Makes Sense - with Dr. JC Doornick – Details, episodes & analysis

THE SANDWICH GENERATION: This is one from the vault of the Rise Up With Dragon Show. Caring for both your kids and your parents. Who’s taking care of you? Is the goal to train your kids by example to take on the role or burden of being the sandwich? Or, is there value in self care.

Welcome to the Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick Podcast.

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These episodes get edited and cleaned up for the MAKES SENSE with Dr. JC Doornick PODCAST for your listening pleasure.

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Podcast Affiliates: Kwik Learning: Many people ask me where I get all these topics for almost 15 years? I have learned to read at nearly 4 times the speed with 10 times the retention from Kwik Learning. Learn how to learn and earn with Jim Kwik. Get his program at a special discount here: https://jimkwik.com/dragon

OUR SPONSORS:

• Makes Sense Academy: Enjoy the show and consider joining our psychologically safe haven and environment where you can begin to thrive. The Makes Sense Academy. https://www.skool.com/makes-sense-academy/about

• The Sati Experience: A retreat designed for the married couple that truly loves one another, yet wants to take their love to that higher, magical level. Relax, reestablish, and renew your love at the Sati Experience. https://www.satiexperience.com

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We live in a culture obsessed with treating symptoms, weight gain, fatigue, high blood pressure, brain fog, poor sleep, as if each were an isolated problem. But what if these struggles aren’t the problem at all? What if they’re just the flashing check engine lights on the dashboard of your body, pointing to a deeper issue that’s been hiding in plain sight: Metabolic Disease.

In this episode, Dr. JC Doornick pulls back the curtain on why nearly every chronic health crisis in America today — from obesity and Type 2 diabetes to heart disease, hypertension, and even dementia — can be traced back to metabolic dysfunction. He explains how the healthcare industry profits from keeping us stuck in a never-ending cycle of pills, injections, and quick fixes, rather than empowering us to address the root cause upstream.

You’ll also learn about Metabolic Synchronization — a practical, upstream approach that helps realign the body and mind through five key foundations:

• Proper diet & nutrition
• Proper movement & muscle development
• Proper sleep
• Proper education & mental detox
• Proper community & support

🔥 Make Sense?

If you want to dive deeper, I’ve written the full piece on my free Substack. Come check it out, and let’s tune in together.

►Follow Dr. JC Doornick and the Makes Sense Academy:

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MAKES SENSE PODCAST

Welcome to the Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick Podcast: This podcast covers topics that expand human consciousness and performance. On the Makes Sense Podcast, we acknowledge that it's who you are that determines how well what you do works, and that perception is a subjective and acquired taste. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at begin to change. Welcome to the uprising of the sleepwalking masses. Welcome to the Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick Podcast.

SUBSCRIBE/RATE/REVIEW & SHARE our new podcast.

FOLLOW Podcast - You will find a "Follow" button on the top right. This will enable the podcast software to alert you when a new episode launches each week.

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/makes-sense-with-dr-jc-doornick/id1730954168

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1WHfKWDDReMtrGFz4kkZs9?si=003780ca147c4aec

Podcast Affiliates:

Kwik Learning: Many people ask me where I get all these topics for almost 15 years. I have learned to read nearly four times faster with 10 times retention from Kwik Learning. Learn how to learn and earn with Jim Kwik. Get his program at a special discount here: https://jimkwik.com/dragon

OUR SPONSORS:

• Makes Sense Academy: A private mastermind and psychologically safe environment full of the Mindset and Action steps that will help you begin to thrive. The Makes Sense Academy. https://www.skool.com/makes-sense-academy/about
• The Sati Experience: A retreat designed for the married couple that truly loves one another, yet wants to take their love to that higher magical level. Relax, reestablish, and renew your love at the Sati Experience. https://www.satiexperience.com

• Habits of Health System: Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen Link
• Hacker K, Briss PA, Somers SA. The Burden of Chronic Disease in the United States. CDC / Preventing Chronic Disease (2024). Link
• Pearson-Stuttard J, et al. Real-world costs of obesity-related complications over time in the United States. International Journal of Obesity (2023). Link
• Liang J, et al. Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the United States: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011–2018. Postgraduate Medical Journal (2023). Link
• Mohamed A, et al. Metabolic syndrome: risk factors, diagnosis, pathogenesis, and treatments. Metabolism Open (2023). Link
• Lee H, et al. Metabolic syndrome in midlife and risk of young-onset dementia. Neurology (2025). LinkChew NWS, et al. The global burden of metabolic disease: data from 2000 to 2019. Annals of Global Health / ScienceDirect (2023). Link
• Islam T, et al. The interplay of factors in metabolic syndrome: understanding its roots and complexity. Molecular Medicine (2024). Link

0:00 - Intro

4:18 - The Signs and Symptoms of Metabolic Disease

5:49 - Metabolic Dysfunction

9:02 - Supply and Demand of Healthcare

13:42 - How did we miss all this?

15:33 - How is the Business of Healthcare similar to the business ofd war?

19:25 - Is health out of your reach without medical intervention?

21:10 - Metabolic Synchronization

22:57 - 5 Foundations for Synchronization

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Welcome, friends. Today, I want to share a piece that I will be posting on my Makes Sense Substack, called the Alchemy of Forgiveness. This time, it's all about you. It originated from a mastermind topic I did for a plant medicine integration group I host monthly with the friends of Arkana. Feel free to reach out for more information on that. But I thought it would make for a great short form Podcast Episode to accompany it. As we approach this sensitive subject, please be aware of the following. I do not know what it is like to walk in your shoes, nor do I know your pain and circumstances. This process of forgiveness is a unique and individualized situation that will carry an acquired taste for some. What i do know is that your life experience can become extraordinary the moment you decide to stop carrying its weight on your shoulders and it will happen the moment you change the way you look at forgiveness, and this is the intention of this episode. In full transparency, I have come to termswith the fact that I will be working to release myself from its burden for the rest of my life. However, it is in my decision and intention to release it, that I have found my Freedom.

►Follow Dr. JC Doornick and the Makes Sense Academy:

Instagram: / drjcdoornick  

Facebook:  / makessensepodcast  

YouTube:  / drjcdoornick  

MAKES SENSE PODCAST

Welcome to the Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick Podcast: This podcast covers topics that expand human consciousness and performance. On the Makes Sense Podcast, we acknowledge that it's who you are that determines how well what you do works, and that perception is a subjective and acquired taste. When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at begin to change. Welcome to the uprising of the sleepwalking masses. Welcome to the Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick Podcast.

SUBSCRIBE/RATE/REVIEW & SHARE our new podcast.

FOLLOW Podcast - You will find a "Follow" button top right. This will enable the podcast software to alert you when a new episode launches each week. 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/makes-sense-with-dr-jc-doornick/id1730954168 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1WHfKWDDReMtrGFz4kkZs9?si=003780ca147c4aec 

Podcast Affiliates:

Kwik Learning: Many people ask me where I get all these topics for almost 15 years. I have learned to read nearly four times faster with 10 times retention from Kwik Learning. Learn how to learn and earn with Jim Kwik. Get his program at a special discount here: https://jimkwik.com/dragon 

OUR SPONSORS: 

• Makes Sense Academy: A private mastermind and psychologically safe environment full of the Mindset and Action steps that will help you begin to thrive. The Makes Sense Academy. https://www.skool.com/makes-sense-academy/about
• The Sati Experience: A retreat designed for the married couple that truly loves one another yet wants to take their love to that higher magical level. Relax, reestablish, and renew your love at the Sati Experience. https://www.satiexperience.com

Highlights:

Highlights:

0:00 - Intro

1:09 - It’s all about you?

5:10 - Holding On To Something Heavy?

5:54 - The Threshold of Integration.

9:17 - The reason we struggle to forgive?

11:35 - Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot stone to throw it another

13:36 - FOR-Giveness

15:14 - Different Types of Forgivenss - Mercy and Alchemy

19:52 - Satori

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The goal is to change the way we look at things, so that the things we look at can begin to change. Welcome to Stpe Three of the Interface Response System - ASSESS - In this episode we learn how to execute on this arduous task of assessing the scene of the interface from a different vantage point. Along with three powerful tools to add to your belt, this episode will play a major role in the rewiring of your assessment making machine. My favorite step of the 4 step process. Enjoy

Thank you to our sponsors Makes Sense Academy: https://www.riseupwithdragon.com/makes-sense-academy 

ResourcesConnect With Dr. JC Doornick-  https://zez.am/makessense - Website: https://www.riseupwithdragon

Resources: 

• Donald Hoffman Interview - https://www.youtube.com/live/1O0l9ynXY1g?feature=shared

• Case Against Reality Book - https://amzn.to/3U6O7dU

• Rizwan Virk Interview - https://youtu.be/x0iqxkdBplw?feature=shared

• Simulation Hypothesis Book - https://amzn.to/3J9IsxC

• The Holographic Universe - Michael Talbot - https://amzn.to/3J6aCcL 

• The Elephant Parable by John Godfrey Saxe - https://allpoetry.com/The-Blind-Man-And-The-Elephant

• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman - https://amzn.to/3xqPwDe 

• Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini - https://amzn.to/3J8g0Mn 

• The Arkana Spiritual Center - https://www.arkanaspiritualcenter.com 

• Free Will by Sam Harris - https://amzn.to/4ancWrz 

Timestamps(00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:37) Change the way you look at things so that the things you look at begine to change. (00:3:19) What we see is what we get but is what we get what actually is or just what we see? (00:5:37) Looking at things from a different vantage point. (00:6:47) A case against reality with Donald Hoffman (00:8:01) The Simulation Hypothesis with Rizwan Virk (00:13:20) Life as a video game?(00:15:46) The Eye of the Storm (00:14:37) Your old programmed mind is impatient and doesn't like to wait too long. (00:18:27) Cognitive Disputation (00:20:21) What is the efficacy of Free Will with Sam Harris (00:22:04) THe Elephant Parable (00:26:21) Survey the Scene (00:28:10) Thinking Fast and Slow with Daniel Kahneman  (00:29:04) Makes Sense Academy Sponsor Break (00:29:00) The Bouncer Revised (00:32:30) Whole-O-graphic Vision

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Moving right along. Welcome to  STEP TWO of the 4 step Interface Response System called PAUSE. This powerful tool teaches us how to place our often problematic, knee jerk perception and response on a temporary pause in order to allow ourselves to step into the space between tthe stimulus and our response, to evaluate the situation with an untainted, open and clear mind. Welcome to the eye of the storm. 

Thank you to our sponsors Makes Sense Academy: https://www.riseupwithdragon.com/makes-sense-academy 

ResourcesConnect With Dr. JC Doornick-  https://zez.am/makessense - Website: https://www.riseupwithdragon - Talking To Yourself is not crazy - Larry Markson -https://amzn.to/3PIGffX - Viktor Rankl's A Man's Search for Meaning Book - https://amzn.to/3J6liYB  - Brandi Carlysle Song "The Eye" - https://open.spotify.com/track/0Plf9mewMoYkwEvncCjfxS?si=57680f6b9c89440f - Jim Kwik Online Courses - www.kwiklearning.com 

Timestamps(00:00:00) Introduction (00:02:15) Recap of Step One Brain Awareness Perception (00:8:45) Its you that has the idea to change your program, not your subconscious mind. (00:10:25) Cognitive Dissonance, Cognitive Bias, Cognitive Distancing (00:13:36) Sponsor - Makes Sense Academy (00:15:00) The Illusion Of Agency and Paul Conti (00:14:40) The Space Between the Stimulus and Response - Viktor Frankl (00:15:46) The Eye of the Storm (00:19:08) The Disentanglement of Consciousness (00:23:22) HMMM? 

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I am very excited to present to you STEP ONE of the 4 step Interface Response System called PERCEPTION. This crucial step unveils the very reason we’d validate working on our perception and responses in acknowledging the vast capabilities your brain possesses to run the show as the sense maker and decision maker without any help from you. 

Thank you to our sponsors Makes Sense Academy: https://www.riseupwithdragon.com/makes-sense-academy

ResourcesConnect With Dr. JC Doornick-  https://zez.am/makessense Website: https://www.riseupwithdragon Huberman Lab Interview With Paul Conti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLRCS48Ens4 PBS Special - Your Brain, Who is in control: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ6VOOd73MA 

Timestamps(00:00:00) Introduction (00:04:02) Intro to the IRS (Interface Response System) (00:6:50) If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. (00:7:49) Brain Awareness Perception? (00:10:18) Sponsor - Makes Sense Academy (00:15:00) The Illusion Of Agency and Paul Conti (00:42:18) Mazarin Banaji - How much Control over Agency do we have (00:16:07) Uri Maoz - The perception of agency (00:18:23) Icahn School of Medicine Sleep Center at Mount Sinai, Emmanuel During

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Welcome to the MAKES SENSE podcast, where we apply the science, art and philosophy of sense making to the things that make you go Hmmm? Those most pressing thoughts and discussions going on in our minds today. The Makes Sense Podcast is an expense free service with the intention of helping you execute on the concept of changing the way you look at things, so that the things you look at begin to change. 

Connect With Dr. JC - https://zez.am/makessense

Today we’ll MAKE SENSE of a process i call SORTING - A technique from step three (Assess) of the Interface Response System that assists us in making better Decisions that are in support of the life you desire

Let’s consciously take this moment and begin the process of reclaiming control of our reality. How do we reclaim control of our reality and life? We must first identify what it means and feel like it is out of control? How does the feeling of being out of control show up in your life? For me, it shows up in many ways. When I participate with my thoughts and feelings of worry and concern for example. I can find myself either overeating or easily agitated and irritated by people. Even loved ones. I find it hard for me to multitask and stay on track with the things I had planned to do that day. Sometimes I find my confidence is down as well as my general outlook on life. In fact I have created a general name for all these symptoms and feelings associated with me being out of control. I call it FUNKY TOWN. Where I find myself in a FUNK. Have you been there? Only challenge is that while I am feeling these downstream symptoms I am unaware or unconscious that I am out of control.  I just feel crappy in general. Yet I am unaware that I am trying to control the uncontrollables in my life. See, that is my definition of being out of control. Being out of the state of controlling the things we control and in the state of trying to build an airplane in the sky or teach a goldfish to climb a tree. Both are impossible. Just like you trying to control the uncontrollables in your life and feeling, OUT OF CONTROL.

One of my favorite quotes came from the amazing Ekhart Tolle, author of one of my top favorite reads, The Power of Now. Tolle speaks a lot about suffering and says that the first step to end suffering is the acknowledgment that you are in fact suffering. This is why I introduced the concept of first being able to make the distinction that you are in fact out of control and that your lack of control is showing up in your ineffectiveness at responding to adversity with grace. As we discussed in the last episode. Why is this important? Well, it would be the reason and catalist for you wanting to make some changes in your life. Specifically in taking control of what you decide to do with your time, as well as who and what gets into your schedule and mind and who and what does not? 

So let's start with unveiling why we’d want to learn how to sort through the things that matter vs don’t? It begins with your current reality and what your perception is about your life. Are you genuinely happy with your life? How would you go about determining if you were genuinely happy?

Paul Conti interview on Huberman Lab. When asked how we define a “Healthy Self”? What is the healthy version of self? What should we all be aspiring to? Paul Conti replied that a healthy self presents its life through the lens of agency and gratitude. He explains that if a human has those two things, Agency and Gratitude, you almost never see things go wrong. 

Agency refers to an individual's capacity to make choices, set goals, and take intentional actions to influence their life circumstances.

Gratitude: involves recognizing and appreciating the positive aspects of life, acknowledging the goodness in oneself and others, and expressing thankfulness.

So, if someone is genuinely happy with themselves, they are someone that is experiencing agency and gratitude  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLRCS48Ens4)

My question to Paul Conti should I ever be graced with his presence on the show would be this. Can a human being create and self fabricate the illusion that they are in a state of agency and gratitude through the practices of mindfulness and repetition of things like daily affirmations and controlling what they consume from the world each day? And, is that the same as the genuine agency and gratitude that I am hearing you speak of? In other words, can we decide any day to practice and manifest agency and gratitude even in the absence of things like basic physical, mental and financial well being due to a lack of motivation and consistency in our daily lives? Can we fabricate it and make it up?

OUR SPONSOR: Makes Sense Academy - https://www.riseupwithdragon.com/makes-sense-academy

Why am I fascinated by this idea of possessing the ability to look at life through the lens of Agency and Gratitude? Because it is the foundation for why someone would take their lives serious enough to consider practicing some of the various effective tools we discuss on this podcast that are intended to pause our potentially inefficient response system, and take measures to learn how to protect the doorway to our minds with things like consumption control and the practice of sorting. In other words, if you don’t know your power and abilities and don’t have a deep appreciation for how amazing and precious life is? You won’t be motivated to protect it and will do what most do. Go with the flow.

Definition: Sorting is the process of arranging things systematically into groups; separating things according to type, class, etc. "the mail was sorted" 

In the context of phase three of the Interface Response System, ASSESS. Sorting carries the same definition yet has a different intention outside of just getting things organized. The practice of sorting is analogous to that of a filter. Taking things we interface with (events, people, thoughts, feelings etc.) and sorting them out to determine which ones go and which ones stay. Similar to the traditional elements of sorting, in this filter we must learn how to assess the events;

• Prioritization and importance: Does it matter

• Goal Alignment: In accordance with our goals and dreams.

• Categorization: Where does it fit in or does it not?

• Control Factor: Do we have any control over the situation or not?

THE BOUNCER:

The best way to put some color to the practice of sorting is analogy of the BOUNCER - The basic premise of a bouncer's job in a bar or nightclub is quality control. If working the front door, the bouncer checks ID’s and uses a guest list to control who gets in and who doesn’t. If walking around the inside of the facility, the bouncers job is to make sure everyone that got inside is playing nice and adding to the quality of the environment for all to enjoy themselves. If all is looking kosher, its nothing but smiles. If someone or something is out of alignment the bouncer reserves the right to remove them from the premises with force if necessary. 

In terms of you being the bouncer in your life it means that your mind, mental health and sense making machine represents the nightclub. Your voluntary conscious mind is the filter or bouncer that is there to sort things out. Determine who and what’s on the invited guest list or not. Your negative thoughts, fears, worries, and concerns that are holding you back? They are the guests in your nightclub that are no longer welcome and must be escorted from the premises. 

The skill set of the bouncer goes beyond just sorting. A good bouncer doesn’t take things personally when guests argue and complain or resist being removed. A good bouncer separates themselves from getting emotionally attached to these interactions and just does their job based on using logic and rationale in connection with the desire to have a homeostatic, safe and efficient environment.

They assess the situation by asking three basic questions that require checks across the board. Get one no to one of the three questions? No entry and removal from the premises.

1. Does this matter and is this about me or them?

2. Is this in support of the direction I am moving?

3. Is this in my control or not?

By asking these three questions, you are passing all things you interface with through your sorting filter. Helping you determine what gets in and stays, vs. what doesn’t get it and must go. 

Might you need to hire a bouncer to start checking ID’s, and walk through your nightclub to remove unwanted guests?

Connect With Dr. JC - https://zez.am/makessense

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Welcome to the MAKES SENSE podcast, where we apply the science, art and philosophy of sense making to the things that make you go Hmmm? Those most pressing thoughts and discussions going on in our minds today. The Makes Sense Podcast is an expense free service with the intention of helping you execute on the concept of changing the way you look at things, so that the things you look at begin to change. 

Today we’ll MAKE SENSE of ADVERSITY Handling Adversity with grace and how to become that version of yourself that is impeccable to your word and follows through with your commitments. No matter what.

CONNECT WITH Dr. JC Doornick - https://zez.am/makessense 

SHOW RESOURCES and REFERENCES:

• Joe Rogan Podcast with David Sinclair - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUwd-D94pzE 
• A Man's Search For Meaning Book Victor Frankl - https://amzn.to/3SzrE7s 

SHOW NOTES:

My intention of this episode is to arm and equip you with a shift in perspective about your relationship with adversity. When I say adversity I am referring to your adversity not necessarily mine. This is a healthy place to begin this discussion as it uncovers the first step towards handling adversity. To recognize that adversity is both defined and in existence due to your own observation of it. Think that one through. Would adversity exist in the absence of you taking note of it? I mean, an event is just an event until you label it as adversity, yes? Why is this important? Well what if your sense making machine is faulty or glitched? And there is a high chance it is, due to your programming right? Remember that virtual reality suit, and your sense making machine is what you’re using to label these events. Its responsibility is perceiving and processing everything? Is it safe to acknowledge that adversity only exists due to our perception and labeling of it?

See, handling adversity is not just learning how to cope with it and move through or past it..Those can be valuable skills to adopt yet until you understand where adversity comes from and what it represents FOR YOU rather than TO YOU, you will always be fighting an endless war. Lets learn what adversity is, where it comes from and how it both harms and helps you.

First, I want to share an interesting distinction that might help.I was listening to an episode of the Joe Rogan podcast with guest David Sinclair, a 53 year-old Harvard Biologist who claims to possess a biological age that is a decade younger as a result of practicing a plant based intermittent fasting regiment. Although I am fascinated with the concept of fasting, I heard him make mention of an observation that motivated me to create this episode on Making Sense of adversity. When Rogan asked him how he justifies eating a 2,000 calorie meal once a day for dinner then fasting for 24 hours after as being more beneficial than spreading that 2,000 calories out over small 50 calorie meals, Sinclair had this response

“Because going back 6 million years, our bodies were designed or evolved to respond to adversity. And we’ve removed that from our lives because it feels good. But we need adversity to be resilient and fight disease.”

Isn’t that fascinating? To embrace adversity as something we were not only designed to handle but something we actually require to thrive and be our best? Does that help? Yes, this means that without adversity, we are at a disadvantage.

I believe the challenge we face with adversity is in how we have been programmed to look at and define it. So if you are struggling with adversity, it's not your fault and there is hope.

The Webster Dictionary defines adversity as a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune showing courage in the face of adversity. 

This is where the struggle with adversity begins. Its very definition paints it as a difficulty or misfortune. In our society, we take our kids and lock them in a box called the classroom, handing their education over to institutions, teachers and textbooks generated by who? We just assume that this is the right thing for them. Why do we accept this? Because we, as parents, have our own lives and responsibilities to provide for the family. A roof over their heads, beds to sleep in, have a little fun here and there and then pay for those schools. At varying degrees of acceptance with this system, we are forced to trust this system and hope that it sets them up for success and does little harm to our kids. Meanwhile, their vulnerable and susceptible brains continue to develop and begin to hardwire all these lessons about science, mathematics, history, language and how to perceive and survive in life. When it comes to adversity, they learn to avoid it and if they have a teacher that goes the extra mile, learn how to persevere and grow through it. We refrain from doing too much investigation into all this as we haven’t got the time nor energy with all we have on our plates. So we trust the system, pull our cars up, drop them off for the day, then pick them up hoping it all went well.  Can you see why so many are turning to homeschooling these days? Call it a healthy decision or not. It is the only way you can maintain control of what your children are consuming and what they are exposed to so it makes sense to me why so many move to that model. My personal strategy at this time is to have my children attend school and make a point to sit and discuss what they learned and encourage them to challenge everything before they allow it to wire into their operating system and sense making machine. Yes parents, this means at the end of your long day, we can’t just pick them up, help them with homework and feed them. We must ask them questions and teach them to do the same.

Why is this stuff  important to recognize? We're talking about the idea of handling adversity with grace here. How can we begin to do that without understanding what we've been taught and hard wired to know about it? What we are talking about is program awareness perception. Simply becoming aware of our programming. How it was formed and how it impacts our sense making system. In this case, how it impacts our perception and response to adversity.

It reminds me of the vaccine controversy. When I was younger on break from Chiropractic school, I thought it would be cool to show up at a popular bulk food and household supply chain one day when they were offering free flu shots. Leaving my opinion out of this particular topic of discussion, my intention was to study the behavior of those in line and expose how powerful their programming was in prompting them to make decisions. I presented myself as a student doing his thesis on the topic of human behavior, with a specific interest in how we make decisions for our families during times of adversity. I presented this scenario to create space for those I would interview to want to share their opinions. I had an audio recording device and simply asked random people “what they were online for?” They said free flu shots. I then asked why THey said it's flu season. I asked when does that start and begin? THey said they weren't sure? Then I asked who was giving the flu shots. They said they weren't sure but assumed it was some sort of health professional? Then I asked, what is in a flu shot? They said they weren't sure.

Disclaimer. On this podcast we make a concerted effort not to share our opinions on topics like our school systems, politics, religion and vaccinations. When we interview guests or interact with listeners, we feel that everyone believes what they believe and we respect and honor that. My opinion is not relevant here. My intention is to simply help you become more conscious human beings and recognize where you got these ideas and why you came up with your opinions. They were for the most part taught to you. 

Where do we go in this discussion from here? Your perception of adversity is merely that. A perception. And your perception making machine has been programmed by your MFTPSE. If your desire is to learn how to handle adversity with grace? Your first step is that program awareness perception. To understand that your current perception of it is your best guess based on what you’ve learned about it.  In my four step Interface Response System, we learn to take note of our knee jerk programmed thoughts and feelings about what we see, then insert a spacer or pause on them knowing that they may be flawed and can produce an inefficient perception and response to the stimulus. Placing us in what I call the eye of the storm. A space in between the stimulus and our response to it, where we have the opportunity to look at it with a more conscious, rational and logical mind. Thus triggering a more effective and goal supportive response that helps us stay on track and follow through with our original plans to move forward. I have created an online course for the interface response system that can be found in our Makes Sense Academy, as well as dove deeper into it in my book, Makes Sense, solving the mystery of why shit happens.

A big moment of clarity and distinction came from a fantastic book and story i read. In his book, A Man’s Search for Meaning, Author Viktor Frankl shares a miraculous story of both resilience and perseverance through the trials and tribulations of being a prisoner in the Nazi Death Camps under the reign of Hitler. It's a must read yet its highlight that's relevant to this discussion is how he came to not only survive the traumatic event but find his way to forgive those that did him harm. His secret? He speaks about the “space between” the stimulus or adverse event and your response as being the secret to handling adversity with grace.

So in summary, handling adversity is only difficult due to your relationship and perception of it. If you find yourself struggling with adverse and hard times, there is a good chance it is due to your current operating system and sense making machine’s interpretation of it. Not necessarily it itself. By learning to implement the tools in my interface response system and embracing things like David Sinclairs insights on how adversity is not only necessary but the catalyst for evoking the best version of you, we can learn to stop surviving during times of adversity and start thriving. Happy hunting my friends. I hope you are blessed with tons of adversity today so you can be your best and kick some ass. 

Remember, if you learned something today, please, give it away. That is how its gonna stay. Consider sharing this podcast or our makes sense academy community and join the uprising of the sleepwalking masses. Hope to see you in our community soon.  

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Welcome to the MAKES SENSE podcast, where we apply the science, art and philosophy of sense making to the things that make you go Hmmm? Those most pressing thoughts and discussions going on in our minds today. The Makes Sense Podcast is an expense free service with the intention of helping you execute on the concept of changing the way you look at things, so that the things you look at begin to change. 

Today we’ll MAKE SENSE of THE PROGRAM-  That way you think, feel and act? It’s not your fault, its your program.  

Contact - Dr. JC Doornick - https://zez.am/makessense 

SHOW NOTES:

As we move further into this new Makes Sense podcast, it's important that I continue to provide you with the base constructs, concepts and language that we will be using in later episodes. This podcast is about you transforming into a more conscious version of yourself so you can begin to see the previously unseen.  My intention in this episode is to expose something to your conscious mind. What makes this challenging is that this thing I want to show you is invisible to you. In fact it often cloaks itself as you. No it's not your ego. In fact, your ego works for it.

“I woke up to realize that my perception of reality was not my own but one I assumed, as a result of the information I had been consuming.” - Dragon

Stop for a moment and ask yourself this question. Is your interpretation of reality, including the way you look at and respond to things, your own? Or can you acknowledge the outside forces that have played a role in it? Before you say no, can you prove that it's not possible? That the way you perceive, believe and respond are a manifestation of what you have been taught and continue to reinforce everyday with the things you consume with regularity? Welcome to the program.

An excerpt from my new book MAKES SENSE, Solving the mystery of why shit happens. 

After a life of misfortune and suffering, French artist, Paul Gauguin painted a masterpiece in his dying days while living in exile in Tahiti. Viewed from right to left, it demonstrates the circle of life from birth to death. This powerful piece unveils the deepest mysteries of the human race and is appropriately named. Where do we come from? Where are we? And where are we going? 

These questions are the premises upon which we all roam this planet in search of answers as sense-making machines. When we seek the answers to unanswerable questions, we are forced to do our best to fill in the gaps and make sense of things.. In other words, we make shit up. In fact, this is the birthplace of religion, psychology, theories, and science. All representing man's attempt to make sense of things. 

Think about that for a second. Whatever it is that represents your foundation for your reality. What’s good or bad. Right or Wrong? Just or injust?  Did you come up with that? Well if you came up with it, you are pretty special as most humans are born into this world without knowing these things until they are taught to them. 

Why is this important? To recognize that our sense making machines have been programmed and that program is the backbone software that is controlling your hardware and virtual reality suit? Well, for starters, what if it's not accurate? I know you’ve been sold into the idea that it was. But what if it is not? Here you are doing your best to make the right decisions in life, choose the right path as well as stay on track and follow through with your physical, mental and financial goals. And now we are for the first time noticing a red, check engine light that’s been on yet had black tape over it for years. That light, now illuminated, is suggesting that we take a look under the hood at an engine that was built by others with their own intentions for you. Perhaps different than the ones that are actually FOR YOU.

It’s important here to shift into a curious state of possibility thinking. Why? If you can’t justify a reason to rethink or re-evaluate something due to the mere possibility that there may be another truth or better way? The idea of making changes to your regularly scheduled program will seem nonsensical. So in order to experience growth we must be willing to challenge this programming that we have received and become open to a better way. Otherwise, you will find yourself hell bent on protecting and justifying your position on things and that is the life of the herd. The majority. The popular masses that are ok with trying to get into town in a rocking chair. Because they believe in that rocking chair and that rocking chair is part of their core values etc.. This of-course gives rise to the definition of insanity.

To add some color to this, it's interesting to look at the characteristics and strategies of scientists. There is no group of humans more open and curious than scientists. Why? Scientists seek the truth and seek facts. The idea of coming across something that improves or debunks their own theories excites them. Because it is the truth they seek and will let nothing deter them from acquiring it. Not even their own theories. So a nice role playing exercise to play in life is that of a scientist. Checking facts and remaining open and curious to better ones. 

“We seldom realize, for example, that our most private thoughts and emotions are not actually our own. For we think in terms of languages and images which we did not invent, but which were given to us by our society.”

― Alan Watts

If you look into a baby's eyes, you'll see they have little self-awareness. The person one grows into is a mask worn over their consciousness. You’ll be surprised to learn that this mask is given to them from the outside in.

Once a human becomes awakened, their consciousness begins to penetrate and shine through the mask to see what it sees. Not what it's been trained to see. We come into this world as biologically conditioned structures without a self-image.  However, there is much debate over the idea that we are all born prematurely. This is because a newborn baby’s brain is not fully developed at birth. In a perfect world, we’d further our stay in our mother's womb for 15 months. Not a good thing at all for the mom, I know. However, the theory makes sense and unveils our susceptibility to not only learning and absorbing from the outside in. But reminds us that our brains can become permanently wired to accept all that we consume at this early phase as reality. Simply, the way things are.

As we grow through life, we face the challenge of increased responsibility for ourselves. Over the next several years, I began experiencing a series of awakenings that unveiled an inefficient operating system that was not moving me forward. 

I became aware that I was running a program inside that was unconsciously calling the shots. This program decided what was good or bad, and what I should or should not do. What is interesting about this program is that I was unaware that it was running. I always assumed that I was voluntarily making decisions. Not the case. There was an automatic operating system that would activate in different ways in response to certain happenings, people, and scenarios. The side effects and symptoms of this programmed response system began showing up. For example, I'd find myself overeating, and saying things I didn't intend to friends and family. There was something inside me calling the shots without consulting me.

SPONSOR MAKES SENSE ACADEMY: https://www.riseupwithdragon.com/makes-sense-academy 

This brings up a unique challenge. See, once a program has been absorbed, we have a fail-safe defense mechanism to protect it from anything otherwise. Its your number one employee and right hand man. Your ego.

A fun analogy to use is one I call The Bouncer: A bouncer stands outside his nightclub with a detailed guest list, checking every ID. The nightclub represents your life and your bouncer controls who and what gets in and who doesn’t. That’s your trained ego safeguarding and preserving your programmed thoughts, feelings, and concepts labeling and judging everything it perceives. Your bouncer works closely with your VR Suit and decides who and what gets into the nightclub, and it’s not open to new ways of perceiving the world. Remember, the bouncer works for you and is just doing its job. 

In order to consider reprogramming our intel processor and VR Suit, we must take control of the bouncer. It’s like the write-protected switch on an SD card. Your bouncer, or ego, is committed and not open to new ideas. If it is protected, it cannot receive new data.

I became intensely curious to identify where I received this inefficient operating system? 

Think about it. Whenever we buy a new car or technology, it malfunctions or breaks down. Who do we blame? Yes, the manufacturers. I was already blaming my parents for all my problems, and now I know why. They played a role in programming my operating system by teaching me to adopt theirs. They taught me the good and bad of what they were taught. I bought into it all, as most kids do, and unknowingly started viewing the world through their eyes. But I knew there was more. I couldn’t blame or credit them solely for it all. I wasn’t consuming and absorbing information from them alone. 

Who else is involved in my programming? Like a detective, I began unpacking the files of my past and evaluating where I picked up the thoughts, perceptions and concepts that controlled my mind and VR suit? 

My mother. My father. Oh, wait, my teachers and preachers too! Making these observations into my 30’s, I recognized that I had spent over 20 years in the box of the education system. Consuming with regularity, the lessons shared by my teachers. We weren’t religious, but I sure had preachers in my life. They were represented by those that spoke from a place of being right about things. People that shared concepts over and over again with my vulnerable, neuroplastic mind. Friends, family, and authority figures. I was in school, in and out of synagogues and churches throughout my life as well. Consuming and assuming their uploads were valid. All well-intentioned, I'm sure. But unconscious to the ramifications of me buying into their program. The very nature of mothers, fathers, teachers, and preachers is to nurture, guide, and protect. Some useful, some harmful, but all are well-intentioned. Nobody’s perfect, right? So, I couldn't blame them as that would imply that they were at fault. In fact, I've learned through parenting my own children and mentoring others throughout my career, my goal is not to indoctrinate people to believe what I do. Or look at the world the way I do? Mothers, Fathers, Teachers and Preachers often unconsciously push their own concepts of reality onto others to simply validate themselves. If someone buys into what I think, it only validates what I think. Not them. Make sense?

Traveling further into my evidence room, and placing all things on my evidence board aka my CRAZY WALL. I discovered other elements at play that were responsible for my own operating system. 

Now referring to our programmers as our M.F.T.P.S.E. There’s the mother, father, teacher, preacher, society and evolution. The last two being the silent killers. Silent meaning we are often unaware of their influence because we don’t consider these things. Remember, that which you consume with regularity, programs your mind and VR suit to assume with regularity. It’s hard to register, but society and evolution represent other components of our programming. We are exposed to society daily through interactions, social media and the idiot box. That’s what my grandfather called the TV. Throw in the passing on and forward paying of all things our predecessors and ancestors learned through the evolution of man dating back to the days of the caveman. Even though there are no more sabertooth tigers and T Rexes trying to kill us, our stress response systems have been wired to fight or flight in the face of anything that remotely resembles anything from the past. That's right, you’ve been programmed and continue to  unconsciously consume and, over time, assume its programming. Now, it's become  your operating system. 

What's interesting to note is that you’ve constructed a customized surrounding and strategic perception of society that validates and supports your program. This is known as confirmation bias, where we seek out and favor only the information that supports our existing beliefs. Even in the absence of them being factual. Turning our head from anything and everyone that thinks otherwise. This can lead to an illusion of reality and creates a challenge should you decide to change the way you look at things. Think about those things in your life you call your core values and beliefs? Perhaps the non-negotiables? You might even be known as stubborn or hard nosed? 

“The confidence people have in their beliefs is not a measure of the quality of evidence, but of the coherence of the story the mind has managed to construct.” 

 ―Daniel Kahneman

Rock climbers refer to that one hard move in their line that poses the biggest challenge. The Crux! The Crux in reclaiming control of our program lies with the bias we’ve developed over time to support that program. 

Confirmation and cognitive bias is the simplified processing of all information through a filter that references all past experiences and preferences. We use this filter to process perceptions, make decisions, and determine our reality. This cognitive bias can direct our focus on things that others can’t see. Typically due to the fact that they are not there to be seen. Outside the realm of logic and rationale. Projecting an augmented version of reality that suits our current needs which prompts us to support that reality by focusing only on the things that confirm it and ignoring those that falsify it. In other words, we make shit up to make our story true. Even in the absence of facts. All of this, going on without you even knowing it. Almost makes you feel like a puppet, no? The programming we’ve received thus far becomes justified and protected by our bias, or the ego's opinion. You could even say that the ego is the master of puppets.

Many refer to Descartes's famous quote, “I think; therefore, I am, " as the fall of civilization. It began a movement that prompted people to address reality and form opinions and reactions based on their thoughts. In his defense, I don't think Descartes knew how much we would be thinking about how susceptible we would be to the repetitive suggestions from our programmers. Our influential MFTPSEs. 

It's easy to become wired into the suggestions, opinions, and concepts we consume regularly. “Neurons that fire together wire together.” This principle is known as the Hebbian learning rule; when two neurons in the brain are activated at the same time, they become more strongly connected to each other over time. This process is called synaptic plasticity, and it is the basis for learning and memory formation in the brain.

Hebb's theory also proposes that the strength of the connection between two neurons depends on the frequency and timing of their activation. When two neurons are activated at the same time repeatedly, the connection between them becomes stronger. This reminds us of the power of consistency as it leverages these neural connections where memories of the event are formed.

This created a situation where people could be led to believe one thing and be close-minded to the possibility of another. Descartes also said;

 "Since our senses cannot put us in contact with external objects themselves, but only with our mental images of such objects, we can have no absolute certainty that anything exists in the external world.” 

Descartes postulated what he called the “evil demon argument.” This is where he proposed we all live with an entity, a demon, capable of deceiving us. As a result, we lose our inherent ability to process what we see, without doubting its difference compared to what we think.

Hmmm. Interesting to think about this concept. That there’s an evil demon, or machine, living inside our heads calling shots. As if it is a separate entity, implanted in our brains that controls and coordinates our perceptions and responses? I believe we all inherently feel there is a guest or as i call it, the "little liar,” manipulating us. The concept of the “dark passenger” is widely accepted. We have these preposterous thoughts that cause us to cringe at the very idea of others knowing of them. As Jim Dethmer describes in his drama triangle theory, we place blame on the demon or machine in our head. As if it were placed there by others. 

Plato’s allegory of the cave is a symbolic story of how humans learn to interpret reality based on what they see rather than what is. In this story, Plato described a scenario where a bunch of prisoners were constrained by chains side by side in a cave where they were forced to only look at a wall in front of them. With a fire lighting the room behind them, the projected shadows on the wall from people walking behind them, became the only thing the prisoners saw over time. After some time, these shadows became their interpretation of the world and reality. 

The allegory looks at our philosophical thoughts of truth and how we come to terms with it and confidently describe it. Not until the prisoners are released can they slowly begin to entertain a new reality. The narrative ponders what would happen once the freed prisoners learned of the new reality outside the cave. First, the assumption was that they would return to the cave and attempt to free the others so they, too, could see the vast new reality. Their following belief was that the prisoners still in the cave would try to kill the messenger threatened by his blasphemy.  

Humanity today is not much different from Plato’s narrative. We are what we eat, and that’s not just with food. The “S” in MFTPSE “society” reminds us of our constant daily consumption. Watch the news regularly and see how your perceptions, conversations, and reactions to everyday life shift. Follow politics or the conflict on the Gaza Strip and see how that affects your perceptions and conversations with others? I spent my whole life consuming and shaping my perceptions with a programmed operating system that I received and confirmed from my MFTPSE. My brain (software) and my VR suit (hardware) became hardwired to my unique way of looking at things. My programming was its manifestation, and my perceptions and responses were not actually mine. Not from my conscious mind but my subconscious programmed mind. I learned later that it represented 95% of the operating system. We program and support our subconscious mind with the repetitive consumption of data. Data from your MFTPSE. If you have a concept and belief system, it was created, molded and confirmed by your consumption. Those learned concepts are running on autopilot and in charge of your life. They say what you see is what you get. I agree. However, is what you get what actually is or just a manifestation of what you see. 

Another SNAP moment. It was all becoming clear. I began reviewing clips of every event in my life through a new set of lenses. As if I was in a library using the good old news searching system we used to call microfiche. I had been justifying my reality and potential based on something I bought into. Now? I am progressively waking up and disputing everything. All bets are off and that means that I might be wrong about a lot of stuff. Including my potential and the very resource of potential in the world.

When I use the word awakening, I’m referring to the opposite of being asleep. The difference between being instinctively closed, unconscious, and unaware vs. being open and conscious and aware. When you’ve been programmed, your VR suit (your 5 senses) continues to process, consume and confirm your current operating system. You’re unaware of it, and it validates the programming. 

This is the same way good and bad habits are created. Practice an activity or consume something for 60-90 days, and you not only become good at it. You become unconsciously competent at it. You don’t even know who you are. That’s a habit. There's something called the rule of 100. It states that an individual that spends 100 hours a year or 18 minutes a day on a discipline will end up being better than 95% of the entire world at that discipline. This awakening helped me tackle things like losing weight and keeping it off for 18 years. Rather than trying to stop the destructive behaviors, I began looking at why they were even there.

We wake up one day to recognize our own inefficient operating system. It happens while running our regularly scheduled program, when some sort of glitch in the matrix pops up that suggests it is not working. We notice the insanity of  our behaviors where we expect different outcomes from doing the same old things. If you don’t challenge this and just go with the flow and stay comfortable, the universe has a way of forcing your hand to change. The universe is in full support of your success and fulfillment. Yet if you are sleepwalking through life, it will curb stomp you to grab your attention and make you take a look at things. 

Get too comfortable? Fat, lazy, depressed. Move too fast? Divorce, hypertension, anxiety, substance abuse. 

I experienced a series of car accidents that forced me to recognize I was moving too fast and to re-access my behaviors, priorities and the underlying reason for their existence. Or when I experienced that SNAP moment, I was forced to see that therapist and learn why I hated my birthdays. I’m sure all humans have these universal offerings that force them to see something and make a powerful distinction. However, if we’re not seeking growth. We may miss or ignore them.

Disclaimer: It is important to acknowledge that I was seeking growth with urgency at this time.  We all want the same things in life. We want to be Happy-ER, Healthy-ER, and Wealthy-ER. I refer to humans as “seekers of the ER”. However, only those that seek with urgency will follow through and do the work. If you are learning this stuff and not moving into action, that's ok. Your time will come and it will come when you build urgency around it. I was frustrated with my lack of certainty, confidence, and progress at that time. I wanted more and began to engage in personal growth with a specific interest in neuroscience and the study of the human brain and consciousness. I became open and curious about these observations, even while in full survival mode. 

This is a lifelong journey, and you’re welcome to join me. Are you ready to leave your concept cave?

Here’s the good news folks. This programmed mind of yours? Demon included. It's completely re-programmable and we're gonna talk about some strategies to execute on that in upcoming episodes and conversations with guests. However, it starts with the awareness and acknowledgement that our perceptions, thoughts and feelings have been persuaded by an outside stimulus which means they may very well not be of our own choice.

Here are a few simple practices to begin the process of reclaiming control of your goals, dreams and reality. These practices are not effective by simply knowing them and feeling you understand and agree with them. They must be practiced until they begin to show signs of opening up new alternate beliefs that unveil different possibilities and outcomes of your future potential. 

1. Just say Hmmm?: When you find yourself contemplating yourself in evaluation of your willpower or motivation, just say Hmmm? Not to the thing you are evaluating, but to the very act of generating those concepts of your motivation and belief. Remember the idea of Brain Awareness Perception.

2. Focus on your North Star: Very often when we feel “stuck” and begin contemplating our willpower, motivation and, our belief in ourselves, it's a side effect and symptom of forgetting where you were going and why? When you feel lost and confused, simply look up at the North Star and find your way back home to your goals and dreams. 

3. Practice Patience: A few words missing from most people’s 2024 goal sheet are patience , agility, awareness. Again, a side effect of our programmed mind are things like entitlement, impatience and frustration. They easily trigger a contingency plan to abort and move in a different direction. Once the contingency plan is set forth, our program begins to validate the decision to abort with the excuses that demonstrate the concepts of things like self belief, motivation and willpower being precursors to our following through. Saying Hmmm, and pausing your programmed mind will help you practice patience. 

Remember. Truly doing the work can be exhausting at first. Not to mention frustrating as there are not too many wins associated with it at first. Making Sense of these distinctions can easily be washed away by your programmed mind and sense making machine as a waste of time if you are not ready. Perhaps showing up as you are telling yourself something like. “Ah, fuck this. We only live once and I don't want to spend my time struggling to move this mountain ahead of me. I want to enjoy my life etc..” My response to you would be “Hmmm?” 

If that is going on in your mind right now or later, it's normal and you can feel better knowing that most people will do the same. But right after you feel better because you’re not the only one. Ask yourself why only a few individuals sit at the top of the mountain at the table of success, fulfillment and happiness? Then look at your statement of “Ah, fuck this” and see why that is?

It’s a game I call “DRIFTING and SHIFTING”. Drifting refers to the act of unconsciously falling back into your regularly scheduled program. The one that isn’t advancing you towards your desired state. Remember, it’s not your fault. You are wired to do this. But if you can learn to simply place a pause on that idea of not following through and retreating to the comfortable place called “known”. By inserting a “Hmmm?” and allow yourself to look at the idea you have from a place of logic and rationale? You’ll catch yourself DRIFTING again. See, Drifting is not the problem. Drifting off-course is a normal human behavior. Life gets sticky when you are unconsciously drifting. So catching yourself drifting is where the win is. As it becomes the fertile ground to you SHIFTING. Not only shifting back on course, but shifting into a more conscious version of yourself, that can remember things like the lesson you just heard on Motivation, Self Belief and Timing, and how they are not factors in your success. 

It takes what I call PRACTION. A state of practicing being in action. See, you won’t be good at this at first. You may find yourself drifting more than shifting. But keep at it. It never gets easy. But it does get easiER.

Be well my friends. And remember. If you learned something today? Give it away. That’s the only way it will stay. We hope that you will consider paying forward this podcast to your contact sphere. Strike up conversations with them about the topics and you’ll find that its when we teach that we learn twice. 

Contact - Dr. JC Doornick - https://zez.am/makessense 

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Welcome to the MAKES SENSE podcast, where we apply the science, art and philosophy of sense making to the things that make you go Hmmm? Those most pressing thoughts and discussions going on in our minds today. The Makes Sense Podcast is an expense free service with the intention of helping you execute on the concept of changing the way you look at things, so that the things you look at begin to change. 

Today we’ll MAKE SENSE of THE JACUZZI EXPERIENCE-  How to Shift from the Jacuzzi experience to a pivotal experience where your 2024 dreams become your reality.  

Contact - Dr. JC Doornick - https://zez.am/makessense 

SHOW NOTES:

My intention in this episode is to help you flip that switch in your sense making machine so the unknown becomes known. This conversation is about breaking free from the comfortable Jacuzzi Experience and moving into that of a radical high leveraging pivotal experience where you win.

However this process is a partnership between the both of us. We’re gonna first need you to move that switch on the side of your head from write protection to write open. You know, that little switch on the side of an SD Card? When it is closed, the SD card is not open to any new information. When open, it becomes once again vulnerable to new information. We need to do something abnormal and EXTRAORDINARY here. Open ourselves to something new and this means open ourselves to the fact that what we refer to as normal or our comfort zone, may not be an accurate or efficient system? Make Sense? 

As we move along this journey together, it becomes increasingly important to establish some language and ground rules so that we can be on the same page. Why is this important? It is my greatest desire that you do not just learn some more bitchin breakthrough concepts, get all hopped up on motivation and belief and the idea of shifting into action and then do nothing about it. See, I have let go of the need to be right and I no longer get off on the validation that my concepts and lessons are cool. In fact, I don’t care much about how you get to your dream life and whether or not I assist you. I only care about results. I am also not concerned with the pace in which you move. That is based on your willingness to be open and curious about changing your old ways and the urgency you have to make them now. There is a gas pedal at your feet that will accelerate your speed and velocity towards your dream life. But it requires you to push your foot down on it. If for whatever reason you are either not ready to push that pedal, or fear crashing, or not being able to handle the speed? The value and urgency you place on the destination is what will make you push it anyway. No matter what. So that's on you. Make Sense? 

My job is to show you the pedal and offer you the opportunity to remove some of the made up excuses you’ve been using not to push it and keep the pedal to the medal. But remember, that's not your fault and if you still pull out those excuses? I get it. It's that program running inside your head that is controlling your sense making machine. But it aint gonna get you there so consider your options here.

Let's talk about some common concepts that come with that programming you have received. If you are like most people today, chances are, you experience what I refer to as the “program prompted” Illusion that things like motivation, self belief and timing are prerequisite and precursors to following through? Sound familiar?

I contend that concepts that tell us that things like belief in self, motivation and timing are nothing more than a contingency plan or escape route that is put in place to prevent us from things like failure and overwhelm. If you think about it. When we say we don’t believe in ourselves, or lack motivation or deem that this is the wrong time to run at our goals? We are validating and justifying our decision to retreat from the responsibilities associated with forward progress. This is why I call them a contingency or back up plan. Perhaps an escape route?

Do you have these concepts written in your programming? Do you find yourself saying that you will wait for a certain date to begin going after a certain goal? Perhaps January 1st? Or after things settle down? Maybe you excuse yourself from the work involved in reaching your goals by saying there is just too much going on right now? Or perhaps you shame yourself and claim you are just not cut out for the job or maybe even place the blame on another. Saying “I would totally do it but I have too many responsibilities with my mom or kids right now.” I will go after this once those things settle down. There are many powerful factors at work in the science of your belief system and it goes way further than you think. In fact right now, you may very well be taking a stand and protecting your particular scenario, justifying it as a unique situation that truly does hold you back. Excuses are incredibly powerful especially when you believe them to be valid with every fiber of your being.

I am not here to challenge you and your excuses. Truth is. If you are tethered to them and made up your mind that they are valid? Nothing else will change that made up mind. My intention is only to show you something. Unveil something you might have overlooked. That program is running the very sense making system that was used to make these decisions on what is good and what is bad. Or what is right vs wrong. What you can do vs can’t? It's giving you these perceptions of these rules of engagement in your goals and dreams. And that program was passed onto you by others. We’ve referenced them in an earlier episode. Let's call them your programmers. Your MFTPSE (Mother, Father, Teacher, Preacher, Sciety, and Evolution) We will dive deeper into this in the next episode when we discuss THE PROGRAM. 

For now, with regards to your current reality and belief system around things like willpower and motivation and the roles they play in your life. I offer you a different look at them. To simply ask yourself where they came from? When you look at something you desire and what is required to obtain it? Then begin to second guess or contemplate whether you should or could go after it? Simply become open and curious to the fact that the belief system that is generating those questions and contemplations have been passed onto you by others. If you can see this, I congratulate you and you can be very excited about the vast potential awaiting you in the future. 

Remember the oil tanker though. These beliefs about  motivation and willpower, as well as many others are wired into your makes sense machine and not easily persuaded to change. It takes time. 

SPONSOR MAKES SENSE ACADEMY: https://www.riseupwithdragon.com/makes-sense-academy 

Here are a few simple practices to begin the process of reclaiming control of your goals, dreams and reality. These practices are not effective by simply knowing them and feeling you understand and agree with them. They must be practiced until they begin to show signs of opening up new alternate beliefs that unveil different possibilities and outcomes of your future potential. 

1. Just say Hmmm?: When you find yourself contemplating yourself in evaluation of your willpower or motivation, just say Hmmm? Not to the thing you are evaluating, but to the very act of generating those concepts of your motivation and belief. Remember the idea of Brain Awareness Perception.

2. Focus on your North Star: Very often when we feel “stuck” and begin contemplating our willpower, motivation and, our belief in ourselves, it's a side effect and symptom of forgetting where you were going and why? When you feel lost and confused, simply look up at the North Star and find your way back home to your goals and dreams. 

3. Practice Patience: A few words missing from most people’s 2024 goal sheet are patience , agility, awareness. Again, a side effect of our programmed mind are things like entitlement, impatience and frustration. They easily trigger a contingency plan to abort and move in a different direction. Once the contingency plan is set forth, our program begins to validate the decision to abort with the excuses that demonstrate the concepts of things like self belief, motivation and willpower being precursors to our following through. Saying Hmmm, and pausing your programmed mind will help you practice patience. 

Remember. Truly doing the work can be exhausting at first. Not to mention frustrating as there are not too many wins associated with it at first. Making Sense of these distinctions can easily be washed away by your programmed mind and sense making machine as a waste of time if you are not ready. Perhaps showing up as you are telling yourself something like. “Ah, fuck this. We only live once and I don't want to spend my time struggling to move this mountain ahead of me. I want to enjoy my life etc..” My response to you would be “Hmmm?” 

If that is going on in your mind right now or later, it's normal and you can feel better knowing that most people will do the same. But right after you feel better because you’re not the only one. Ask yourself why only a few individuals sit at the top of the mountain at the table of success, fulfillment and happiness? Then look at your statement of “Ah, fuck this” and see why that is?

It’s a game I call “DRIFTING and SHIFTING”. Drifting refers to the act of unconsciously falling back into your regularly scheduled program. The one that isn’t advancing you towards your desired state. Remember, it’s not your fault. You are wired to do this. But if you can learn to simply place a pause on that idea of not following through and retreating to the comfortable place called “known”. By inserting a “Hmmm?” and allow yourself to look at the idea you have from a place of logic and rationale? You’ll catch yourself DRIFTING again. See, Drifting is not the problem. Drifting off-course is a normal human behavior. Life gets sticky when you are unconsciously drifting. So catching yourself drifting is where the win is. As it becomes the fertile ground to you SHIFTING. Not only shifting back on course, but shifting into a more conscious version of yourself, that can remember things like the lesson you just heard on Motivation, Self Belief and Timing, and how they are not factors in your success. 

It takes what I call PRACTION. A state of practicing being in action. See, you won’t be good at this at first. You may find yourself drifting more than shifting. But keep at it. It never gets easy. But it does get easiER.

Be well my friends. And remember. If you learned something today? Give it away. That’s the only way it will stay. We hope that you will consider paying forward this podcast to your contact sphere. Strike up conversations with them about the topics and you’ll find that its when we teach that we learn twice. 

Contact - Dr. JC Doornick - https://zez.am/makessense 

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