In this episode of Simple Healthy Life, Ryan and MJ explore emotional intelligence through the lens of personal stories, childhood conditioning, and modern mental health culture.
From growing up with no emotional language to today’s oversaturation of labels like “I have anxiety” or “I am ADHD,” they break down how emotional awareness forms, where it goes wrong, and what we can do to build it intentionally.
They also discuss:
• Why “fine” isn’t a feeling
• The danger of over-labeling and identity attachment
• How to separate emotion from identity
• Why space between stimulus and reaction is where growth happens
• Real-world examples of how to pause, reflect, and respond

Whether you’re learning to name your emotions or helping your kids understand theirs, this conversation is a roadmap for making space, not just naming feelings.

In this episode of Simple Healthy Life, Ryan and MJ revisit a topic that hits close to home: stress. They explore why even people who know the science still get caught in stress cycles, and how our perception of stress shapes everything—from our health to our behavior.

They unpack the difference between acute and chronic stress, why avoidance can make stress worse, and how tools like breathwork, reflection, and reframing can help us shift out of survival mode. If you've ever said “I’m fine” while feeling the opposite, this one’s for you.

Episode Outline: Understanding and Reframing Stress

1. The Personal Experience of Stress
   – MJ opens with how even those who understand stress can still struggle to recognize and regulate it in real-time.

2. What Is Stress?
   – Stress defined as the body’s response to mental, emotional, or physical challenges.

3. The Role of Adrenaline and Cortisol
   – Discussion on the physiological stress response, including how adrenaline fuels alertness and how cortisol impacts the body long-term.

4. Adrenaline’s Link to Dopamine and Brain Function
   – How dopamine is a precursor to adrenaline and how these neurochemicals influence focus, energy, and performance.

5. Acute vs. Chronic Stress
   – The difference between short-term (hormetic) stress that builds resilience and long-term stress that causes damage.

6. Stress, Inflammation, and Oxidative Damage
   – How chronic stress leads to the buildup of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and contributes to illness and disease.

7. Perception as a Driver of Stress
   – Why how we perceive stress (or a situation) can amplify or reduce its physiological effects.

8. The Power of Reframing and Reflection
   – Emphasis on how changing the story we tell ourselves post-stress can influence future stress responses.

9. Tools for Acute Stress Regulation
   – Practical strategies like extended exhales to quickly downregulate the nervous system.

10. The Consequences of Avoidance
    – Introduction of “confront, avoid, or freeze” as a modern evolution of the fight/flight model.

11. How Avoidance Creates Chronic Stress
    – Avoiding discomfort may feel easier, but it reinforces long-term stress loops and emotional dysregulation.

12. Mindset and the Stress Narrative
    – How beliefs (e.g., “stress is killing me”) can actually increase risk of mortality and worsen outcomes.

13. The Role of Journaling in Stress Awareness
    – Ryan’s personal decision to journal in order to catch avoidance behaviors and reframe emotional experiences.

14. New Perspectives on Health and Disease
    – Exploration of how stress, perception, and mitochondrial dysfunction may be more foundational to chronic illness than previously understood.

15. Redefining Resilience Through Confrontation
    – Emphasis on skill-building through repeated acts of confronting stress, rather than defaulting to escape.

In this inspiring episode of Simple Healthy Life, Ryan and MJ sit down with 14-year-old rising Jiu-Jitsu phenom Owen Leal, a standout competitor already making waves in the world of submission grappling. Together, they dive into what it truly takes to pursue greatness in a high-performance sport, touching on mindset, jiu-jitsu IQ, training intensity, goal setting, visualization, and recovery.

Owen shares how he balances elite-level training with school, how he studies world-class athletes like Tye Ruotolo and Mica Galvão, and why being obsessed with the game is more important than simply showing up. The conversation also explores the psychology of becoming elite, the importance of working on your weaknesses, and how a resilient mindset, combined with effort and intention can separate future champions from the rest.

Whether you're an athlete, coach, parent, or simply someone looking to level up your performance and mindset, this conversation offers real insight into what drives greatness, both on and off the mat.

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