Win Today: On What Transformation Requires

Curt Thompson, M.D., speaks with humility and experience about the neurobiology of transformation. I (Claire) will give this podcast a second and third listen, and I highly recommend it.

All of us have had a “near drowning experience” on a relational or emotional level. After such an experience, the story we may tell ourselves is that “we are not interested in swimming anymore.” But we say we are disinterested when we are actually afraid. What if entering and naming our horrific fear, with a safe guide or friend, would actually be the catalyst to change?

If we want transformation, we will need the felt experience of being loved. We will need to go to the pool with a caring ally, even if at first we just sit in our street clothes and smell the chlorine from the deck chair. That is how we begin to develop courage and to feel more solid and more flexible inside of ourselves. That is how we become more durable humans.

With a good and caring coach, we will eventually become healthy, but it will take practice. We will need to rehearse new ways of being. Then, when we are in crisis and chaos again, what comes out of us at a “cellular” level will be the deep and beautiful thoughts and actions that we desire.