118. Empowering Our Minds for Top Performance with Mary Rensel, MD, FAAN, ABIHM, Founder of Brain Fresh
Join us in this enlightening episode as Dr. Anna sits down with Dr. Mary Rensel, a true visionary in the world of medicine and neuroscience. Dr. Mary Rensel is an MD, Neurologist, Integrative Physician and Founder of Brain Fresh. Discover how Dr. Rensel's journey led her from a thriving medical career to founding her innovative venture, Brain Fresh. Get ready to dive into an inspiring conversation that delves deep into the power of brain priming, cultivating strengths, and the art of building meaningful connections.
Episode Highlights:
From White Coats to Brain Fresh: Learn about Dr. Rensel's transition from the traditional medical realm to the realm of neuroscience, as she shares her motivating journey of founding Brain Fresh. Explore how she uses neuroscience tools to empower individuals to harness their strengths and live life to the fullest.
The Power of a Growth Team: Discover the significance of surrounding yourself with a diverse group of individuals who challenge and support you. Dr. Mary Rensel and Dr. Anna explore how cultivating a growth team can elevate personal and professional development.
Brain Priming and Emotional Balance: Delve into the importance of brain priming and the intricate dance between positive and negative emotions. Gain insights on strategies to balance your emotional landscape and set the stage for a day filled with positivity.
Unveiling True Desires with Coaching: Explore the impact of coaching on aligning your wants and needs. Discover how a morning routine can serve as a powerful tool for priming a positive mindset.
Preventing Burnout through Strengths and Values: Dr. Rensel shares the significance of building authentic relationships and understanding your core values and strengths to ward off burnout. Learn about the concept of "micro moments of love" and the surprising health benefits of synchronization.
Tools for Self-Discovery: Get introduced to the Clifton Strengths assessment, a transformative tool to uncover your values and strengths, as recommended by Dr. Rensel. Dive into the process of identifying and embracing what truly empowers you.
Building Online Communities and Self-Care: Gain insights into cultivating a positive online community and the paramount importance of self-care.
Tune In: If you're ready to be inspired by the synergy of medicine, neuroscience, and empowerment, don't miss this episode! Join Dr. Anna Esparham and Dr. Mary Rensel as they navigate the pathways to brain priming, strengths, values, and resilience.
Find Dr. Mary Rensel Here: https://linktr.ee/Dr.MaryRensel
She has amazing resources and can't wait to get to work with her more!
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DISCLAIMER
Anna Esparham, M.D.is a medical doctor, but she is not your doctor, and she is not offering medical advice on this podcast. If you are in need of professional advice or medical care, you must seek out the services of your own doctor or health care professional.
This podcast provides information only, and does not provide any financial, legal, medical or psychological services or advice. None of the content on this podcast prevents, cures or treats any mental or medical condition. You are responsible for your own physical, mental and emotional well-being, decisions, choices, actions and results. Health Is PowHer, LLC disclaims any liability for your reliance on any opinions or advice contained in this podcast.
TRANSCRIPT (unedited!)
ey everyone, welcome back to health is power. I am super excited to have Dr. Mary Nsel. She is a practicing neurologist and owner of Brain Fresh.
10:36 - Anna Esparham
She has the amazing capability and knowledge of all things neuroscience in relation to moving forward in life, pivoting in life, changing, learning all things, and so I'm so excited to introduce you to Dr.
10:51 - Mary Rensel
Well, thank you,
10:52 - Anna Esparham
Mary Nsel.
10:52 - Mary Rensel
thanks for having me. Hi everybody, I'm so honored to be here. Yes, let's talk all thing neuro science, I'm ready, ready for it,
10:59 - Anna Esparham
Yeah,
10:59 - Mary Rensel
yeah.
11:00 - Anna Esparham
I'm super excited cause I, I actually worked in, I'm not a neurologist, but I worked in neurology and I learned a lot. Not yet. I,
11:08 - Mary Rensel
Not yet.
11:08 - Anna Esparham
that's my next board certification.
11:08 - Mary Rensel
I'm sure you will be soon.
11:12 - Anna Esparham
Oh, my word.
11:14 - Mary Rensel
Yes, because if you didn't know, she hass many, many, you know, she wears many hats, right?
11:19 - Anna Esparham
No, mine are more like eclectic,
11:20 - Mary Rensel
okay,
11:21 - Anna Esparham
mine are more kind of weird and crazy,
11:21 - Mary Rensel
well let's wait, we're waiting for you. Come on,
11:23 - Anna Esparham
so.
11:23 - Mary Rensel
come on, right?
11:25 - Anna Esparham
Okay, we'll see, we'll see. So tell us about, well, yeah, how did you get into, well, I might even go back like a little bit more, but tell us like how you got into medicine, why you got into neurology and then kind of where you're at now. It might be a long story, but we'll see.
11:43 - Mary Rensel
Yeah, way back, way back. Well, I went to college in a physicians assistants school. So I went to one of those colleges where you get right in to physicians assistant and so right away you go through uh, you know, anatomy quickly and physiology and embryology and they even had Ca aver. So you like, you get like a little mini med school, like right away in your 1st, 2nd year. And I was, I loved it, but I wanted more. And I was like, can, can we study that for longer? And they're like, no, we're moving on.
12:06 - Mary Rensel
I'm like W no more. So I never thought like when I was in high school that I would go to med school. Like that was not my plan, but that when I got to Physicians Assistant School, I was like, ooh, I, that's too short for me. I actually want to know more. And that surprised me, you know? So I, I went to, you know, a great little school Gan, and it's in Erie, Pennsylvania. And I had a great advisor who was like, Yes, let's help you do this. Because I said, I think I don't know, I'm just feeling like I want more and, you know, So I had to add, you know, more massive chemistries and things to, to become premed.
12:37 - Mary Rensel
So that's how I just, I knew I always loved science. There was no question I was a science person, not an English person. Not a math person. Science And that was very clear all the way through. And I, I love art as well, so those are always like, my, you know, which one should I do? Maybe I'll just be an artist and my mom's like, Why don't you be a Dr., and do art on the side? So I had a smart mom, yeah, so,
13:00 - Anna Esparham
That is funny.
13:01 - Mary Rensel
so I dabble in art, but I practice medicine, yeah,
13:05 - Anna Esparham
I can do paint by numbers,
13:06 - Mary Rensel
there you go.
13:06 - Anna Esparham
I always do it, I always do paint but I'm not, yeah, but I like crafts and I like paint by numbers,
13:09 - Mary Rensel
They're challenging, right?
13:11 - Anna Esparham
but yeah, that's about it.
13:12 - Mary Rensel
Yeah,
13:13 - Anna Esparham
So how did you get into where you're at now in terms of,
13:13 - Mary Rensel
yeah.
13:18 - Anna Esparham
you know, creating this whole new businesss and serving others in a totally different way?
13:19 - Mary Rensel
How's you? it's kind of neat. So I, you know, I've been practicing medicine for almost 30 years. I have four children and my children are nearly out of the house. I have. My youngest is a senior in high school, so he's just deciding his college. And um, I have three, young women, you know, daughters that are out of college and figuring out adulting very well. They're doing just fine navigating and I all of a sudden had a little time and I, you know, I've been in medicine long enough that I've tried, you know, I've worked in clinical medicine and I'm in academic medicine, I've tried clinical research, I've written little grants, I've, I've been president of Women's Professional Staff Association because I'm very, I feel very strongly about gender equity and equity in general.
14:13 - Mary Rensel
So it's like my strong value is equity. And so something happened when I hit 50 and I said, you know, there's a end date to my professional career and like, what haven't I done? So I was thinking I should get an Nba. Like, I don't know. I've always been kind of interested in business. When I think back, I actually had a businesss as a twelve year old, like I would paint shirts and sell them around my neighborhood. I literally like had a little store in our basement. I would have invite the neighbors down to come see my store.
14:42 - Mary Rensel
So I was thinking, I guess it's not so surprising that I, you know, wanted to start a businesss, so I got it.
14:48 - Anna Esparham
Ah, that's great.
14:48 - Mary Rensel
isn't that funny, I got a businesss coach. I joined a group where physicians are learning how to start businesses or learn entrepreneurial skills. And that was really great to be around people who is very new to us, you know, So it's like a whole new language. And I also tried to become active in innovations and you know, institution where I work and I noticed there was just a lot of suits and I noticed it was a different language and it was a kind of a different way of people interacted compared to medicine.
15:17 - Mary Rensel
You know, medicine were kind of run around, we were tennis shoes, run fast like business. It was very like suits, it was very different. So I was like, I don't know that it seemed to be a different world. So then I took a slow on ramp into that world and I started my own business. Yeah, it's fun. So I'm still practicing medicine. I started a business, really, because I want to kind of deploy neuroscience tools to folks. There's a lot of sadness and burnout and negativity in the workplace, and I feel like if we knew a little bit more about daily actions that support our neuroscience, that we could all live in our gifts, you know, we really could live in our strengths.
15:56 - Mary Rensel
I feel like the world needs people to be fully on powered on one hundred percentage you know and to know these tools early and repeat that to keep learning them over time I start a business called Brain Fresh to support the professional. Yeah, to try to find joy, you know, where is it and how to do it.
16:17 - Anna Esparham
Oh, I love it. I so love that. It's beautiful. I just it's interesting how I mean you're already a powerhouse just by working in academic medicine cause I know you have to do like eight thousand things at your job and then you're like oh okay well once my kids I have so much time on my hand which is interesting because other people probably would not necessarily say that but but it's like,
16:22 - Mary Rensel
Fox. I have a little time, right?
16:46 - Anna Esparham
but it's fun. It is so fun and it's creative and it's bringing out your other gifts and, you know, exploring that. That's how I felt too. It was like, wow, this is. It was a lot of work, but it was so fun learning these new skills, starting a business that could serve others in a different way, that you had more autonomy, that you definitely didn't have a lot of limitations to versus, you know, practicing clinical medicine. So I, I love that you're doing this. I'm full support of your businesss.
17:19 - Mary Rensel
Thank you,
17:19 - Anna Esparham
So we'll spread the word.
17:20 - Mary Rensel
thank you, thank you. Yes, thank you.
17:22 - Anna Esparham
and what's interesting too about your story is uh, it, it also parallels mine in a way where it's,
17:27 - Mary Rensel
Yeah.
17:28 - Anna Esparham
it's like, gosh, you know, what do I want to do when I grow up, even though we've already, you know, kind of,
17:35 - Mary Rensel
Maybe grown up kind of right, that's what you ask.
17:38 - Anna Esparham
yes, a lot of people do Stuck and scared and um, can't step out into their other gifts or, you know, maybe even their true authentic gifts. And and like to stay where they're at, whether or not they're super happy in their work life or in their career. And so, I mean, how would you approach that?
18:08 - Mary Rensel
Yeah, if you feel a little stale or you're wondering, I felt like I was playing in one sandbox, you know, like academic medicine has certain rules and regulations and norms and I had this feeling inside, like I, I want to build and I, and I tried to build in that and I did build in that box and that with those norms. But so I think, I guess what else happened is I learned to be a coach, so I learned to be a coach for other positions. And coaching it was hard for me because I have to slow down and listen and not like right away give an answer.
18:45 - Mary Rensel
I have to actually listen and get to know a person really well and, and listen for cues of what's driving them. So I think coaching helped me to realize that there's probably hidden messages in our decisions, in our, our frustrations, our anger, you know, like all that means something. So like if something is really frustrating and I feel stuck or. I feel angry about a certain thing. It's probably like a really strong value I have there, or someone's crossing a strong value or someone.
19:21 - Mary Rensel
I feel vulnerable in that situation, that's why anger comes up. So I learned through coaching to use those cues and behaviors and emotions that that's something really important to that person. And so I really wanted to be a builder. Like I like to create and I love starting from nothing and building. And I, and I, it took me a while to say that, allow, like I enjoy that. So I did that in different processes where I could in medicine, but I wanted to do more. And I, I liked to like crack things open, like business.
19:52 - Mary Rensel
Like I said, I saw a lot of suits. It seemed like a new world that didn't know a lot about it. And in medicine, at least at the institution I work at is so large, I'm not side by side with the business people, I don't hear from them. I'm not watching sheets, you know, I'm not really there with a deep in the data where something like private practice might be doing businesss every day that might be completely integrated in there. So Um, I would say if you have this little voice or a whisper or an angst, you know, take some time, maybe someone you really trust.
20:25 - Mary Rensel
I think it's really important to build a growth team like somebody like at least three to five people, you're tight people you can really trust and they also challenge you. They don't just say yes, yes, yes to everything, you know, they really listen and challenge your reality, you know. So I think those people are really important to have a growth team. So I would say that's what I ended up doing. I didn't realize how important that was. So I, I ended up interacting with some women in business in a course I was teaching and I saw what they needed as far as like understanding neuro science to keep them going in in their businesses.
20:58 - Mary Rensel
And so I partnered with a life coach and we formed our own little businesss and then I started with my own eventually. But I, I would say like if you, if you're just your goal is to serve, it's all good. You know, it's like I thought there were certain rules, you know, they had to like these are the people go into business You're a Dr., or your businesss, you know, but you, it doesn't have to be either or. So I'm just listen to the whisper, form a group around you at honest people and if you don't have it, then join something like, get a coach or join a group of people that are like two steps ahead of you, you, you wanna find people just a couple steps ahead of where you're thinking you wanna go.
21:45 - Anna Esparham
I definitely would agree with having people surrounding you that are very supportive, but also are like your, your no one of them at least is your no person that makes sure you're not saying yes to everything.
22:02 - Mary Rensel
Yeah,
22:02 - Anna Esparham
like, so I always say yes to everything. And so I have to have like this one, no person that really will evaluate.
22:07 - Mary Rensel
what are you doing? No, like change that email, rewind, right? Yeah.
22:13 - Anna Esparham
Oh yeah, I always have people look at my emails as well. Yes, very important. You know, yeah, I hired a coach too. You know, and that really significantly helped me because a lot of times when people feel stuck, like I, I mean I felt I was like, why amm, I having this feeling of like I'm not, doesn't feel right. It's like something's missing or you know, and I just, it was like years like that and I started listening to podcast. Started dabbling, you know, I built a business, but I had no idea what the businesss would be.
22:50 - Anna Esparham
And then the coach, you know, really helped me focus facilitating what I wanted deep inside where it, you know, I, I wouldn't otherwise look at it that way. It was more difficult for me even in therapy, like even if I, you know, I went to therapy and tried to figure it out, it seemed like the coach helped bring out more of like my true wants and needs and desires. So yeah, it's very interesting that you said you hired a coach and you, you're a coach now, which is Ama. I love coaches. I think coaching is an amazing business.
23:22 - Anna Esparham
I think all people needed a coach.
23:27 - Mary Rensel
Yeah, I actually the people, I really admire their businesses because I, you know, I have that like my strong values equity in all areas. I mostly put a lot of energy toward gender equity, but all areas really are important to me as far as equity and I'm willing to put my time and energy toward that because that means a lot to me. But the coaches I see that have a strong like social background to to their businesss like a social mission.
23:43 - Anna Esparham
Yep.
23:51 - Mary Rensel
They all have coaches and they always say they always have a coach. It might not be the same coach all the time because I've had now, you know, different coaches depending on what I'm looking for and they always say they always have coach which I think you can get there. Like I've heard them say like I probably would have gone there, probably would take me like five or eight years or ten years, why, why not just get the coach, you know, get the yeah, sure, yeah,
24:13 - Anna Esparham
Much shorter time.
24:13 - Mary Rensel
right,
24:14 - Anna Esparham
You can get stuff done a lot quicker.
24:14 - Mary Rensel
yes.
24:16 - Anna Esparham
Yeah. I agree. And so I mean, since you know all about neuroscience as well, I know there's a lott of objections and a lot of challenges when, you know, people take, you know, that next step. Tips or tricks or techniques, you know, especially from your field, in neurology, for people to Um, be consistent and change and redirect their path to their true one.
24:56 - Mary Rensel
I like to call it brain priming, you know. So if you are like, I'm gonna try something new and I don't, it's gonna be uncomfortable. It's already uncomfortable just saying it out loud to somebody, usually even somebody you really trust, and you're like, I'm gonna try something. It's you get that little butterfly. It's scary. So I just like to acknowledge like the brain is like a busy parent. It's already doing a million things. It's running our body, it's running our lungs in our heart and our gut and our balance and our memory and our perceptions.
25:24 - Mary Rensel
So if you're also going to ask it to start a business or to learn something new or go in a new environment, like me going to businesss, meetings or something, you have to give it extra support. So it's not at the time to say I'm not going to sleep, I'm not going to eat, I'm not going to exercise because I'm doing this new thing. Like that's not going to work for the long run. It's not a long term solution. So anytime, even if you're just going to class, you actually need to give your brain extra because it's already busy, it's already full.
25:53 - Mary Rensel
So it generally will give you that message like we're too tired for this we're we're done we have no time for this we have no time so it's probably because it's like yeah it needs some good solid nutrition throughout the day it's like a factory running two four seven not it's like it is a factory running two four seven its metabolically very demanding meaning it takes a lot of our nutrients from us well we eat twenty percentage goes just to this you know So it's very busy and demanding.
26:22 - Mary Rensel
So a lot of times when you're busy, let's say you're just at work, a normal job and you're working on a big project to work or paper or something, usually you stop doing the things that really support the brain from getting that job done. So it's very, we usually do exactly the opposite of what it needs to get things done. So that's 1st. So you have to brain prime if you're thinking of taking a, you know, something new and you're even if you just want to learn or support someone else, like it's fine just managing the body, you know, with the basics, but if you wanted to do extra, you have to give it some extra support.
26:54 - Mary Rensel
I would start there because otherwise you're going to start without the fuel.
26:55 - Anna Esparham
Wow, okay, that's good.
27:00 - Mary Rensel
You're not gonna have the fuel, so you have the good ideas, you know.
27:04 - Anna Esparham
Yes, I love that. Okay?
27:06 - Mary Rensel
The other thing is you, what you need to balance positive, negative emotions. We all have them all day long. You know that the researchers suggest it should be three to one positive, three positive to one negative emotion. And positive emotions are not like Getty Gg, you know, like giddy, happy, you know, everything's fine, life is perfect. It's just like I'm hopeful that if I take this step I can learn something. It's just, it's like a curiosity without a judgment. If you could say, you know, so you want to try to get in positive, three positive to one negative, and we tend to remember the negatives, the negatives get our attention, so you have to work hard to sprinkle in positive throughout your day and that might just be like, hey, I'm really glad I, my eyes work today, I'm glad I like this lipstick, I'm glad I am in a warm house, and it could be something simple.
27:52 - Mary Rensel
But you know, it could be little th starling, but you know it,
27:55 - Anna Esparham
You look good today.
27:55 - Mary Rensel
it could just be something really simple, like I'm super glad my son still lives here, he's going to college. So you know, I just like, like my dog, he's really cute, he's down here, but you know, like even little thing. Just remember, just tilt yourself to the positive. Because the cool thing is that's how we manipulate our brain so that we are really living in our gifts. So if we're more positive, we have better perceptions, we have better awareness, we actually feel more for others, we can see others better, like as a whole person, you know.
28:27 - Mary Rensel
So even if you talk about all the De I that needs to be done, you know, in equities, us, you know, trying to balance a little more or throw in positive states throughout our day really can make a big difference. And like if you're trying to do something new and you're not sure where to go, just being aware of the signs that might come to you, like you might see a few more things if you try that, try that balance, but it takes intention, you have to be intentional about it.
28:55 - Anna Esparham
I agree. I, I, that was one of the very 1st things that our coach taught us in the very beginning. It's our, it was our life and businesss. Coach And so. It was like wake up every morning and do your morning routine and it has to be like very positive, very intentional. And so yeah, I've been trying to incorporate that for sure.
29:19 - Mary Rensel
It's powerful, but it's simple, like it doesn't take a long time. It seems like people are like I'm busy, I don't have time for any of this. Like all you have to say is like, I don't know, I'm glad I'm warm right now, it's raining outside, I'm glad I'm dry, you know. I mean it can be simple, it's not gonna take a long time.
29:33 - Anna Esparham
Yes, oh yeah, no, I just do it literally as I'm waking up and I'm like, Oh, I just love my dogs. No, I said it works, it just, it just pri,
29:44 - Mary Rensel
I guess.
29:44 - Anna Esparham
it does prime. It's like when you're talking about brain priming, it's almost like that primes you, you know, for a positive day. So it's interest and then if I don't,
29:49 - Mary Rensel
Hundred percent.
29:51 - Anna Esparham
I'm rushing, I'm like, oh. Super, yeah, super upsetting. You know, you talked about so positive and negative emotions. A lot of people sometimes, you know, especially in healthcare. There is a lot of anxiety, you know, a lot of worry, a lot of negative emotions, burn out, right? And I know you work in, in this area as well, what are methods or things that you use either in your life or when you coach. For people to either work through those really negative or charged emotions so that they can move on.
30:41 - Mary Rensel
it's, it's hard. I mean, I always say like please get a professional, you know, if they, if the emotions are, are mostly negative because of an event at work or home or what have you like please sit with a professional, work it through, you know, it's and, and get some life skills and, you know, just build that toolkit. Because healthcare is unfortunately you know, an environment that's high risk for burnout just because, you know, the literature suggests its because of the emotional You know, it's just like intense emotional connections with the patients all day, you know, very much throughout the day, and we're at risk in health care, teachers are at risk because of what they, you know, the emotions they go through with their kids and their parents, and so there's certain, unfortunately, areas that are higher at risk of burnout.
31:26 - Mary Rensel
So I think that's why being intentional is really important. I like, you know, I like to keep things efficient, you know, I have four kids. Usually I like I'm moving, you know, I'm working, I moving. I don't want to do anything that doesn't help, you know? So I would say I read the literature, what do I have to you know, I, I just tell me the foundational things that can fortify me and I can stay active because I really do enjoy connecting with the patients. I mean, I still I really value and honor and I'm super grateful for those moments that, you know, the patient and I connect or their families connect.
32:00 - Mary Rensel
You know, there's just some, I don't know if I don't want to say magic, but there's just really something very special about that. I was recently reading Barb Frederickson book Positivity. She's a researcher, psychology, positive emotion researcher. She's published, you know, a hundred manuscripts course and you know, she's, she's done some interesting things that she says. The results completely surprised her. Like she did not think this was gonna happen. She like I was not a fan of love or positive emotion.
32:25 - Mary Rensel
She really did her research to show it doesn't matter. Like you like she didn't think it was gonna be that impact. It's so funny, but it really like what she and she describes. I mean it is it's Valentine's Day week, you know, but you know, the what, what she's described is love, like the between two humans that it's like a shared experience. Of one love, which was so interesting. So she said There's these micro moments that we have, let's say in the office, like I will say in my world, in healthcare, we have these moments where we just connect, you know, you just having a conversation, you really listening to the person.
33:01 - Mary Rensel
I don't know. It's just a really nice feeling when you have that connection and I don't, I don't know the words to use. But she said there has to be kind of three components, that you have a mutual respect for each other, there can't be, you know, it can't be an unsafe environment. Obviously you have to be kind of trying to solve a problem, like working on something like a shared mission, you know, And there has to be, you know, this, this, she thought, you know, you had to be in person, like eye to eye with a smile, like because we mimic each other.
33:29 - Mary Rensel
She talks about this, this bio synchrony, you know. So we have and we know from neuroscience that we have shared Eeg waves. Like when we are like trying to solve the common problem. Even if you put strangers together and you watch their Egs and they're trying to solve the common problem, they literally will start to s nize the brainwaves. But she was talking about this bio synchrony. So like pulse ray and blood pressure, we synchronize in these little micro moments. That's just, that's what she, her, her definition was this is a shared, actual one, love.
34:01 - Mary Rensel
Because the two of you are so synchronized.
34:02 - Anna Esparham
Wow.
34:03 - Mary Rensel
It's one thing. And I was like, oh shoot,
34:06 - Anna Esparham
I didn't know that.
34:07 - Mary Rensel
that's cool, that's cool. I would never call it love. What I was, that experience with a patient, like I wouldn't use the term love, but she's like, I want to, you know, just challenge us and say like those are little micro moments of love and the more of these connections that we have with people throughout our day, actually the physically healthier we are, which I'm sure you, you can appreciate with your, your, your work, you know.
34:30 - Anna Esparham
Yes,
34:30 - Mary Rensel
So, so it's so interesting because we know loneliness is a risk factor,
34:30 - Anna Esparham
yes.
34:33 - Mary Rensel
right, for early mortality. Lily Death rate, you know. So I thought it was so interesting how she explained that. That made a lot of sense to me because we've seen this synchrony and I think that that's what someone should know if they have an itch to make a change. It could be that the synchrony they have in their environment. It's not a loving synchrony, you know, like you, you might not agree with people and values, or you might not agree with people with priorities, or your strengths might be different.
35:02 - Mary Rensel
So if you don't, you're not feeling these moments. Like I don't have these moments constantly, but I have these moments sometimes and they, they keep me in medicine a hundred percent, no question, you know, because they're very special. But Barb Frederickson, who is a researcher, says there are moments of love. Okay, yeah, I know, yeah,
35:21 - Anna Esparham
love that,
35:21 - Mary Rensel
it's very interesting.
35:22 - Anna Esparham
that is so powerful, because I, I really I, there were times in my life when I'm like, what I just I, you know, I have bounced around a little bit, you know, from center to center, mostly in academics, of course, but um, the it, I always, sometimes it's like just the environment turned a little bit toxic and, and it wasn't necessarily between my patients and me, it was more just the colleagues and the teams, you know, and, and we can always get into teams as well. But um, but it was like asynchronous and it was just like jamming me up, you know, and, and it just totally didn't match my waves at all.
36:04 - Anna Esparham
But I still wanted to have that connection. And even though I burned out, it wasn't necessarily because of the emotional impact from the patients, but it was the emotional impact from the toxic relationships among certain colleagues. And so, but I love that, that, that, those micro moments of love. And that's how I would call because I just love that connection with patients and, and that's why I still definitely want to stay in medicine. I also love coaching and so I'd love to do both somehow, you know, see how that figures out in the long run.
36:45 - Anna Esparham
But it, it's really interesting. I, I didn't think of it that way. And how we become synchronous with each other, cool.
36:53 - Mary Rensel
and I bet that happens with coaching too, you know, that connection, because it, it does get very personal, right? I mean, it depends on the coaching situation, but a lot of people will share, you know, really, stories that meant a lot to them when you're trying to figure out someone's values and that's, I guess the other thing when you say, what else do I recommend for folks is to clarify your values. And you probably know, but some somebody said, well, how do you know it's the thing like it's your line in the sand, like this is important to me, like I'm glad to do this and this and not for you, but like you asked me to do this, like, oh no, I don't, I don't do that, you know.
37:24 - Mary Rensel
So, so when you know your line in the sand, those they would say are probably your core values and there's some ways to figure them out, you know. And I would, I would work on making that really clear what they are for you, so you can You know, because again, sometimes there's moments like it doesn't feel right, it's not, it's hard to put into words. And that's probably because some of our, our brain centers are not verbal. But so we'll say like I have a gut feeling or my heart says it's not your gut or your heart.
37:51 - Mary Rensel
Well, it might be, you know, might have some Gi symptoms because of the brain and say like, no, this is a no go, you know, But it also might be that nonverbal, like this feels so right, like you have that moment, like this is exactly why I do this for this moment. Yeah. So I think that's why it's nice to know a little bit about neuroscience so you can use it to kind of navigate and adapt a bit.
38:17 - Anna Esparham
It's interesting, you know, building a businesss really helped me identify those values. It was like it just kind of matched my, yeah, matched my values and how I wanted to impact and serve others. And so, yeah, those, that's how I figur it out. In fact, I was working with my brander, my designer, and she helped me, you know, work through and figure out my personal values that were represented in my business. So that's interesting.
38:46 - Mary Rensel
Nice, wasn't that neat? And it's neat that you can do it, like you can build what is important to you. Like that's the neat thing. So that's when you say, like I feel like a bit of a box. You know, certain situations are, it feels like a box to me for a reason, like I want to push it a little bit and I want to keep growing. And that's, you know, really when we talk about brain health and wellness and professional well being, you want to feel like something is growing and it's uncomfortable.
39:10 - Mary Rensel
Growth is uncomfortable, no question. Sometimes it feels great like that, like you found your values and you're like, I'm gonna do this because this means something to me and I get to build what's important to me and provide something to somebody that is important to me and I want to live by a certain mission. Like that's super cool, you know, But yeah, I would say, I mean knowing that is really helpful. I would say and your strengths, that's the other thing I would clarify. I mean do Clift and strengths for 30 bucks and just get a little report of what's what you're really good at.
39:39 - Mary Rensel
And it's better to lead life with what you're really good at and do more, you know, to make sure you're active with that, you know. Clip and Clifton Strength thanks you know if you it's like thirty it might be twenty dollars it's very cheap if you just ask for their um they do like a quick report that's uh your five strengths your top five strengths and then they give you a little oh yeah it's a good one clifton strengths yeah and they actually have a teen one for any you know parents out there that are trying to help young adults or teens kind of navigate or you know figure out their next steps That's a nice one and it gives a little report and it talks about balcony and basement,
39:46 - Anna Esparham
What was that? The Clifton string? Oh, I. Oh, cool. I've never heard of it. Cool.
40:19 - Mary Rensel
of that strength, which is like anything like a personality trait or what have you, you know, there's good and bad or it can lead you down a rabbit hole. So it's like what to watch for, you know, this is the really good part of this, but it could also get you here, you know, like the negatives of it, so it's kind of neat, you know, it's very instructive, it's, it's well worth the money. Mhm Yeah, it's a nice one,
40:40 - Anna Esparham
love it. Oh cool,
40:41 - Mary Rensel
it's just online,
40:42 - Anna Esparham
Okay,
40:42 - Mary Rensel
you can find it Yeah,
40:42 - Anna Esparham
okay, I've heard of that. So that's a neat little, Okay,
40:45 - Mary Rensel
yeah, that's a nice one.
40:46 - Anna Esparham
okay, I see it right now. Yeah, okay, that's cool. Oh wow. Dr. Mary You need, you need to write a book. You need to write a book about all things. Neuro cites Moving forward with all your other free time that you've got Um,
40:54 - Mary Rensel
I would I'd like to, right? I'm on it, right.
41:01 - Anna Esparham
well, how do people find you, where are you at? Other than I put a little Facebook link for those watching live, fyi, so that's, that's her Facebook link. But I also know you've gott Youtube, I mean you've got a whole bunch of other stuff going on, so lett us know.
41:19 - Mary Rensel
Yeah, you can find me on Youtube, yeah, so I, you know, I love you could check me out on Brain Fresh, so yeah, find me on Youtube is good. I try to put like free tips, you know, here and there on on Youtube take you out in nature because it's a little bit more calm, so I usually, you know, take you out a walk or something and on Youtube most of them are somewhere out in,
41:35 - Anna Esparham
Yeahp.
41:37 - Mary Rensel
somewhere in Ohio, on my walks or wherever I amm. So I, you know, we also work with some resident groups, so we, we put some, you know, doctors in training and some professional well being. Training and we have a course for that with a life coach. And that's been really just such an honor to work with them. We just, we just did a session where we had them like throwing marshmallows into bags, like what, where were they, you know, like what actions had they taken? And so they were like whipping all these marshmallows in these bags.
42:04 - Mary Rensel
They had like a team, you know, like a contest and it was just really fun. And you know, they're doing really, you know, tough, demanding work and it's a lot of years of tough, demanding work as, as you know. So I love to support Res with that, with that program and yeah, but in businesses helping some teams to thrive and to find, you know, how they, how can they learn a little bit about neuroscience and make it actionable for them? Because there's a lot of that synchrony between teams and there's some things that can be done to kind of manipulate the teams a bit.
42:39 - Mary Rensel
In a good way when you know what neuroscience, what we need to kind of connect and get to our creative selves. So some things have to be in place and teams to get to the high creativity level. Yeah.
42:49 - Anna Esparham
tell just the audience just a little bit too, because a lot of people know, you know, what's going on especially in the healthcare system right now, but especially what you're doing in terms of trying to mitigate that. Promoting, you know, more team and, and relationship, meaningful relationships, you know, amongst the team.
43:10 - Mary Rensel
Yeah, so again back to my equity value, you know, I just want to make sure that teams, you know, there's equitable teams or there's diversity in teams and that people know what needs to be present in a team for the teams to unite. We talked a little bit about the positive emotional state that will make a big difference. So if the team again, it is just hopeful that as a team they can solve a problem. That's all they needed is some hope that they needed to know why they're coming together.
43:38 - Mary Rensel
So there has to be a lot of clarity of the goal of the team and once that's set into place, then you can get to creativity, but you have to work on building the basics of the team. 1st Yeah, so it's been an honor to kind of go into the companies and figure out like what are your strong values of this company and then how we do we know, ingrain those in the teams and support the teams and their professional well being. You know, the risk of burnout is real and serious and so any of this professional well being, you know, I find it really does fortify people, but it's a bit of a mystery where to start and most people don't look for it till there's a big problem.
44:18 - Mary Rensel
But I would say if you're a professional person, you don't find ways to fortify your professional well being right away, you know, So young adults, you're getting a new job, you know, take a new position, make sure you're, you know, the fortifying tools, you know, for your well being and resiliency, you know that you can stay agile, stay loose, Yeah, adapt, you know,
44:38 - Anna Esparham
Speak.
44:38 - Mary Rensel
all those things. I call them my sea legs. Like through, through Covid, we just like, what's happening? You need to have to keep like, what's the new normal now, you know? So we just, we call them sea legs, like we just like, what now, you know, Yeah,
44:51 - Anna Esparham
Oh yeah, I will tell you. I, yes, I have those sea legs as well and definitely yes, a lot of us experience many emotions.
45:01 - Mary Rensel
Yes,
45:02 - Anna Esparham
Throughout that time and hopefully we learned a lot,
45:02 - Mary Rensel
yes, Strong.
45:04 - Anna Esparham
hopefully, you know, we learned a lot of techniques and, and tips and tricks about, you know, how to maintain wellness throughout a very difficult time.
45:14 - Mary Rensel
Yes, please, yeah, just some fortifying chips, you know, just a few things. Work on connections. I'd say, you know, make sure you brain prime if you're, if you're up to something new because don't, don't demand too much of your brain. It, it can't take, it can't take a lot of demands. It can if you give it a lott of support, but Five.
45:32 - Anna Esparham
Yes, I love my afternoon siestas. That's my, not I. I can't do it through residency. I'm trying to get as much in until my residency starts.
45:40 - Mary Rensel
I know, right, Start up, right. Oh, that's beautiful.
45:43 - Anna Esparham
Amongst my other,
45:44 - Mary Rensel
Yeah,
45:45 - Anna Esparham
you know, and and tricks that I have in my arsenal, I've got many, and I love to change it up, you know, a little bit all the time,
45:51 - Mary Rensel
I was gonna say,
45:52 - Anna Esparham
yeah, keep it fresh,
45:53 - Mary Rensel
keep it fresh,
45:53 - Anna Esparham
yeah,
45:53 - Mary Rensel
yeah, keep it fresh,
45:54 - Anna Esparham
keep my brain fresh,
45:54 - Mary Rensel
yeah,
45:56 - Anna Esparham
well it was great having you. Dr. Mary Nsel I am so excited for your career and hopefully it is just gonna keep growing and keep changing and you keep learning just like me, I wanna seee what next steps you take. So maybe we'll have to have after residency come back on and tell us what you're up to next.
46:20 - Mary Rensel
Fine, I love it, yeah, all the best to you and your, and your adventures as well.
46:25 - Anna Esparham
thank you so much all right everyone we will see you in a couple weeks and um let us know if any of you who have teens who are interested in our sleep group coaching programm that's going to start june of twenty twenty three we're only going to take so many participants just so that we can have a lot more one on one and interaction um you can email us at hello at health is pow hur dot com or find us at health is pow her dot com and schedule a free call with one of us doctor melanie gold or me doctor anna all right everyone take care Okay, let me stop this recording, okay, good, okay, the transcript will just continue recording, but that's okay, I can edit it out.