever. We had to sometimes divide and conquer which we did. And then I read and now I know for sure he was sent here and to express himself this way now for his own growth and his own spiritual growth and his own soul growth, but for mine and for Niels too. And the siblings too. Now I see it, but I didn't accept it. Then I didn't. How did you take all of those experiences and formulated into a program that helps people live more joyful, productive lives, not only as individuals, but you have a program that you've developed that you go into companies and you teach. What do you teach and how has all of this experience, especially with Craig led you to develop that program?

40:20Well, once I got into it and was doing it for a year or two and saw the change in myself, what's it? You got into it into the practices that I do. Now it probably happened today, but I had five core things that I was doing every morning. Okay, what are they? So they were an appreciation practice, three unique things that you appreciate from the last 24 hours. You write them in your journal, you think about them, you feel that appreciation again, all those neat chemicals go around in your head and your body again. A conscious act of kindness, meaning a text, an email, something to someone in your social support network, in your child's life, in your life, a peer, a coworker, whatever, thanking them for whatever amazing thing they did for you and maybe in the last day or two or the last week, whatever it was. So you're sending out some love and some joy and some compassion.

41:21Five minutes of meditation, which cracks me out because I started with 15 seconds at a time. It was all I could do to sit and listen to my breath for 15 seconds, but eventually I got there. The fifth thing was move my body every day for 30 minutes. That was easy. I was already doing that, but I did it more intentionally and not out of. Disapproval of my body. Oh, I got to work out because I can't stand it and you know, I need to be in shape and I'm not and I need to do this, but I did it with more intention of. I want to keep myself fit and healthy to take care of my family and my and for myself and you know to show my brain and to show my mind that my behavior matters and this matters to me. So was that was I'm think I'm missing something. Oh, conscious recall. So you in your journal, you write down something that happened in the last 24 hours that made you laugh or smile or feel good, bring joy brought joy to you.

42:25And the beauty of it is your mind doesn't know whether it happened 20 hours ago or it's happening right now. You know, like athletes use this all the time they visualize they feel it. They see themselves doing it. They feel the joy of winning. They feel whatever they're you know what they want. So your mind's like, oh, okay, you're going to bring this more to her. She's real. This is these things are really important to her. So with the appreciation practice, you're trying to balance out that default mode that we're all born with right danger warning or something going on. We want to keep you safe and alive. You've got 20 emails in your inbox. You've got this. You got a project to the kids are saying whatever it is like. And it's there to keep us safe and alive and okay, great. Thank you, but I don't need to hear that right now. So the appreciation practice, change your brain to look for more and more things to appreciate. It sort of balances that out. So now what I do too, I have a lip balm that I use constantly and every time I pick it up to put it on.

43:31I think of something new to appreciate and I tell people this is great to do with your kids because it just brings more joy to them too. And even though we may have challenges in our life, there may be struggles. We may have a sick child that disabled child. There's always something something to appreciate. And when I started, I was just happy that my coffee maker had a timer on it in the morning. I got came downstairs and I coffee sitting now on my counter like I appreciated that right. I appreciate running water and a dishwasher and a beautiful home. There's always something to appreciate. So I started with those five court things because they were scientifically based. You know, my from math brain, my science ish edge needs to know that. And then I as I went along and learned from different practitioners and read books, seminars and things like that, I learned more things to do. So I probably am up to 10 now things that I do. My morning power card, I give myself a high five in the mirror. And I have a nice little bedtime story to tell myself at night before go to sleep.

44:43And I perceive the world in a different way because 90% of your long term happiness is predicted by how you perceive the world and perceive what you have not what you have. So by that, I mean, okay, so let's say it's COVID and we're home and we're all thinking it stinks and this really sucks and I can't stand this. I can't see anyone in my house and this, that any other thing. So we did feel kind of crappy for a couple of weeks, but then I was like, okay, wait a minute, wait a minute. There's a reason I'm doing all this work. I can see my kids almost every day because they all came home, right? I didn't have to run around at Christmas time with 15 different parties to run around to. It was really a beautiful calm Christmas season. I organized my marketing files. I got emails and addresses from most of my clients to send them swag to their homes. We got organized and decluttered and I learned more about Feng Shui and how to add that energy to my home. Like there were so many good things.

45:50Now I look back on that time and I thought it was great. Sorry, it worked for me because I shifted my perspective on it. So my perspective of the world is shifted and different. So I look at things now as happening for me, not to me. And sometimes when you're in the middle of a storm, that's not an easy thing to do and I totally get it. And when I'm in the storm of something challenge or upheaval or Craig not having a great day, sure. I feel it. I feel the angst, I feel the worry, I feel that fear coming in. Okay, I'm going to sit with this for a day or two. I'm going to breathe through this. And I know it's going to get better. An idea will come to me and either a new method, a new doctor, a new calming thing for him, whatever it might be, he's going to get through this. So, and then I think back and I can think of many examples of things that happen or challenges that came up. I'm like, oh, that was for me. Not to meet.

46:55Can you give us an example of one that comes to mind? I had a business one. We had a very large client that was our number one client. We were their number one vendor. And then we weren't. We became their number two vendor for whatever reason. I don't remember why. I think it was because of some kind of language thing. And this other vendor could speak many languages. What happy for our swag business? So I was like, oh, eh, well, okay, number two, well, whatever. And I was like offended and hurt and you take it personally, right? When it's your self-employed and it's your business. So, okay, whatever, six months later, we garnered another client from a friend of a friend. It was bigger and more abundant than the one that passed us by. And I thought, oh, okay, that's why that happened. I wouldn't have been able. We wouldn't really have been able to do both. We would have had to like restructure higher more people, figure things out.

47:57And this new client that came in was wonderful, wonderful. So now I see why that happened. Yeah. Do you think that's what's most things? Regardless of how horrific or dramatic or traumatic they can be. And then when we get on the other side of it, most of us say, that was awful. I don't want to go through that again. And yet here's how I benefit it from it. I think that is true for most things. I think that's really hard pill to swallow for most people to hear that. I do when they're in the middle of it, especially. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I agree. Is fear actually louder than intuition or have we trained our minds to operate that way? For me, fear was way louder than intuition. I didn't even know when intuition was. I probably did it as a kid. Maybe I did as a child.

48:58I can remember when I was six years old playing in my front yard and my aunt was there. We were waiting for like the fireworks of Fourth of July to come on or some for some reason we were in our front yard. And we had a conversation where she said to me, oh, Laurie, you're the worry warden family. I was six. And I really was like, wow, I guess I am a worry warden family. So guess what I was? All of my life, the worry warden family. So I'm proud to say that I'm a recovering worry ward now. So you were as a badge of honor as a six year old. Oh, I'm like, oh my gosh, be careful what you say to your sweet little kids. I guess as the moral of that story. That's a great example to Laurie of thoughts don't have a meaning until we give them a meaning. So your aunt saying that to you was probably not meant as a compliment. I mean, it may not have been meant as a dig.

49:58It may have just been a state man turn observation on her part. But you took that as, oh, this is a good thing. Yeah, great example of that. So my that undercurrent of worry and fear that I sort of had growing up or. I'm going to happy childhood. I have great high school friends to this day. I had a great happy, you know, college life and family life. But there was always that little undercurrent that undercurrent. So I was always listening to the fear and the worry and not the intuition. For me, the fear was much louder. How is it now? I think the intuition is stronger. And my heart is so much lighter now. So the fear would sit right here. I don't feel that anymore. So I'm open to, you know, those ideas. I guess I is if we are calling intuition, the ideas that are flowing to us.

51:03I'm more open to those. Is the intuition like, oh, I'm going to go call this person. I listen to that now. So if I, if it's, oh, call Sue. I call her. I never would have, oh, I'm too busy. Oh, I got this report to do. I would have just blown it off. But now I do listen. And I listen to those thoughts that come in. Which I think is intuition. Yeah. When you're training people how to do that too, which is a new concept for most people. And do you believe that most people don't understand that we all come in with the hardware of intuition? And being able to receive guidance from spirit. They just have no clue. Because to your point earlier, we aren't taught that. Nope. No, we are not. So we just did a presentation yesterday to a corporate client. Well, here's the reason I wanted to do this.

52:03I want everyone to know this. I didn't know this teenager. 20s, 30s, 40s. I want everyone to know this information. So that's why we started the program. That's why we started the website. That's why we started presenting back in the day in like 2014, 2015. I had friends that had like sales teams. Remember the jewelry at home jewelry stuff and all of that make up stuff. Can I come and speak to your next sales meeting and just talk about this? I wanted to get better at it. I wanted them to know. I wanted to teach it so I could get better and better at teaching it and explaining it to people. Because I was like, wait a minute. No, no, no, this is free. These are simple. You can change your life by doing things to raise your vibration. And I just wanted everyone to know. I just because I was, I guess I was a little annoyed that I didn't. Well, and then that helps you develop your program that you're taking into bigger corporations now. Yes.

53:03You believe after everything that you've witnessed, not only in your own life, but also in working with corporate clients and others. Do you believe that your mindset can really change an outcome? Or is that just spiritual, wishful thinking? I'm not sure that my mindset can change circumstances. But my mindset can direct how I respond and direct how I attack it. But I'm not sure it changes the circumstances. Does it change how we look at the circumstances, which in fact changes the circumstances? I would say it depends on the circumstance for me, but after it's over and I've gone through it, then my mindset, yes, will change my outlook of the circumstance.

54:06Yes. Some circumstances we just have to go through. Some experience, I believe we just have to. I agree. It's been my experience that if we can stay out of fight or flight, we can already in our brains. Yes. And we can maneuver through all those prickly circumstances more easily. Yes. Would you agree with that? Yes. Absolutely. That's the point. It's not that my life is a fairy tale every day and I don't have struggles and challenges. Oh my gosh, not at all. The point is to help me work through them, live through them, deal with them, live a joyful life anyway. You know, I like to think of myself as a rational optimist. My head is not in the sand. I remember one day someone called me a polyanna. I'm like, well, time out. Polyanna had her head in the sand.

55:07Excuse me, I have an advanced math degree. Exactly. Like, no, no, no. You know, I have a child with a disability. I understand there's stuff going on in the world, absolutely. But I choose to be here anyway because my energy is attached to your energy, is attached to my family's energy. If I'm in the ditch with everyone else, how about helping my community, my family, my world? I'm not. You know, the tide raises all boats is my belief. And if my energy is better and more compassionate and more loving, it helps everyone. So I'm not ignoring anything, but I choose to live this anyway. So if something is so funny too, because Cam, my youngest, is in broadcasting and he's out there and he's very, you know, a voice person of going, if something happens in life, that he thinks I need to know, and he knows I don't watch the news. Like, when Prince passed away, mom, did you know, Prince, you know, like, he updates me.

56:09So I say, okay, I'm informed, but I'm not inundated. I don't inundate my life with music ever, ever. But I'm informed because how can you not be? People talk about it, you know, you know, it's going on, but not inundated. Right? Yeah. Why do simple daily practices work when complicated ones often fail? Ooh, that's a good question. Maybe, I think maybe our brains just need to take it step by step. Give me an example of a complicated one. So a simple one was those five that you were talking about when you first started working on your program, a complicated one may be meditate for an hour. Do go to the gym, meditate, go to the gym, do a salt bath, all these other things. And people were saying, yeah, I'm going to do that, I commit to do that.

57:11Well, New Year's resolutions. And I eat this way, I'm going to work out every day, I'm going to do all that other stuff. And if they last for a couple of days or maybe even a couple of weeks or a couple of months, but then health club memberships always fall off after the end of January. I have people who have their New Year's resolutions. Whereas you said, okay, I think of three things that I'm grateful for when I wake up in the morning. And then I write them in my journal. Right, I don't make New Year's resolutions. Like I'm already living. Did you use to? I really know. Well, like vision boards and New Year's resolutions and you know, all that kind of stuff that we're taught, the affirmations, look in the mirror and say, you know, I love you, you're wonderful. You're going to, you're going to earn a million dollars this year. And then you don't take any action. That's the missing link with the affirmation deal, the whole secret deal.

58:12I don't know what, 30 years ago or something and people said, well, I'm doing all my affirmations. I'm seeing, well, if you take an action, what have you done? Action's the key. But, but the simple things that you espouse are doable. They don't take hardly any time. They're easy to make a habit. And you're seeing amazing results from people implementing those into their lives. Right. So if you take out the 30 minutes of moving your body every day, when I mean moving, dancing, gardening, cleaning your house for 30 minutes for crying out loud, you know, whatever you're walking, you know, if you take out the 30 minutes, the other things take about six. Okay, five minutes of meditation, maybe five minutes for the others. Okay, four or five. Okay, so maybe 10, 10. Well, let's say 10. I think we're all worthy of 10 minutes ourselves in the morning.

59:13And then that's going to give people, and I love your take on this, Lori. That's going to give people the wherewithal to get creative. What just came into my head, you're going to love this, is put on some kind of dance and music. And when you're folding your laundry, dance. You know, act like a fool in your own house. Nobody's going to see you. It doesn't matter, but what are you doing? You're moving your body. You're getting exercised. When you're doing the dishes, I saw a video one time on social media of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, and they were doing the dishes at Heat Wash and Sheed Dry. And then she'd be dancing through the kitchen and she'd go put them away in her cabinet. So we can get creative and multitasking. And that's coming in for heaven's sakes. All women are experts at multitasking. It's a female superpower. Right. And it's once we get into that mindset of we can make changes.

1:00:13And they don't have to be complicated. I don't have to get in the car and go to the gym and find a babysitter for my kids. Dance around the room with your kids. Right. Well, that's probably why that resolution doesn't work. Okay, I've got to get out of bed. I'm going to put my equipment on. I've got to get the yoga pants on. I don't like the way I look in the yoga pants. Oh, and then I got to go to the gym. I got to go to the class. Then I got to get back home. That's a lot. So that's complicated, right? Well, Ali Akram, A-L-I-A-C-R-U-M, has a TED Talk on YouTube. She talks about the placebo effect. They took chambermaids at a hotel that were cleaning rooms and told them, this job, this movement every day that you're doing is exercise. I read about calories. Yeah. And this is, you know, you're going to lose weight doing this because your burning calories, you're exercising, think of each thing as a bicep curl. And then you're doing this and they did.

1:01:14Or the control group that they didn't say this to did not. But this script that saw it, okay, yeah. I'm not at a gym. I don't have to yoga pants on in my, you know, cool little sneakers. But man, I'm moving and I'm doing, I'm using my muscles. I'm strong, intentional movement. And they all lost weight and lowered their blood pressure. And so many other little things was the placebo effect. Right. We can do that. There's days when I'm like, okay, I'm going to take the next 30 minutes at a vacuum. Dust. Hold my abs in and I'm just going to move and do this because I care about my body and my fitness. And I'm just going to do this now. It's not very complicated. I just start moving. So how do we consciously create? Just with the her thoughts. What's is, do you have a mechanism or a road map of easy steps of how we can each one of us can consciously create in our lives?

1:02:17I think I think by we want to reduce the stress, anxiety, fear, the worry, because that's blocking everything else. That's blocking the ideas that are coming to us. So if we're consciously knowing that we're first of all, I didn't even know I was living in all this fight or flight. So if we can consciously say, okay, I do want to reduce my fight or flight. I do want to live in a more parasympathetic, which means calmer, more peaceful. It's, it's where your mind is open to those ideas. So you're going to make that conscious decision to do that. Then you're going to earn or more in your life because your going to those ideas are going to flow to you. And let's say you, you know, you do want to sell a million dollars this year. The ideas to get you there are going to come. You're going to take, you're going to take conscious action to, for the next step, because something's going to occur to you.

1:03:19And you're like, oh, yeah, I'm going to go do that. I'm going to put my email list together. I'm going to start making phone calls. I'm going to get my swag and start shipping it out and mailing it to people. I feel like the fear, the worry, the doubt has to get dissipated first. So that you can be open and feel it and open to the ideas and to, and to know that. That love consciousness, God, the universe, whatever you want to call it is always all around you. And they're there to help you. You just have to ask. I was not consciously aware of that at all. So if things are always working out, how would you trust that? Well, I think we can look for examples in our life and say, oh, yeah, that didn't work out. Oh, yeah, that ended up working out. Well, that was good. That was a good thing. That's a hard one at first. So I have a little card in my, on my dashboard.

1:04:23I have to find out to show it to you, but it's written backwards. So when it reflects in the win in my windshield, it says things are always working out. Yeah, it's been there for years. And at first, it's like, okay, fine, I'll put it there. Did I really believe that at first? Maybe not. But then I thought, okay, if I believe that things are happening to me, to teach me something that are happening for me, then they are going to work out. And I've got to get through this storm, breach of this storm. Know the ideas are going to come. It takes time. Everybody's different. And it's practice the muscle you have to, you have to. I agree for somebody stuck in negative patterns. What's the first small shift, easy small shift, like you were talking about before, that reconnects them to peace, possibility, and their inner power. I'd say if they could, if they had two minutes in the morning, because parents are busy, life's busy, especially with full time work, this is the, the presentation I did yesterday and someone asked me that,

1:05:31Lori, I'll give you two minutes. What do you want me to do tomorrow morning? I said, I want you to do. I want you to have a little card on your nightstand that says something wonderful to yourself. Hey, great to see you today. You're looking great. Whatever, whatever your ego will accept, right, that you're not just going to be like, that's not true. But something kind of nice, pick up that card, read it to yourself. I want you to walk into the bathroom. I want you to look at yourself in the mirror, right in the eyes, and just give yourself a high five and say, whatever happens today, I can handle it. I'm strong. Look how far I've come. Look at where I am today. Now, I will say, and I told her this, when I first started doing that and looking myself in the mirror in my eyes, I couldn't even do it. It took me the longest time just to feel comfortable looking at myself. So don't be afraid if you're like, yeah, so just give it a second and give yourself a high five and say something kind and nice. So that took about 16 seconds. So now I've got another minute, you know, and 45 seconds for you.

1:06:32So when you walk into the kitchen and you pour your coffee, I just want you to think of three things that you don't even have to write them down writing them down is great. It means more when you write it. But just think of three things you appreciate. I appreciate that I have this great coffee maker and this beautiful mug that I love. It's heavy and a great handle. I appreciate that I got a good night's sleep. I appreciate that, you know, my husband got up and did the dishes this morning. I appreciate that. Oh, you're two minutes. Actually, that was probably less than two minutes, but there's your two minutes. Do that. Start teeny tiny small and see what happens. And what will happen? What has been your experience when you teach people to do that? What do they come back and tell you six months later? Well, I say, can you give it 21 days because science has shown that something becomes a habit more likely when you're in a relationship with someone. More likely when you've done it for 21 days. So I want it to be like, you can't leave your house without brushing your teeth.

1:07:35I want this to be the same thing. You can't move on to the next thing until you thought about yourself, said something nice, and done your appreciation. That's what I want for you. And people that do that do feel lighter. They do feel better and they're ready to go, okay, okay, well, okay. I bought into that. What's the next thing? What's the next thing? Baby steps. And then what's the outcome that you see after them doing it say for six months to most of your clients say, oh my goodness, I just can't believe how much better my life is, how much better I feel, how much more focused and I feel like I'm on my path now after these different simple steps, as you call them. Well, it's different for everyone, but the one thing I love to hear most off that I hear most often that I love to hear most often is I'm not so reactive. I'm not so snarky to my coworkers or my husband or because mainly women I work with or my child's teacher because a mad that whatever happened, like I find that I'm more patient and kind.

1:08:50And I don't like my reactivity is lower. I'm not probably because the fears lower and the worry we get reactive because we're fearful that something isn't happening the right way. So years decreasing calmness is coming. And that's everyone wants them because they want to feel better. So we start there with feeling better and feeling later and having up a lighter heart. And then we add on, okay, so now we're going to try to manifest things that you want. And you know, those ideas are going to come to you. And when you are in a more joyful state. On average, you're 31% more productive. So if you're 31% you didn't even have to do anything, but have a higher vibration and you're 31% more productive. You don't have to think about how much more you get dung during the day without doing more. You're just your sense of being is better so you get more done.

1:09:50Yeah, super. Yeah, I agree. Last question, why do we incarnate? Wow. Well, probably because our souls need more. Maybe not need more. Want to do more or want to do more work or want to learn more lessons or want to teach other people more lessons. Great answer. You're extraordinary. The storms that you've been through with Craig, your son, and also Amanda, your daughter, not to mention the business storms and all of that. And that that has led you to develop this program not only for yourself, but now you're sharing it with others as it is just remarkable. Thank you. And I am so impressed with the outcomes that you're getting from the programs and how you're taking them to all these different organizations and companies.

1:10:56You're just spreading the simple steps for us to create a life of purpose and joy. And it's really been a remarkable journey. It sounds like for you and you're just really kind of getting started. So it's going to be fun to watch to see where it all goes. So kudos to you, girl. How can people learn more about you in your work? Sure. Our website is positive activity dot net. And our emails are there. We answer everything personally. I'm on Instagram. It's Lori A Rogers, positive activity. And I love connecting. I love talking this subject. I love my interviews that I do. I love spreading the word, especially for spelling and other non speaking young people. I love talking to them about how they can help their own children. Really, that's what brings me joy is to advocate for these kids.

1:11:59Well, and in helping your child with all these different programs, you're a great example of how your child will help you in return and has the capability. And every child does whether they have a disability or not, where we think we're supposed to tell them what to do, but every generation comes in smarter than the next. I always laugh when I see a two-year-old who knows how to use an iPhone way better than I do. And they're not even talking in sentences yet. And I think that's a great example of how I agree to it. They all come in, smarter than the next. Spent time with a toddler who is poor, pure, love, joy, curiosity. They don't care if they're upset, they scream and cry two minutes later again, they're playing with their dog. Okay, that's the way we were. We will like that. Love, joy, fun, kisses, hugs, run to the next thing.

1:12:59That's what we were. I love spending time with toddlers. Yes. Absolutely. So everybody that's watching and listening, if you picked up even one little nugget of something that you know will benefit your life, if you integrate it into your life, please take a minute and share this episode with your family and friends. Because I believe everybody can benefit from a lot of the different tools that Laurie shared with us today. And just let's help each other, especially if you know somebody that has an autistic child and is just at their widths end, just hearing Laurie's story and how she took all that heartache and turned it into something really productive that helps other people. Please share this with all your family and friends and those, you know, who you believe can benefit from it.

1:14:03So in the meantime, sending you lots of love from Soweto, Malabama, and from New Hampshire, too, where Laurie is. We'll see you next time. Bye everybody. Bye-bye. Thanks for joining us. Be sure to follow Julie on Instagram, YouTube, and all social media platforms at Ask Julie Ryan. To schedule an appointment or submit a question, please visit AskJulieRion.com. This show is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be medical, psychological, financial, or legal advice. Please contact the license professional. The Ask Julie Ryan show, Julie Ryan and all parties involved in producing, recording, and distributing it. Assume no responsibility for listeners' actions based on any information heard on this or any Ask Julie Ryan shows or podcasts. If you're anything like me, you're always looking for clean, easy ways to nourish your body. That's why I'm such a fan of paleo valley.

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