The way we see the world is shaped by everything we’ve learned and experienced over time whether from family, society, or personal moments. Some of these beliefs help us, while others might hold us back without us even realizing it. Taking a step back to recognize these patterns can open the door to growth and a fresh perspective.

By making small shifts in how we think, we can train our minds to focus on the good instead of getting stuck in negativity. Simple habits, like practicing gratitude, can make a big difference over time. With a little effort, we can build a more positive outlook and create a life that feels more fulfilling.

Highlights of the Podcast

00:04 – Introduction to Mindset and Programming

01:30 – The Impact of Preconditioned Thinking

03:27 – Beneficial vs. Harmful Programming

05:09 – How Childhood Experiences Shape Programming

06:45 – Changing Your Programming Through Gratitude

08:16 – Objectivity and Mindset Shifts

09:58 – The Power of Mindset in Daily Life

11:40 – Energy and Mindset Are Contagious

13:01 – Coaching for Mindset Shifts

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:00:04] All right, so a little bit of mindset function when, when we’re talking about programming, uh, sending the program, my computer, sending the program, anything, uh, you program your mind, uh, and this is one of those things that is when we talk about changing mindset, this is one of the major things we’re talking about is actually altering the programming that we have, whether we were programmed, whether we programmed ourselves, um, you’re, you’re basically programmed to… filter information in a certain way so that it makes the most sense to you. And a lot of this stuff is based upon, um, things that you’ve either been handed, uh, taught by your parents, taught by society, taught by your, your tribal group or whatever, um, that you probably haven’t even thought through, uh, it’s kind of funny because, you know, you see this type of thing all the time where the reporter stops him in the street and says, Hey, here’s a quote from Joe Biden or here’s a quote from Donald Trump or whatever. And if people are Republicans, then they like the thing that, that was said that Donald Trump said. Uh, and if they’re Democrats, they like the thing that was said by, uh, you know, Barack Obama or whatever. And then the reporter goes, oh, I’m sorry. That was actually said by Donald Trump. And they’re like, yeah, I didn’t think I, you know, I was, I, I had questions about that. So, so they’ll, they’ll, they’ll say that they like something. And then they’ll, oh, no, no, no, no, no. Well, I was, I was misunderstood. No, I don’t like that thing.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:01:30] Now they figure out that it was coming from the other person because their programming has determined that they should like something or should not like something based on something other than the facts of that matter. this is very, very common. We do this all the time. These are preset positions that where we’ve decided something like here’s how my process of thinking works. And depending on where we go in this process determines the outcome of how I feel about it. So what ends up happening is that you do those things with everything. You make those decisions about people, about groups, about foods, about all kinds of things. Uh, and the issue that we get into is that some of those things are beneficial. So if you make this decision that you don’t like this group of foods, because you think they’re bad for you, uh, and let’s say they are bad for you. And so you’ve decided to cut them out of your life. So I’m not going to eat, you know, for instance, if you, if you’re allergic to shellfish and so you’re like, you know what I have learned that when I eat shellfish, I get sick, so I’m not going to eat those anymore and so I don’t get sick. Fantastic. That programming works for you. However, if you decide that, um, you should consume a whole bunch of, uh, aspartame and sucralose, because, you know, you’re looking to avoid calories and you think that that’s the best way to do it. Uh, however, those things are toxic to you. Uh, so you’re, you’re consuming those things on purpose instead of something else. Uh, that’s where we start having issues, uh, where your programming is being damaging to you. So we also see this with things like handed down racism and handed down sexism, uh, from generations above us. or from, you know, there’s a lot of racism that’s passed on, uh, through like all the woke stuff. There was a giant amount of racism and giant amount of sexism that was being taught. It was like, no, it’s okay.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:03:27] This is how we’re supposed to do things. And no one really looked at it because they thought they were on the right side of racism, even though they were not at all on the right side of racism. So what happens a lot of times is that the way that we, we, we think is basically set up due to secondary programming, whether somebody else gave it to us or whatever. So, uh, if we want to start to change the way that we act the way that we think, the way that we process things, you have to kind of take a step back and take a look at your programming and see kind of why you think the way you think, um, what makes you think that, you know, well, everybody says, who’s everybody, you know, at what point did you decide that everybody felt this way and why did you decide that that was the right path? And the funny thing is, is that when you go and you walk through this as part of the coaching we do, one of the things is as you walk people through this, it’s funny because they go, well, I don’t know. Okay. Well, is it possible that, you know, you and three other people think this way and maybe this is something we should reevaluate. Um, there’s a lot of that, that kind of goes through a lot of times to your, as you’ve been growing up, something happened to you. And so, you know, when you were younger that you didn’t understand. And so what that does is it sets parameters or builds programming that you avoid something because, you know, You’re worried about it or something like something happened to that effect. Uh, for instance, you know, you were, you were trying to cook and you’re making a mess and you got yelled at for making a mess. And so you decided that that’s not something you can do. And so you have this belief that, you know, well, I’m just no good at this or I can’t do this, you know, those type of things, which is not necessarily true by any stretch of the imagination, which you’ve decided it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:05:09] And so the programming is whenever you get around that environment, whether it, whether it’s cooking or whether it’s, you know, working out or whether it’s eating right or whatever it is, you’ve already decided deep down inside that you can’t do that. And so you have a lot of problems actually getting that thing done. That programming can be changed. So we do this a lot with people who have, you know, kind of a, you know, just a bummed out negative mindset and they’re, you know, they’re really stressed out and they see the negative and everything, which is not necessarily a bad thing. See, seeing how things don’t work, you know, is a great thing to have. If you, you know, when you’re running a business, you want the guy to come in and be like, here’s all the ways this is going to fail, you’re like, great. If we can know all the ways it’s going to fail, we can, we can, you know, prevent those things from happening. We can know that I’m ahead of them. So it’s not necessarily, it’s a bad thing. It’s just oftentimes it’s misplaced because if it’s always negative on you, then that’s not going to be great. So one of the ways we do it, this isn’t the only way, but one of the ways we do it is with gratitude. So I’ve talked about this before. Um, you change the programming. So if on a daily basis, you keep seeing all the things that are negative, right? For instance, you know, you woke up late and then, you know, your toothbrush broke or whatever, you know, and you stepped in a puddle or whatever it is, like you just, all these bad things keep happening, you know, and you keep focusing on all the bad things. And you’re like, how was your day? Well, it was terrible. Let me list all the bad things that happened. And then you just, that’s all you think about is the bad stuff. You can literally change that programming with gratitude. It’s, you know, okay, I want you to start thinking about the things that make you happy.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:45] The things about today that went well, um, and come up with these things. And there’s a process that we go through with this that makes it a little bit easier for everybody, but that’s kind of the way you do it. And so what ends up happening is that if you’re constantly trying to think of the good things that happen throughout the day, Sooner or later you change your programming. So your body stops looking for the things that were bad that happened to you for today They start thinking about the things that were good that happened to you today. And so after a while you’re just like man Today was a great day like look at all these great things that happened to me today Like, you know, I thought I was out of you root beer zevia, but I found out that I had two extra cans So that was a great day and they were in the fridge. So they’re cold. What a fabulous thing. I’m so happy for that you know, or, Hey, I saw this patient come in today and they were actually doing a lot better than I thought they were going to be doing. So, you know, it’s working better than I thought. What a great day, you know, things like that. These little things that kind of go through that you can find to be a little happy about find to be grateful for if you’re focused on finding them. And like I said, there’s a path that you do this writing them down and like I have people put them in their phone whenever they have and stuff like that. So you’re constantly reminded of them. What ends up happening is that you start to shift the way that you view the day. Now, all of a sudden, because the same things happen to you throughout the day, it’s just, what are you focused on? You know? And so if you can learn to focus on the good things, all of a sudden, that’s what you start to see. And you start to recognize, oh my gosh, lots of great things happen today, and so they can start to kind of change the way that you view things. Uh, the other thing that happens is you can start looking more objectively at the world.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:08:16] And this is one of the big things when we look at mindset. That’s so important is that a lot of people have made a decision that, you know, This is where I go for my information. This is what’s, you know, this is, this is good and true. Uh, and we’re starting to see a lot of that change. Uh, and that’s scary for a lot of people and it’s disruptive for the account for not the economy, but for the. society as a whole, but disruption is not necessarily a bad thing. So for instance, you know, I’m starting to have people come in and they’re, they’ll tell me, and it’s funny cause like when the people just learn this, it’s hilarious. It’s like, it’s like they’ve discovered something that no one else knows and it’s so funny cause they’ll come in and be like, Hey, so I was kind of looking at stuff and after COVID and they kept telling us to do all these things and all these things were wrong. I started looking at the system, our, our system of healthcare and you know, the last 50 years, it’s done nothing to get worse. Like we’ve got every, every there are mental health or physical health, you know, we’re fatter, we’re chronic diseases up, like all these issues. We’ve got all this, all these allergens and like, you know, everybody’s so much worse than they used to be. And you know, I, I think it’s cause of the system we have set up. I, I really starting to believe that that’s what it is. Like if we could just figure out how to, you know, if we could really kind of lean to that eat right and exercise thing, I think we’d be a lot better. And I just started smiling. Have you thought about that? And like, yeah, I mean, once or twice. And it’s just funny to see these people as the mind shift starts to change from, you know, well, if I start to get sick, you know, if I start to feel worse than I do right now, that’s when I’m unhealthy, that’s when I go to the doctor, that’s when I get a pill and that’s what’s supposed to fix me and make me better.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:09:58] So that mindset changing to maybe I should start doing things proactively to stay healthier, feel better. you know, actually improve my overall health instead of, you know, just waiting till I get sick. That’s a, that’s an example of a change in mindset. And it’s, it’s really fun to kind of watch people are going to go through that as they start to, you know, abandon the, the pharmaceutical, uh, model and sort of, you know, kind of adopting the healthcare model where they’re going to start taking care of themselves a little better. So it’s very fun to kind of watch those other things move through. Um, but there’s a lot of other things that are in our lives that you know, we can start to get rid of, you know, again, you know, the things that are not, they’re not serving us the things that make us more anxious, the things that make us unhappy, the things that make us more grumpy, the things that divide us, you know, there’s a lot of there’s a lot of things that people have just set in place that are negative, you know, obviously that the easy ones to point out of the racism, the sexism and things like that. There’s a lot of that, especially pointed at yourself, like I’m no good. I have no, you know, I’m not good enough. I’m not worthy. I’m not, you know, whatever, you know, there’s a lot of those things that can start to be tweaked. As you start to change those, everything downstream from that starts to change as well. Like we’ve all been around that person who’s just always fricking grumpy. Like every time you see him, you’re like, it’s a, it’s, it’s 80 degrees. It’s perfect. The sun is out. There’s a light breeze. Like the weather is absolutely perfect. And they’re coming back. It’s just too bright. You’re like, okay. All right. Like you had to find the negative in whatever today was. All right. That’s just who you are. That’s you try to find the negative. You can change that. And so you can start finding the positive in it.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:11:40] So those are the things that like when I talk about mindset and how important mindset is and how important coaching is and how important kind of turning that stuff around is it’s unbelievably important because an individual The easiest way to say is that the energy that an individual holds is contagious to those around them. And I think we’ve all noticed this, like that you’ve all got, everybody comes in contact with that person at work or wherever, where they’re just always negative and you’re like, Oh my gosh, this dude is so painful to be around. Like there’s just a black cloud that follows this guy around. I can just feel him sucking the joy out of my life. And then you get around other people. They’re just like, man, how can I spend more time with this person? like. This person’s so much fun to be around. Like every time they’re, they’re in the, in my area, like I’m just happier. Like I got, I got several friends like this, you know, I’m not going to start naming people’s names, but like, you can all think of somebody that you’re like, you know what, every time this person’s guy or girl is around. Like it’s just, things just seem lighter and more fun and more energetic and just like, you know, like everything’s to be okay. Like everything’s good. Like that’s the type of energy we’re talking about. And you can actually shift that in people, um, so that you can, you Thank you. Start having more of that. Everything’s fine. I’m just at peace and the world’s great, but it’s just how you change your programming. Um, and that’s one of the things that we do with our coaching.

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:13:01] That’s one of the things that happens. So if you’ve noticing that, you know, Hey, you’re focused more on the negative, you’re focused more on the bad. Um, you’re more worried that the world is getting worse instead of getting better, you know, that’s one of those things I would highly recommend that you, you know, grab a coach, get with somebody and start trying to figure out how to shift that around because man, there’s so much great, there’s so much good. There’s so much fantastic. But if you’ll just start to in your life and you know, everybody’s got terrible things happen in their life too. But if you can learn or be taught how to focus on the things that are good in your life, all of a sudden the balance starts to shift and you start to recognize, man, there is a lot of good that’s going on and it can change your entire outlook and that can change your entire world. So I would highly recommend that you guys You know, look into that. If you, you know, if you don’t have a coach that works on mindset, if you don’t have a work coach that works on the positivity and function like that, highly, highly recommend that you grab somebody like that and start trying to get, figure out how you can make your life, um, change your programming so that you can start viewing things in a more positive light, but, um, as far as mindset goes, that’s gonna be one of the most important things is the, the daily outlook that you put towards life. So if you guys have any questions, just have [email protected]. Or you guys to drop something in the comments or you can DM me like so so I will talk to you guys there Thanks for your time. Have a great day

As always if you have any questions, please send them to [email protected]

Check out Chalmers Pillarsofwellness.com for Wellness updates! And ask me any questions you have at [email protected]. I answer all of them and look forward to hearing from you.

The Chalmers Wellness Stubstack just launched. Comment, Like, and Interact with other people on their wellness journey. Communities can make a difference.     DrChalmers.substack.com

Dr. Matt Chalmers

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Before taking any action based on this information you should first consult with your physician or health care provider. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions regarding a medical condition, your health, or wellness