You're Already Awesome. Just Get Out of Your Own Way!: Judson Brewer MD, Ph.D. at TEDxRockCreekPark

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We have all experienced moments in our lives where everything just comes together in some almost magical way --whether playing music, participating in a sport, or just getting totally absorbed in a project. These moments are timeless, effortless, completely free of worry and delicious! As described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, this is "flow" and is often a hallmark of exemplary performance --whether it is Michael Jordan scoring 50 points in a basketball game, or someone rising to a challenge that they never thought they would be able to handle.

We're lucky if we get into this "flow state" a few times in our entire lives. Is this flow state that hard to achieve? Is it more accessible to all of us than we think? And are we the only barrier that is keeping us getting into flow?

Judson Brewer MD PhD, an addiction psychiatrist and neuroscientist at Yale University outlines several common ways that we get in our own way. Using examples such as Lolo Jones tripping on a hurdle in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and smokers resisting their cravings, he describes how we can get caught up in thinking, as well as resisting our own body sensations as ways that we prevent ourselves from performing optimally, in whatever situation arises.

He details how his clinical research has found that techniques that help us get out of our own way, such as mindfulness training, can have large effects; for example, in a randomized controlled clinical trial for smoking cessation performed at the Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Brewer's laboratory found that mindfulness training showed twice quit rates compared to the American Lung Association's Freedom From Smoking program.

He also describes the brain processes behind getting in our own way, which involve a network of brain regions dubbed the "default mode network" because of how often it gets activated --for example, when we are regretting something we did in the past or worry about something in the future. Importantly, he details some of the neuroimaging research his laboratory at Yale University has performed using experienced meditators, and how he found that a key region of the default mode network, the posterior cingulate cortex, gets deactivated during meditation. This work suggests that the posterior cingulate cortex may be a key brain marker for both getting in our own way and stepping out.

He finishes by listing some simple ways that we can pay attention so we can get out of our own way in our everyday lives. He also unveils a new fMRI neurofeedback tool that can track and potentially augment training of this elusive flow state.

A little about Judson:

Judson Brewer MD PhD is a thought leader in the "science of self-mastery," having combined over 15 years of experience with mindfulness training with his scientific research therein. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, spoken at international conferences on his work, and been interviewed by media avenues such as Forbes (e.g. a Forbes article on his work has 130,000+ hits), NPR and the BBC, and writes a blog on addiction for the Huffington Post. He graduated cum laude from Princeton University, Received his MD PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, completed his psychiatry residency at Yale University School of Medicine, and is currently an assistant professor and medical director of the Yale Therapeutic Neuroscience Clinic at Yale. Based on his recent discoveries of brain regions involved in meditation, he is developing novel neurofeedback techniques to measure and train meditative "flow" states. In 2012 he founded goBlue labs to move these into the marketplace.

For more on Judson, visit:

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)
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You can stop thinking by thinking to yourself "I wonder what my next thought is going to be!" and then listening for an answer.

jochemstoel
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"Reality is so much more delicious than our concept of it" Absolutely brilliant talk!

TheRevelegendEMG
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Smoked a pack a day for 35 years haven't had one in four days. Powerful information.

boxman
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Cannot explain how it feels when such huge topics of life and thought are epitomized into a speech and scientifically verified.
I love you neuroscience.

dorothyyam
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The flow state is essentially daoism in Chinese Philosophy.
Daoism's core is purposeless, which is the core of all living beings. If we drop our stubbornly scheduled mind and forget the purpose, our body, our imagination and our will power will entangle by themselves. In such, we become free and flow like water.
Naturally, beautifully, like water, like all life forms.

cfroi
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Get out of my way, self!!
**punches self in the face**
No! YOU get out of MY way!!

jamesgrey
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Just watched this again, and I'm not bored. I think the reason is that Jud is obviously enjoying his talk as he gives it. I can feel the fun of the bike. I can feel the fun and excitement about his finding flow. I can feel his excitement about his work. That's the trick of a good TEDx talk. It makes us FEEL on top of making us THINK. Great job! 

janfox
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This guy is the first who thinks I'm awesome.

giorgigudiashvili
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Thank You Dr. Brewer, I loved your clear explanation of getting in our own way. I wrote, "SHOULDS! DON'T COUNT". Showing how we get in our own way when we are forget that nature will do what nature is supposed to do. Man has a choice. If man can get out of his way by eliminating most Shoulds we can grow, learn and find the flow in our connected, yet  individual Spirit. Shoulds, stop the flow. Must, Do and Did are all predisposed to Flow. Aloha Works

dianecwilliams
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Trust your body to do what it's supposed to

RonnieX
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I feel like in the flow when I'm drawing, totally feels like nothing exists, don't even see what Im drawing . Great speech!

scorpionicdecline
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Hes right about meditation and flow..ive been doing it for years and you really feel the difference. But part of the effect of flow is NOT wanting to go fir or do everything and anything all the time. You're more focussed in flow, and more chilled out. At the very least, you just cut through the work with minimal strain, cause it mostly feels great doing it. Practice and letting go, are everything.

SRDhain
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His book, Unwinding Your Anxiety, saved me from a lot of suffering.

sebghatullahjalali
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The part about resistance to a behavior being the reason we have a hard time stopping said behavior makes so much sense. I realized that after relapsing from the longest I've been sober that all I was focused on was staying sober and trying to resist my urges that they eventually caught up to me. I learned I need to be involved in other things so I won't have to resist, it just comes naturally.

LuhRen
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Since studying positive psychology I have been applying flow and mindful present moments of breathe work and experiencing the state of FLOW can't be described in words to people who have never experienced this before. All I can say to anyone considering this, it will change your life for the awesome. Don't listen to my words as they won't make you a believer, honestly practice this over and over again.. short bursts and within such a short amount of time you will have found the right key to unlock your door and boom, euphoria.. there is no more life changing moment than this experience! This experience will turn you into an addict, doing whatever you can for your next natural high!!! 💥💥💥🙏🏼👌🏼

ozlemdogan
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A HUGE thank-you to you Mr. Judson Brewer! I'm grateful to have come across this TedTalk and I found some of your articles published with the Huffington Post as well, and I look forward to seeing, hearing and reading more. Best regards.

JDubeta
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What Brewer is saying is Zen Buddhism, that's it! The moment of now is what matters the most. When "IT" comes up don't act on it, instead LIVE IN IT, TASTE IT, CHEW IT AND ENJOY IT, until the next moment comes.eckhart tolle and wayne dyer were the once who made Zen comprehensible for me. The Book of Tao Te Chingf is a good start ( free pdf ) on line.

danimontana
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"Reality is so much more delicious than our concepts of it." Amazing presentation! I experience flow when I belly dance and sometimes it is magical and even ecstatic. But if while dancing I move into my head doing ego-thinking I may even fall

AlmaSdance
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I paused this then went and accomplished so much in one day. Now I'm watching the other half.

LifesMike
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Yes I've also worked in cessation for years and those smokers taught me so much about how to quit every behavior I've ever wanted to stop and some I didn't even know I had ❤️ great talk from a year of meditation I feel like I changed my whole life!

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