Do you listen to all the experts on podcasts and think no wonder they're experts? They're awesome. They're smart. They're stop right there. You're awesome. You have a story to tell, and there really is no one like you, fellow normal humans, Dalia Ramahi and Jordan Drayer share what they've learned in hopes of inspiring you to find your unique voice. This is the blooming voices podcast. Go to bloomingvoices.com for more information. Now let's get to it.
Hi guys. Welcome to the blooming voices podcast. I'm Jordan Drayer.
And I'm Dalia Ramahi and we are so excited to have you join us today. Today, we have a very special episode. We're going to be talking about RAS the reticular activation system,.
RAS. mm-hmm <affirmative>. This is something everybody has, and you've probably witnessed this in, like, have you ever learned a new word? And then suddenly it's like, you're seeing that word everywhere. Mm-hmm <affirmative> yep. Yeah. That's one simple except explanation of what is this system?
Yep. The RAS is a part of the brain and it's like a little, a literal physical part of the brain. And it is used to filter out all that unnecessary information that you take in all the stimulus you, we take in so many forms of stimulus every day. So much information that our brain can't possibly like, we wouldn't be able to function if we just allow the sheer amount of info that we get into our brain to try to be processed. So what this.
Is also, yeah, it's also like why you stop smelling? You become smell blind or whatever they call it. Like, because your, your brain doesn't need to process that anymore.
It becomes automatic. There are certain things that become automatic. And, and by the way, this goes for our thinking, and this is where we're going with. This is that the RAS is also used to help us with our thought processes mm-hmm <affirmative> and filter our thoughts out. And, uh, the point of the RAS is to filter out anything unnecessary, anything that does is not relevant to your reality as it currently exists. And that means all the good things, all the bad things. It's literally a filter mechanism. It's a bundle of nerves in the brain stem mm-hmm <affirmative> and it's used so that, oh, when, when information comes through your, all your different senses, oh, we need to process this and filter it through, oh, we can just push that aside.
We don't need this information. It's why people sometimes also say selective hearing or why you can, uh, focus on some things.
And the best way to explain this is like what they all say on the internet, which I'm sure you've seen and experienced yourself. You're interested in buying a car, experiencing something new, whatever it is. You want a Jeep Wrangler and the color, or you want a red car. And then all of a sudden you're driving and all you see are red cars, or all you see are Jeep brainers. Yeah. It's because your brain, now you have told like, your brain understands that this is important information Uhhuh. So whenever it sees anything relevant to that information, it's gonna filter it through to your conscious mind.
So you're gonna see it and process it. If you are interested in silver cars or whatever, then that's what you would see. Or if you say I absolutely hate red cars, guess what? You're also gonna see red cars. Mm-hmm <affirmative> because now you're so focused on it because it's something that you hate. So my point is, it's not a good thing, a bad thing. It's just a neutral thing. We're the ones that assign emotions to it. But even if like, you know, say, you know how they always say, stop saying, don't focus on the things that you don't want. <laugh> yeah. It's ironic. Cuz that's like stop focusing on the things you don't want because when you focus on the things you don't want, you're also bringing them to you through the re particular activation system, the RAS that's how powerful it is.
Yeah. This I'm on looking at a website, life exchange solutions.com, but it says the reticular activating system is there to keep you alive and sane. And it does that by trying to automate your behavior as much as possible.
Yep.
So this is something that like, this keeps you in your comfort zone because it's easy. It's like, okay. I learned the new thing. I learned how to drive a car. Now, now it's easy to drive a car and it's nothing new. And um, it, this is what you're comfortable with. But so the red car thing too, it's like, oh, I gotta look out for red cars. There's something special about red cars. And then this is all you see and it's all your brain pays attention to cuz it's like, okay, red cars. That's what we gotta pay attention to. And like it doesn't, it makes you kind of blind and yeah like automated against noticing other things.
Well, so like for example, and this goes to our thought processes, right? We are what we believe we are mm-hmm <affirmative> not what we say. We are not what other people say we are. We're none of those things. We're only what we believe we are. So your reality is literally being constructed every day, based on what you believe about yourself, about your environment, about the people around you and your RAS will be used to show you evidence of that. Your RAS is there to support you in living and surviving.
And so if, for example, now we're gonna get into more of the, uh, emotional and profess personal like development stuff, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative> the spiritual stuff. For example, if you believe truly that people are, are there to use you and out to hurt you and that nobody can be trusted, then your RAS will filter into your life experience.
Only those people that show you evidence of that. The people that hurt you, the people that, uh, are, are not to be trusted. The people that will cheat you, that will, uh, be mean to you because that is what your core belief is. You have a belief that, that is what, so your res is showing you evidence of that because apparently you think that that is important to your survival, whether you realize or not that's what limiting beliefs are you, your limiting belief is, is there to help you survive. Mm-hmm <affirmative> now not limiting beliefs are there to protect us from experiencing whatever trauma or experience yeah.
That we didn't like. And at some point in the past. And so we developed these subconscious beliefs and these subconscious beliefs drive what we consciously think. So your RAS is constantly filtering through information about your life experience based on those subconscious beliefs.
Or it prevents you from really like, here's another example. It says, if you, if you believe I don't like to exercise and you, you really believe that because some people will be like, oh, I can't be an electrician or, or whatever. They'll just say that kind of thing. It's like, so I don't like to exercise. Then you're gonna have a hard time, like finding an exercise routine. And even if you have any successes in one, you'll be like, eh, it was nothing. Or like, oh, it's nothing big because I don't like to exercise. Like may, maybe you actually walked 10 miles or something. And other people will be like, wow, good job.
And you'd be like, yeah, I just had to, or I just had to walk whatever. Like I don't, I don't like exercise. <laugh> it? It will keep you down. Like, because you.
Believe well that's yourself. Exactly. That's the limiting beliefs. Yeah, exactly. That's perfect. Because if you say I can't, then you can't, you either can, or you can't, you choose. And that's just the simple reality. You either can do something or you can't do something mm-hmm <affirmative> now you can try to do something and fail at it and improve. Absolutely. You can also do that. But that deep down belief, like when my niece is when my niece, um, or my nephew say, oh, I can't do this or I'm gonna suck at it. I don't like then. Okay then that's true.
I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna pretend because I can't change. I always remind them. Nobody can change what you believe about yourself. Only you can change what you believe about yourself. You're the one that decides your own thoughts. I know I was, nobody.
Is kids.
Too program control. Nobody's putting a remote control. There's no remote control to your brain saying, oh, I want Jordan to think this thought today. Mm-hmm, <affirmative>, you're responsible for your thoughts. Now that said, we gotta cut ourselves some slack and grace and know that our life experiences are a big part in shaping what we believe about ourselves. So you gotta do your shadow work. You gotta dig deep and really confront your limiting beliefs. What? So for example, if you say, I can't do this, why is it? You can't do this? What is really driving it? Is it fear of success? Is it fear of failure?
Is it fear of not being, uh, validated by other people for trying? Do you know what I mean?
Yeah. These,.
Those are the core beliefs you gotta get to.
Yeah. Cuz even believing like, like I'm afraid of people's anger. So like, I feel that I'm moving past this, but this is, so this is where I was. I mean, okay. I'm just gonna say like, I am afraid of people's anger. And so I think this, this affects me by keeping me out of situations where anybody like it prevents me from speaking sometimes where I'm like, if I say this, like it might sound no at all. Or, or if I say this, this person might get mad at me and I'm not gonna offer my opinion.
And so like that is a limiting belief in a, in its own way. Like, and I, so I keep finding situations like, you know, finding with cooking to.
Marks to.
Validate that. Absolutely. Yeah. To validate that where, because I'm afraid of people's anger. That means I'm gonna encounter so many situations where people are gonna get mad at me. And so I need to I'm working on it. Yeah. But I mean, it's gonna be a while.
And like you said, it keeps us in our comfort zone. It's comfortable for you to have these thoughts because you've lived with them for so long. Yeah. This is part of who you are to challenge ourselves, I think is the biggest act of service you can do for yourself to challenge your thoughts, to question your own beliefs. And I, I'm not talking about like, if you wanna question your religious beliefs, go ahead. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about your beliefs about yourself. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> about why you're living the life that you are.
If you don't like it and why it's manifesting in the way that it is and what you can do to change it right now. And here's what I would do because like I told you, I worked with Tasha Chen and she's this amazing money mindset coach. And I wanted to change my beliefs around money.
Like for better or worse, we all have certain money beliefs and some are taught that money is evil. It's the root of all evil. Literally some are taught that, you know, uh, capitalism is the greatest system and you have the right to make money, no matter what, even if it means hurting anyone to get there, like money is everything, right? Whatever who cares. That's not my point. My point is we all have our own individual beliefs around money. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So I had to sit and dig deep. What is my real beliefs? Like what is driving my money? Beliefs. Why do I, why do I always have just enough?
Never more. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. Or what is going on? So I, I dug deep. I journaled, I wrote out my feelings about money, what my real beliefs were. And I was, I even surprised myself.
So I think journaling is a great exercise to do that. I journaled about how money made me feel and almost everything I wrote about money was negative. And I was like, oh, so I have a lot of, uh, deeply held negative beliefs about money, but it's not the money. That's the belief. It's about myself that I wasn't worthy that I, I didn't deserve success that I didn't deserve to, um, earn or receive success on my own that it had to somehow been given to me or that I needed permission to go. Like I had all these limiting beliefs about my son.
It was so powerful. So for every belief that I had, I wrote a positive belief to counter it. So if, for example, I wrote, I'm not worthy. I wrote, I am worthy of being seen, heard and acknowledged. I am. I deserve success in my own.
Right. I deserve to earn money. I deserve to be have financial, whatever it was mm-hmm <affirmative> so whatever negative belief I had, I, I made a positive one, an opposition to it and I would repeat them. And then I would have set my intentions for the day and look for evidence of my intentions. Like for example, I'll give you something simple. I'm going to receive money today. Like I would say that I'm getting I'm, I'm so grateful. I received unexpected money today. And I look down at some point in my day and I see a penny <laugh> I don't toss that aside.
I'd be like, oh my God, that's evidence of my new belief that that's evidence right here. Yeah. You know, it might not be the amount that you were, you say, maybe you say it a thousand dollars. Who cares, even if it's a penny or a dollar that is evidence that something is coming to you. So you start rewiring your brain, looking for evidence of all the things that you want. Yeah. Instead of, so that's how we start to challenge the RAS in terms of seeing what it already sees by trying to reprogram it and see enforcing ourselves to see evidence of what we want. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?
I know. I love that. So, so yeah, it, it does take these little things, too little, little things to rewire the brain. Like just the same as like, cuz I don't know, wanting a red car, the first thing is imagining you having one. And so that means like you having're seeing all these red cars mm-hmm <affirmative> cause like that's the biggest step will be buying the car, but wanting it. That's an easy step.
Yeah. And you know, that expression seeing is believing absolutely false believing is seeing you gotta believe it first. And when you believe it, you see it. Whether you want to, whether you want to see it or not, you believe first and then you see it. If it's something you don't like, then challenge your beliefs around it. Oh.
You could use that for so many things. Like if you believe people are good, then yeah. You're gonna see evidence.
Absolutely. It's about everything.
People doing good things. Yeah. Like, yeah, you could make that to work towards everything.
And that's what exactly what that's about. And that's where the RAS is such a powerful part of our brain. Because whatever you believe you see, and that's why no two people's life experiences could ever parallel each other or be the same. And it's why, for example, I was reading how they did a study and people were describing foods that, you know, we, for example, we classify words generically to mean something that we can all understand like sweet salty sour, but your salty tastes different from my salty.
Your sweet tastes different from my sweet. We do not have the same understanding of what a sweet actually means because our brain processes it differently. Yeah. That's, what's so incredible. But we have these common words to kind of be like, oh, like an agreed upon communal thing. Oh we both agree. This is sweet, but how you perceive sweet is gonna be different than how I perceive sweet. Isn't that incredible?
Yeah. Like one person maybe very, very sweet. That's their normal suite. <laugh> yeah. <laugh> and, and so when they they're like, oh it's not sweet. And you'll be like, yeah, it's sweet. Like.
It's, that's kind of exactly in the same. So like, just to give you an example, how, when you say walk a mile in someone else's shoes, mm-hmm, <affirmative>, you'll never be able to, but what you can do is listen to them compassionately mm-hmm <affirmative> and understand that you have your own experiences that may somehow, you know, uh, relate to them or that we, we all have, we all have the same feelings, even though we express them differently. And so we can build our compassion, our tolerance and our acceptance for other people in our society and grow our love.
Not just for them, but for ourselves. Do you get what I'm saying? Yeah. And when you decide to do that, you are reprogramming your RAS. You are challenging all those limiting beliefs, but you gotta do the work to do it.
Yeah. Just it's very, like, I would say you have to be disciplined. Of course. Yeah. Disciplined. It's very disciplined work. Cause to be like, okay, every day, um, I'm trying to get over, well, like to go back to the anger thing, it's like people will get angry and that's because of them, not me. And so it's like, I gotta, you know, keep writing and actually one thing I, I thought about I'm working with a hypnotherapist right now. Ooh,.
Nice.
And he mentioned, I don't know, like, but I like the idea of this. So when journaling, like the, the things you want to happen, if you know, cursive, write them in cursive and like, cuz he says, this will go into the subconscious better. And the, if you print that, won't go into the subconscious.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
I don't know why that would be the thing, but like yeah. I think,.
Cause there's a connection between your brain, your coordination of hand and then seeing it on paper. It just somehow registers better than if you were just to type it because typing is also an automatic.
Thing. No, I mean printing, handwriting, printing that. That's why,.
Oh, I thought you also meant like when they say also printing like typing out or whatever, because there's something connecting about, oh cuz the words connect, the letters connect. But I don't think it's necessarily just cursive because when I write, I don't necessarily write in cursive.
Yeah. That's what I mean. That's what I'm saying. Like, like some people don't write in cursive, but so that was his tip. And so for me, I like, no,.
That's interesting. Gonna try writing in cursive, see that's something new for me. So I would try seeing if there's a difference.
Oh. Cause I love writing cursive. And the other thing he mentioned was something powerful about the letter T and that the higher the stem is and where the cross is. Like, that's more self-confidence if you put the cross a little bit higher up. And so cuz most of mine were in the middle and I was, that's just how I learned how to write. But so this may, maybe it's a, um, placebo, but like even if even other studies that show, even if you know a thing as a placebo, you, you improve anyway or people that know the things. It's.
All about.
The mind. Yeah. Yeah. It's about the, so I'm gonna make my tea cross higher. I mean, I'm working on that now. And sometimes if I'm not thinking about it, I, I go back to my middle, middle area of cross, but exactly. It's, it's good.
But, and, and here's the thing. Sometimes you take the action and you know, in another episode we talked about faking it till you make it, which I don't believe at all. Okay. But sometimes you take the action before you're ready before you believe you're ready. And when you start to take the action, your belief in yourself also grows. It's not faking it till you're making it. It's just because you already have that part of you in you. Um, you're just, it's like a baby, a baby. Doesn't start walking when they're ready. No, no. They start when they're able to stand and they start wobbling around until, and they fall a lot and then one day they just get it.
They're not faking it till they're making it. That's, they're stumbling their way through it. And so if you want to achieve something in your life, it's okay to stumble your way through it. But in action will you with in action, you will never know. You'll never get there. That reminds do anything.
I was in some class like a, a TA study class one time. And I can't remember what passage, what this was, but basically it said do and learn. And so we talked about that, like why is do first and why is learn second? And we spent like an hour just talking about that. And it's like, just like them, what you just said, the baby just does, like you do. And in the doing you learn and then you learn how to do it better and you keep doing it and yeah.
And then in a world of, and, and, and to take it even further for your own personal development, you can do be have, or B do have, uh, B do have approach will get you closer to where you wanna ha be, uh, to what you want than a do B have approach a do B have approach is the fake it till you make it approach where you're doing it and hoping that somehow you'll be it, but that's not what we want. You already believe you want that belief. You are holding onto it. So you're already introduced it into your mind. Mm. Right?
Yeah. So you are trying to embody it. You are being it. And in the process of being it, you are doing it. And that is how you will have it. But if you try to do it without believing at all, like, you know, oh, I'm gonna be a rockstar.
Yeah.
And you just start singing. You don't have the belief that like you, like, you don't really want it. You don't really believe it. You know? And so you try to fake it till you make it. You're gonna set yourself back because it's gonna take a lot longer. We are what we believe. Simple.
Yeah. Just like how everybody is, like, take that aspiring out of your I'm an aspiring actor. Yeah. Thing. Like just say I'm an actor.
You're either an actor or you ain't.
Yeah. Okay. <laugh> you're never like an aspiring chef. Yeah. Or, or anything like that.
You're not an aspiring professional. People do not pay people to be an aspiring professional. You either are a professional or you aren't.
Yeah. And you so remember that you can always, you'll, you'll always be a develop. Even when you're the pro of 35 years, you're still developing. So you'll always be a developing professional,.
But you notice pros never call themselves aspiring. They never sell. They never say I'm a developing professional Uhhuh. They call themselves a professional. Because for example, I am a professional voice actress. I would never call myself a developing professional voice actress or an aspiring professional voice actress. I already put my training in. I already believe in myself as a voice actress. And I put myself out there, get gigs. And when I start getting paid for those gigs, I am a professional voice actress. I have a professional setup. I I'm doing all the things that I need to do. Do you know what I'm saying?
Yeah. And in the process I am developing and growing and learning that never ends. So your labels about yourself are so important, but so is your belief mm-hmm, <affirmative>, uh, I can't stress that enough. I will say that over and over again, your belief, it determines the quality and the perceptions that you experience in your reality.
Nothing else. Yeah. Oh, and before we go, I just wanted to say, um, as someone who's experiencing, I'm experiencing chronic pain, um, with my condition mm-hmm <affirmative>. And so I have some good days and have a lot of bad days. Here's the thing. We, I, we already mentioned this, uh, previously another episode, so I won't go into it too much detail, but the RAS can be used to, um, help you with things like pain, pain, management, pain, pain perception. So like I used the example the other day, there was a day where my pain level was like at 12 out of 10 and my body was shaking from the pain.
You know, the medicines didn't work, the exercises, nothing, nothing worked. Right. Um, and, and so my nerves were literally like on fire and I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even sleep. And the only thing my body could do was cry because, and it wasn't like I was crying cuz I was sad or I was pitting myself.
It was a little physical reaction to the pain that I was experiencing, just tears, because that was an outlet. Okay. And so I took deep breaths. I calmed myself down just enough to be able to pick up my phone and be like, okay, you know what, nothing is working. So I just happen to get on social media and, and you know, this is where I think like, you know, also fate destiny, universe, God, whatever you wanna call it. Mm-hmm, <affirmative> the powers that be come in to be like, she's doing her part. She's trying mm-hmm <affirmative> let's help her out. The first thing I see is a puppy video and I love dogs <laugh> and so that puppy video, after I watched it scroll to another and another and another, you know, watching reels on TikTok and Instagram.
And so that gave me the serotonin boost that I needed to relax my brain.
Oh. To relax my body and to calm me down to the point where I eventually just fell asleep and woke up feeling amazing. Oh, because I was not focused on the pain, I was just focused on what I can do. And I focused on my, my, um, health as it it's gonna be not as it was. Do you know what I'm saying? So that's like, when you, when you go ahead read about the RAS, like learn how to use it guys, you can, oh, there's so many amazing things you'll be able to do with your life when you just start to reprogram those thoughts and see evidence of it.
It's so powerful. I love this subject. Okay guys, I'm done. I'm done. I done. <laugh> I just love it so much.
Yeah. Just, that's such a good thing to end on focusing on what you can do and what can you do? You can change your thoughts and, or like, I mean, I could just in going back to acting like it's a long road, you can't force agents to hire you. I mean, not hire you, but take you on. And, but like, what you can do is email the agents. You can make videos for YouTube, you can do talks, whatever,.
And believe in your success. Believe in your ability. You might not, you might not be now in your current circumstances. Yeah. But you believe it enough that at some point it will be there for you. And so you hold onto that feeling of what it feels like to make it, what it feels like for you and hold it into your body. And that will create the momentum for you to start seeing evidence of it. It's such a wonderful process. It's it's beautiful.
So, all right. So yes. Go change your own life. Be your own night and chiming shining armor and or whatever, like the princess who rescues herself, that kind of thing. You can do it.
Yeah. And you know, there's so many beautiful things. My, my quick takeaway here is everything that I just said. So go back and hear it.
<Laugh>. Yeah,.
But also just that at the end of the day, you know, we can have really crappy circumstances, heartbreaking circumstances. It's not your fault, but what you can do is train yourself to see it a little bit differently. Mm-hmm <affirmative> and that is the choice we're talking about is how you choose to perceive the circumstances that you're put in or that you're given. And there's always a, a, a little Ray of light, something that can penetrate deep within you if you want it.
You know? So yeah. I love you guys. That's all.
Yes. All right. So you can find us on Twitter and Instagram. You can email us at bloomingvoicespodcast@gmail.com or you can visit our website at bloomingvoices.com.
Yes. And if you just wanna chat with us more about this subject, because you're fascinated with it, just feel free to contact us. I'd be happy to chat with you for sure. <laugh> yeah.
Thank you. Thank you. We look forward to your comments and likes and everything and sharing and subscribing. So thank you. Thank you so much.
Bye guys.
That's our show. Didn't get enough of the twins? Go to bloomingvoices.com for more information and let us know what you thought of the episode. Twitter, Instagram, email, we've got the works. We'll see you next Wednesday.