Podcast

#456 - The Dose Effect: Small Habits to Boost Your Brain Chemistry, with TJ Power

Today’s episode is one I’ve been so excited to share with you.

I sat down with neuroscientist, author and speaker TJ Power, and we explored something that feels both incredibly simple… and completely life changing.

What if feeling better didn’t require a big life overhaul?

What if the key to more motivation, calm, connection and happiness is already inside you… just waiting to be activated?

In this conversation, we dive into what TJ calls The Dose Effect – understanding the four key brain chemicals that shape how you feel every single day, and how small, intentional habits can completely transform your life.

What I love about TJ’s work is that it comes from lived experience. He’s not just teaching this – he’s lived it, struggled with it, and found a way through it.

And that makes his insights even more powerful.

If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, distracted, or just not quite yourself… this episode will give you practical, simple tools to start shifting that today.

Take a walk, grab a journal, or simply sit and listen… this one might just change how you live your everyday life.

  • Join my workshop - How to Stop Feeling Rushed, and Finally Feel Ahead of Your Life.

As always, I’d LOVE to hear what resonated most with you - so please share and let’s keep the conversation going in the Dream Life Podcast Facebook Group here.    

Have a wonderful weekend …and remember, it all starts with a dream 💛

Dream Life & kikki.K Founder

P.S. If you’re ready for guided support, it's a brilliant month to start with me as your mentor in Dream Life Coaching.

SHOW NOTES:

  • Buy Kristina's book, Your Dream Life Starts Here
  • Buy a Daily Wins Journal.
  • Follow Kristina on Insta and TikTok
  • If you feel it's time to take a leap and invest in you, join:
    • My Platinum Coaching Program where in April our focus will be on Owning Your Mornings and Transforming Your Life - with a Morning Ritual. Learn more here.
    • My Dream Business Book Club here. In April, we'll be reading and learning from:

      The 1 Page Marketing Plan, by Allan Dib. Whether just starting out - or an experienced entrepreneur - this is the easiest & fastest way to create a marketing plan to propel your business growth.

    • My online personal Growth Book Club GROW, April, where we'll be reading and squeezing the learnings out of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, by Cal Newport 

      Learn more here.

  • Dream Life Community Facebook Group: Connect with like-minded dreamers.

RESOURCES:

TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:10] Speaker 2: Hi there, and welcome back to another episode. I am so excited you are here today we're gonna talk about something that I think is relevant for all of us. What if feeling better wasn't complicated? What if the key to more motivation, deeper connection, better mood and real calm, what's already inside you?

[00:00:32] Just waiting to be unlocked today. I'm really excited 'cause I'm sitting down with neuroscientist, author and international speaker. Tj, power founder of Notify and author of. A really amazing book called The Dose Effect. TJ has spent years translating brain science into simple everyday habits, and he has helped over 50,000 people transform their mental health and performance in the [00:01:00] process.

[00:01:01] What I love about this conversation is that he actually started with having some challenges himself, and I love The combination of someone having a struggle and then overcome it and then sharing it. I think that's the knowledge that is the best to learn from. In this conversation, we're exploring the four brain chemicals that shape how you feel every single day, and the small shifts that can change everything for you.

[00:01:29] Ah, can't wait. So get ready. This one is going to open your mind. So let's get right into it.

[00:01:42] Kristina: Well, hello TJ and a very warm welcome. I am so excited to have you because I wanted to have you on the podcast for a very long time.

[00:01:51] TJ Power: Cool. I'm super excited to be here.

[00:01:53] Kristina: Thank you. Thank you. So before we get started, I wanna talk all about you, all the amazing things that you [00:02:00] are doing, perhaps your move recently and all around your expertise and the dose effect, obviously. But before we do, I wanted to ask you one question. Did you have a dream as a kid, something you wanted to do or have or become?

[00:02:16] TJ Power: I did, I had a very strong dream to be a professional golfer, which is, not where I found myself. But, from about seven to 15 years old, I dedicated my life to golf and it was great. And I, got to what might be considered close to the right direction in that path. Path. And then ironically, given I teach all about dopamine addiction and stuff like that, I discovered as a teenager kind of partying and drinking and all these things.

[00:02:40] And suddenly my, uh, my dreams for that path fell away. And I'm not too sad now. I like my career, but that was my original dream.

[00:02:47] Kristina: All right. do you still, play a bit?

[00:02:50] TJ Power: Yeah, I do still play a bit. I've actually just moved to this area called Ocean Shores and there is a nice golf club here. So I walked there yesterday. I might join that golf club and [00:03:00] reactivate some of that childhood dream as an adult.

[00:03:02] Kristina: Yeah. Fantastic, fantastic. We'll do it more for perhaps not the competition so much, but for the enjoyment and yeah. Keeping calm and nature, which I, I don't play golf, but my son actually has a golf business.

[00:03:15] TJ Power: Okay,

[00:03:15] Kristina: a casual golf clothing and, casual bit between kind of surfing and golfing.

[00:03:21] So he, started to play golf and he was like, what is this kind of conservative, clothing? So he started to do some fun. He only, he started when he was 14, so that was very much like back, and now he's 18 and he's growing and it's really exciting. But yeah, I'll introduce you to that as well.

[00:03:36] TJ Power: Yeah, let's do it.

[00:03:37] Kristina: So, you recently, I'm assuming, made a dream come true, moving to Australia. What made you move here?

[00:03:43] TJ Power: Yeah, it does feel like a whole new life for me, to be honest. This current reality I'm in, I only got here about a week ago and now I'm living near Byron Bay and my partner is Australian. We somewhat ironically met on Instagram where I talk about not spending too much of your [00:04:00] time, but we met on Instagram and I, uh, thought she was magical when I started talking to her and decided to fly to Australia for a first date from London, which was a risky thing to do, the risky thing to do a few years back.

[00:04:13] That ended up going amazingly, Georgia. Then came to live with me in the UK immediately after, for a few years, and then 10, 11 months ago or so, we found out we were having our baby. Our little daughter who's now been born called Skylar. And as soon as Georgia told me that this, daughter was coming into the world immediately, one of the first thoughts was, I need to move to Australia.

[00:04:35] And I hadn't actually thought about moving to Australia up until that point where we found out we were having a baby because my business and everything and my lab, everything's going very well in the uk and I actually still think it can continue to do really well. But I was quite set on UK as my path, and then I had this very strong feeling come through me that I think I can create a better, more natural, more aligned, more connected life [00:05:00] for her here.

[00:05:01] And that's what kind of pulled me across.

[00:05:03] Kristina: fantastic. Fantastic. And, um, uh, so, so I never lived in, in the uk, but I grew up in Sweden and lived in a very cold climate. And having moved here, which is 30 years ago now, I. I never regret. It's hard because it's so far away, as you know, but the lifestyle here is just incredible and where you are living, it's just amazing.

[00:05:21] So yeah. I'm so glad you're here. But, um, before we dive into all the amazing things you are doing, I'd love for you to maybe just to share a little bit about your journey. So you, you got into a bit of a, a few addictions and then what did that later, we would love to hear that, assuming that some people might not have heard about your journey yet, and then we'll jump into your amazing book.

[00:05:42] TJ Power: Yeah, so I, I grew up from quite young, with really severe OCD from about six years old. I was diagnosed with OCD. My mom actually didn't tell me I had a diagnosis. I used to come out of school and go to brain training as she described it to me. 'cause she thought if I knew I had it, it might get more intense for me, [00:06:00] which was her personal approach.

[00:06:01] Neurodiversity was very different 20 years ago, and, It meant I had quite a lot of, uh, fear in my mind. I had like a lot of fear that had compulsions and I had this addictive part of my personality growing from quite young where I feel kinda like stressed or anxious. I obviously didn't know those phrases when I was young, but I just felt like dysregulated in my body and I started thinking that, oh, I could eat brown sugar if I feel this way.

[00:06:23] 'cause that made it all sweet. And then eventually, like pretty young, I was smoking cigarettes and then stealing my parents' alcohol and stuff and wanting to party with my friends and like do all that kind of thing. And then that just kind of intensified and intensified. As a teenager, I went through a, a really intense experience of losing five people I was really close to in the space of five years and they passed away and that was just hell, to be honest, to navigate and very.

[00:06:50] Confusing as a young man, like if I navigated that now, I would approach it with a lot more kind of emotional maturity, but I just didn't know what to do with that state. So that led me even further into the [00:07:00] partying. And I kind of built quite an identity around being this kind of cool party drinking kid.

[00:07:07] And then, yeah, about the age of 21, 22, I'd been studying psychology and neuroscience. And I literally was studying the problem I was having. I was doing modules in what's called compulsive behavior, and I was like, wow, I'm, I have a good understanding of exactly what's taking place here, and yet I'm still doing it.

[00:07:24] And then I had just like this big kind of somewhat awakening type moment where I had this big course correction in my life. And I began a new path about five or six years ago.

[00:07:32] Kristina: Wow. That's, that's super inspiring because when you teach, which we're gonna get into in terms of the dose effect, it's one thing to teach it as an academic, but actually having lived it, I think makes it so much more rich. And also I think specifically for, for young people going through similar things, then they can.

[00:07:54] Relate too much better. So I always look at that. So I shared before we had gone on here that I lost my [00:08:00] business. And, I think all those kind of things is, is hard at the time, but then, you know, you went through a really hard rough patch there when you lost, a few close people, et cetera. but then the silver linings out of that, not right in the middle of it.

[00:08:13] But when you get a bit of a distance and look where you are now, living in Australia and you know, this business that you will generate

[00:08:21] here could even be bigger. And I think that's the, the beauty of looking at, you know, not dwelling on the past, but learning from it and then create something better.

[00:08:29] And I don't think there's anything better than teaching other people the path you've been been walking.

[00:08:34] TJ Power: Yeah, I always just want to be honest with my experience in life. I, even yesterday I did a post about AI and I, like many people, you know, started using chat GBTA year or two ago and it came out and I thought, oh, maybe this will help with my business or something. And then I started using Claude, 'cause my brother's in the AI world, and he said, oh, Claude's better.

[00:08:54] So I started using Claude and it seems somewhat quite trivial. It's like, yeah, it's helping me, like write [00:09:00] proposals or whatever it might be, and then. I did this experiment with myself. I was like, I'm gonna just not use AI for a week. I'll just see what happens if you don't go on it for a week.

[00:09:07] Is that even a big deal? And I could feel like a slight shift with some of my tasks in my capacity to like create and think deeply and just like have a bit more like intuitive understanding of what I'm making. And I could feel this almost atrophy and one of these key skills. So I went on social media yesterday and shared just like how I think it's so important that we maintain these skills of being able to think and create and feel.

[00:09:30] And it's really interesting the mixed response because a lot of people, because I'm a neuroscientist, expect me to always just like be perfectly in the solution at all times. like a lot of people have commented, you should have never used AI 'cause you're a neuroscientist. And it's like, oh, okay.

[00:09:42] Interesting. I just feel very called, like I've just shared there about different addictive things, just to share my exact experience. Like I do have an addictive personality, but I also have a deep passion for creating an amazing experience as a human via neuroscience, and hopefully they can come together quite well.

[00:09:59] Kristina: Yeah, [00:10:00] absolutely. And you know, I think, sharing while you're going through things, not an easy thing to do because sometimes you don't know what's up and down. But I do think it's really powerful because, most of us don't have it together. And if we share it, we perhaps could learn from others and also you know, I think sometimes, especially if you, if you have been successful, they think you have it all together.

[00:10:21] And, uh, of course success is, you know, is not the opposite of failure. It's the stepping stone. So you need to, do some, make some mistakes, um, you know, regardless of, of what's scale of, failure or mistakes doesn't really matter. But I think, you know, we need to, we need to have some uncertainty.

[00:10:38] Uh, and that's really what creates. Good character, I think

[00:10:41] as well, because if everything was perfect, you know, I saw someone, um, posted something the other day where you know, most trust fund kids, they don't need to work. You know, we, they get that dopamine from so many other things and then they don't have that perhaps drive to create that dopamine.

[00:10:57] And I, since I read your book, which we're gonna dive [00:11:00] into, one thing that really stuck with me, there was a lot of things that I loved and we all loved it in the, in my book club. But one thing that really keeps coming up for me is to earn dopamine because it's so easy to get that fix from, you know, phones or sugar or, um, you know, anything really that is not earned, like, that's easy.

[00:11:21] And in today's world, with AI and technology overall, compared to when I started my first business, it's like day and night. it's so amazing. And, you know, I, I love creating, I'm creative, but I also love using AI to kind of help me scale things quicker.

[00:11:37] So I think there's a, there's a beautiful combination around that. so I think for, for young people, it's easy or young, it doesn't matter if you're young or old now, it's like never been easier to start a business, but. The, uh, Australian chamber commerce have done a, study recently and unless people are starting businesses and after, because I was presenting, [00:12:00] for them, I was thinking a lot about that.

[00:12:01] And I actually think it's the phones because they, boredom that we often have as kids, but if we are not using phone makes us creative, makes us come up with things like even selling our toys or lemonade or whatever it is, versus now we can all get, we can look at other people's life and almost feel like we are living that life.

[00:12:19] TJ Power: That is a reality so many people are in. And I even struggled that myself like when I, five or six years ago, scrolling the phone loads and just like you get into this like apathetic state where even if there is opportunity in front of you, you don't take the opportunity 'cause you've got no drive left and there's no dopamine molecules left in your brain.

[00:12:37] And it is true there is immense opportunity in this world today, but I do think there's like this modern term of brain rot where you overstimulate yourself to a point where your brain just doesn't seem to work very well is a reality for many, many people. And a reality that potentially could be healed for many people if they had this kind of clear understanding of how their neurochemistry works.

[00:12:57] Kristina: Absolutely. So let's, um, jump [00:13:00] into the dose effect. So let's start with, D for, dopamine.

[00:13:04] TJ Power: Yeah, so dopamine is definitely the most famous of the chemicals these days. I think most people have now heard of dopamine, and it's a chemical that gets somewhat demonized in modern media as to like a bad chemical because you get it from sugar or alcohol, pornography or drugs or social media or whatever it might be.

[00:13:22] And there is truth in that. There is a dopamine energy element there for sure. But dopamine is also important to consider as like a magical chemical that creates all of your drive and your excitement for life. And it's a chemical that evolved over hundreds of thousands of years. In order to help humans put effort into life and all the things we had to do, making fires and building shelters, hunting, foraging, like dopamine was creating this positive feeling.

[00:13:48] It was like, oh yeah, like I, today for example, just moved into this new house. I had to build a load of furniture. I had to build a bed this morning. It was unbelievably complicated to me about two and a half hours to build this bed. And whilst like I didn't [00:14:00] wanna spend two and a half hours building a bed as I was getting into it, when I first looked at the instructions, I thought, oh my God, that's so long.

[00:14:05] I can't be bothered to build that. And then as I got more and more into it, I started to get quite a good sense of satisfaction from building this bed. And then by the end of it, I was showing my partner. I was like, look at this bed I've built. And it felt so good. And that's because, as you described, I've earned dopamine.

[00:14:19] I've put in effort over a few hours, and the reward is like now we have a bed for us all to sleep on for a while. The opposite occurs when we get given dopamine too easily with no effort. So rather than spending two and a half hours building a bed, which is obviously a niche example. If I had spent two and a half hours scrolling on TikTok, I would've had a huge amount of dopamine delivered to my brain, but with no effort, and it would've worn out the engine.

[00:14:43] A bit like if you put a car into kind of, if you have a manual car and you put it into fifth gear and you're driving at 70 miles an hour, the car can work really well, but if you put it in first gear and tried to get it 70 miles an hour, it would just burn the engine out completely and the car would stop working.

[00:14:58] And that's very much the difference. Like [00:15:00] driving, making the bed is very much driving in fifth gear, it's like how it's supposed to be done going on. TikTok is very much like first gear going too fast.

[00:15:08] Kristina: So for anyone who cannot recognize these patterns, and I think, I think in the modern world, most of us do, me included this, not something that I definitely, Especially at night. I feel like that's the one thing that is, you know, when you're tired. So I, love nature.

[00:15:23] I actually walk every morning, I walk down, I live in, uh, in Sydney. So I walk down to the water and I see the sunrise every morning, and it gives me so much pleasure. And then I go for a walk in nature So I have my phone with me, but I don't, uh, I don't listen to anything. And that was not always, a couple of years ago that was not the case.

[00:15:42] But now I feel like, because I feel like I've got so much in my head already, I feel like my ideas comes up when I'm. Out walking, not when I'm sitting in front of a desk bombarded with lots of things. So that's kind of my, my time to create. And then on the way, and then I do meditation halfway, just a, short one.

[00:15:59] [00:16:00] And then I walk back and then at the end I listen to something that is relevant that I wanna learn about. But that's kind of my mornings. But then at night, I work a lot and I love my work, but then by the time it's kind of nighttime and because I'm up so early, I'm really tired, then I feel like that is the time where it is like actually I'm almost too tired to read.

[00:16:18] I always read a few pages before I go to bed, but I'm talking, you know, just after dinner where you cannot, I don't really wanna watch anything. I don't wanna like, I don't wanna engage too much. I just wanna kind of zoom out. And I think that's where most of us reach for that phone. So what do we do when we have that urge?

[00:16:36] TJ Power: Yeah, I think that's so fair. Firstly, that's an unbelievable morning routine that you've crafted there, so respect for doing that. That sounds great. And. I think it's partly like with that specific question, partly about understanding that not all technology affects our brain in the same way and there's kind of better uses of technology and worse uses of technology. I effectively have found [00:17:00] that a phone requires quite significant boundaries. Like, you know, people talk a lot about boundaries with relationships with like moms or partners or whatever it might be. People talk about this boundaries thing. I think phones also have a a similar boundaries construct. And I really feel a phone itself should very much be a tool that enables communication and work and other devices can be utilized for leisure.

[00:17:23] And if you begin to have this frame in your mind, things begin to change. And this isn't about you just have to therefore meditate on the sofa all evening when you want to sew now. But if I lie down on a sofa with my phone in my hand, obviously it's gonna take control and it's just, I'm gonna get stuck in the feeds that no matter how aware you are.

[00:17:39] Once the feed is in your face, you just lose, like, lose touch with reality in a very similar way to, with alcohol, you can go into having like a drink or two with the best intentions and then alcohol can begin to really like take over the ship. And then it's like, oh, actually no, I should just have seven drinks.

[00:17:53] Like, who cares? 'cause it like begin the dopamine begins to run the show. And this evening, for example, like I've had a really [00:18:00] wild few days, moving over here. I would love to lie on the sofa and chill out. Definitely. And hopefully like my little baby will wanna sleep at that time and I can have some rest.

[00:18:08] So then I'll just think, okay, what could I do? And if it is technology, like if I also can't be bothered to read or something like that, if it is technology, what's gonna be a good use of it? And I'll then maybe go on YouTube and I'll see like via an iPad. And I'll think, can I find like a long form low stimulation video?

[00:18:24] Like there's a huge YouTube channel called Outdoor Boys where this guy goes camping. That's like one of the like massive YouTube channels and there's loads of content, there's travel content. It doesn't have to be like educational, it doesn't need to be podcast. It could be something that you find entertaining.

[00:18:38] If there's nothing on YouTube, I might look for a movie on Netflix. I could watch with my partner. I may end up looking for some kind of like sports documentary on Netflix. Those are often quite good, and I'll just find content like that because if it's slower and lower stimulation, it'll still give you a level of relaxation, but it's not gonna burn the dopamine system out and create that feeling at the end of your night like, oh, I can't bother to brush my teeth and I can't bother to do anything because you haven't [00:19:00] zapped your dopamine that hard.

[00:19:02] So I would just say it's like deciding what the use case of tech is gonna be.

[00:19:06] Kristina: yeah. And you, you have been, so I've been following your, um, social media and LinkedIn for a while now, and I see that you and your partner went, I think a month with that technology. How did you go with

[00:19:18] that?

[00:19:19] TJ Power: We did. I wish it was a month. Maybe I will have done that. One day we did two weeks when Skylar was born without technology, and we've regularly done these 72 hour cabins where you have no tech at all for 72 hours. In terms of the two weeks when Skylar was born, it was exceptionally hard without technology, to be honest.

[00:19:40] It was not an easy thing to do. I, uh, had no idea that a newborn baby sleeps for about 20 hours a day. I thought I'd kind of have to be actively doing something all day with this baby. So that's why I set myself this goal. And then in reality, I was like, all right there, sleep all the time. But I've committed to not having technology.

[00:19:57] So I basically had to sit in boredom for two [00:20:00] weeks. But that was good to do. It was, uh, de stimulating and I felt great without Instagram, to be honest, I.

[00:20:07] I have a unique relationship with social media where I really think if it wasn't my career and, and, and if it didn't give me an, a real feeling of service and contribution to the world, I actually wouldn't have any social media to at all.

[00:20:18] I'd almost go in the complete opposite direction and just not have social media. 'cause I loved it. Just like not having so much like other people's information in my mind all the time. But we got through that, that was, that was pretty good. I didn't work for two weeks, which was really unique for me.

[00:20:31] 'cause I, I'm somewhat addicted to my work, but I've, I'm like managing that. And then I don't think that's necessarily the solution is having like two weeks off technology at a time. But I do think we need to become more familiar with doing things where our phone isn't with us at all times. Like, is it possible to.

[00:20:47] Drive to the coffee shop on a Saturday with your partner or your kids or whatever, and leave your phones in the car and just go to the coffee shop. And then if ever there's moments of boredom or standing in a queue or someone goes to the bathroom or whatever, you just gotta sit there [00:21:00] like I think little moments where you just get familiar with like, oh, it's actually okay tonight.

[00:21:03] Have technology on me at all times. That's super key.

[00:21:06] Kristina: Yeah. Yeah, because I think it's, um, as soon as someone walks away, like if they go to the bathroom, if you have a coffee, be like, okay, I'm just gonna, catch up on everything. You know, I might be able to. You know, quickly reply to an email or an instant, you know, a message or whatever.

[00:21:19] so then we always feel like we are missing something if we don't do it. And I think that's why it's so good. What you guys did is like two weeks or 72 hours because it, I think when you're so addicted to it, you don't even notice it. And we have a little rule, for our kids.

[00:21:33] Our kids are older now, but when they were little. and we still have this rule, but, it doesn't need to be mentioned, anymore because they're grown up a bit, but, but when they were little, we certainly had to, and that was to, we don't use phones in the car, obviously, if we need to.

[00:21:48] You know, use a Google map or something like that. But we don't, we, none of us are on the phones, in the car. And it's been such a great rule because what happens with kids in [00:22:00] today's world, and you'll, see this eventually, depending on which, um, you might go completely phone free. But, but it's, in, when I grow up, you had a discussion about something.

[00:22:09] It might be about you know, what the specific city is called in a country that you don't know much about or how many people live in London or whatever. And as soon as questions like that come up in the, in the past, you would discuss it. It's like, oh, I think it's whatever. And I think that now it's like, let's search it up.

[00:22:26] That's the first, that's the first thing that comes to kids. and if you have a few discussions about what's happening in the world. You are on the phone the whole time even like the, the other day when I was with my daughter, my daughter's 15 now, uh, she asked me if I booked something and I said, no, I haven't done that.

[00:22:41] And she said, let's do it now. I'm like, no, we're in the car. and it's been such a good little restraint and we had that for her friends as well, because otherwise when you jump in the car and if you are not part of a conversation, all of a sudden you go on the phone.

[00:22:53] But that's excludes you from their conversation as well. So, good rule to have for anyone listening and perhaps for

[00:22:59] you

[00:22:59] TJ Power: [00:23:00] Yeah, I like

[00:23:00] that one. I've literally never heard someone share that. And when I think back to my childhood, there were good times, like either being bored in a car, having to stare out a window, or like chatting to my dad on the way back to school, back from school, or whatever it may be. So I think. All of the, these are good examples of just like, there needs to be some level of boundary where tech isn't involved in every single aspect of our life.

[00:23:20] Because it is quite easy to literally go from the moment you open your eyes to the moment you shut your eyes on technology, like in some facets like music playing or a podcast playing, or you're literally on the laptop or you're on the, it can basically be the entire day without any break. You take it to the bathroom, like it could basically be the whole day while you're eating your meals and that's just not the best reality for humanity.

[00:23:41] I just don't think it is like, I think it's tough for our brains to have that level of

[00:23:45] simulation.

[00:23:45] Kristina: And also I think that's kinda, you miss out on so many things. Like I feel like you don't see it. And I, you know, I, I travel a lot, so I'm spending a lot of time at the airport and I'm definitely guilty of this myself. And there's also time where we, you know, are working on a [00:24:00] phone and doing

[00:24:00] things that is, is worthwhile, but.

[00:24:02] Basically everyone is looking at their phones and I, I think, uh, even like when I go for a walk and with no phone, and I look at, you know, couple sitting there and both of 'em are on the phone, and of course, you know, there's valid times for doing that, for, you know, finding something out, whatever. But it's become so normalized now that it's, you know, it's not even looked at as a weird thing.

[00:24:22] It's, probably the other way around. Like if you mention something, it's like, what's wrong with you? Versus like, I feel like it's normalized so quickly and it's quite sad, especially for young kids.

[00:24:33] TJ Power: It is. And I believe it's just like one of the greatest challenges humanity has to find an answer to. Like, I think with, especially with ai, ai like AI's really rapidly evolving. And it's funny 'cause about six years ago I started sharing. I really think the world should care about phone addiction. And I was somewhat way too early to start talking about it.

[00:24:54] And people were kind of like, oh, why would you be addicted to a phone? Like, phone's not that big a deal. And I was thinking, I think [00:25:00] we're addicted to phones. And then literally in the last sort of year or so, the world has really suddenly gone, okay, right, phones are addictive. Let's do something about it.

[00:25:08] Yesterday was my first, first post trying to describe the AI is gonna become the next addiction. And it's again, it's too early. And in five years from now, I think many people will be quite addicted to ai. And I think with social media and phones, we are somewhat coming at it too late. It's like we, if we had tried to get really ahead of it, like, okay, this technology's here.

[00:25:25] It's super cool. It has loads of value for us as a species. It's great for our work, great for meeting people, great for lots of things, but also let's learn to manage the addictive element. If we do that with AI as well in advance, it's gonna be a a much better future.

[00:25:37] Kristina: Yeah, absolutely. And I also think that that's, it's one thing for, you know, the older generation that kind of grew up with having seen both lives in terms of grew up without phones in our hands or with social media versus now if their parents are addicted and then the, kids automatically.

[00:25:54] So there's, there's not that contrast anymore, which are, you know, you see really young kids in [00:26:00] prams. That's really sad in my opinion. 'cause they, their parents are probably so addicted. They, they don't even see it.

[00:26:05] TJ Power: I know, and it's, it's just a wild tool because, I mean, Skylar, my little one, she's only three and a half months old or something, and I'll. I know that if I'm lying in bed and I put on a pink Himalayan salt lamp, it's like this little orange lamp. She quite likes it. Okay. Because it's like, it's supposed to be quite good for your sleep rhythm and stuff like that.

[00:26:24] She'll look at it and she'll quite enjoy it. I normally notice it calms her down when I put this little light on and I don't think that's too bad for her for me to put a little lamp on in the bedroom, but I really notice how much it'll get her attention. She like, really, it'll grab her attention, this light and like phones, a huge component of them is they are literally flickering lights.

[00:26:42] That's part of why we look at them so much 'cause they're this flickering light. And it just makes me know that like, if I wasn't aware of any of this and she was really distressed and crying and I was like quite ignorant to any of this information, I could put like a phone in front of her. And even at three months old, I'm sure it would be an effective way to calm it out.

[00:26:58] Of course, I don't wanna do that. I've basically [00:27:00] moved across the planet to try and stop doing that, but I, I can so easily see how parents would find themselves in that situation.

[00:27:06] Kristina: I mean, I see people, you know, they put their kids when they're eating in front of devices and that breaks my heart because I think, kids are using so many devices in schools anyway, and I think at the family table when we're having dinner, should be able to have a conversation because that's part of being social and yeah, it's, uh, we can probably do like a whole series around phones, but let's move on now to oxytocin. What can we do? Tell us a little bit about that and also what we can do to, to use that in the best possible way.

[00:27:37] TJ Power: Yeah, so oxytocin is beautiful. It's the biochemical formula in our body for the experience of love. And love is obviously a great emotion. The love you have for the people in your life, for your kids, your dog, your life itself. And it's something that's very prominent in childbirth and in the whole kind of pre childbirth process and then after birth.

[00:27:59] So many women I'm [00:28:00] sure are quite familiar with oxytocin if they've been through that journey of bringing kids into the world. But oxytocin remains a really integral part of being a human. And it just wants you to feel seen. It wants you to feel safe. It wants you to feel connected to people. And for some people in the modern world, we are like in maybe a bit more of a fearful state at time times, or maybe we don't feel as seen.

[00:28:21] And not to go too much back into the phone conversation, but obviously the phone is quite disruptive with our oxytocin because it's so magical when someone has their really real, like present attention on you and you're talking about something you care about and they're really listening and they're asking you questions.

[00:28:35] Like that's a really like good experience for you as a human. And often that can be somewhat broken by like phones and TVs and things like that. Being in the room, like just as you described there with kids at dinner tables and stuff with the iPads. Like it's, it's disrupting oxytocin. And when oxytocin levels are high, we just feel a deeper love for our experience of life.

[00:28:57] And That's great. That's something we probably all want. So [00:29:00] there are, yeah, we can explore some ways in which we can do that.

[00:29:02] Kristina: so for me, when you describe that especially when it comes from love of life, feel like I get that from nature and that's why I'm kind of almost addicted, to go for my walks and see the sun, because every sunrise is different. There's not one the same.

[00:29:17] And, uh, every morning I'm just like, I cannot, I feel sorry for people who are missing out, but I, and also understand that not everyone can see the sun. And especially where we live, we see it, you know, coming up over the water, which is so beautiful. But when I'm in nature, and that's, I think also I grew up on a farm and, um. As much as I love living in cities, I do crave this kind of nature. And I think, you know, you don't have living on a farm to get that. There's lots of amazing parks and where I live, incredible walks and where you are absolutely amazing. So what else can we do? what can we add?

[00:29:50] TJ Power: Yeah. So that, that what you described there, love and that sense of awe that you could experience in nature is, is really good. And of the areas [00:30:00] that I've been reading a lot about recently is kind of a, a spirituality component of oxytocin. And many people in the modern world are feeling some desire to connect with something.

[00:30:12] They may be already like following like a Christian practice or something like that. And that's magical. Like if you're already in a religious practice, specifically the prayer and the gratitude for what you have and your offer of service and contribution to the world, these are really powerful oxytocin behaviors.

[00:30:28] But even if you weren't necessarily following a religious practice, but you just wanted to pray for your family, for example, 'cause you wanted your family to feel good or you wanted to pray that you wanted to offer contribution to the world. The experience of being in a deeply grateful state is extremely good, which humans have known for a while.

[00:30:45] There's gratitude journals and all those kind of things, but in the neuroscience research specifically, the act of prayer from a spiritual sense in state of gratitude and service to the world is the core of oxytocin

[00:30:58] Kristina: Yeah. I love that. I love that. And [00:31:00] I do, uh, practice. I've been selling and creating gratitude journals forever and still do.

[00:31:06] I love it. And, when we go through, a challenging time, it could be a frustrating time. It could be, you know, time for anger or, you know, what's happening in the world right now with the war and things like that.

[00:31:18] I, I always feel, and I think this is, I've been thinking a lot about this because I think as it's become one of my superpowers is to be grateful regardless of what's happening in my life or around me. Because even if there are some horrible things happening right now, which, which is, um, happening in real life, and also if we individually go through challenging times, could be.

[00:31:41] Work could be business, could be relationship, you know, anything really health. I feel like there's always something to be grateful for. And I have found that the more grateful I am, the more grateful I become.

[00:31:54] And it's such a great state of being because yes, there are awful things right [00:32:00] now, but it's a, it's a really good practice.

[00:32:02] And I, I often talk about that in my keynotes as well and often here because sometimes people think, and I loved your perspective on this, is, that, you know, if you just be grateful, it's almost like positive toxicity or whatever people call it. But I'm like, I don't see it that way because I see it like it's awful what's happening in the world and with the, you know, what's happening in, with the world, with the, with the war, but I can't.

[00:32:26] I can't change the war myself, but what I can change is the people around me and my, my attitude myself. And I feel like the more grateful you are, the more kind you become and the more compassionate you become. And I, I don't think that that's a bad thing. I think that's comes from creating a life that you love.

[00:32:45] And then if you have that kind of effect around you, and then they will do something that they love and then it becomes this ripple effect. And hopefully by, you know, creating something really small, then we make the world a better place in a, together, in a, in a bigger way.

[00:32:59] TJ Power: [00:33:00] Yeah, I share a sim, similar belief. I think influencing the entire global system from a top down approach is. Definitely pretty hard to do. Many people have said to me, for example, why am I not spending my whole time using my platform to try and ban phones or ban social media? And I could do that. And I actually applaud anyone that is kind of pursuing all these different paths.

[00:33:22] 'cause they, they may end up serving humanity in some way, but even if we were to regulate that thing, there's just gonna be a new dopamine source that's not regulated that comes our way, that then creates this. Like we might regulate social media but not regulate AI and then everyone just gets addicted to AI instead.

[00:33:37] So it's like, I actually think it's more empowering for humanity if you work more from a bottom up approach of trying to heal ourselves and those we love and our local communities. And the more people that are capable of managing the modern world, the better this place is ultimately gonna be. And with the news, I think it is similarly, I think it is tremendously sad as to, to what [00:34:00] happens.

[00:34:00] All over the world in in many unique cases. But I don't think it necessarily serves the world to be constantly consuming that information. 'cause I think it puts us into a fearful, dysregulated state that we then transfer to our partners and our kids. Then it puts more and more humans into dysregulation, and that's ultimately just gonna put more pain into the world.

[00:34:20] So I think the more you can actually detach and focus on what's right in front of you and supporting those people in the best way you can, probably the greater

[00:34:27] humanity would feel.

[00:34:28] Kristina: Yeah, I agree. So I stopped. Watching the news a long time ago. and people, you know, they often say, don't you wanna know what's going on? And, and I do, but not in the way that the news are served on television and radio and things like that. But there's other ways of finding news by reading it, and it's not that.

[00:34:46] And from different sources, and I always tell my partner, just tell me something in the morning if I, if I need to know, you know, there's really big global news, otherwise I, I'll catch up on it, but not first thing in the morning. And, it just makes you feel [00:35:00] better. so I run a coaching program and a couple of book clubs and I feel like I'm a much better, coach and, uh, leader compared to if being in that kind of Stimulated by news that you don't even know if it's real. Like you don't, you know, you kind of you know, you can't trust one source. You kind of need to work, work out what's real and what's, um, and what's true. And you know, it's never black and white of course, either.

[00:35:23] TJ Power: I think that's wise. Like I, I think. Big global news will get to you regardless, because like someone's gonna tell you. So it's like you may just not have the apps on your phone and stuff. And then like anything that's super important is gonna find its way to you. And then lots of the little reminders, like even in our Dose lab research training, one of the things is people do seven days without the news apps on their phones and people then get a bit more familiar.

[00:35:45] Like a lot of people, huge numbers of people have, for example, like BBC news notifications, telling them 10 times a day all the different bad things that have happened in the world that like the human brain can't cope with that. It's just that like, we're not built for that level of fear [00:36:00] within our system.

[00:36:00] So yeah, I think it's a wise idea. And, and from a per perspective of oxytocin, this chemical wants us to be making decisions that are loving towards the experience we're having in our life. And this is something I use a lot when I think about oxytocin, for example, after like I, my calls today. My brain may say to me, oh, you could go on the sofa and doom, screw your phone.

[00:36:22] And like that would like feel somewhat good and like distracting for a bit. And I get like a pleasure experience from it. But I also definitely know it wouldn't be the most loving thing to do. Like if I asked myself what would be the most loving thing to do, it'd probably be kind like, spend time interesting with my daughter and then have a bath and then like lie down and chill out and talk to my partner or listen to some music.

[00:36:42] and that wouldn't necessarily be as intensely like distracting and pleasurable, but that definitely would be the more loving thing to do for myself. And often with the ox toast thing, that's what I'm always trying to ask myself. Like, when I wake up in the morning, what's the most loving decision I could make towards myself?

[00:36:56] Not like, what's the most stimulating decision I could

[00:36:58] make?

[00:36:59] Kristina: Yeah. I [00:37:00] love that. I absolutely love that. And I, and, and we can do that in so many ways by especially I think I'm, I'm a morning person and I love the morning, and I think if I get hijacked, and it certainly happens, you know, with my phone, if I check something and then all of a sudden half an hour is gone.

[00:37:15] I feel like that's such a waste of precious time in the morning. And, yeah. Anyway, I wanna move on now to, um, serotonin. Tell us

[00:37:25] about that.

[00:37:26] TJ Power: Yeah, so serotonin is super cool. It is quite different to, let's say, dopamine. They actually operate on a bit more of a seesaw, where dopamine is quite a future. Anticipatory. I want more experience and serotonin's a very present, satisfied. I'm happy with what I've got experience and. To put that into a simple scenario.

[00:37:48] If you think about food specifically, some foods, as you start eating them, they just make you want so much of them that you just need loads of it. And then some foods you eat them and they're quite deeply satisfying and nourishing and [00:38:00] you're enjoying it. It's pleasurable, but it's not making you think I need loads of it.

[00:38:02] Like if someone cooks you a really nice like fresh piece of fish caught in the ocean, you knew it was really quite, as you're eating it, you're probably not thinking like, oh, I wish I could eat five of these fishes. But you're probably just thinking this is quite enjoyable. Whereas if someone hands you, you know, a bag of Doritos or something, you start eating 'em extremely fast.

[00:38:21] And in the scenario where something is quite healthy for your body, serotonin is gonna be being built and you have this like nice presence, satisfying experience in the scenario where it's just dopamine stimulation, it makes you want loads of it. And that can occur with food, with serotonin. Food is an integral.

[00:38:36] Component, but there are other elements that are very kind of satisfying and nourishing for our body. Naps are extremely good for serotonin, particularly if they're like early in the afternoon, not too late in the day to dysregulate your sleep. But naps are something that can be quite restorative.

[00:38:50] Breathing practices, which many people try and interact with are very restorative. You're serotonin and then anytime you are outside and you're getting any form of sunlight [00:39:00] itself or nature, you've got your bare feet on the earth. That's unbelievable for your

[00:39:03] serotonin.

[00:39:04] Kristina: yeah, I can, I can so understand that this one is the one that is so hard for so many people because, you know, eating well, it is, you don't get, it's not like eating a bag of crisps, for example, or drinking water is not the same or having a glass of wine.

[00:39:19] It's just, it's just, very different. But, uh, a very good one for people I think to that are listening that, to kind of practice a bit more. What, what do you think we can do? So breathing was one. What are some of the things, especially when it comes to food, because that's obviously a big challenge for a lot of people, and especially when there are so much available that is fast and perhaps not so nourishing.

[00:39:42] And, um, often sadly, it's cheap as well.

[00:39:46] TJ Power: Yeah, I mean, we're definitely set up for a difficult situation with the food. Like it is hard, it's cheap, fast, delicious, like these things are gonna be very desirable for Georgia. And I, my partner's a clinical nutritionist and she helps us [00:40:00] manage our food. Although I was deeply in the study of food, uh, even prior.

[00:40:03] And one of the things we have is like, we just will not buy bad food and put it in our house. Like we just, if there's any form of like, you know, milk chocolate or unhealthy, crisp, obviously I'm going to eat it. I finish this call, I go eat it right now, like I'm gonna eat if it's in this house. So we make a real effort in the supermarket to just make sure there are snacks, there's cashews and dark chocolate and rice cakes that we could put some peanut butter on and stuff.

[00:40:31] There are snacks that can be eaten when we are needing that sort of quick experience, but they're just not bad for us. So there's that element, like, we just won't buy like snicker bars and Doritos and stuff. 'cause obviously I'll nail them. So there's that element.

[00:40:45] And then for me, and what we see in our, in our data is having a really clear knowledge as to like what ultra processed food is doing inside your body.

[00:40:55] Like how disruptive and dysregulating it is to your, your nervous system and [00:41:00] how stressed you feel. Your longevity. Like I, I've had to somewhat try and like put myself off it because obviously I love it, but I've had to try and create this idea of like liking it less. Like I remember when I tried to change my cleaning products because, you know, loads of cleaning products supposed to be really toxic views you have, try and not use all the toxic ones.

[00:41:19] So I had to try and like study and learn about why it's so bad for me to have those cleaning products. Because obviously in a similar way, the toxic cleaning products are very effective at cleaning things. So then they're very tempting to use and the toxic food products are very effective at making you feel great immediately.

[00:41:34] So there's like a, there's an element of just not putting it in your house. And there's also an element, I think it's so amazing to just learn. Like there's this great book called Ultrapro People. I dunno if you guys have explored that one in your book club. But that book just like completely transforms your relationship.

[00:41:48] It transforms your relationship with the food because it helps you see it all in such a different way. So then you're like. Actually, maybe I don't want it. And that

[00:41:57] can

[00:41:57] obviously really help

[00:41:58] Kristina: I love that. 'cause I [00:42:00] love reading labels and I try actually to buy as little as I can with labels on, because, you know, single sourced food is so much better and then you can combine it yourself. But, I haven't read that. And, uh, we definitely gonna add that to the very long list of incredible books that we're gonna read in, um, in Mobile Club.

[00:42:17] So thank you for that. Let's move on to where are we, uh,

[00:42:22] ends. Yeah.

[00:42:22] TJ Power: Yeah, so endorphins are really cool. They want us to be resilient to stress, like they evolve to help humanity be resilient to stress and. Stress originally for humanity was not so much of a psychological experience, which it is today, where we're kind of getting stressed by, you know, emails and messages in our bank account and the news and these kind of things.

[00:42:43] The modern stresses. Stress was much more physical than mental. It was much more, wow, look, there's danger here. I'm hungry. There's like, it's a physical experience. The fire's gone out much more physical. And whenever we had to physically engage our body out in the nature, the endorphins would [00:43:00] release to help us have some level of resilience to the stress we were experiencing.

[00:43:04] One of the reasons we're getting chronic stress in the modern world is we're getting stressed and then we're not doing what our ancestors did, which was move their bodies. And that's why like people go to a yoga class, they go to the gym, they get in a sauna and they think, oh, I feel a bit less stressed now.

[00:43:19] And it's like the endorphins then came in to support you with the stress you were experiencing and. It just means like, and this is like a big part of this technological lifestyle, is that we have to build frequent movement into our day where we don't kind of sit down at a desk at nine o'clock and then get up at 5:00 PM and we have to find a way to get our body moving or stretching throughout our day to maintain the

[00:43:41] balance.

[00:43:41] Kristina: yeah, absolutely. And it's, um, again, a modern challenge for so many people sitting, uh, all day. And, when we went through COVID, here in Australia and because of the weather is amazing, you can walk even, I mean, you can do that in, in Sweden and the UK as well, but it's definitely easier here.

[00:43:59] Um, [00:44:00] I, I downloaded an app called Social Step And it was basically a competition and a lot of my girlfriends are very competitive, so we all had like a, a step competition, but it's such a good way of, um, adding things and that's why I had a habit, club for a long time because I love a challenge.

[00:44:17] Like I love when people say, do this and it's really hard. I get really excited about things like that and um, and I think that's where, you know, my endorphins is like working really well,

[00:44:28] TJ Power: love it. That's so cool. And that's these sort of goals, steps

[00:44:32] are

[00:44:32] such a central goal.

[00:44:34] Kristina: Yeah. And so for people who are, you know, a job where they sitting a lot or, um, you know, I think we also addicted to comfort. you know, I think me included because we all wanna be comfortable and, you know, when it's raining and cold or, you know, running is, feels really hard. It's, um, it's easy to choose another option.

[00:44:52] So what kind of tips do you have in terms of what we can do to trick our brains to get out and move a bit [00:45:00] more?

[00:45:00] TJ Power: Yeah, I think tracking your steps is a cool one. I think that's, that's a good one to do. I also think PE-people that may be struggling with their endorphins will have this low grade kind of. Irritability and frustration in their system and they might get annoyed at people quite easily and a snap at their kids quite easily.

[00:45:17] And that's like totally like fair to have that irritation in your body. But when our endorphins are low, that's a very pervasive experience that comes through for us. And what I've tried to do, 'cause I get that sensation of course, is try and really tie it to my endorphin so that when I know, like when I think I'm irritated right now and I feel like kind of pissed off and just not good, I'll then no.

[00:45:37] Like my body requires movement. So rather than me having to think, oh, I need to go and exercise because like it's super important to have a six pack or like the doctor says, you need to exercise because it's better for your heart. These things are, can be like somewhat quite elusive to try and motivate you.

[00:45:54] If I just think I am annoyed that I feel irritable and pissed off in this moment. Like I don't want to feel annoyed, I don't wanna get annoyed with [00:46:00] my partner, annoyed with my little baby or whatever it might be. So I'm gonna need to do some steps or some press ups or some squats or just go outside and walk up a hill and walk back down it or run up and down my staircase.

[00:46:10] I'll try and like link that uncomfortable emotional state to the exercise and then know that like, wow, it's gonna relieve that state. And then I'm gonna be able to sit on the sofa and feel some level of peace. And that can then become quite motivating because I think many of us would love to obviously feel less irritable and annoyed.

[00:46:26] And if we could link them together, it could

[00:46:28] really help.

[00:46:28] Kristina: And that's why I always talk about just getting started because even though I love my work, I don't always feel like going for work because if, once I've seen the sun coming up, I'm like, actually, if I, we've got this extra hour to work, or especially if there's some, you know, something that I need to do that's kind of pressing on time, but then I'm like, actually I always feel so much better, you know, to go for that, walk.

[00:46:52] and uh, even though I don't feel like at the time, I think often within, you know, 10, 20 minutes, I'm like, actually, I'm so glad I did. But it takes, I think [00:47:00] that starting is like the most important. and then, uh, often like once I'm out, I'm like, I love it.

[00:47:05] TJ Power: Yeah. And having that knowledge is super important. 'cause it does take time. Like our brain chemistry isn't supposed to be something that very quickly makes us feel good. That's the whole point of it, is it's supposed to be like a slow paced mechanism. And because we are so familiar with how fast the phone can change our state, we're like, we want that in all scenarios.

[00:47:24] So. There is a level of patience to having good mental health, but it's obviously so worth it. 'cause it's lovely to have good mental health.

[00:47:33] Kristina: Yeah. Fantastic. so obviously I'm gonna link to the book Absolutely love, the book. And there was so many, so many things. I highlighted almost the half, book. I use my book with a pen and I've taken lots of notes here today as well. But for anyone who just wanna get going straight away, where, where do you recommend people start when it comes to, you know, we can't do everything all at once.

[00:47:53] what's the first step for people who wants to kind of get in living the dose effect?

[00:47:58] TJ Power: I am gonna give you actually a [00:48:00] new habit in answer to that question. So even those that have read the dose effect are gonna have something that they can do too. That wasn't in the dose effect, but it's something we're going deep into researching at the moment with one of our studies, and it's something that is appearing to be so unbelievably beneficial that many people may have heard of, but it just might not be a super frequent practice for people in their lives. If we think about the general theme of everything we've talked about as humans, we are looking for more time kind of de stimulating away from our phone, more time in nature, more quiet time in our mind, more appreciation and love for our life, more movement. These are central objectives from a neurochemistry point of view. What's very interesting about technology itself, and this frames why we're gonna do this habit, is we have this EMF electromagnetic frequency in our technology. Which is just naturally occurring and our bodies can cope with it to an extent. Like our phones and wifis and laptops, they're met quite strong EMF.

[00:48:58] But one of the really like groundbreaking piece of [00:49:00] research that's been discovered is the EMF 'cause it's such a powerful, almost like gravitational pull towards it 'cause it's so, so dense. The strength of EMF is it's pulling out of our bodies, these things called negative electrons. So electrons are actually getting pulled out of our body and it's actually changing the electrical charge within a human body.

[00:49:19] And it's moving our electrical charge to what's called a negative electrical charge. It moves us towards a positive charge as a human 'cause it's pulling the negative out so we become more positively charged. That actually creates a thing called oxidative stress in us.

[00:49:33] Now people are calling this what's now being termed digital inflammation, where our body is getting dysregulated and it's creating things like more inflammation in the body, more pain, more aches, dysregulated moods, dysregulated cortisol cycles 'cause the body's just out of kilter effectively. Now what's very cool, and this is all gonna make sense, the Earth itself has an unbelievably strong negative electronic charge.

[00:49:59] The reason the Earth [00:50:00] has an unbelievably strong negative electronic charge is because we have lightning strikes hitting the earth all the time. NASA actually has shown that we have 50 lightning strikes a second hitting the earth. We have 4.3 million lightning strikes a day. Those lightning strikes are literally sending electricity into the earth and creating this negative electronic.

[00:50:19] When we as a human walk barefoot on the earth, we immediately begin to absorb all of those negative electrons into our body and it neutralizes our electronic charge. Then our inflammation goes down. The pain in our aches and around our body actually reduce significantly. Wounds heal faster. And very importantly, your cortisol, your stress system regulates.

[00:50:40] So the very simple habit from this entire conversation is gonna be to every day for the next seven days, not have your phone on you and walk barefoot on grass for a minimum of two minutes every day. 'cause that's the base requirement in the data. So that means that you walk to a park and you take your shoes and socks off and you stand there.

[00:50:58] Maybe you go in your [00:51:00] sandals so it's easy to take them off. Maybe you have a garden outside and you can stand in the garden two minutes every day, no phone. And as you walk out there, try and like breathe slowly. Be with the nature. Maybe think about some grateful thoughts, but the central goal is just no technology on you and your bare feet on the ground to neutralize your stay.

[00:51:19] Kristina: I love that. Thank you so much. That I think we can all do that even if we live in an apartment, there's always some kinda park nearby or, you know, land that you can walk on. So thank you so much. That's fantastic. I'll, um, I'll take the challenge on. I love it. I'll record back tomorrow,

[00:51:37] We can talk for hours, but I wanna finish up with a couple of questions. One, what's your morning ritual like?

[00:51:43] TJ Power: Yeah. I've actually got build a new one here because I just like, I don't have my usual park that I used to go to. Currently it is. Wake up and I do a breathing exercise and I always will utilize a, an iPad for the breathing [00:52:00] exercise. So I don't see any of my notifications. I can just go on the iPad and I don't have social media or email on there, so I don't get pulled into anything.

[00:52:06] I'll listen to that. I'll brush my teeth, have my shower, maybe read a few pages of a book, not many, three or four pages,

[00:52:14] and then I'll get my day going. So that's maybe four, maybe. Then I'll check my phone or my laptop, see what I'm gonna do. That's been the last like week going like that. My dream start is to also, in addition to that, have sort of 20, 30 minutes walking outside as well, and then I'll do the breathing outside on a bench.

[00:52:31] But I don't like really overcomplicate my mornings as long as it's. Not got technology straight away and it's got some level of regulating and like moving my system slowly as the day starts and not kinda like panicking as my day begins. That'll always lead

[00:52:45] to a, a

[00:52:45] pretty

[00:52:46] good start to my morning,

[00:52:47] Kristina: Beautiful, beautiful. I think, uh, I've tried so many different things for my morning reach. Morning for me is like, I love, I love it. So I, that walk compared to go to a gym where you have, you know, bright lights and uh, [00:53:00] often loud music and people is like, no, I love, love that slow start so I can, so, understand and where you are living, that additional walk would be

[00:53:08] absolutely

[00:53:09] amazing. So make sure you do

[00:53:10] that for

[00:53:11] sure. starting tomorrow. We literally just moved into our new Yeah. Fantastic. Yes, tomorrow. I love that. I love that. And the other question I have, I'm gonna assume that you are avid reader, because of your interest in in all the things that we've spoken about. So it's a one book that had a really big impact on you, or a favorite book nonfiction.

[00:53:32] TJ Power: Do you know, it's funny that question because I actually, if you think really big impact on me, I actually initially think of fiction books, which is actually quite surprising. Now that's made me think maybe I should be writing fiction books. 'cause I was surprised. That's what came through in my mind was fiction books. What has been the biggest nonfiction book? There's a really good book that I'm just in the process of called The Meaning of Your Life by this guy called Arthur Brooks and it gets you to ask yourself some really good questions. My partner and I have actually [00:54:00] been reading it together and. He's a very smart human being that is asking all the right questions for humanity at the moment with what we're, we're looking into.

[00:54:08] So I would say the

[00:54:09] meaning of your life is

[00:54:10] a, a really cool one.

[00:54:11] Kristina: Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. love that. He's so clever and very, also very wise, I would say. So that combination is a good one. My last question to you is, knowing what you know now, what kind of advice would you have given your younger self,

[00:54:27] TJ Power: young?

[00:54:29] Kristina: teenager, maybe when you were into, you know, starting, get, getting into your addictions, or you can choose whatever

[00:54:35] TJ Power: Hmm. Teenagers. Good. I would, uh, probably, Focus, if I was able to have a conversation with that mini version of myself, focus on helping him not worry about as much what people think of him. Like I really was obsessed with kind of my identity and being cool and like other people thinking I was funny or good looking, and like that [00:55:00] really entrapped my mind into ego.

[00:55:03] And I've been through a big process over the last five years of just releasing a lot of that and just being free to just be my authentic self. But yeah, I felt, as I'm sure many teenagers do, very stuck in that identity. And I'd love to be able to just let him soften to that

[00:55:17] if I, if I, could, if I

[00:55:19] could chat to him.

[00:55:19] Kristina: Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah, I think, a lot of us can relate to that. 'cause teenagers, it's a hard time

[00:55:25] to navigate, raising teenagers at the moment or, you know, one is over 18, it's kind of an adult now. But, um, yeah, it's an, it's an interesting stage, when we look back, there's so many sliding doors on what we could have done and couldn't have done.

[00:55:37] And, but it's all in the past. But it's good to kind of reflect on, um, on that question. So anyone listening, I think it's a good question to ask yourself as well and then, perhaps build a little bit more on that, the advice. 'cause sometimes the advice we give to our younger self is perhaps a little bit of advice we still need.

[00:55:53] TJ Power: Definitely. I agree. That's true. Maybe I should ponder

[00:55:56] that

[00:55:57] into

[00:55:57] the, uh, in my

[00:55:58] reality now.

[00:55:59] Kristina: [00:56:00] Fantastic. Well, thank you so much first for creating or writing and sharing your wisdom in your amazing book. So I'm gonna link to that for everyone to read. We absolutely loved it. So for anyone who, um, is in my book club will be very excited that I had this conversation, and I'll tell them everyone tonight, that it will come out tomorrow.

[00:56:19] So I'm very excited about that. But, uh, thank you so much and I'm super excited having you, on this part of the world or this side of the world because I have no doubt that you'll influence so many of us that to help us navigate all the challenges, that it's not just current, but also ahead of us. So thank you so

[00:56:36] much.

[00:56:37] TJ Power: No worries. I really

[00:56:38] appreciate you having me.

[00:56:38] Kristina: Thank you. Thank you.

[00:56:40] Speaker 2: I hope today's conversation with TJ left you feeling what? I felt genuinely hopeful because the truth is you don't need a complete life overhaul to feel better.

[00:56:51] You just need to understand what your brain needs, and take one small step. Dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, [00:57:00] endorphins. You have the power to activate all of them starting today. And if this conversation sparks something in you, if you're ready to go deeper, I want you to know that inside the Dream Life Coaching Program in May, we are going to do, we are going to be doing exactly that, taking everything we have explored today around mindfulness, brain chemistry, and intentional living, and weaving, it into real everyday work of creating life. If that feels like your next step, I would love for you to join us. You'll find the link in the show notes or just head over to Dream Life starts here.com. I would love it to know your biggest takeaway from today. Come and share it with me in the Facebook group. I'll link to that as well, or on Instagram.

[00:57:47] You can follow me on, at Christina Dream Live. And if this resonated, please pass it on to someone who may need to hear this today as well. as always, I'll be back on Monday with another Monday morning [00:58:00] motivation episode.

[00:58:01] I can't wait to see you then.

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