The conversation today centers around the profound themes of healing, transformation, and holistic wellness, as we engage with Dr. Margaret Cochran, a highly esteemed transpersonal psychologist. Dr. Cochran elucidates her integrated approach to mental health, which seamlessly intertwines traditional psychology with innovative practices such as energy psychology. With an impressive portfolio spanning over 25 years, she emphasizes the importance of viewing individuals as a continuum of mind, body, and spirit, thereby enhancing the efficacy of therapeutic outcomes. This episode not only highlights her extensive experience but also addresses the vital tools that empower individuals to lead fulfilling and purposeful lives.

Furthermore, Dr. Cochran's insights into the societal impacts on mental health underscore the necessity for compassion and understanding in addressing contemporary psychological challenges. The dialogue between Dr. Keith Haney and Dr. Margaret Cochran is a profound exploration of holistic mental health practices that emphasizes the significance of integrating various psychological methodologies. Dr. Cochran, renowned for her expertise in transpersonal psychology, articulates the necessity of addressing mental health through a multifaceted lens that encompasses emotional, spiritual, and physical dimensions. This holistic approach is particularly relevant in today's fast-paced society, where individuals often grapple with overwhelming stress and anxiety, necessitating an innovative framework for healing.

Throughout the episode, Dr. Cochran outlines practical strategies that listeners can adopt to enhance their mental well-being, including mindfulness techniques and energy psychology exercises. She emphasizes the transformative power of perspective, encouraging individuals to reframe their experiences and recognize the inherent lessons within them. This shift in mindset is crucial for cultivating resilience and agency, empowering individuals to navigate life's adversities with grace and strength.

Additionally, the conversation delves into the societal challenges surrounding mental health, addressing the stigma and misinformation that often pervade public discourse. Dr. Cochran underscores the importance of mental health professionals taking an active role in educating the public and dispelling myths, fostering a culture of understanding and support. The episode concludes with a heartfelt invitation for listeners to engage in self-reflection and community dialogue, reinforcing the notion that collective empathy and compassion can lead to a more nurturing environment for mental health.

Takeaways:

• Dr. Margaret Cochran's extensive experience in mental health emphasizes the importance of integrating various psychological approaches for comprehensive healing.
• The idea that life is happening for us rather than to us can significantly alter our mental health perspective and overall wellbeing.
• Mindfulness techniques, such as mindful breathing and energy psychology, can effectively help individuals manage anxiety and stress.
• Dr. Cochran's work illustrates the profound impact of empathy and compassion on personal and societal transformation, underscoring the need for these values in mental health discussions.
• The podcast highlights the urgent necessity for mental health professionals to advocate for patients against the stigma and misconceptions surrounding mental illness.
• Engaging in gratitude practices can rewire the brain positively, fostering resilience and a more optimistic outlook on life.

Links referenced in this episode:

• drcochran.com

Welcome back to another episode of Trailblazers and Titans where we speak with leaders, thinkers and innovators who transform lives, communities and sometimes the world itself.

I AM your host, Dr. Keith Haney and today's podcast guest brings decades of expertise in healing, transformation and whole person wellness.

Joining us is Dr. Margaret Cochran, a seasoned, deeply respected transpersonal psychologist, licensed clinical social worker, life coach, hypnotherapist, educator, social media personality and author.

She brings more than 25 years of clinical experience and her approach to mental health is nothing short of extraordinary.

Dr. Cochran blends traditional ego psychology, transpersonal psychology, and energy psychology, creating an integrated method that supports the mind and body and spirit.

Her work has been featured nationally across BBC, abc, cbs, NBC, fox, CBS Radio, Healthline, Yahoo.

Life, Mercury News, and many others.

She also contributed to the Huffington Post, appeared and regularly on NBC Sacramento's morning show, and has hosted her own programs including Wisdom, Love and Magic and A Mental Health Moment.

She's here today to talk about healing, human potential and the tools to empower us to live fulfilled, purposeful lives.

Dr. Cochran, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you so much for having me.

So glad to have you on.

Mental health is one thing that so many people are talking about today, so it's a timely conversation for us to have right now.

Indeed.

I'm going to ask you my favorite question to kind of get us warmed up.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Well, you know, considering that question, I have to say it was not so much a piece of advice I received as a life experience I had.

And it was about recognizing that whatever happens, something good will come of it if you allow yourself to see it.

And sometimes when things happen to us that we're not expecting or we don't like all that much, we shut down and we get tunnel vision.

And the miracles that are out there for us zoom right by and we can't use them.

So understanding when something happens, look on that other side.

Something great is coming.

You just got to keep your eyes peeled.

That's a good point.

There are so many times we do miss the miracles that are right in front of us.

I love that perspective.

Yes, we do.

So you've worked internationally, I mean, intentionally blending traditional psychology, transpersonal psychology, energy psychology.

What inspired you to kind of put together such an integrated framework and how does that whole person approach really change outcomes for your patients?

Well, the idea of putting those things together helps us understand that we are not disparate parts.

We are a continuum, a continuum of energy, a continuum of experience.

A continuum of health and wellness, all those things.

And if we understand that about ourselves, then we have the ability to control it and to use it to our advantage.

If we see ourselves as more a victim of what's going on or what's happening around us, then we lose our agency and it vitally impacts our state of mind and our state of physical health.

I love that.

So kind of break down those terms for us.

Let's start with energy psychology because I'm ah, okay.

One of my favorite things, energy psychology is really understanding the neurobiology of your physical self.

And that means that there are subtle energies, there are electrical signals that go through the body and they make the brain react in a certain way or not react in a certain way.

And there are ways that we can manipulate the body such that we can calm ourselves or we can teach ourselves, or we can heal ourselves.

So that's really what energy psychology is all about.

Yeah, I've heard about that a little bit.

When I look at eastern practices where, you know, tapping.

I've also seen people eft.

Yeah, I've seen it with the needle thing.

My brain just acupuncture people will.

Yes, absolutely.

Let me give you and your listeners a little quick one that you can take home a take home experience right from your shop.

And it's really easy to do.

You can do it in public.

If you're feeling a little anxious or you know, things aren't great, you can just put your hands under the table or something like that and just take your hand, either hand's fine.

And take your index finger of your other hand and just gently trace around your finger and you inhale on the upward trace and you exhale on the downward trace and you inhale on the upward trace and you exhale on the downward trace.

And on you go through all five fingers and you'll find after you do that one or two times, all of a sudden you kind of go ah.

And why is that?

I'm just love the science behind that.

Well, the science behind it is basically it's mindful breathing.

Okay.

And the tracing helps us.

Okay, we're gonna do this now and now I'm gonna do that.

And it gives us something to focus on other than cause we have focused on the pain or the fear or the whatever it is.

But now we're focused just on the fingers.

We're keeping our consciousness right there and we're doing our breathing and all of a sudden all the rest kind of falls away.

I know I've talked to several people, several Guests recently who've talked a lot about the idea of mindfulness.

And that's kind of a newer concept that I really haven't had people tap into.

But it's becoming more and more.

Just our dialogue and our conversations tell us a little bit more about how that impacts our overall psyche, our mental health.

Well, the thing is that people get into.

They basically fall into two camps.

Life is either happening to them or life is happening for them.

Now, if life is happening to you, it's not a very fun experience.

You feel tired, you often feel betrayed, you feel overwhelmed.

You feel like, I'll never find an answer to this.

It's too much.

I can't do it.

If you feel like life is happening for you, you realize, okay, I'm having this experience.

What will it teach me?

What am I here to learn?

What am I here to teach others?

What is something purposeful about what's happening?

It's not just an empty thing.

There's meaning to it, even if I don't understand what the meaning is.

And it's funny, you know, I was an expert witness in a.

In a trial, and this frustrated defense attorney said to me, who died and left you God that you could say such a thing?

And I looked up at the judge like, do you want me to answer?

Why?

Do you want me to do it?

And the judge thought, this is very funny.

So he leaned back in his chair, put his feet up on the.

On the desk, and said, sure, and answer the question.

So I said.

I said, well, to my knowledge, there's been no celestial demise, but had that occurred, I would not take the job.

Because as far as I know, it's a volunteer position, the hours are long, and there are a whole lot of complicated things to solve which are above my pay grade.

So sometimes things are above my pay grade.

I don't always understand why people have to have the experiences they have, why they make the choices they make, how they get themselves into a situation.

I mean, you can trace back the choices, but why they've gotten themselves into a situation where they need to learn how to be more mindful, more aware, more loving to themselves in the world.

All I know is that it happens.

And if you follow that learning trail that you've been given, incredible vistas open up, your life will change in amazing, wonderful ways.

Ways you can't even dream of when you started into the experience.

Wow.

If you fight it, then you end up back.

Life is happening to me.

And your life gets smaller, not so.

Much fun, and in a sense of hopelessness if life is happening to you, absolutely.

So you know, there's no agency there.

Awful.

Yeah.

So let's talk about transpersonal psychology.

Okay.

Transpersonal psychology.

Buckle up, here it comes.

Okay, here we go.

Transpersonal psychology are the things that impact a person that are outside the ego.

In other words, it's not, you know, how did your mother treat you?

Or did a dog pee on you?

Or five when you were five or something like that.

It's, what's your place in the universe?

Why are you here?

What are you doing?

What meaning does it have?

Or perhaps you've come to me because you've had an experience that's shaken your worldview.

For example, someone may come, and they'll often be kind of cagey about it because they're a little uncomfortable, and they'll say, well, I was awakened in the night, and there was my uncle, who's dead, standing at the foot of the bed, and he gave me some important information.

Am I crazy?

Right?

And that's actually a true story.

Young woman went in for a routine physical for school, and her blood sugar came back 400, which is a fatal level.

You can't live like that, right?

No.

So her physician said, okay, we got insulin started.

We got to have you come in to see the diabetologist tomorrow, all this stuff.

And the mom was really upset, and she went to bed, and in the middle of the night, she felt something pulling on her great toe.

And she sat up in bed and.

And there was her Uncle Joe standing at the foot with his old yellow windbreaker on like he always used to wear.

And he said, it's okay.

It's just a mistake.

Everything will be fine.

And she said to him, but you're dead, Uncle Joe.

And.

And he said to her, yes, honey, I know.

I love you.

And then he just faded away.

So she woke up her husband and said, oh, my gosh, Uncle Joe is at the foot of the bed.

He says, it's a mistake.

And what.

What do I do?

And her husband said, you have lost the plot.

You need to go talk to somebody right away because there's something weird going on, right?

So I'm the.

I'm the weird lady doctor.

So she was sent to me, and she said, do you think I'm crazy?

I said, no, absolutely not.

I said, I think you were given an incredible message, and I think you need to listen.

You've got nothing to lose by repeating the blood test.

So they did, and it was a lab error.

Daughter was fine.

If they'd given her insulin based on those numbers, it would have killed her.

So she was trying to figure out, how do I fit this in my worldview?

Dead people are supposed to be gone.

They don't show up at the end of your bed.

And her husband, you know, it shook him up, too.

But it took them to a place, and this frequently happens.

It takes you to a place of realizing life does go on.

Love doesn't stop.

Love is eternal.

And often those folks who love us the very most, when we least expect them to, they show up at the foot of our bed and give us some important information.

Wow, that's interesting.

So we talked about energy and transpersonal psychology.

How do these two modalities work together?

And why are they essential for true healing?

Well, if you recognize that you are not alone, you know, the universe is made up of protons.

Everything that exists everywhere has the same stuff in it.

You, me, the plants, other animals.

You know, we have different coverings, but we're all stardust, after all.

And if we understand that, it gives us a sense of connection and love and beauty and purpose.

And our next step, once we realize that we're part of something pretty important.

And even though we may not understand in the moment, we have a contribution to give.

We need to take care of this car we're driving here.

This our body.

And that's where energy psychology comes in.

If things happen, say you get cancer or multiple sclerosis or something like that, there are ways that you can help the brain interpret what's going on in a better way, make the body work as efficaciously as it's capable of.

And we have lots of data that show that people who have a good attitude, people who have others who are sending positive energy to them or prayer their way, they get better faster and stay better longer than people who are afraid, and they feel like they've lost their agency and they feel hopeless and helpless.

As we talked about before, we started.

Out talking about how important it is, especially in this day and time, to deal with the mental health issues in our world.

You've been on so many major media outlets, BBC, NBC, affiliates, you have your own programs.

Why is it important for, especially people like yourself, mental health experts, to have a public voice today?

Okay.

I think one of the great challenges that people face is understanding truth from fiction.

And there are lots of influencers out there who are selling vitamins and who have failed businesses, but they steal other people's work and put it in their book and say, oh, you can just solve your problems with this.

And of Course, when people can't, then they feel doubly bad.

Oh, my God.

Not only am I anxious, but I read this person's book that says I won't be anxious after I read the book and I'm still anxious.

So how broken am I?

So it's having someone make sense out of nonsense, Having people who know what they're talking about say, these are the things that will help you.

And I'm not selling seaweed pellets.

I just bought seaweed pills to help my mental health.

What's going on with it?

You can put it in your salad.

It's true.

That's very tasty in my salad.

We are living in, I think, some very.

I was talking to someone else who is also dealing in the mental health area and we were talking about the fact that unlike physical problems, mental health are not issues that insurance companies want to cover.

Oh, yeah, tell me about it.

So when you're dealing with mental health problems and there's not really the support because there's not a timeline, there's not a pill you can take, how do you help people that are dealing with mental health issues when it's such a nasty stigma in our society?

Well, the first thing is to recognize that.

That nasty stigma in our society.

Just for a second, let's do a little historical look at things.

It actually from the Victorians.

Victorians were wise enough to realize, hey, there's something to this genetics thing.

You know, beans and plants.

We learned how to change them.

And so mental illnesses inherited, but we don't have any cures for anything.

They had no medicines back then.

They just locked people up.

If they were schizophrenic or bipolar or whatever.

If you were, if you were depressed, you just had the vapors and went to bed.

You know, that's just all they had.

Well, a little opium thrown in there.

But, you know, other than that.

Yeah, there was not a lot that was helpful.

So what you didn't want anyone to know was there was mental illness in your family or you couldn't get your kids married off because they realized, oh, this, you know, this could be in the family.

So they made up a story about how.

And we make up stories about stuff which we can get into if you wish.

They made a story about, okay, it's a character flaw.

That's what it is.

It's a character flaw.

You're just weak.

And if you pull yourself up by your bootstraps, which by the way, is physically impossible to do, everything will be fine.

And as we have Developed medicines.

Some of that stigma has fallen away because we realize, yeah, it is genetic, it is an heritable thing, and it's not a weakness in your character.

And there are medicines that can help.

But as you know, old news dies slowly.

And there's still a lot of that idea out there about, well, you could fix it if you wanted to.

You know, if you just try a little harder, pay a little more attention, eat those green pellet pills, then, you know, it'd be fine.

Well, I'm sure kimchi will solve it.

Absolutely.

Well, you know, you say that that's really significant.

Those kinds of things, those vegetables that we have that are fermented, take good care of the gut, and the gut is your second brain.

There's a very powerful connection between your brain and your gut.

In fact, we have a lot of literature that shows people who, for example, have depression and schizophrenia, if they eat a Mediterranean diet and they exercise well and they have a lot of good gut microbiome in there from all that lovely kimchi and sauerkraut and whatever you're eating, they get better, they feel better, they have more energy, and they can either take less medicine sometimes.

No medicine.

Yeah, I was joking about the kimchi.

But no, it is, it is.

I hear it knows a lot of good things there.

It's not my cup of tea, I have to say, but there, there are other kind.

It's basically a natural prebiotic and probiotic, which you can take.

And by the way, you know, I would recommend to you and your listeners if you're going to go that route, which is a good thing to do.

As you age, your microbiome decays.

Right.

And so you need to put more stuff in.

It's like a car, you know, you gotta keep maintenance on the thing.

So usually the best ones are the ones that are refrigerated and need to stay refrigerated versus the dry kind that you just buy over the counter.

Yeah, we talked a little bit about this, but our world is increasingly stressful.

We see emerging patterns around anxiety and burnout and people just emotionally overwhelmed.

What tools can you help people with that immediately?

Help support the things that are kind of in our world that are causing people to have, you know, record numbers of stress and anxiety that we have not seen probably in a long time.

Okay, so here's the situation.

The human brain has not evolved in the last 10,000 years.

You with me?

Yep.

So we got ancient technology, 21st century problems.

What could go wrong?

So let's talk about what does go Wrong.

There are certain institutions in this country, in the world, that make money off you being frightened.

Because if you're scared, you're going to buy my pellets, you're going to vote for me, you're going to do what I tell you to do.

Right?

Right.

If you have time to think it through, you might question that and say, well, I don't know if that really makes sense.

How does it, how does it benefit me to decide because someone has green eyes and I have blue eyes, that they're bad and I should hurt them?

Right.

Okay.

So the most ancient part of our brain is something called the amygdala.

It's two little almond shaped things that are in the back of your head here.

And it's one of the first parts of the brain to develop.

And it is our protection center.

It's our emotional center.

It's a place from which our cortisol, our stress hormone, which is, which is a good thing, we need it in certain amounts.

And also adrenaline, the signal for adrenaline to be released.

Okay.

So when something comes along and we're uncertain about it, or it's new, or it's a surprise, then the body, the amygdala, react first, potential danger, something could be happening here.

Send out the chemicals.

And then the way the system is designed to work is a signal travels through the brain here up to the prefrontal cortex where the executive functioning happens and we have a chance.

We, we start looking around.

Well, is it really dangerous?

Is it really a bad thing?

Oh, no, no, it's just a.

It's just a coat hanger in the shadows.

That's all it is.

It's not a monster.

I'm.

I'm fine.

And then the amygdala stand down.

That's how it's designed to work.

However, in certain people with certain conditions, they have hair trigger amygdala.

So it just fires very easily with little provocation.

And also, if I am evil and I want to control you, then I'm going to keep scaring you, scaring you, scaring you, scaring.

And eventually the pathway for the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala to interact doesn't work so well anymore.

And you're thinking from back here.

And when you think from your amygdala, you do not make good decisions.

Let me repeat, you do not make good decisions.

And so you are apt to believe some crazy story about, yeah, blue eyes are good, green eyes are bad.

Kill the green eyes or this problem that we're having, it's all their, their fault, whoever they are, which is often ambiguous.

They're just out there and we just need to blow them up or do whatever.

Yeah.

So if you're, if you're living from your amygdala, then you're apt to say, yeah, I guess that's what we need to do.

Just please, I want something authoritarian to make me safe because I unsafe.

And when somebody comes along and says, I can solve all your problems, everything will be fine, just vote for me, buy my stuff, blah, blah, blah.

And people normally rational, good, sensitive, thoughtful people will buy into it because they feel a sense of desperation.

So the key is to keep that line of communication between your amygdala and your prefrontal cortex.

Now, a simple trick for that one is the Mississippi system.

Since I was a schoolteacher, I used to teach people how to spell Mississippi.

Now I use it in a very different way.

And so when something comes to you, let's say somebody says something snarky and you hear it and it registers and your amygdala start to fire.

I'm angry, I'm defensive, whatever.

Instead you say nothing.

And in your head you count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi.

And then you say to the person, could you repeat that?

Now often at this stage, they'll back down because they know you see them for what they've just done.

But if they don't, if they say it again, snark, snark, snark, Then you say nothing, count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi.

And then you say, did you mean that to sound hurtful and hateful?

And watch how the conversation begins to change, because now you're in charge of it.

But the Mississippi's are what gives your prefrontal cortex time to catch up with your amygdala.

Because this ancient technology hits first and this needs to have time to catch up.

So the Mississippi's give you the opportunity to do that.

Interesting.

Wow, that's really powerful.

So as you think about the landscape of where things, mental health is today, what do you see the future of things going?

Because I think it seems like it's getting worse.

But just maybe my perception, because maybe I'm looking for the people out there who are misleading people.

But what do you see in terms of where things are headed?

I think that what really matters in terms of our physical or our mental health is people's ability to stand up to their legislators and say you have to put controls on what is out there.

For example, right now, for the most part, insurance companies practice medicine with impunity they say, you can have this.

No, you don't need that surgery.

It doesn't matter what the treating physician says.

And they've gotten around it by saying, well, we're not practicing medicine.

We're just telling you we won't pay for it.

If you want to have it done, go ahead, 50, $100,000, no problem.

Yeah, well, it'd be a problem for me, I can tell you that right now.

So being able to be really clear to the legislation, and here's the tricky part is insurance companies have big lobbies.

They put a lot of money into people's pockets.

So many of us are going to have to stand up and say, no, no more.

I don't want to be denied a proven service that will help my health or save my child, for heaven's sake.

You know, I've always practiced in physical medicine and first in pediatrics and then in family medicine later on.

And one time I was on the phone with this charming woman from an insurance company and this little boy, you know, little boys sometimes do things with their penis that are quite interesting.

And he managed to take a pea and stick it in his penis.

So it's stuck in there.

And you know, oh yeah, that's very painful.

And you couldn't pee.

And it was, there's this purulent discharge coming.

It was bad.

So I, the physician was, was in there dealing with.

And I was tasked with talking to the insurance company to get an immediate authorization because he needed to see a pediatric urologist, like now, right?

And so the lady on the phone says, who maybe has a high school diploma.

Just let me say that.

The lady on the phone says, well, can't you use more conservative measures?

I said, I beg your pardon.

What would you consider a conservative measure?

And she said, and I quote, oh, I don't know, you're the doctor, you'll figure out something.

So I said, ma', am, there is a green purulent discharge coming out of this poor little boy's penis.

He's in incredible pain and he can't pee.

And there was silence.

I said, do you know what green purulent discharge means?

Silence?

And she said, well, no.

I said, it smells like death and poop had a baby.

That's what it is.

And she said, oh, oh, that does sound bad.

I said, yeah, it's bad.

So she finally authorized it.

But I must have spent 15, 20 minutes on the phone with her, someone who didn't know being some apple butter about what was going on, telling me I was supposed to use More conservative measures for this poor little kid.

So we have to stand up and say, no more.

We have to have a new system of mental health and physical health so that people can stay well and feel good.

But here's the downside.

You're going to get a lot of opposition from various corporations and bodies and others.

Because if you're not scared anymore and you're healthy and you're well educated, I can't manipulate you so easily.

And I can't make money with you either.

You're not my puppet anymore.

You're going to be making your own decisions.

So, yeah, we're not going to play that game.

So the future of that is in our own hands.

Will we stand up?

Will we say, no, this is not okay.

And if you don't fix this, I don't vote for you again.

Makes sense.

So you've dedicated much of your life to finding, healing what continues to inspire you.

There's a moment, if you've ever witnessed a birth, and I've witnessed many, there's a moment where that little person pinks up and becomes a person.

They're not just a jelly blob that's coming out.

It's like, oh, there they are.

That little soul's in there.

Now I see him.

Hi.

There's a moment when I work with people where I see that light go on and they say, oh, I see.

It's this.

And I can do that, and I can get out of whatever situation I'm in.

We often spend so much time building the jails that contain us, the psychological jails.

And we spend a lot of time focusing on the tensile strength of the bars and how big and powerful the lock is, and we forget that we have the keys jangling in our pocket.

And when I see somebody realize, oh, the keys are in my pocket.

Of course I can get out of this.

That's the moment I live for.

I love it.

So what's one common mental health myth you wish would disappear?

There's so many.

I think mainly.

The character flaw thing, closely followed by people who don't understand how medicine works and so they make up stories about it.

Oh, if you take this, then that will happen.

Or you'll become addicted to your antidepressants or your child.

If they have ADHD and takes medicine to increase their dopamine levels, they'll become a crazed addict and start doing fentanyl and meth and just.

It's all nonsense.

It's not true.

But there's so much gossip out there.

And because of The Internet in particular.

There's so much repetition of the gossip sometimes it makes it difficult to help people because they've been so frightened.

They're thinking back here with the amygdala.

They've been so frightened with the gossip that they will eschew or delay treatment.

That could improve their lives tremendously.

Speaking of that for yourself personally, what is one wellness practice you never skip?

Oh, two things actually.

Being out in nature and reading.

And often I'll do both at the same time.

I love that.

What's your favorite way to recharge?

Wash, rinse, repeat.

Really the same thing is being out.

And also, I think one of the most important things for all of us is something that I call vitamin G, and that's gratitude.

And a daily gratitude practice is something all of us can do, easily takes just a few seconds.

And in about 28 days, it'll rewire your brain in a very positive way.

And all you have to do is, I usually do it in the shower in the morning and right before I go to sleep.

Now, the reason the go to sleep time is important because that's when you're moving down into a hypnagogic state.

And you're much more open.

You're back in theta waves.

You're much more open to new learning and calm.

And in the morning, as you're just coming up out of theta waves into alpha, it's the same situation.

Reverse.

So basically, you just run through a list of things you're grateful for.

And in the beginning, it can be tough sometimes, like, I don't know, I don't have anything to be grateful for.

My life sucks like a bucket of ticks and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And so I'll say, well, you know, pick something.

I'm so happy and grateful I have purple dinosaur socks, whatever it is, right?

And you'll find if you keep doing that, that the list will get longer because as you repeat it, you'll think, oh, and I'm grateful for that, too.

Oh, and I'm grateful for that too.

And what you begin to find is things that used to bother you just don't bother you so much anymore.

Your amygdala doesn't fire at things that it used to fire at.

Your prefrontal cortex is much more in control of what's going on.

And when people come to you and say, oh, you know, the sky's on fire and this and that, and you say, oh, okay, well, what do you think?

We need you to put the fire out rather than, oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

You know, so that vitamin G is another important daily practice that would.

I certainly do and benefits everyone.

I love to ask my guest this question.

What do you want your legacy.

Oh, You know, I had one of my kid clients ask me that question, and, you know, you're old when somebody asks you that, right?

What do you want your legacy to be?

My legacy is not about me.

It's my knowing that everyone I touch in a loving and healing way touches someone else, who touches someone else, who touches someone else, who touches someone else.

And pretty soon, people that I don't know and I've never seen and aren't even born yet are touched by that loving, healing energy.

And that's it.

That's good.

So we have something new on the podcast, and that's a surprise question.

Pick a number between 1 and 10 for your surprise question.

I get to pick a number?

Yep.

7.

If you could send a message to the whole world, what would you say in 30 seconds?

Practice compassion.

That's good.

You got another 27 seconds.

Well, you know, I. I think that the notion of compassion.

There are some people out there now who are labeling it evil.

They're saying it's wrong.

But I will tell you, empathy changes people.

Empathy changes cultures, societies.

Empathy can change the world.

If we taught empathy in school, we could change the world in a generation.

Why?

Because those kids who do those empathy exercises come home and teach their parents, and their parents teach their parents, oh, what's this kid learning in school?

What's going on?

What's the somebody thing?

And all of a sudden, people are thinking differently and solving problems differently and accepting things in ways they couldn't before because there is no us in them.

There's only us.

Well, compassion used to be a weakness.

Now it's just evil.

So I guess it's changing.

Well, it is vital.

And the first person we have to have compassion and empathy for is ourselves.

And often we don't.

We end up with this inner critic in our head who's saying, you didn't do this fast enough, or you didn't make enough money, or you're not tall enough, you're not thin enough, you're not whatever it is.

And when we're thinking about ourselves that way, we're basically creating entropy.

You probably remember from biology that if there's a system, and more is going out of the system than coming into the system, the system begins to decay and die.

And so when we lose our compassion and our empathy, all the energy's going out and nothing's coming in.

And so pretty soon we're worn out and tired and angry and again we're starting to make decisions with our amygdala which don't take us anywhere.

Where can people find you and connect with you on social media?

Well, I am known as the Relationship doctor and you can find me.

I have a podcast and you can find me on Instagram and various places like that.

And my website is drcochran.com.

Well Dr. Cochran, thank you for sharing your wisdom, your compassion, and your extraordinary insight for us today.

Your work continues to broaden the conversation about healing, inner growth, and the power of integrated wellness for our listeners.

If you want to learn more about Dr. Cochran, her programs, her books, her media appearances, you'll find the links to the show notes.

I highly encourage you to explore her work.

It might just shift the way you think about mental and emotional well being.

If today's podcast episode has moved you, please subscribe, leave a review and share this episode with someone who could use a little inspiration and healing today.

Until next time, keep blazing trails.

Keep leading with purpose.

Keep striving toward the best version of yourself.

Thanks again, Dr. Cochran.

Thank you.