Tired of one-size-fits-all health advice that leaves you feeling like you’re doing something wrong?

In this episode of Whole Again, Michael O’Brien reveals how to build your own personal “algorithm” — one that’s powered by your body’s signals, not by social media trends or influencers who don’t know you. Through the practice of interoception, you’ll learn how to collect and interpret your own data so you can make choices that actually fit your needs, energy, and healing journey.

• Learn how to tune out digital noise and listen to your body’s real messages
• Discover the three-step process to collect data, label it, and take purposeful action
• Gain the confidence to customize your healing instead of copying someone else’s version of wellness

Take a deep breath and learn how to stop following the crowd and start following the most important guide you have — your own body.

 In this episode, you'll discover how to be your own algorithm.

Hey there, it's Michael. Welcome to Whole Again, A show about helping survivors of physical injury and trauma reclaim their strength and resilience through the wisdom of Kazuki. I'm glad you're here. In today's episode, you'll discover how to create your own algorithm, not the digital one, although I will offer.

A few ways that you can improve your digital health. I'm talking about the one that knows you inside and out. It's not an app, it's not some guru, it's not some search engine. It's you, the algorithm of you. And how by tuning into it, you can promote better healing and become more resilient. But before we dive in, if you haven't yet signed up for those amazing text messages I send out, that are the perfect message when you most need to hear it, messages that can help you feel whole again.

Well, there's still time. You can send me a text. You can simply say hi or text me six one. That's 8 6 6 6 1 2 4 6 0 4, and I'll get you set up. So let's dive into your own personal algorithm. And I know we think of algorithms and we think of social media or our phones or our computers, and that's pretty common, especially nowadays, we think of the algorithm and how it's owning our lives.

Knowing more about us than we seem to know about ourselves. It's almost like the robots are taking over. We see it in our feeds, right? If you've bought something, all of a sudden you see that product in your feed on your favorite social media platform. Or even when you say something, because our devices seem to be listening to us, you see ads there.

This is all an effort to collect more data about you. So the computer seems to know more about you, what you like, what you don't like, what you spend your time on, things that you'll buy. Because ultimately the digital algorithm, its goal is to keep you on that platform for as long as possible, so you buy more stuff.

But there's a way around that digital algorithm. One, you can curate who you follow and who you don't. You can also pay attention to what you like, what you comment on, what you share. If you wanna put a good ripple out there, follow people who are also putting good ripples out there. Not everything has to be edgy.

Some of the best content is right in the middle. Everyday people, not some famous influencer, not some famous guru who speaks yes, in a very confident way. He or she feels so strongly that this is exactly what you need, but they don't even know you. All that stuff, all that stuff that tells you what you should be and how you should behave, or you should follow their 10 point system to have the type of success that they've had, right?

All that stuff, the algorithm collects all that data about you, and then it feeds you more of it. Again, if you want a better looking feed, and I'm not talking about looks because most of the things you see online now I think are becoming AI bots or AI generated, so everything looks perfect. I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about your feed energetically. Follow people that are also putting out a good ripple. Delete everyone else and only comment and share the stuff. That's good. You don't have to share all the edgy stuff that may or may not be true. You can curate your feed. You can also set your intentions and how you wish to use your platforms and how much time you wanna spend there so you don't scroll your life away.

And finally, and this is a bit of a plug, I would recommend that you get my app. Pause, breathe, reflect with microdose EQ so you can block the algorithm. You can block those distracting apps and websites so you have more time, more time for more joy, more time to listen to your body. And that's what I'm talking about when I share that you can be your own algorithm.

'cause if you've ever felt overwhelmed by all the advice out there, all the things that you should be doing, like what time you should be waking up, or what supplements you should be taking, or what. Normal recovery looks like or what normal activity looks like. And if you're not normal, this is what you should be doing or what's the best morning routine you should be doing?

All this shoulding leads to more shoulding and I will say if you should all over yourself, it's not a good look. It's not very attractive. Just saying, I still love you though. It's common. All this advice, all these people telling us what we should be doing. And here's the thing, they don't know us. They don't know you.

This thing, being human is not a one size fits all type of thing. There's a range. We all settle into a range. We're not a formula. We're not some digital algorithm. You are a living, breathing, human and living, breathing. Humans need to be customized to meet you where you're at. But the only way to do that is when you know you best.

When you know your body best, this is how you get to be your own algorithm. It's something called interoception. Many who practice yoga might be familiar with the term, and yoga is a wonderful practice to help enhance our connection between mind and body, heart and soul, and our breath, and through the practice, along with our everyday moments.

Everything that we experience, it's all a collection of data. For example, the body collects data. Based on what gives us energy or what drains our energy, what lights us up, what sparks different positive emotions, more pleasant emotions, if you will, like joy, and happiness and compassion. What brings up unpleasant emotions?

It notices the rocks you're carrying in your backpack. All those past traumas that we haven't yet dealt with, the body is keeping score about those as well. And unlike all that content out there that's all perfect and generated by ai, our algorithm isn't saying you need to be perfect. This is really simply about paying attention, paying attention to you, because ultimately the person.

Should know you best. Yes. Another should is you. Let me give you an example. Say you've read an article or heard a podcast with a bunch of bros about the benefits of cold plunges and how amazing it is for healing, although there's really not much data that actually proves that, but. The bros are going on and on about cold plunges and how amazing they are and all that jazz.

So you give it a whirl. You're like, Hey, I like these bros. I'm gonna do this. This could be good for my healing. But you feel panicked or just simply frozen. You just feel so cold. It's exhausting. And at the same time, you might have noticed it's reinvigorating at first, but after a while it doesn't do much for you.

So instead of thinking I failed, this sucks. I suck, I did something wrong. You don't have to think that way at all. You can think, huh, that's interesting. Coal plunges never really did it for me. And even though coal plunges may be popular, it may not be my thing. And that's okay. So your ability to practice interoception, the ability to listen to the body.

The one practice I often recommend as a meditation teacher is the body scan. That's a cornerstone practice here at pause, breathe, reflect because you slow things down and you really listen to what the body is saying Without. Any judgment without the need to have to fix something. All this builds, this approach, builds trust.

One experience after another, much like for example, when you eat a spicy meal and it doesn't agree with you, that is simply data, and this data helps to build your algorithm, much like the digital algorithm does. It collects data on what we prefer, and we can too. We can notice so much about our bodies. We can collect a bunch of data.

For example, our energy. Is it high or low? What emotions are we sensing? How do we feel in the morning, at lunch, midday or in the evening? All this. Represents data. Data that helps form our algorithm. And once we have a collection of data, now we can start the second step, which is to label our data sets. As you've heard me say, everything is neutral until we put a label on it.

Once we do, we start to put meaning around it, so we collect the data. Now we label it. For example, we can say this feels like a low energy day. Or on the other side of the coin, we might feel strong and confident or highly energetic. Our labels bring in more context so we can analyze our data more effectively, and it also helps to keep us in the present moment.

When we pay attention to what we're feeling, what we're sensing in the body, and since we have wisdom, we know that our labels will change as we travel throughout the day and we're constantly assessing once we're in the moment, once we have this connection to the body, and then that leaves us with the next step taking some type of thoughtful action.

Action that honors where the body is at right now. As an example, it's not uncommon for me to alter my game plan based on what I sense in my body. Could be a workout or something else in my life, even though my wearable device says I should be fine. I use the tech as support, but not as the ultimate guide.

I go into my body and listen to the wisdom of the body as I make my decisions and how I want to spend my energy during the course of the day. It's all a system that you can build by noticing, choosing thoughtful labels, and then taking purposeful action. That's how we take a step towards becoming our own algorithm.

It doesn't mean that we ignore good advice, good scientific advice. We listen to that. I still do. I still listen to my other favorite podcast besides whole. Again, to get some good advice on healing, on lifestyle, fitness, you name it. What all this means is that we are filtering what we hear. Through our own lived experiences, because we know the guru or the influencer doesn't know us, doesn't know our circumstance, so we filter all this advice through what our body is sharing with us.

Ultimately, we don't have to be a follower of a trend because we are working towards becoming students of ourselves. That's how we begin to feel whole again. We don't do it by becoming someone else's version of wellness. That's them, as I like to say, you do, you boo. We gotta do ourselves. We gotta be true to who we are.

We come home to ourselves. We don't go home to someone else's home. So this week, start noticing, noticing what you feel. You can even do a few body scan practices on the Pause, breathe, reflect app. It'll help you enhance your relationship with yourself. It'll help you enhance your relationship with your body.

What nudges you forward? What holds you back? What labels do you tend to select? Are there other options out there for you? That's your algorithm and it's sacred to you.

And as always, thank you for being here and thank you for being a fellow survivor. In this episode, you got a few tips on how to improve your digital algorithm, but also, and as importantly, steps you can take to improve your own personal algorithm, how to improve your interoception. So you can listen to what the body is whispering to you before it really turns up the volume so you can have better health and take a step closer to who you're becoming on your pathway to feeling whole again.

And if you haven't signed up for those amazing text messages yet. What are you waiting for? You can still do it. All you have to do is send me a text, say hi to 8 6 6 6 1 2 4 6 0 4. That's 6 6 6 1 2 4 6 0 4, and I'll set you up.

And if you wish to learn more about creating beautiful ripples and how to prevent. A bad moment from turning into a bad day. Please visit my website, Michael O'Brien schiff.com and sign up for my newsletter called The Ripple Effect, and join us each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday here. At Whole again and discover how you can heal, grow, and become more resilient and celebrate our scars as golden symbols of strength and resilience.

Until then, remember, you can always come back to your breath. You've got this and we've got you.