Chatting with Dr. Krissy Doyle-Thomas is always pure joy!

Dr. Krissy is a medical neuroscientist who has a gift for making neuroscience accessible to everyone. She can explain amazing facets about the brain and brain health in a way that is so easy to understand, and I love that about her! She also has an incredible story of moving to Canada from Trinidad with her family as a child, and how a diagnosis her sister received at a very young age inspired her to become a doctor. Growing up and pursuing medicine and being a Black woman in the neuroscience space are all such powerful and unique facets of her story that you will love hearing about!!

In this episode, Dr. Krissy and I also talk about the importance of learning to trust yourself, to trust the gifts, personality traits, and desires God has placed uniquely in your heart, and to know that pursuing a calling that fits who you are is so important. It might not look like what the people around you would expect, and maybe not what you would expect either, but having confidence in who you are created to be will help to lead you to a life that is vibrant, healthy, and filled with true purpose. I know you will love Dr. Krissy as much as I do!

Please subscribe, rate and review the Pain to Passion Live podcast so as many people as possible will know about these powerful messages of hope. Thank you!!

More About Dr. Krissy:

Dr. Krissy Doyle-Thomas (Ph.D.) is a Medical Neuroscientist and Professor. She is an expert in medical conditions that affect the brain and mental health. Dr. Krissy’s career path was heavily influenced by her family’s experience. In 1990, Dr. Krissy and family migrated to Canada from Trinidad. At the time, her younger sister had a diagnosis that was not fully understood by the health community. Given the lack of health information about her sister’s diagnosis, she pursued a career in Neuroscience to support her family and others. In 2010, Dr. Krissy received her PhD in Medical Sciences from McMaster University. As a Medical Neuroscientist, her research examines brain properties in neurodevelopmental conditions and how the brain changes in response to treatment. Dr. Krissy has received several prestigious fellowships for her research, including fellowships from the Canadian Institute for Health Research and the Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada. She has published numerous high-impact peer-reviewed articles and has presented her research at conferences internationally.

Dr. Krissy is passionate about helping people maximize their potential as it relates to understanding how the brain works. She is committed to translating scientific research into meaningful information that can help our communities live healthy, mindful lives.

Connect with Dr. Krissy:

Instagram: @dr.krissy.phd

Website: doctorkrissy.com

Connect with Gabi:

Instagram: @gabiruth

Website (coaching, blog, speaking invite, etc): gabiruth.com

(TRANSCRIPT) Ep. 9: Trusting Yourself and Embracing Your Unique Calling - Dr. Krissy Doyle-Thomas

Gabi: Hello friends and welcome back to Pain to Passion Live. Guys, I am so excited because I get to talk to one of the coolest people I know, Dr. Krissy Doyle-Thomas. I found her on Instagram - I don't know, it's been a while now.

Dr. Krissy: It's been a while.

Gabi: Yes. At least a year at least, and she's amazing. The woman is a neuroscientist, okay? Like that is pretty, pretty awesome. I don't know how many neuroscientists you know, but I know one, and this is her, and Krissy, I'm just so glad that you're here, that you have taken the time to be here with us, cuz I know that we are going to just learn a lot from you, and I think you're an incredible woman.

I would love for you to just introduce yourself, kind of tell us who you are and what you do.

Dr. Krissy: Absolutely. And Gabi, thank you so much for having me here. I think this is the second time we're chatting on an interview type situation. And I love talking with you because I just love your messaging on social media.

It resonates so much with my heart and what I believe. So I'm very happy that, you know, we can meet and talk and see how we can, you know, collaborate on getting information out there. So thank you for having me. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Well, I mean, as you, you mentioned, I’m a medical neuroscientist and what that means is that really, I kind of study how, uh, the brain impacts different types of health conditions and of most interest to me and where I really focus a lot of my time is on mental health conditions.

So, um, I am an immigrant to Canada, so I migrated here from Trinidad and the warm, you know, sunny Islands within the Caribbean, uh, when I was nine years old, like back in 1990. So I've been in Canada the majority of my life. Um, but really what got me into neuroscience was my family's experience. So when we migrated, my youngest sister, received a diagnosis. And at the time, the health community didn't have much information about it. First began as a young immigrant family navigating, you know, healthcare within Canada. I'm Canadian, so navigating healthcare within Canada was new to us and could be scary at times. Especially with, um, with a, with a kid who has special needs.

So that was an interesting experience. And my family in dealing like many other families, in dealing with a diagnosis of a child in the family, there was a lot of pressure. Mental health, you know, challenges just with my parents trying to cope with moving my family to a new country. Having a child with special needs and what does this mean, like this new life and a new country mean, and, uh, being who I am, I feel very deeply in my heart when things happen.

It affects me, um, uh, quite, quite a lot, right When I, when I talk about my emotions and I think I had that from a very young age. So seeing and witnessing my, my parents navigate through that situation while, you know, putting us all through school and caring for my sister in the absence of having medical information we can understand.

I was like, I gotta do something about this. Like, you know, not knowing what that something was, I felt really strongly. But when I got to university, I have to learn something about within the medical field so I can support my family, um, and other families like me.

Now, my sister and I are seven years apart and you can imagine we're growing up at the same time, so there's only a little bit I can do while I'm studying to help her. But I think right now, within my career, um, it's really close to my heart that now that I have all this information and I have contributed in the ways that I can with my research and I have the medical knowledge that I can actually help families who might be experiencing things that, you know, my family went through when my sister was much younger. She's doing fantastic now. She has a family of her own and she has two kids, two beautiful kids. Um, so she's come out, um, quite in a, in a, in a fantastic way. Um, other families might be struggling, right, and still navigating this space. So my, my intention in getting into the medical field and especially the research part is answering those questions that we still don't know about the brain or we're learning, but learning it slowly that families can use to care for their loved ones and just understand how to navigate that space.

So that's really my backstory and how I got into, into medical neuroscience, and I absolutely love it. Like everything about the brain is just like, you know, it's like a kid in a candy store. I absolutely love talking about the brain. So, I put a lot of that content out there and hopefully it's helpful to people as they navigate their own lives.

Gabi: You do love it, and it totally shows in your content. I mean, every time you show up, you've just got like this great energy, this great smile, and you're talking in a way, first of all, that's really relatable to people, which I know is your heart, like with your experience. Your story is amazing, um, and this experience that you had of, you're an immigrant family, you're in a completely new culture, you're in a new medical system, having to figure all of this out, I can imagine that your parents, and therefore you to an extent, felt so over your heads.

Dr. Krissy: Yeah, absolutely. And you know what, um, I, there are four, I have three sisters, so four girls in my family and I am the, the second to last. So the, my baby sister was the one with the medical condition and I don't feel like I, um, That this was ever a huge like burden on my parents. Although I understand the weight of a diagnosis and the weight of being immigrant family at my young age, I never fully embraced the load of all of this that they were carrying.

So I absolutely, oh my goodness, I'm like getting emotional, just talking about it, like the strength of my parents was such a powerful thing. There are so many strong parents out there that sometimes they make this beautiful world for their kids and their kids don't understand what they're really carrying in terms of, you know, uh, diagnoses or, or even challenges of how to put food in their family.

Now my older sisters have much a different understanding of what that experience was for my family, but they protected myself and my younger sister from a lot of that, um, growing up. And as it became, you know, older and more attuned to like emotions and stuff, it was obvious to me that you know, that this is a lot, that this is a lot that families can live with when there are diagnoses within their families.

And I just wanna like, you know, um, I know it's not everybody's experience, but I just wanna put it out there that, that, you know, like I believe my parents did the best that they could at the time, and I just kind of wanna honor them in that way to say, you know, thank you for showing up in that way. And I just hope that what I do with my career and give back to families and communities, um, would be helpful to kind of alleviate some of that unknown, um, and really kind of give them some hope that, you know, life would be ok. 

Gabi: Wow. Yeah, I was gonna say kudos to your parents for real. For you to feel so sheltered and protected from that burden that they were carrying.

And of course, as you get older and your older sisters had more of an understanding, you get to understand more as well. But it's really interesting to me because I know there are other stories like yours out there where maybe they didn't feel as protected, which totally makes sense. It's a lot of stress.

There's no judgment, right? On the different parents who have had to navigate different things. But I think it's so fascinating that you still were like, from such a young age wanting to get into the medical field. And I'd love, I'd love to hear more about like really, what was it that kind of rose up in you?

Cuz it stuck. It stuck for the long haul from being so young and now here you are doing what you're doing. Can you kind of talk about that journey a little bit?

Dr. Krissy: Yeah, absolutely. Now I think a lot of it was also exposure. So we spent a lot of time, so there's a hospital here in Toronto called Sick Kids Hospital, and we spent of course a pediatric hospital.

And, um, with, with, you know, it, it's, um, all the experts and specialists within Ontario, probably they, wow, they are, they are within that, um, within that institution. And um, we spent a lot of time there because of my younger sister and I felt like, It's a lot. Like, I felt like being part of that environment, I was always like, wow, these are really smart people, you know? Um, and that was intriguing to me because I, I like to ask questions. I like to understand how things work. I like to be fascinated by things like science and medicine. So when they come in the room and they're talking to my family, or we're trying to understand what my sister was living with, and they were, it was like I was meeting a rockstar, like I literally felt like they were superstars. So I think that was a big motivating factor for me. Yeah, something else that really stood out was, you know, um, it's that like not many of them looked like me, so that was a gap for me. Um, in terms of, uh, in terms of creating a space where, um, families feel understood culturally, um, that they, um, that they can be seen for who they are and embraced for their differences.

Right? That was a gap for me. Now, they were fantastic specialists there, but again, as a young immigrant family, you, you question the system, you question where you fit. Um, and we didn't have bad experiences. I just wanna put that out there. There were no bad experiences with the medical professionals within my, my sister's care, but I'm like, well, where are the Black doctors?

Like, you know, Trying to see me in, in the team. Um, and, and so when I was training, that was also a motivation for me. Like as I was going through my three degrees, I have a, a bachelor's, a master's, and a PhD. Um, none of my, my mentors or my professors were black and um, As I became more qualified, uh, students, black students will see me and they'll be like a black neuroscientist, like, what is this?

Or they would reach out to me for mentorship and such. So after I got into a space for my family, I realized that there was a community of people that were also banking on me making it. Because it gave an example of a possibility of something that we hadn't seen. And that is quite. Um, again, why am I so emotional?

But that's like, you know, you know, it's getting to my heart because I think, uh, representation is so important. So that was also a motivation for me to keep going because helping my family, helping families like mine, but also allowing other young black folks to see that there is potential out there for, you know, occupations where we might not have seen ourselves.

I'm sure there are Black neuroscientists. I'm absolutely sure there are. But growing up in Toronto, Canada, like we didn't see many of them. Right? So I appreciated that this was kind of creating a doorway for me also within my community, uh, to support young students coming up as a potential career path for them as.

Gabi: Yeah, absolutely. That's a big deal and it's so important. I'm sure that sometimes, I mean may, I'm not sure, you have to tell me, but that can feel also heavy in a different way because you're kind of leading the charge in some ways of like, I've done it, therefore you can do it, but you didn't have that for yourself.

Dr. Krissy: So I, I don't think so. Um, and the reason is because I, I feel like, I, I appreciate contributing to my, to my community. I do it from a place of love and I'm gonna do what I can, right? I, I try, because I know that I feel so deeply for individuals. I try to inch by inch, uh, take a footing, um, based on what I know I can commit to.

So if I've committed to something, I know that I can deliver with my everything. Um, so I create a space where the, where, where, um, where, Hopefully it brings change, but it brings it within the limits that I'm gonna give my all. And I, and I, and I hope that it's gonna be, and I, and I feel equipped that it would be successful, right?

I don't over commit to the level, like I'm trying to change the entire culture and community, and then I become overwhelmed by the, the mission for sure. So, um, and I, and I'm purposeful about doing that because I know that. So much that needs to be done not only as modeling, you know, career paths for black youth, but, but also within mental health, within the black community.

There's a huge stigma, um, you know, and, and about what mental health is. It's not that you're crazy. It's not that you need to be locked away because your kids have autism or ADHD or OCD, and we just, they're there. It's not bad parenting. It's like all these kinds of things that sometimes are misunderstood in certain cultures, right? Um, and, and there are, are gaps, just systemic gaps within the system that, that, that, you know, creates barriers for, for black youth to get mental healthcare. Um, and it's, it's huge. Like I'm doing some projects within the community and just like looking at the data on this, it's like this is, you know, decades and decades of work ahead of us.

But I take a perspective every time that what can I do today? That I can do very well, that I can leave a footprint that either I can continue on with or someone can take the baton after me and continue. So I keep that perspective as so that I don't become overwhelmed by it all. And I believe that there is so much potential out there as like more professionals are coming into the space and there are more people who are like championing mental health for, you know, within the, with it for the world, and also visibility for the Black community. That we can collectively do something really great if we just kinda look at our steps, do the best we can, and then collaborate on making the rest happen.

Gabi: There was so much in there. I'm like, See, I knew it. I knew. Talking to you is just so wonderful and there are going to be people listening to this who are just gonna be so blessed by stuff that you've already said. So thank you. Um, first of all, how you're, you've protected your mental health, which as a neuroscientist hopefully is something you would do.

But you know, we all mess up in this area and it's just really cool to see how you have become so clear on protecting your time, protecting your resources. And I imagine it can be challenging, like, you're a doctor, you're a teacher, you're a parent, you are a daughter, you're a wife. You're like all of the things, right?

So. And just showing that example to your community too as well of like, yes, your mental health is important and so is mine. So I'm putting these structures in place, whether they see it or not, like exactly what you're putting in place. They see you and they see your life and they see how you're doing it, how you're thriving.

How, what are some of the parameters or some of the things that help you decide what to say yes to and what to say no to?

Dr. Krissy: Yeah, that's a great question, Gabi, and I haven't always been like this, like I went through my own mental health journey, to be really honest with you. I, I mean, when you're qualifying and going through your degrees, there's always, you know, times where you question, am I, you know, supposed to be in this room? Like, yes. Do I have what it takes? That whole imposter syndrome thing, right? Um, and especially as you're a trainee coming about and you're sitting and, and, and myself, Who sitting in the room with well respected people within the field, you always are like, oh my gosh, that bar is so high.

Am I ever going to reach there? So I have definitely gone through times in my life where I have been overwhelmed. By the space that I was in. And I had to, you know, I went through, I went through tough times. I mean, there were times where I had to go to my doctor and say, I am crying a lot and I'm out of control what is happening to me. Right? And they say, okay, I think you might have like, you know, depression, like, let's talk about this. So I have gone through it, right? I've gone through times in my life where I've had panic attacks because my ambition puts me into spaces That could create a heavy load. Right? Um, and after those moments, Now that I'm 41, I have grown in wisdom to understand, no, there are, there are limits.

There is a way that I'm going to work to protect my own mental health and to protect the effectiveness of my efforts. And that came with time. Like that came with time when I was coming through the system, you know, training and stuff. It was all about ambition and pushing as hard as you can and Far as you can, as fast as you can, but that ambition really challenged me at times and I had to say, you know, What's the priority here? And it took career changes for me, right? I was in research full-time as a medical neuroscientist within a hospital setting for eight years until I said to myself, and it's not everybody else's story, but until I said to myself, this is not a healthy environment for me. I cannot, I have not learned how to balance the ambition of this place with my true Desire to have an impact, like my research and my service to have an impact. And I had to switch that to create more of a balance between my teaching and my research because I love people and I'm really from the very onset of my lived experience. I wanted to help families and my research Is fantastic and I am appreciative of that, But really it lives in medical journals and academic journals and it doesn't get back to the community that I wanna help. So within me, there was already that, that battle about are you being as effective as possible? And I found that when I aligned with what my passion is and what my purpose is, was when I started to, you know, move into a space where I had freedom to Operate with my whole self and be most effective. So I made the switch to having more of a teaching load than a research load, and that connected so authentically with who I am personally and with my passion of teaching and touching the community. And, um, and now I teach, you know, community based, uh, health professionals who want to understand more about how to care for people with brain disorders and mental health conditions and disabilities because they want to build capacity to support their clients.

So I'm talking to the people who have that hands on impact right on the community. Um, and I absolutely love it. I thrive in that space. And that's when my mental health started to really get into a healthy, uh, uh, space because it was my passion. So I could have give, I could give more freely and be more effective and then have my research facilitate some new questions.

And you answered in that space So when I stopped living somebody else's version of what it looks like to be a medical neuro scientist, I found that I was way more successful in my. Um, so I appreciated that mental shift for myself was what was very important for me to then grow in effectiveness and to kinda be excited to go to work every day because I am, this is what I wanna do, this is what I love to do.

Um, and the impact is so much greater because I'm not trying to live someone else's story. I'm doing it the way that fits me.

Gabi: So amazing. Yes. Okay. This is really, really good stuff. Really good stuff. I love how you said that you made a choice to protect your effectiveness, like just stopping and pausing and thinking about that.

How often I know that I have, and how easy it is to just slip into doing as many things as you can handle. Like, oh, I have this much capacity, so I'm gonna fill it up, but then how effective am I really being? So protecting your effectiveness, I think that's something that everyone from someone who works at a McDonald's to a medical neuroscientist, like you can relate to that, but also how you made a choice to align with your passion and your purpose. Like, that's also something that I'm really, really passionate about, um, helping people to connect with. Because isn't it true that a lot of us get the training and, um, go into a certain space because we are excited about something in that space, but we end up doing it in the way, you know, our classmates were doing it, or everyone else in that arena was going towards that same space. But what if that's not me? You know? Um, was there like a pivot point in there where you weren't sure what was gonna happen when you said no to the research and then Yes to the teaching? Was that, was that like a faith step for you?

Dr. Krissy: Yeah, it's interesting, you know, because it was a bit of a faith step. I think it was moreso I got lucky that where I teach right now actually approached me when I was at the hospital to help them, you know, launch a project. So I got lucky that it, it kind, well, I, I don't think it's luck. I think it was, it was Divinely sent my way definitely for me to step into my purpose, right? But I think where, where was the tough point was me accepting that as a path that I'm okay to take. I think for a very long time I had an idea of what A medical neuroscientist needs to do and should do right within the field. And this making a shift to more teaching than research.

I mean, you're, you're a neuroscientist, you're a researcher. You should be doing research 24 7. That's what you're trained to do. Um, so making the shift to teaching more than doing research, but still having the research facilitate some of that new knowledge that's coming into the classroom, was a decision I had to make because it would've taken away research time from a very competitive field where people are publishing 5, 6, 7, the really good ones, papers a year.

I might be publishing one or two because I'm spending more time teaching, and that means that some career opportunities for me Will change. So for me, making that mental shift was, um, what needed to happen. I knew I had to leave for my own mental health. I knew I had to make this shift. I knew, I knew that it was aligned with my passion, but I still questioned in myself, are you really ready to leave this path and go to a next?

But I gotta tell you, because I was convinced that teaching and being with people was more aligned to my strengths. Um, when I made that decision, even not understanding or knowing what the outcome would be, my, again, effect and success skyrocketed, because I stepped into my, my truth, right?

And I, I was telling, I was telling my son the other day, I was saying that, you know, the world is only gonna trust you as much as you trust yourself. You have to trust yourself. There's no one out there that is going to that that owes you trust, You know what I mean? There's no one out there that owes you any kind of faith in what you are calling and what your passion is.

You have to believe it for yourself and step into it wholly. And then the world sees that and they are drawn to that light. I was telling my son that, and that lesson to me came out when I made that career shift from being, um, a, a clean researcher, a clean in saying that I only did research to now doing teaching and research with teaching load being, uh, heavier than the research load.

And when I stepped into my truth, when I stepped into, you know, knowing what my passion is, what I was, what I do best, that's when the world started trusting me more. And that is when, um, a lot of doors started opening for me. And it impacted people as well, like they were benefiting From me stepping into my truth and my calling and what I believe that I was put here to do and how I was to contribute to this space.

So, you know, we just gotta trust ourself and take that step and then the world starts to trust us and that's okay.

Gabi: But yeah, that, that's beautiful. I think you did a reel about that too recently too, about believing in yourself. Maybe that came out of your conversation with your son, maybe. I don't know.

But I remember seeing that and thinking like, yeah, and I, I do think that so many of us, because there are so many opportunities to compare ourselves to other people, like we just doubt ourselves all the time. Like, is that really because she's doing that? So what Is this like prompting in me? Is that right or is it selfish?

What, what is like some tips that you would give to someone who is maybe stuck in that comparison and they're having a hard time even evaluating like, what is my passion? Cause I've been thinking about everyone else for so long. I, I'm not even sure what my passion is. What would you say to that person?

Dr. Krissy: Yeah, that's a great question. I can see what I did. I started to spend time with myself in quietness, just connecting with me, you know? Um, I'm a Christian, so that's a big part of how I find what my values and what my intent needs to be. Definitely. Um, I spent time, um, without knowing your audience, I'm sorry, I'm gonna bring some Christianity in.

Gabi: No, do it. Go all Jesus freak on me. It's fine, girl!

Dr. Krissy: I spend time in the word, right? I spend time really understanding who I was in Christ and how what I was meant to be, knowing what my strengths are, right? So I had to spend time with myself knowing to know what my strengths are, but then knowing, Is there a path for me here?

Teacher being a teacher is one of those, you know, giftings that are given to you. Not everyone has to be, you know, the evangelist, the apostle, the carer. You know, you can have your own path and that's okay. And then spending time knowing, um, what the promise From the word that I was gonna stand on for that moment in my life, right?

So it was finding that connection outside of myself, like what emotion am I feeling now? What is the word telling me about that emotion? And then believing that as truth because part of the Bible says, you know, we have everything we need for life and godliness. So it that means, It's there in the Bible, I just have to find it.

And if I don't find it, it means I'm looking at things in the wrong way. So how do I need to change this? Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked what I'm saying, but what I'm saying is that I had to spend time with myself. Okay. Sally over there is doing this thing that way, but is that true to who I know I am?

And writing things down, that to me, that added step of taking it from my brain to the paper and then thinking about it, reflecting on it, you know. Feeling like, is this true to me or not? Was the time I needed to see, is this me or is this the world telling me what to do? Is this my job telling me what to do?

Taking that time to reflect. I think for me, I had to clear out the noise of other people's opinions, other people's examples. Um, And instead do things my way, like do things that felt true to me. I, um, I believe very, you know, um, strongly in a gut feeling that I have or, or like just an internal alignment to something that presents itself to me.

So I trust, I trust that and I step towards that energy. When I feel like this is aligning to what I am, I might not fully understand it in the moment. It's not fully predictable, but I'm trusting that God will open the way. Would show me what to do as I take the next step and I release the need to know everything.

I release that need. And I just say, all I need to do is take one step and the next step will be revealed to me. And that's how I, I approached it. Right? Um, everyone has to figure out what works for them, but I, I, my, my, um, insight came from spending time with myself and spending time in the word and trusting my intuition about myself and what I can and cannot do.

Gabi: Mm. That's so, so good. And I would just back that up a hundred percent. And I think what you said about like that one step of writing it down, it's interesting because I've had this conversation with multiple people recently where they're in this process Of trying to heal from something or become into the next version of themselves, like the person that they really wanna be.

But the one thing that they feel resistance against is that writing it down, which is so interesting to me, Um, because, it's true when you write it down, it really does. I'm sure there is a neuro scientific reason for this, right? Why writing it down makes it stick more. Maybe you can tell us why. Can you tell us why?

Dr. Krissy: But I also wanna mention before we start talking about the neuroscience behind it, I also want to mention that, In writing it down, It's not that you have a definitive path or commitment that you're writing it down. It's just an expression of how you're feeling in the moment. I have a lot of pages that I've written that my thought pattern from the first page to the 20th page has changed dramatically.

It was just therapeutic for me to share how I felt in that moment without needing to solve it in that moment. It was a release, right? And I think it's just, it's a, it's like talking to a good friend that would not say a word. You're not asking for feedback or opinions. You just need The release out of your body to release that tension, to release whatever is, is creating an environment within you that is really dissonant, right?

Like you, you just need that release. Um, and I think that it's really therapeutic. It's therapeutic, just writing things down, whether it makes sense or not, whether it sets direction or not. Um, it helps you to declutter your mind. And that's important, that's important to just get it down. Um, the neuroscience behind it, You know what I feel like, um, like therapy, there is value in, in releasing energy from your body, right? And your cells feel that like when you have things that are toy, the brain is not like to be in a state of dissonance. So when there are things that are kind of warring With itself in your thoughts, it creates a very physical reaction in your body because the brain is part of the body.

It's all connected. It doesn't only control your behavior, it also controls your thoughts. So if something is not aligned in your thoughts, it will affect the tension in your body, how you hold your hands, how you hold yourself, it, your, your shoulders might come up. Feel that tension, right? It affects everything.

So if there is any outlet where you can release some of that tension, From your mind to write it down. Engaging your whole self, your hands, your thoughts, your eyes, you know, all this. It's helping to release some of that pent up energy that just frees space for like thinking afterwards, right? It's kind of bringing this Subconscious into consciousness, because a lot of what happens in our brain, only a very small percentage of it comes into consciousness. There's a lot, a lot of things happening within our mind and our brain that is outside of conscious awareness. So releasing, taking time to release that out of the body, some of that subconscious thoughts and stuff into conscious awareness so you have more information to act on, to mobilize a plan so it becomes effective. It becomes effective when you release it.

Gabi: Yes. And amen to all of that. It's absolutely true. I mean, I've experienced it time and time again. And I love how you explained it that way because that releasing and bringing to consciousness, all of that is so much more powerful than we realize until we actually start doing it.

Um, because it does bring so much clarity, right? And it brings, it brings relief. Like you said, it can bring relief not just to your mind, but to your whole body getting that energy out, so thank you for that. You're just so cool. I mean, I thought of probably 15 different questions now to ask you, but I know we're running short on time.

One thing I would love to hear before we go though is if you can think off the top of your head, what's one of the coolest Things that you have learned as a neuroscientist that has been backed up by something you've seen like in scripture or embodied in who Jesus is?

Dr. Krissy: Yes. Oh my. Okay. I, that's a great question.

And now I feel like I wanna Google verse, um, but there's a verse. In, um, in the Bible that says, um, okay, I'm gonna talk, I'm gonna talk while I'm finding the

Gabi: Yeah go for it. Take your time.

Dr. Krissy: Um, so, so the interesting thing, and I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna do this first and then I'm gonna talk about another verse.

I think this verse, uh, to Christians. Makes sense, right? It's not gonna make sense to everyone until they have that experience of God and, and, and who God can be in their life. And the verses Philippians 4:6,  right? It says, be anxious about nothing, but in everything in prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving  let your request be made known to God. And I believe after that it talks about a piece that surpasses All understanding will come upon you, right? And I have lived that verse like I have lived that, that, that passage took me through my training, took me through my depression bout, took me through my, uh, my, my panic attacks, because it talks about, you know, Putting it on God, like you don't be anxious, but in every situation, not some, not in the ones you can't handle, not in the ones that are overwhelming you today in everything, right? Give it to God in prayer. Tell him what you need in petition, then thank him for it, and then his peace will be, will come onto you. And I feel like that verse also talks about release. We were just talking about writing things down, like that verse talks about releasing the heaviness onto God, And he will give you peace in exchange. And I have tested this verse and it, it has been true in my life. So that's one verse. I do have a second verse. You see, you got me started, so hang on a second. I love it. Okay. Yeah. So this second. Um, I want, actually it's the verse right after. I didn't even realize that.

But it talks about, again, it's Philippians four and it's verse eight, and it says, um, and let me get a, let me get a version that is, um, That is, that is okay. Um, the New Living, um, version is the one I'm gonna talk to you. And again, again, it's Philippians four, verse eight, and it says, uh, brothers, keep your mind thinking about whatever is true, whatever is respected, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is loved, whatever is well thought of. If anything is worthy of giving thanks for think on these things. Now, this verse tells me that there are things that are untrue, that are not respectable, that are not right, that are not pure, that are not lovely, right? And are not worth thinking of. So this is that, this is that verse to me that talks about, you know, when therapists tell us that not all thoughts are true, I'm sorry, Uh, not all thoughts are true. Um, This is that verse that says, yes, we have some thoughts that aren't true. You have to choose to think about the true ones, the pure ones, the lovely ones, the ones that bring fulfillment to you. If there's anything good or praiseworthy, that's what you think about. We have to choose our thoughts.

We have to challenge those untrue thoughts, and that is where Freedom comes. So those are the two verses that I would like to leave and, and, and those both can be found in the Philippians four. My favorite. By far, they have taken me through countless situations in my life. Um, and I challenge people with those verses, right? To kind of think about what they're saying and how it applies to their life, because it is worked for me. It might have a different meaning or a different resonance for different people, and that's okay. That's the living aspect of the Bible, that's the livingness of it. Right? Um, but those have been really powerful in me, just getting my thoughts right, and also releasing anxious desires and anxious thoughts and giving it to God and trusting that he would give me his peace and return.

Gabi: I am so happy right now. I, you totally made my day and what's really cool is I am actually going through a study on Philippians right now, and this morning I hand wrote those verses at 5:30 this morning. So I'm like, oh, this is cool. God's fun. It was like a hug. So that, that was amazing. So thank you.

Thank you for sharing, and you are a beautiful human. I'm just so grateful that we've connected and that we got to chat today. I know that our listeners are going to love hearing this. Um, you've given us so many gold nuggets today. Um, so thank you for your time. I'd love to just allow you to say anything you'd like to say before I let you go.

Um, just if there's anything left on your heart that you'd like to share.

Dr. Krissy: Well do thank you for having me. Like I always have to thank you for this, right? Because I tell you that I'm in awe of yourself and others who do podcasts to get words of encouragement out there. I really am like, you guys are the cool kids and I'm always happy, I'm always happy to help contribute in any way. So I appreciate you providing this channel, right to enrich people's lives. So thank you for that. And I think. What I, what I want to kinda leave people with is that you know it's okay to take time, to learn about yourself, to figure out what really energizing you and what your purpose is, because your impact on this earth.

Is going to be so much more powerful and effective if you know yourself. For me, I knew I needed to get into science to help families, right? I knew that that was my call, and when I embraced the truth of what my purpose was. Is how I can be effective. Your purpose is something different, Gabi, and as you walk in it, your impact will continue to be so amazing.

But that's because you have a gift and you're giving that gift. So I just wanna challenge everyone, you know, spend time with yourself, figure out what your gifting is, and then throw yourself into it. And it shouldn't be something that drains you. It should be something that excites you, right? But taking time to declutter from the noise from what other people are doing, even if they're in the same space, you know, don't worry about that.

You figure out, what do I have to give? What's in my hand, you know? And then see how that can be a blessing to someone else. So I just wanna leave that with your audience, and thank you for having me.

Gabi: Oh my goodness. Such an honor. Such a pleasure Every time. Thank you for everything that you've given us today. I think you're fabulous and I'm sure we'll chat soon.

Dr. Krissy: Thank you.

Gabi: Have an amazing day. Bye bye.