The 4 Step New Year Mindset Practice for Long Covid and CFS with Evan H. Hirsch, MD

The 4 Step New Year Mindset Practice for Long Covid and CFS with Evan H. Hirsch, MD

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So today we're going to retrain our nervous systems a little bit and go through my four step mindset practice in preparation for the new year and to start to work on cognitively restructuring and improving our nervous system health. So welcome back to the energy MD podcast where we help you resolve your chronic fatigue syndrome and long COVID naturally.

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so that you can get back to living your best life. My name is Evan Hirsch. You know, I had five years of chronic fatigue syndrome and it just about destroyed my life, my relationships, my business, everything. And so that's really why I do this work. And one of the really important things that I learned was about having a mindset practice. And I learned this from actually some of the business trainings that I had done. And I just found it to be so incredibly helpful. And then I saw it work really wonders with my patients and clients.

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And then I started to incorporate other nervous system retraining components. And that's what we integrated into our program that we have today as part of addressing the toxic five so that we leave no stone unturned so that people get better faster. So really excited about doing this practice with you because it is so important. We're going to start off with some gentle gratitudes. We're going to do some safe envisioning. Everything that we're doing is going to be trauma informed. And then we're going to talk about flipping, flipping, limiting beliefs into empowering beliefs.

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And then we're going to be asking ourselves empowering questions. So those are the four steps. So let's go ahead and get started. You know, um, you know, this, this path is really challenging. You know, if you've got chronic fatigue syndrome or long COVID, you've probably been sick for a long time. Probably haven't felt well, probably had, um, a number of people not believe you, a number of physicians and practitioners not believe the experience that you're having, which is incredibly traumatic. And I just want to acknowledge that.

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And so let's move forward today with a lot of compassion, a lot of self love, a lot of acceptance. You we have to have acceptance for where we are in order to be able to move forward. Okay. So go ahead and grab a notebook to jot down some thoughts or to go through this process or just close your eyes, get comfortable, listen, whatever you need to do in order to feel comfortable and to start move through this process. Okay.

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So let's start off first with these gentle gratitudes. And I know gratitude can really feel frustrating when you're in pain or you're exhausted. This is a not about ignoring the hardship, right? It's about training our brains to notice the small pockets of good that still exist because they're still there, right? And research shows that even small, consistent gratitude practices can support our mood, can improve sleep, can even have a positive impact on heart health and inflammation.

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which is so important in chronic illness, right? So take a deep breath, know, just bring to mind, you know, let's, let's, we're going to go over three things, but bring to mind, you know, just one thing from this path there past a year that you feel genuinely grateful for. You know, it can be super small. Maybe it's the comfort of a small blanket, you know, on a day that was especially hard. Maybe it's a friend who texted to check in.

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Without needing a long reply maybe of somebody who had a lot of compassion for you when you said you know what I hate to cancel again But I feel like crap right because with chronic fatigue syndrome along cope You just don't know when you're gonna feel like crap some days are better than others and you don't know what those days will be right Maybe it was a moment of stillness when your pain was a little bit lower when your energy was a little bit more Maybe you were able to show up in a different way for your child or your grandchild or a spouse

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partner, or maybe your brain fog was a little bit clearer, or maybe it's just the quiet strength that you have that got you to this moment today. Right? So even though things have been really hard, you've, you've gotten here, you're still going, which is really a victory in its own right.

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So just take a moment, you might want to pause this episode and just start writing, right? On some gratitudes. And what's more important than the thinking in this exercise is the feeling. What is the feeling that comes with it when you have gratitude? Where do you feel that in your body? And how good does it feel? Right? Really try to swim in it the best you can. So go ahead and pause this and go ahead and go through that practice.

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Okay, so let's move on to the next step. So this is going to be envisioning your ideal health and life. oh So visualization isn't magical thinking. It's not ignoring what's happening in your life. It's really just the tool to communicate with your nervous system, you know, by creating a really positive sensory rich picture in your mind, you can really help your body feel safer and remind your brain what you're working towards.

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Okay. And the brain doesn't know the difference between imagination and reality. There's been research studies to show that people who imagine doing something are almost as good as people who just do it. And so this has been done with people shooting baskets, basketball. This has been done with people playing the piano. There's a lots of different examples and where this is the case. Okay. So really important to go through your ideal day in your mind. oh

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every day or every day that you can do this. Okay. And noticing what that feels like in your body. So when you wake up in the morning, how do you feel? You've got full, you're full of energy, right? Or whatever, however you want to feel you're full of energy. You're peaceful. You're next to somebody you love who loves you exactly for who you are and accepts you. They have lots of patients for you and everything that you're going through. They're very supportive. And then maybe you've got some pets that are around.

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and those pets are coming towards you and you're loving them and they're purring and they're enjoying you and you're enjoying them. And as you move through your morning, you have all these moments of connection with people, with pets, with whatever. um You've got music playing potentially. You're moving through your day at a pace that feels easy. You've got great work. You have a uh joyous

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shower or a bath, you know, you have a wonderful walk to local store, cafe, work, like whatever it is, go ahead and create it and go through your whole day feeling great, right? Feeling great throughout the day, all that energy, all that focus, all feeling good. And then you go to sleep at night and you just sleep wonderfully. So take a moment to sit in this goodness.

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to write it down in a journal or to just sit in that feeling. And once again, the thinking is wonderful, but the feeling is even more important. Sitting in that feeling. So go ahead and pause the episode now and take a moment to experience that.

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Okay, so now let's go into step three, flipping limiting beliefs. So, you know, when you've been sick for a long time, the brain starts to create protective stories, right? Beliefs like I'll never get better or every time I try, I fail, right? If this is you, you can raise your hand. Right? I know that I felt that way when, when I had my chronic fatigue syndrome and you know, these beliefs are there really to keep you from getting hurt again, but they can also keep you stuck. So

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Today we're going to gently notice one of these beliefs and flip it into something more empowering yet still true. Right? So this is a practice called cognitive restructuring. Um, part of the nervous system retraining practice really important. So bring to mind a limiting belief that often comes up to you around your health. Maybe it's one of those we mentioned, or maybe it's something like, you know, my body is broken and has failed me. know, so let's see if we can flip that, you know, more.

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belief or the opposite of that is my body is strong. It's working incredibly hard to heal and it's doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing and I am learning to support it with compassion. And through this process, I am learning more and more about myself and my body. Alright, so something like that. What is the opposite of the thoughts that you're thinking? This is incredibly important. This is that mindfulness.

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of what are the thoughts that we are thinking on a regular basis. And those thoughts really program our actions and our beliefs and our nervous system. And so we have to, or we want to work on catching those thoughts. Let's try another belief. So maybe it's, can't trust my body anymore. What's the opposite of that? I can trust my body.

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I'm learning to listen to my body signals and I'm building a new relationship of trust with my body. Right. My body is doing exactly what it's supposed to. It's protecting me. It's trying to take care of me. You know, part of this process, the reason why we're exhausted is because the body is trying to protect us from things that are happening in the body. Right. So we have to remember that there is a lot of wisdom and so we can trust the body. just need to let's listen to the body and let's provide it with a lot of compassion.

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Right? Anything that has, that is from scarcity, not enough of something, not good enough, not smart enough, whatever it is, think about something that's limiting you, that comes from a place of scarcity, that you're thinking, that you may not even realize you're thinking. And take a moment and then write down the opposite and keep writing down or thinking about all the opposites that you can do about how

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what the opposite of that is. You know, if you're thinking my body is betraying me, think about how strong your body is every single day. Your body is doing something that illustrates your strength, your mental and emotional fortitude, right? All of these things that you're doing that you may forget that you're doing every single day. Okay. So go ahead and pause the episode and practice that. All right. So let's get into step four, the empowering question.

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Okay. So this is really important because any question that we ask our brain is going to give us a response. And so we ask, if we ask it a question that is not supportive, it'll give us a response to that. And so if you ask it, you know, why am I so sick? It's going to give you, the brain is going to find evidence for that. And it's going to tell you why you're so sick and it's not going to be very supportive. So when you ask a better question, you get better and more supportive answers.

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So here's a couple. Some of my favorites are how can I love myself more today? Right? When I say more or how can I love myself even more today? That is kind of a little bit of trick that tells your brain and your body that you're already loving yourself, even if you feel like you're not right. So adding in that even more can be really supportive. What about what is the most loving thing I can do for my body today?

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What about how can I create five minutes of peace for my nervous system right now? Right? How about what's one small step I can take that aligns with the healthy life that I envision? Or what's a baby step that I can take today that will help me feel better? You know?

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We overestimate the amount of time it takes to do something in a year. And we underestimate the amount, actually, I'm totally screwing up this quote. We overestimate the amount of time that it takes to do something. No, that's not what the quote is either. Let's just say this. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, right? So you have to take a baby step in order to move forward. But you you have to start somewhere.

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And as long as you take a baby step every single day, you will reach your health goals. Okay. So take a moment, go ahead and pause this episode and ask yourself an empowering question that feels good. You know, how can I love myself more today? How can I love my partner more today? What is a baby step that I can take today that will lead me to my health goals? Go ahead and pause the episode and take a moment for that.

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Okay, so take one last slow breath. You've done really good work today. So bring to mind your gratitudes, your vision, your new empowering beliefs, your empowering question. This really is a big part of your toolkit. You know, I tell people that retraining their nervous system can be over 90 % of their of their issue. And so by starting with the mindset practices,

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and then adding in some other nervous system retraining components. This can be very powerful for you. Now you're not going to notice a change usually in the first week, maybe not the first month, but generally once you get into a couple of months, all of a sudden things start working better. know, your therapies start working better, life starts getting easier, your energy starts improving, your brain fog starts decreasing. It's pretty amazing. And remember you're not alone on this journey.

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Okay. I was just checking the stats. You know, there's like 64 million people who have long long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome somewhere in that ballpark, right? There's there's you are not alone. There's a lot of people who are struggling right now. And this is one way that you can do that work. And if you share it with somebody else, potentially that can be really supportive for them as well. So if this was helpful for you, please give it a thumbs up, like and subscribe.

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share it with somebody you care about, who you think this might be beneficial. And if you're interested in seeing if we're a good fit to work together, because you want to address the toxic five, the heavy metals, the chemicals, the molds, the infections, and the nervous system dysfunction, that's 99 % of all of the potential causes out there. And when you're addressing 99 % of the causes, you're just that much more likely to be successful. If you're interested in seeing if we're a good fit to work together, click on one of the links below.

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check out our latest quiz or dive into our latest masterclass and consider getting on a free call with me where I'll do an assessment to see whether or I can help you and we can see if we're a good fit to work together. All right, many blessings. I hope this was helpful. Have an amazing day and thanks for being here today.