Doing Well: The Wellbeing Science Insights Podcast · Life Management Science Labs

Shelley Hall: Stimulating Your Brain for Better Self-Awareness | Doing Well #69

·45 min·3 clips

Shelly explains BWRT as Terence Watts's method that uses a new 'app' to change brain responses.

1. Doing Well: The Wellbeing Science Insights Podcast #69 focuses on Shelley Hall's discussion of stimulating the brain for better self-awareness. 2. Shelley Hall is an experienced clinical psychologist, an international supervisor in brain working recursive therapy, and a practitioner who works with adults and children facing trauma, abuse, self-harm, anger, and depression. 3. The episode asks what self-awareness means for wellbeing and why brain-based change matters when people keep repeating the same reactions. 4. Shelly traces her path from a small town in South Africa to psychology university study, then to neuroscience and BWRT. 5. She says she became interested in brain working recursive therapy because early childhood experiences and genetics shape many responses. 6. She mentions that COVID lockdown led her to write a course on using BWRT with children and to train other professionals. 7. Shelley defines wellbeing as being "well within yourself" while staying regulated physically, psychologically, and emotionally. 8. She says people can experience anger, boredom, or frustration without becoming so dysregulated that they get sick. 9. She argues that social media drives perfectionism, material comparison, and an artificial split between "good emotion" and "bad emotion." 10. She says self-awareness begins in childhood, citing the mirror test with red lipstick on a child's nose and the ability to recognize "that nose belongs to me." 11. She uses the broken glass example to show how children progress from "I don't know how that happened" to understanding "I bumped the table." 12. She extends that idea to adults who keep "kicking that rock" and blame the rock, the road, or the optometrist instead of changing behavior. 13. She says low self-awareness can leave people stuck in the same cycles, becoming angry and bitter while also developing physical illness. 14. She names blood pressure problems, diabetes, autoimmune issues, and back pain as examples of conditions linked to psychologically held pain. 15. Shelly explains BWRT as a method developed by Terence Watts in the UK and points listeners to Benjamin Libet's work. 16. She describes the brain as a set of apps built from early experiences, family influences, and genetics that match incoming sensory data. 17. She says the brain's main job is survival, so it can keep repeating a reaction like screaming at a partner even when the person dislikes the outcome. 18. She explains that BWRT targets memories, uses a looping process, and helps a person choose and install a new response for the next time the trigger appears. 19. The conversation is an interview with a warm, practical tone, and Shelly also guides a short exercise using a clock, freezing the feeling, and shifting attention to a favorite color or song. 20. Listeners interested in psychology, wellbeing, trauma work, and self-regulation will likely benefit, while people looking for light entertainment or no therapy content may skip it.

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