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After Watching This Your Brain Will Not Be The Same |TEDx Talks with Haward Rankin & Olympia LePoint
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Jun 5, 2025
2 TED Talks-Reprogramming The brain For A Better Quality Of Life | Haward Rankin & Olympia LePoint The concepts of neuroplasticity, mirror cells, neurogenesis, and the social brain have all been discussed on radio shows and in newspaper articles. The advances in neuroscience have dramatically affected our understanding of what occurs in psychotherapy. If you’re like most people, you’ll want to learn more about how these developments can be applied to your practical life. Speakers: 1. DR. Haward Rankin 2. Olympia LePoint 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) #podcasts #SelfImprovement #Nature #MentalHealth #Mindset #Youtuber #Wellbeing
View Video Transcript
0:01
in the movie Apollo 13 Commander level
0:04
played by Tom Hanks says
0:07
people say it was a miracle going to the
0:10
Moon
0:11
it wasn't a miracle
0:13
we just decided to do it
0:17
well you have to say that with a few
0:20
exceptions
0:21
as far as obesity is concerned
0:24
we haven't decided to do it in fact you
0:28
could argue the opposite for example
0:31
in the fashion industry what once was a
0:34
size 14 is now a more acceptable and
0:37
politically correct size 10.
0:40
so what are we going to do about this in
0:43
our efforts to change this crisis
0:49
well I'm going to look at Neuroscience
0:51
because Neuroscience is the way that
0:53
individuals and Co and collectively we
0:57
can change our Behavior when I was in
1:00
Psychotherapy training back in the last
1:02
millennium
1:03
it was all about your mother now it's
1:06
all about your mother's
1:07
neurotransmitters
1:10
well that's a slight exaggeration of
1:11
course but we can learn from
1:13
Neuroscience the first thing we need to
1:16
know from neuroscience
1:18
is that we are not logical people
1:22
we are psychological often with the
1:25
emphasis on the psycho
1:27
we are emotional beings with the ability
1:30
to rationalize
1:33
and yet we continue to do programs that
1:37
appeal to logic and rationality which
1:40
are low down on the list of motivators
1:44
so just giving information about
1:47
nutrition alone isn't going to change
1:50
people that's like treating drug addicts
1:53
by giving them the chemical structure of
1:55
drugs
1:57
awareness is helpful
1:59
it is a precursor for change
2:03
but it isn't change itself
2:07
it's the pregame show
2:09
but it's not the game
2:12
so how do we change how do we change
2:16
what do we have to do we have to engage
2:19
people at an emotional and an
2:22
experiential level
2:25
our brains our primitive brains really
2:28
run the show and we hope that
2:30
periodically more often than not our
2:33
newer brains our prefrontal lobes our
2:36
frontal cortex will exert some
2:38
civilizing influence
2:41
so it's about information
2:44
and it's not about information it's
2:46
about emotion and it's about experience
2:49
now there's a cheeseburger man is that a
2:51
cheeseburger it's the biggest
2:52
cheeseburger I've ever seen
2:55
um but let's imagine that that is your
2:57
typical cheeseburger and it's 550
3:00
calories you want some fries with that
3:02
yes that's another 600 do you want uh
3:05
drink yeah I'll have a shake uh 16 ounce
3:08
that's 600 calories
3:10
so let's what happens if we change the
3:14
information and try to make it more
3:15
impactful
3:16
I have discovered that there is a direct
3:19
neural pathway from the emotional limbic
3:22
areas of your brain right into your
3:25
wallet so if we change these
3:29
into Ascent a calorie let's call these
3:33
rank in dollars and say let's look at
3:36
these Foods in terms of a santa calorie
3:38
a cheeseburger is 550. the fries are six
3:42
bucks
3:44
the shakes six bucks at Mio 1750
3:48
calories or 17.50
3:52
okay so how many people knowing that
3:55
there are 1750 calories in that meal are
3:58
really going to change their behavior
4:00
yeah a few perhaps
4:03
how many people would change their
4:04
behavior if they actually had to pay
4:07
17.50 for that meal
4:10
let's look at something else let's look
4:12
at calorie expenditure let's say the
4:15
average person about 180 pounds Burns
4:18
about 100 calories a minute
4:20
if you're a little less than that we're
4:22
being generous to you so you want to
4:23
burn off the calories in that
4:25
cheeseburger you've got to walk five and
4:26
a half miles
4:27
the fries you got to walk sex
4:30
the milkshake another sex
4:33
so you have to walk 17 and a half miles
4:35
if you want to burn off that food
4:38
now how many people knowing the fact
4:40
that you have to walk 17 and a half
4:43
miles actually will change their
4:45
behavior yeah a few perhaps
4:48
but how many would change your behavior
4:50
if I had to actually walk the 17 and a
4:53
half miles there is a difference between
4:56
just giving information and creating an
4:58
experience and an emotion for people
5:00
that's how people change
5:04
so your brain is not your consciousness
5:07
your brain is not your consciousness
5:10
okay you like to think that it is
5:12
but it isn't so just because you wake up
5:15
one morning and decide today is the day
5:18
that you are going to quit smoking stop
5:21
drinking change your eating habits the
5:23
big question is
5:24
why should your brain listen to you okay
5:27
you have trained it
5:30
it's not going to be that easy just
5:31
because you've decided in fact in many
5:34
ways even though we experience our
5:36
actions we think we have conscious
5:38
control of them and sometimes we really
5:40
don't
5:41
it's not just about telling people it's
5:44
about engaging them as we've seen by
5:48
Kelly earlier today how you have to
5:50
engage people it's not just information
5:54
now I happen to believe that you can't
5:58
exercise much conscious control of your
6:00
behavior if you don't have a balanced
6:03
brain balance is something that we look
6:06
for in all aspects of our life it's
6:09
elusive Saint Augustine said
6:13
total abstinence is easier than perfect
6:16
moderation
6:18
he was talking about sex of course but
6:21
he's right okay
6:24
he's right so you can't talk people out
6:29
of a balanced if they have an unbalanced
6:31
brain you can't talk them out of an
6:33
unbalanced brain if you go to a friend
6:35
of yours who's depressed and you say to
6:37
him oh come on cheer up you know like
6:40
look at all your blessings life could be
6:42
you know you know life could be a whole
6:44
lot worse
6:46
is that going to change them no it's
6:48
going to make them worse because they
6:49
can't feel better and you better watch
6:51
out because they think a must of the
6:52
effort they might smack you in the mouth
6:54
right you can't talk people out of an
6:57
unbalanced brain information is not in
7:00
Earth
7:02
so how do you change a balanced brain
7:05
well you can change a balance brain a
7:07
number of ways one is is through
7:09
medication and another is through
7:11
specific brain training
7:14
um I'm going to talk a little bit about
7:15
brain mapping we have the capability of
7:19
actually looking at how balanced a brain
7:21
somebody has and when we do brain
7:24
mapping we look at the neurological
7:26
activity in the brain we look at the
7:29
measures of magnitude how much activity
7:31
is going on measures dominant frequency
7:34
and connectivity
7:36
um and this enabled us to look at the
7:37
ratios between different brain waves
7:39
this is technical stuff but what I'm
7:41
saying is it's very easy to look at the
7:43
brain and see how well balanced it is
7:45
here is an example of a balanced brain
7:48
if you actually look uh at this Legend
7:51
here you see that this is a measure of
7:54
activity at different sites of the brain
7:56
if you look here you can see yellow is
7:59
very high red is high green is okay
8:02
compared to a normative database of your
8:05
peers blue is low and dark blue is very
8:08
low if you look at this brain map you
8:10
see by and large this person's brings
8:12
pretty balanced it falls within the
8:15
normative limited limits
8:18
you look at this map and you say oops
8:20
there's a little problem here okay you
8:23
see there's very high areas over here in
8:25
this Alpha section and in this Delta
8:27
section in fact this is a brain map of
8:30
an eight-year-old child with ADD we can
8:33
see that this area of the brain is very
8:36
highly active and when you look at the
8:39
ratio between Alpha and beta is very
8:42
very reliable way of measuring attention
8:44
deficit disorder so we actually have
8:47
objective measures at looking at how
8:49
balanced a brain is and how you do
8:52
something about that
8:54
now so there's medication and there's
8:56
brain training and brain training looks
8:58
at
8:59
uh uses neurofeedback to actually change
9:04
the brain so for example uh right here
9:08
on the left hand side you see here's a
9:11
brain an Alpha Brain with somebody's
9:14
activity and you can see that it's
9:16
pretty low and there after we've done
9:18
some neurofeedback which is brain
9:20
biofeedback using some simple principles
9:23
you can see that the activity on the
9:26
right side has changed so we are able to
9:30
change people's brains using not just
9:33
medication
9:34
but also
9:36
neurofeedback and biofeedback training
9:39
here's another example looking at beta
9:41
activity in the brain beta activity in
9:44
the brain is associated with information
9:47
processing and again you can see over
9:49
here it was
9:51
here it's pretty low after some
9:54
neurofeedback training it becomes more
9:56
balanced than normal so a balanced brain
9:59
becomes very important if we want people
10:01
to take information take advice and
10:04
actually be able to act on it
10:08
now there are other things that change
10:09
the balanced brain and those are key
10:13
lifestyle behaviors and you know what
10:15
I'm going to talk about right when I
10:16
talk about key lifestyle
10:18
um behaviors one is of course exercise
10:21
exercise is the single biggest thing you
10:25
can do to balance your brain
10:28
exercise is the single biggest thing you
10:31
can do to balance your brain any client
10:33
who comes to me in my general Clinical
10:34
Psychology practice I don't care how old
10:36
they are what they're coming complaining
10:38
of I want to put them on an exercise
10:40
regimen
10:42
Because unless their brain is balanced
10:44
it doesn't matter how clever I am and
10:47
how much brilliant advice I've got it's
10:49
not going to make much of a difference
10:51
it's going to be all words
10:53
exercise the single biggest thing you
10:55
can do to balance your brain next one
10:57
Stress Management
10:59
when we have Stress Management our brain
11:02
is on information overload we live in an
11:05
over-stimulated world
11:07
and we need to be able to relax that
11:10
brain and get out of information
11:11
processing into what's called relaxed
11:15
wakefulness so you know the sorts of
11:17
things you need to do
11:19
yoga meditation prayer it is really
11:21
important we live in an overstimulated
11:24
world
11:25
and we do not balance our brains
11:30
a lot of us feel as if we're not in
11:32
information processing mode
11:34
we're not being effective we're being
11:36
unproductive we feel guilty a balanced
11:38
brain is not information processing
11:41
frenzy and that's what we live in right
11:43
now and the fact of the matter is if you
11:46
look at how the brain requires energy
11:48
and an information processing we require
11:51
a lot of energy your brain is two
11:53
percent of your body and needs 25
11:55
percent of the energy that your body has
11:58
and there are two ways your brain can
12:00
get energy one is it can go into your
12:04
body and draw it yourself or it can go
12:07
straight to the food source
12:09
now you can see what will happen if you
12:11
go straight to the food source and we
12:13
have trained ourselves to do that
12:18
obviously sensible nutrition is
12:20
important your brain's energy is about
12:22
nutrition and your nutrition will feed
12:25
your brain either appropriately or
12:26
inappropriately and will give it energy
12:29
or deprive it of energy with all the
12:31
consequences that happen the fourth
12:33
thing is sleep
12:35
poor sleep leads to poor energy leads to
12:39
lethargy less exercise lower mood poor
12:43
concentration poor cognitive function
12:45
poor sleep is severely underestimated
12:49
so
12:51
those are ways we balance our brain and
12:53
here at mindstream the things that we do
12:55
for our students are exactly that we do
12:58
to use brain mapping and neurofeedback
13:00
to help balance that brain we do treat
13:03
show them and and give them the healthy
13:07
lifestyle behaviors and we do do very
13:09
specific behavioral training on health
13:12
skills you can do that
13:16
you know you can't tell people to have
13:18
self-control but you sure as heck can
13:20
train it
13:21
so there are ways of training people so
13:24
they are more receptive and training our
13:27
teens now the brain is also a social
13:29
brain
13:31
what we see other people doing is a huge
13:33
influence on our Behavior it's what we
13:35
call social proof
13:39
no man is an island
13:41
and those who want to be are more
13:43
Alcatraz than Hilton Head okay
13:48
we like to think of ourselves as rugged
13:51
individualists but in fact we are
13:54
programmed to be copycats and we just
13:56
saw in that video about how to start a
13:58
movement
14:00
so what we see going on around us is a
14:02
huge influence on us so we have to
14:04
change the culture we have a culture
14:06
where 70 of people are overweight and we
14:08
live in a fat culture we have to change
14:10
that if we don't change it this is like
14:13
a massive morbidly obese snow books uh
14:18
snowball going down a very Steep and
14:21
Long Hill
14:25
we really need to change
14:28
not just the culture but we need to
14:30
train our youth because youth are the
14:34
best opportunity we have for changing
14:36
this and they
14:38
deserve it we owe it to them to change
14:42
thank you
14:47
I use mathematics and science to
14:50
calculate the probability of
14:52
catastrophic explosion within the space
14:54
shuttle's flight in all I launched help
14:58
launch with a great team of people
15:00
28 spatial missions into outer space
15:07
[Applause]
15:11
now I can stand here and tell you how
15:15
great it was to launch from the mission
15:19
control
15:20
I can tell you how it was like to sign
15:23
off and authorize multi-million dollar
15:25
intern tests
15:27
but I'm not
15:29
I can tell you how great it is to be an
15:31
author and a TV host now
15:33
but I'm not
15:35
rather I'm going to talk about you
15:38
and me
15:39
and what comes in our mind in the middle
15:43
of challenges
15:45
fear
15:48
fear
15:49
what have you always wanted to do in
15:51
life
15:51
do you want to be a multi-million dollar
15:54
business owner
15:55
do you want to be the first in your
15:57
family to graduate from college
15:59
do you want to start a family
16:02
well for me I always want to be a rocket
16:05
scientist but obstacle and Roblox came
16:09
into my path where I questioned whether
16:11
or not I'd be able to do it
16:13
the truth is this if we do not have a
16:16
way to reprogram our minds to overcome
16:19
fear we will never be successful at our
16:23
own specific missions in life
16:27
but there's good news
16:29
I have personally found I have
16:32
personally devised a three-step method
16:36
to overcome fear and reprogram the brain
16:39
using three key decisions and I'm going
16:43
to share them with you today
16:45
the first decision is this
16:49
you must name
16:51
and reject your fear
16:54
you must name and reject your fear
16:59
now the easiest way for me to tell you
17:01
about all these three decisions is to
17:03
take you back in my life and to share
17:06
with you what happened with me so you
17:08
have a better idea of how to use these
17:11
three decisions
17:13
and it started when I was six years old
17:17
and I'll never forget that day
17:20
I went on a field trip to the jet
17:22
propulsion laboratory and there it was
17:25
wonderful I remember seeing these
17:28
big engines in these Jets and we went to
17:32
their mission control room and it was
17:34
amazing I saw these big TV screens on
17:38
the wall and these red plush chairs and
17:41
I also saw pictures of men launching
17:43
rockets and I said to myself I want to
17:46
be just like those men
17:48
now I'm not quite sure if you've noticed
17:50
I wear stilettos
17:53
and skirts I am definitely a woman
18:02
and that didn't stop me I wanted to be
18:04
just like these men
18:07
but obstacles came into my path
18:11
now here I am
18:13
10 years old
18:14
in the middle of a fifth grade class and
18:17
right next to me is a boy who's also 10
18:19
and he has been recruited into a gang
18:23
he and I get into arguments quite
18:25
regularly because frankly I don't know
18:28
the power of my words at this age
18:30
and he wears this ring on his finger
18:34
that he files down so it acts Just Like
18:37
a Knife
18:38
and so one day in a heated argument he'd
18:40
take this ring and he socks me
18:45
right under my eye
18:48
now being a champion an Olympian I stand
18:52
up to defend myself and everything goes
18:54
blank I cannot see one thing
18:57
I am later rushed to the hospital
19:00
and I have five layers of stitches
19:03
placed in my face and the surgeon tells
19:05
me I'm lucky
19:07
had it been any higher I would have lost
19:09
my eye
19:11
now I'm pulled out of school for months
19:14
where right next door there's a crack
19:17
house and I see people getting high on
19:20
the outside of my bedroom window and our
19:23
mother has a sleep in the bed in a
19:25
certain direction so if the bullets came
19:27
through the house if it came through the
19:30
walls it would hit our feet first
19:33
and not our head
19:35
so in the middle of downtown Los Angeles
19:38
in poverty
19:40
face disfigured
19:42
and I want to be a rocket scientist
19:46
next I am placed into another school
19:48
where I fail algebra then I fail
19:52
geometry and then I go to a performing
19:55
arts school and I fail chemistry then
19:57
make a D in calculus
19:59
then a blessing occurs
20:03
bears
20:06
there's this man
20:07
his teacher
20:09
and he says that
20:11
if anybody
20:13
wants help for their AP Calculus exam he
20:17
would tutor them for free
20:19
so I jump at this opportunity and I
20:22
catch the bus two hours each way just to
20:25
sit with this man for one hour
20:28
and I remember looking at the
20:29
information
20:31
and I remember thinking
20:34
wait
20:37
I can get this
20:39
I can get this
20:42
I may not understand it now but I will
20:44
I'm not going to let failure stop me
20:47
and that was the first time I learned to
20:51
name and reject my fear
20:55
it would be a beautiful story if I told
20:57
you that I took the AP Calculus exam and
21:00
passed it but no I failed it miserably
21:05
but what I learned is that process to
21:07
invest in myself and others in education
21:10
I took those skills and graduated at the
21:12
age of 16 from high school and then
21:15
later applied those skills to the
21:17
university I attended where I tutored
21:19
thousands of people in mathematics
21:22
through educational group programs and I
21:26
and other people learn to name and
21:28
reject Their Fear And I fortunately was
21:31
able to be one out of top five graduates
21:34
out of a 6500 graduating class you must
21:38
name your fear and reject it
21:43
thank you
21:47
the second decision is this
21:51
you must reprogram your brain with
21:54
different thoughts
21:55
you must reprogram your brain with
21:58
different thoughts you know how you have
21:59
a computer and it may be infected with a
22:02
virus so you have to take the virus off
22:04
the computer and reboot it so it
22:06
operates correctly where our brains are
22:08
the exact same way what we have to do is
22:11
take the virus out what's called fear
22:13
and I learned this my first couple of
22:16
months working as a rocket scientist now
22:18
I'm going to share a secret with you
22:20
when I first started in rocket science I
22:23
was completely intimidated I remember
22:26
going inside this room and there was
22:28
around 200 people in this room and I
22:30
remember looking around and I I was the
22:32
only woman
22:34
and then I remember looking around again
22:36
and everyone was 20 at least 20 years
22:39
older than I was and I was hearing all
22:42
these words I didn't know beads of sweat
22:44
would come down my forehead as I was
22:46
hearing ssme itar rp1
22:50
ISP I didn't know what any of this was
22:52
and that fear started coming into my
22:55
brain again and I didn't know whether or
22:58
not I'd be able to make a significant
23:00
difference
23:02
then a couple of weeks later I had my
23:06
second epiphany
23:08
I remember going into this room
23:12
and then I realized wait
23:15
I'm educated
23:17
and I work hard at everything I do
23:21
I may not be able to make a significant
23:22
difference now but I will
23:25
so that's what I did I literally told
23:27
myself I'm going to make a big
23:29
difference here and I found mentors to
23:32
show me what ssme me meant which was the
23:35
Space Shuttle main engine
23:38
the space shuttle main engine was huge I
23:41
found out where every single duct line
23:45
weld tube every vowel was placed enough
23:49
so I was able to help redesign new
23:52
engines and sit in Mission Control this
23:56
work allowed me to become one of the
23:59
youngest engineers of the year you must
24:01
reprogram your brain with different
24:04
thoughts
24:06
and the last decision is this
24:10
the last decision is this
24:13
you must rebuild your brains you must
24:18
rebuild the neurons in your brain by
24:20
taking action
24:22
now we've all been there
24:24
we've had to lose weight we've had to
24:26
get in shape and it's not enough to
24:28
Simply say all right I'm going to get in
24:31
shape and then you sit on your couch
24:34
you've got to go to the gym you've got
24:36
to climb those stairs you've got to get
24:39
on a bike you've got to do something to
24:40
activate your muscles so
24:43
you lose weight
24:45
our brains are the exact same way the
24:48
way that we exercise our brain is by
24:51
taking action in direct opposition to
24:53
our fear
24:55
now
24:57
in every single one of these cases
25:00
I learned something specific
25:03
I and other people were suffering from
25:05
what I have personally coined as
25:07
mathophobia
25:09
mathophobia is a severe fear that
25:12
happens in The Reptilian part of the
25:14
brain that shuts off the frontal brain
25:16
lobes rendering someone completely
25:19
paralyzed when it comes to problem
25:21
solving
25:23
anytime someone has fear the problem
25:25
solving is completely turned off
25:28
but when we take action in direct
25:31
opposition from our fear something
25:32
amazing happens
25:34
neuron transmitters are created and
25:37
built within our brain turning off fear
25:39
creating Pathways to fire off our
25:42
frontal brain lobes and when our frontal
25:45
brain lobes fire off we're able to do
25:47
great things
25:48
and I recognize this after I left rocket
25:51
science
25:53
when I left rocket science I was offered
25:56
a prestigious position for a banking
25:58
institution only to recognize that I
26:01
loved science and education far more
26:05
so I left Banking and I decided to be a
26:08
part-time mathematics professor
26:10
but
26:11
when I did that the entire United States
26:13
economy Tanked
26:16
nobody was hiring and here I was
26:19
underemployed struggling to pay my bills
26:22
and I almost let fear stop me again
26:26
but this time I was armed with all these
26:29
experiences and something different
26:31
happened this time
26:33
I remember sitting there thinking what
26:35
am I going to do
26:38
and then I had my latest realization
26:43
wait
26:44
I'm talented
26:46
if no one is hiring
26:48
why not hire myself
26:52
so that's what I did
26:55
I hired myself I created my own
26:58
educational Entertainment Company first
27:00
I created my website with all the cool
27:03
different science technology engineering
27:05
and math videos
27:07
then what I did is form the company
27:09
specifically I had to find that the
27:11
difference between the S corporation and
27:14
a C corporation next what I did is I
27:17
hired tutors then I wrote a book now my
27:22
team and I are creating educational TV
27:24
shows for Network programming I didn't
27:27
know how to do any of this but in that
27:30
process of learning to become a beginner
27:32
again what I was doing is
27:35
turning off the fear in my own head
27:39
creating neuron transmitters in my own
27:42
brain
27:43
firing my frontal lobes allowing myself
27:46
to be creative
27:48
and creating opportunities
27:51
so
27:53
if there's one thing I want you to
27:55
remember today it's this
27:57
you can reprogram your brain to override
28:00
fear
28:01
if you name
28:03
and reject your fear
28:05
reprogram your brain with different
28:07
thoughts and take action in direct
28:10
opposition to your fear if you do all
28:12
these three things guess what you can do
28:16
anything you set your mind to
28:18
even
28:20
become a rocket scientist
28:23
foreign
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