How to Feel Unstoppable in 2 Minutes a Day with Sienna Colonese

If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking, “I’m not qualified enough” or “They’ll never pick me,” you’re not alone—but it’s time to challenge that narrative. In this week’s episode of Resume Assassin presents Recruiting Insider, I sat down with mindset coach Sienna Colonese for a powerful deep dive into the inner dialogue that quietly sabotages so many careers. According to Sienna, those negative thoughts aren’t facts—they’re just old, unhelpful programming your brain has been conditioned to replay.

Sienna opens up about her own journey through anxiety and self-doubt, offering hope and proof that it’s possible to retrain your mind for confidence and clarity. We explore the science behind how your brain processes fear, why it clings to worst-case scenarios, and how daily habits like gratitude and visualization can rewire your mental patterns. Sienna doesn’t just talk theory—she shares science-backed strategies and simple exercises you can start using right away, no matter where you are in your career journey.

One of the most practical takeaways? A two-minute grounding routine that helps quiet the noise and anchor you in your worth—perfect for pre-interview jitters or everyday mindset maintenance. Sienna’s tools are designed to help you build sustainable confidence that goes beyond affirmations and motivational quotes. It’s about creating a new internal reality that supports your external success.

If your inner critic has been in the driver’s seat, this episode is your invitation to take the wheel. Whether you’re job hunting, pivoting careers, or simply trying to feel more empowered, Sienna’s insights will leave you feeling more capable, calm, and in control. Tune in to learn how changing your thoughts can change your path—and unlock the confidence you’ve had all along.

 

Mary (00:00.984)
Sienna Colonese, welcome to Recruiting Insider!

Sienna Colonese (00:03.963)
Hello, thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

Mary (00:07.406)
I’m so excited. So Sienna is a neuro integrative mindset coach who empowers people to break free from mental patterns, holding them back and step into a life filled with peace, purpose and passion. Sienna has a really unique approach that combines neuroscience, mindset work and personal development.

And she guides her clients through transformative changes, helping them master emotional resilience, presence, and focus. In this episode, we’re going to dive into how our thoughts shape our lives and really how reprogramming the mind and brain can unlock so many new possibilities in both career and personal growth. So Sienna.

How did you first become interested in neurointegrative mindset coaching? I mean, really, what inspired you to combine neuroscience with personal development?

Sienna Colonese (01:12.031)
Honestly, it was first during getting my degree. I have my degree in cognitive behavioral neuroscience. I love the brain. I think it’s like one of the most mysterious things out there because we seriously don’t really know that much about it with all the research that we have done. But I was very empowered by changing my own mind and brain first, of course, and then applying it to other people. But in college, when I was getting my degree, I faced

Mary (01:26.018)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (01:38.981)
so many mental and physical health challenges and the way that I found my way out was through mindset work paired with understanding how the brain works. Because I feel like a lot of people come to a point where they don’t know if they truly can change and they have doubts and things. So it was very empowering to learn about how the brain works and how people can change on a scientific level and then applying it in my own ways with mindset and body work.

Mary (02:05.768)
Mm. Yeah, so can you talk to us a little bit more about that? So you said that it kind of started with your own journey and changing your own mind and your own brain. What did you learn?

Sienna Colonese (02:17.181)
I learned so much. I honestly, it was the craziest experience because I didn’t fully understand what was going on with myself, like all the challenges I was dealing with until I started doing the work. And then I had like a relativity point and I could look back and see how bad it really was. But when you’re stuck in a certain cycle, your brain can convince yourself that you are okay. And you can just tell yourself this is baseline.

Mary (02:18.996)
Hehehehe

Sienna Colonese (02:46.151)
And in reality, I was stuck in like a seemingly perpetual state of anxiety. I was battling like three different eating disorders. I had bouts of depression and all these things. And it was like, I literally convinced myself I was doing okay. And it was like just a very vicious cycle is the best way I can explain it. But once I was able to actually regulate my nervous system, work on my mind, cultivate a really positive growth mindset and

pretty much transformed my body, mind, and like heart space, I was able to look back and see how different my life was and only then was I able to understand the power of it because I could see it from a different perspective and it was just completely transformative.

Mary (03:34.584)
Yeah, and I think that a lot of people can relate to that. And I mean, I know that I can, you know, it’s when you’re going about your day to day, it’s so easy to just brush something off and be like, it’s just, you know, a normal part of life when it’s like, there are things that you can be doing to kind of, you know, rewire your brain and live a much better life. So, you know, for someone that’s, you know, new to this concept, could you explain, you know,

how our thoughts shape not just our mindset, but also our brains wiring.

Sienna Colonese (04:10.077)
Yeah, so it’s all rooted in the concept of neuroplasticity, which is your brain’s ability to adapt and change depending on your environment, your thoughts, your emotions, and your behaviors. So pretty much anything you’re doing is changing your brain, and the more you repeat it, the stronger those paths in your brain get. So I like to explain it as taking a walk in a forest every day. If you take a walk in a forest on the same path every day, that path is going to get clearer.

Like the roots are gonna move and it’s just gonna be more ingrained in the earth. Same thing with thinking a certain thought. The more you think a certain thought, the more it creates that path in your brain. So it’s easier for that thought to come to you without trying. So if you have struggles with self-confidence and you regularly think like, I’m not good enough, I’m not pretty enough, all those sort of things, the more you think those thoughts, the easier it is for them to come.

to you or thoughts like that to come to you which affect your behaviors, your belief in yourself, and everything else. But it’s because it’s creating a fingerprint in your brain. It’s not because you’re intentional about having those thoughts when it gets to a certain point, which is the difficult thing when it comes to changing because a lot of time people don’t understand that everything you’re thinking and the habits that you have are determining how you see yourself in the world around you. And it’s because of how your brain works.

down that same vein, you can change in the same way. You have to go in the same way, which is through your mind and through your brain to change using neuroplasticity in the opposite direction.

Mary (05:51.062)
Yeah, I think a lot of us have these really intrusive thoughts where it’s like, how do we, and I guess maybe this is a question for you, how do we actually start to control or maybe mold and shape those really negative intrusive thoughts into something that is more positive?

Sienna Colonese (06:10.999)
And I think the first step in that sort of journey is becoming more mindful because what mindfulness is doing is it’s creating a space in your head to choose what to think and the more you practice it when you pair that with mindset shifting techniques and like energy work all kinds of stuff there are real techniques to shift your thoughts, but you can’t really apply them unless you have space in your mind to separate

from your thoughts. So I always say like the first thing you need to do in order to shift your mind is to become aware of it. So you need to understand the thought patterns that you’re having, practice mindfulness, meditation, any form of mindfulness. could be mindfulness movement, meditation, mindful journaling, all sorts of things. But when you’re able to really reflect on your mind and its patterns, you’re able to see into your brain and how to change them.

And the bigger that space is in your mind, the more control you have over shifting your thoughts. And it is, it’s like building a muscle is like training your brain. takes time. Like you can’t go to the gym once and expect massive gains. But if you go to the gym every day, you’re going to expect growth. Same thing with training your mind and brain. If you train it every day, even if it’s not for that long, it’s going to expand your mind and expand your ability to change your overall mindset, change your thoughts.

Mary (07:12.334)
Yeah.

Mary (07:17.528)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (07:33.171)
And when it comes to like negative or intrusive thoughts, it is really, really important to start to take a curious approach instead of a critical one. Because the more critical you are about the thoughts that come to you naturally, the worse it gets. Because sometimes your thoughts don’t even come from yourself, right? Like you’re influenced a lot by society, by your family, by even just like inherited, some of your inherited genes can influence the way that you think.

Like it’s not always your fault if you’re having negative thoughts, intrusive thoughts, but you have to take a compassionate approach in order to change in a positive direction. Because if you’re having intrusive or negative thoughts and every time they come in, you’re like, why do I, why am I like this? Why do I have these thoughts? That’s going to spiral even more negative. And that’s the opposite of what you want. But if you’re able to take a thought like,

Mary (08:23.564)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (08:27.315)
That wasn’t a helpful thought. I wonder where that came from. Maybe I’ll go down that trail for a little bit to understand like who or what influenced this type of thinking for me. But while I’m doing that, I’m also gonna take a conscious effort to shift in a positive direction towards these thoughts, which does take work and it is helpful to have someone to help you through that process. But being aware and compassionate and curious are essential for anyone trying to shift their mind.

Mary (08:37.816)
Yeah.

Mary (08:57.496)
Yeah, and I feel like, you I love that you said, you know, that meditation piece, but also the mindful journaling, because I think for a lot of us, you know, we get these negative thoughts and, you know, we don’t really realize that they’re there. But if you start to be really conscious and mindful that they are there and, you know, maybe even start writing them down when you do feel those things, when you hear those thoughts in your head, you’ll probably start to see

Sienna Colonese (09:04.831)
Mm-hmm.

Mary (09:26.09)
some kind of a pattern that you can then take that data and start to make shifts in your life. Maybe you, instead of waking up and checking social media in the morning, maybe that brings a lot of negative energy into your life. Maybe you cut that out and you start making little shifts like that in your life that can make a big difference.

Sienna Colonese (09:49.161)
Totally and I love that idea. I think that’s a very meaningful one I’ve seen some data on how like the first 30 minutes after you wake up determine how your day goes and so if you’re just Instantly getting sucked into media. That’s that’s not a good way to start but taking a mindful approach to your morning Can change a lot of things and also under that? Gratitude like with journaling. I always I journal every morning after I meditate do my own sort of morning routine

Mary (10:03.788)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (10:16.787)
but always at the end of it, I end it with gratitude and a goal for the day. But the coolest thing about gratitude is it really can help anyone no matter how dark of a place you’re in. Like that’s the first thing that I really started dedicating time to and it’s because when you’re in a state of gratitude, you’re increasing oxytocin in your brain, which directly down regulates the stress hormone cortisol. So technically you can’t be in a state of stress and gratitude at the same time.

So if you’re really devoted to gratitude and expanding that in your life, it’s going to help you in so many different ways and change your lens to life in general and what you can and should be appreciating on a daily basis.

Mary (10:59.426)
Yeah. You mentioned in your bio on LinkedIn that overthinking and self doubt and I’m sure, you know, all of these other negative things can actually take root in the brain. Can you share, I mean, how that happens and what it takes to actually change these patterns?

Sienna Colonese (11:19.335)
Yeah, so overthinking and self-doubt, they are just like kind of the concept of neuroplasticity we were talking about. The more you do it, the worse it gets because it creates a fingerprint in your brain. So overthinking is kind of related to the concept of stress addiction because your mind is constantly chasing stimulation in one way or another, whether that’s media, an action, or a thought.

If your mind constantly thinks it needs to be doing something, it enters this just loop of need and that takes root in your brain because your brain becomes so used to high stimulation and all of this activity, when it starts to slow down, it actually becomes uncomfortable. So it tries to chase that baseline, that normal, which could be more thoughts. And that’s not necessarily what you want to feel good or productive.

Mary (12:11.768)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (12:12.851)
But if that’s a norm, your brain is comfortable with what it’s used to. And it’ll chase that unless you teach it otherwise, which again, can be uncomfortable and takes time, but that’s the only way to really change those roots. Like they are rooted through thoughts and behaviors. So you have to change your thoughts and behaviors to change your brain.

Mary (12:34.793)
Yeah. Yeah. No, I love that. You know, and I’m just thinking, you know, too, you know, about some mental blocks too, you know, and how we can actually, you know, I think on LinkedIn, especially, I see that a lot. And I’ve seen a lot of people speaking about mental blocks on LinkedIn too, especially, you know, more from a work or a career’s perspective. How can mindset coaching kind of help break through these barriers?

Sienna Colonese (13:04.947)
That’s a great question and I think a lot of the time mindset coaching uncovers barriers that people aren’t aware of. Like they might be coming to a mindset coach for one barrier but then after the coaching begins it’s something completely different. Like for example, one of my most successful clients came to me for overthinking and he was like, I just cannot get my mind to slow down and I was like,

Mary (13:11.522)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (13:33.629)
I’ve been there, I get you, I can help you after talking through and learning more about a situation. But after a couple weeks, we learned that his biggest challenge was not overthinking, it was self-worth and value. And it was only after digging into why you’re overthinking, what is your stress, where is it being triggered, and what kind of thoughts does that lead to when you’re stressed?

Mary (13:53.74)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (14:01.149)
all these like smaller things, they all came back to one root kind of void and that was value. And when you don’t have value, your mind is going to chase things that it sees as related to self-worth. And whether that’s in work or personal life, whatever it might be, it’s rooted in something else, but we search for a fix externally and that’s never going to fix it. Like unless you do the internal work.

you’re missing out on a huge piece of life that you’re going to try and fill a million different ways and never actually get it. But back to that, like it usually is a different block, but people define their blocks in a certain way and a mindset coach can help them really identify if that is the challenge. And if it is how to navigate that, if it’s not dig deeper and understand what really is the challenge at hand and how do we navigate it.

Mary (14:37.421)
Yeah.

Mary (14:47.054)
Yeah.

Mary (14:57.902)
No.

Sienna Colonese (14:59.239)
that way. But in my experience, it always does have to do with like how you feel about yourself, if you fully love yourself, if you value yourself. And stress is related to that too. Everything comes back to that.

Mary (15:00.536)
Yeah.

Mary (15:12.62)
Yeah. Yeah. So for a lot of our listeners that, you know, they think that they’ve pinpointed the reason for their mental block, but, know, like you said, it may be something that’s just a little bit deeper than that. What are some exercises that they could do on their own to dig a little bit deeper and maybe uncover other areas that it may be?

Sienna Colonese (15:35.583)
Mm-hmm. I always like to run my clients through a thought audit which is kind of like an exercise where you go into your three most repetitive thoughts and Sometimes you have to take a day to really reflect on this question before knowing it because some people just have so many thoughts and they’re not really aware of your problems come around the most but running into what thoughts are coming to you the most and then really

Mary (15:41.283)
Mm.

Mary (15:51.885)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (16:02.277)
Uprooting them and thinking like okay. Where did this come from in my past in my own experiences? How did these relate to my core beliefs about myself? Are there beliefs that I have that contrast these thoughts and just analyze what kind of thoughts you want to be having but when you’re able to analyze the thoughts that you do have that are negative or limiting and understand their origin

you’re able to really see them for what they are, which are just thoughts that took root in your brain because of experiences that you had. And when you’re able to take this awareness aspect, you get the ability to start shifting. And that’s when you start focusing on the thoughts you want to have more of and the beliefs you want to integrate. And when you have those, it’s just repetition in a good state. So affirmations have a bad rep in some ways, but I…

I like to think that I take a different approach to them. I call them elevations, they’re elevated affirmations. And I only have my clients really do them when they’ve already changed their physical and mental state. So after doing a meditation or a breathing exercise or a visualization, then do them. Because if you do an affirmation that doesn’t resonate with you and it feels very far and separate from you, it’s not gonna do anything. Like, unless you’re able to cultivate emotion from an affirmation, it’s like,

It’s like reading and it’s not really taking root in yourself, but take baby steps when your mindset shifting. If you’re trying to get to like, fully love and appreciate myself, but you’re at, I really hate myself. Like you can’t just jump there. You might start with the middle ground. That’s like, I’m starting to appreciate myself every day, something like that. But it’s, that’s the beginning of shifting your mind and becoming aware of your thoughts, shifting your beliefs is those baby steps.

changing your mental and physical state every day and just showing up for yourself, building that internal trust. Those are all great ways to just begin the journey of overcoming limiting beliefs and shifting your mind in general.

Mary (18:06.764)
Yeah. Are there any other ways, you you said kind of shifting your emotions and shifting your mindset, you know, are there any other ways that we can kind of achieve that emotional regulation, you know, other than what we’ve already talked about with, you know, the meditating and the journaling and, you know, things like that, that, you know, people hear about all the time. Are there any other creative, you know, and outside of the box ways that we could kind of practice improving that emotional regulation?

Sienna Colonese (18:35.805)
Mm-hmm. I think that emotional regulation ties back to regulating your nervous system So like very deep breathing exercises are always good movement is really important You know that even just exercise in general like lifting cardio anything it increases this thing in your brain called brain derived neurotropic factor of BDNF and that can increase your mental and physical well-being like crazy it boosts your memory

Like movement is so important when it comes to any sort of shift. You’ve got to get moving both mentally and physically. Other than that, yes, we talked about journaling, meditation, mental rehearsal is huge. So like very, very detailed visualization is so important because that is literally training your brain to get accustomed to a certain vision, to a certain goal, to a certain emotion. And you can train your emotions through visualization.

Mary (19:30.638)
Mmm.

Sienna Colonese (19:31.567)
if you’re very in tune to and sometimes that takes like starting with a breathing exercise or something to regulate your nervous system but really getting clear and visualization is one of the most powerful ways to shift your mind and your emotions.

Mary (19:48.094)
You know, personally, I’ve never been, I’ve always talked about meditating and it’s something that I’ve started incorporating into my life over the last couple of months. And really, you know, even just taking five minutes to do some really deep breathing has made, you know, it’s kind of the start for me, but it has made a really big impact in terms of.

you know, getting me re-centered and, you know, refocused. And it helps me, you know, kind of live in the here and the now. you know, for me, and, you know, probably a lot of our listeners out there, I have a hard time with visualization, you know, like even when we were kind of, my husband and I were, you know, redoing some things in our house. And, you know, I just have a hard time visualizing what the finished product will look like.

So I just in general, I have a hard time with that. Are there any resources that you could point us to to help us through that visualization journey?

Sienna Colonese (20:48.753)
You know, it’s very, very interesting that you bring this up and I didn’t learn about this until I started the work that I do, but everyone’s mental, like, mental abilities with visualization vary. And some people are unable to picture anything visually in their head at all. And I’ve only met one person with it at all. Like, you can’t imagine a scene in your head.

Mary (21:09.154)
That’s me. Yeah. Well, I can, but it’s not, you know, it’s not vivid because, you know, and for me, I’m, I’m a writer, you know, and so I have a hard time even expressing my thoughts and my feelings verbally. I like to write things down and it’s the same visually. It’s really hard for me to think about things and, you know, create a visual, you know, construct in my head. I would rather write about it.

Sienna Colonese (21:19.199)
Okay.

Sienna Colonese (21:28.265)
Yeah.

Mary (21:39.146)
Yeah, so I think it’s fascinating and my husband and I have had this conversation and I think that it is incredibly fascinating because he is a very visual person, he’s an artist. And so he, I think, you he’ll have these really vivid, even colorful, you know, images in his head and I’m like, I don’t know, is it an image in my head? I don’t know, I just, I have a hard time. Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (22:00.349)
Yeah, no, and that’s totally not abnormal either, but I think that people don’t talk about this enough. So we don’t know all that much about the variety of mental abilities. it’s not even a lack, it’s a focus on something else. So in the work that I do, everyone that I work with, I have them do a neurointegrative assessment first so that I fully understand how they learn, but also how they see in their head. Because I guide people.

Mary (22:24.952)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (22:28.447)
through custom meditations and I need to know how they best learn in a meditative state. And a lot of times it is very specific, either verbal or visual. So in visualization, you don’t necessarily have to create a physical picture. The most important part of visualization is getting into the emotional state. So if that is done through words, that’s totally okay. It’s just knowing.

that that’s the way to get into a future visualization is through not maybe a picture, maybe auditory, verbal, or something else, but it is very, very unique per mind and per brain and how people learn and interpret things. So there are two things that I would recommend. One is you could try to visualize an image, but it’s fogged over.

This can help people who can visualize physically, but it takes a lot of practice. A lot of people have trouble creating a vivid scene in the beginning, but during a meditation, you could visualize a scene, but visualize it being clouded over. And over time, it gets a little bit less cloudy. And this kind of tricks the brain in a way where it’s like, yeah, I can’t see it fully, but I can imagine it. And it’s getting a little bit clearer, but that’s okay. It’s just part of the process. Or visualizing.

Mary (23:47.372)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (23:53.277)
without a picture in your head. So just visualizing how it feels. Even when I guide people, I put a heavy, heavy emphasis on how does this look, but more importantly, how does it make you feel? How does your body feel? How does your mind feel? Who is around you? You don’t have to see them, just imagine them, those sort of things. Because the most important part about the picture in your head is how it’s making your body and mind feel.

because that’s what you want to train your body. If you’re trying to be happier and more fulfilled, you want to train your body to feel happy and fulfilled. And whatever image or word gets you to that state, it doesn’t matter what it is, it’s getting to that state, right?

Mary (24:35.938)
Yeah. Yeah. And so that kind of, you know, something that I was thinking about is really the emotional regulation piece, I guess, and how does improving emotional regulation play a role in career success specifically, you know, and what could our listeners do today to build that skill?

Sienna Colonese (24:59.967)
Emotional regulation can build you in like any and every way, especially in career because when you’re able to regulate your emotions and come from a place of like clear peace but mindfulness, you’re able to make better decisions, be more productive and your performance is like completely enhanced. When you’re getting really stressed out, you could go into burnout, bouts of depression, low motivation, and that undoubtedly affects your performance at work and at home in any sort of respect.

Mary (25:03.821)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (25:29.737)
when you’re able to regulate your emotions, you don’t get triggered as often, you don’t get really aggravated by certain things, you’re able to brush things off and still stay focused. So I would say that simple ways to do this just throughout the day, I like to tell people to make timers and whether it’s like top of the hour, every two or every three hours, set a timer and take two to 10 minutes, whatever fits in your schedule, but…

Do some mindfulness, do some deep breathing, regulate your nervous system and just come back to your intention. And whether that’s an intention for doing the work that you do or pursuing a dream or whatever you’re doing on a day to day, come back to that intention and keep your mind sharp. And when this sounds like a small thing, but I swear it is so effective because many times people just go through their day without stopping. Maybe they’ll take a little bit of break to.

be on their phone, which is not a break. It’s actually just making it worse. But when you’re able to take that break, you’re not only regulating your nervous system to perform better, you’re also centering yourself in your heart, in your mission, and you’re able to make decisions that are aligned with where you want to go.

Mary (26:25.696)
Yeah. Right?

Mary (26:43.81)
Yeah, I was reading a book a couple of weeks ago, you know, and one of my key takeaways was sitting down and writing a mission statement for myself to really align, you know, okay, what are my core values? you know, and then to take a look at, sorry, Siri just made something in the background. We’ll edit that out. Yeah, but it was really interesting, you know, thinking about

Sienna Colonese (27:08.234)
no, you’re good.

Mary (27:13.666)
what my actual values are because I, you as a solopreneur, spend a and I’m sure you do the same, I spend a lot of time thinking about work and, you know, a lot of what I do is, you know, very much work related. But when I sat down and I really thought about it, it was like, well, yes, work is important, but that’s only one out of many things that are important to me. And there, I realized that there were a lot of areas in my life that I had been neglecting.

you know, because I was putting so much focus onto one of, you know, multiple values that I have. So I think, you know, when it comes to just being present and, you know, being focused and taking the time to do some of those mindfulness things that you’ve been talking about today, Sienna, can make a huge impact in your career, but also overall in your life.

Sienna Colonese (28:07.583)
Totally, and it opens your mind to different avenues, like you said, like different areas that you might not have been focusing on but are so important, because it’s so common to just dial in focus on work and forget about so many other aspects, but when you’re able to take that step back, which is totally part of being mindful, you’re able to see your whole life and see other ways to optimize your life that might not be down the avenue that you think you were supposed to take.

Mary (28:12.814)
100%.

Mary (28:35.48)
Yeah, absolutely. And I’m also thinking about, you know, on LinkedIn, you know, of course the job market right now is absolutely brutal. And I’ve seen it just, you know, tear people down, you know, and put them in just an awful mindset. And, you know, it really is negatively impacting their own self-belief, you know, specifically when it comes to career advancement. So how can someone cultivate more confidence in their abilities?

Sienna Colonese (28:44.572)
Thank you.

Sienna Colonese (29:06.505)
Ben, that’s very important question. But I think that it all comes back to self-compassion and gratitude. And those are easy things to implement too, just day by day. And just not letting a rejection tear you completely down. Like it really is all in perspective. Rejection can be redirection if you want to see it like that. Or it can be the end of the world. But it’s all in what you’re…

treating a rejection as and if you believe in yourself, you’re gonna be more confident and then you’re gonna be more successful. But it all comes back to really what are the thoughts that you want to keep having, how do you wanna motivate yourself each day and ultimately, your thoughts paint your reality and when you’re able to see that, like your brain can’t tell the difference between a thought and a real event, why would you put yourself through basically a hell of a day if you could have a great day just based on what you’re thinking?

And yes, this takes time and practice, but it gives you a different sort of take on changing your mind. If you’re tearing yourself down internally, you’re ruining your own life in a sense. There’s so much power in the words that you feed yourself. And if you could change your whole life by working on yourself from the inside out, why wouldn’t you? So just like baby steps. You don’t have to leap to a completely grateful, abundant person immediately. That’s really hard, but I mean…

Mary (30:26.84)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (30:30.673)
Each and every person deserves to feel loved and valued. And that all starts with how we talk to ourselves. And if someone’s having a really hard time finding a job or reaching a certain goal that they have, take a moment to be compassionate because life is difficult. It comes in waves. If it’s really hard right now, it’s going to get better because that’s the nature of life. But it’s just all in how you want to perceive it.

Mary (30:38.232)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (30:57.955)
as if it’s going to get better or if it’s just gonna get worse. Because you can decide how you view yourself and the world around you, and that takes courage, but it’s absolutely possible, and yeah, it’s just one day at a time.

Mary (31:00.995)
Yeah.

Mary (31:13.516)
Yeah, for sure. And it’s, you know, I think that it’s so cool that your thoughts can shape your emotions. And so, you know, if you can figure out ways, you know, like you were saying, Sienna, maybe, you know, writing down when you’re feeling all of these negative thoughts, you know, and if you can figure out how to change those negative thought patterns, you’re probably going to change your overall view on life and your…

the emotions that you feel, which will lead you to lead a happier and more fulfilled and purpose driven life.

Sienna Colonese (31:50.653)
Yeah, 100%. Your thoughts cannot be more important, especially the ones that are repetitive, because they’re they’re shaping who you are. And when you’re able to shift one at a time, you don’t have to shift them all, shift one at a time, you’re taking baby steps towards changing who you are in your life in general. And it all just, it starts with that awareness piece. Once you’re aware, then you can change, and then you can maintain your changes, but it’s a process. One that is…

Mary (31:57.154)
Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Sienna Colonese (32:19.155)
Completely transformative though and worth pursuing.

Mary (32:22.306)
Yeah, absolutely. So you often talk about the importance of living with peace, purpose, and passion. So how does reprogramming the mind and the brain help someone achieve this, and what benefits do you typically see?

Sienna Colonese (32:31.689)
Mm-hmm.

Sienna Colonese (32:41.791)
I think every benefit of having a fulfilling life really, but it all comes back to the first step in my perspective is peace. When you’re able to regulate your nervous system and quiet your mind, you’re able to achieve a sense of peace and tranquility and just appreciation for life. And then once you have that state of peace, you’re able to connect with your heart and your mind at the same time. You can then pursue…

Mary (32:46.478)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (33:08.999)
what is my purpose? Like what am I passionate about? And those two are very intricately linked, but very, very important to go after after you’re able to settle yourself and really go into yourself to figure everything else out. Like I know at least in my own original experience, it was getting to that state of peace where I was able to see life as what it is, which is a beautiful gift that like there is so much to be grateful for that is.

just beautiful in and outside of myself. And it was like, got me to this pivotal point where I was like, why would I spend my life in this depressive, anxiety-filled state if I could spend my life in a state of abundance and appreciation no matter what is happening? Like I was in the same spot when that happened. Like I was doing brain imaging in Little Rock, Arkansas. I was like, and then one day I was like, wow, I don’t know what I’ve been doing for this whole time. Like I feel like a,

Mary (33:51.054)
100%.

Mary (33:57.87)
Yeah.

Mary (34:04.77)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (34:06.377)
Completely different person. know my purpose now is to help other people see the beauty in themselves and in life around them and it all starts with yourself. You have to see beauty in yourself first, but then you’re able to see all of life differently. But that all comes back to training your mind and training your brain because when you’re able to have those positive, like positive empowering thoughts on a daily basis, you do change your brain and you change the way that you see everything and that changes the way that you interpret everything.

Mary (34:08.174)
Yeah.

Sienna Colonese (34:36.297)
Challenges don’t become as difficult because you’re able to see a silver lining It’s never the end of the world because you know There’s always going to be a tomorrow and it just makes life a better place because you’re able to get to a state of peace you’re able to see your purpose and pursue passion because you’re clear it’s not so complicated anymore

Mary (34:56.59)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s exciting, right? mean, whoever’s listening to this, you know, right now, it’s like, you know, I think that it’s so exciting that you can take basically your thoughts and your life. And if you’re not in a place that you want to be, then you can change that. There are steps that you can take to actually change your thoughts and change the trajectory of your entire

Sienna Colonese (34:59.913)
I think.

Mary (35:25.16)
life and I think that that’s just so exciting. I’m also curious because you mentioned that it actually changes the chemistry in our brain too. So just from a scientific perspective, in looking at your own life or looking at the lives of others who went from this maybe just really negative state of being and of thinking about ourselves and then were able to

be mindful and do all these things to really change the chemistry of our brain, what’s actually happening inside of our heads?

Sienna Colonese (36:02.279)
So when you settle your mind after being in a state of overthinking a lot you’re basically Minimizing the amount of chemicals that are released as a whole to a certain extent So that’s able to like stop firing so many neurons all the time So you’re not constantly in a state of needing to think needing to do and when you’re able to get into a state of let’s say more abundance You’ll release more oxytocin probably more serotonin too, but like those

positive neurochemicals that are released in it. It washes over your body too. Like it’s a complete mind-body experience and it puts you in a different state because of the ties you have to your thoughts. When you change your thoughts, again, you change your emotions, but that’s because it’s affecting your brain, releasing different chemicals and affecting your body in a different way. Same way when you are in a state of stress, boosting cortisol, when you’re able to manage those, your cortisol goes down.

And that just has lots of downstream effects as well. But it’s regulating your body from the inside out to like a spark notes version of all the chemical sequences.

Mary (37:08.142)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. you know, like kind of bringing it back to the top, you know, where I mentioned, you know, the goal of this conversation is to really learn how to reprogram the mind and the brain to unlock all of these new possibilities. So I guess, you know, from our entire conversation today, what are the top two

takeaways that you want our listeners to walk away with.

Sienna Colonese (37:41.951)
would say number one, always know that you can change and you can do that a little bit every day. Everyone has the ability of neuroplasticity. And for a little bit, this was debated that you lose that ability when you age, but you don’t. And you’re more malleable the younger you are, yes, but your brain can always change. So if you’re stuck in a place, just know it’s possible, you can get out, and it just starts by taking one step each day. And number two, I would say,

Awareness is the first step. So become aware of your thoughts and then small shifts. Focus on what kind of thoughts you are having right now, where those thoughts came from, and then the thoughts that you want to shift to and how you can start making small intentional shifts to focus more on the good empowering thoughts you want to move towards.

Mary (38:34.5)
Love it. Awesome. We’ll see you in a where can we find you on social media?

Sienna Colonese (38:38.929)
I am on LinkedIn and it’s just my name, Sienna Colonese, and then I also have a website, it’s called Through Rain, which is T-H-R-O-U-G-H-R-A-N-E dot com, and that’s where a whole bunch of more information about what I do is, but yes, I would love to get in contact with anyone. I love talking to people about this sort of stuff.

Mary (38:59.714)
Yay, awesome, thank you so much for coming on today.

Sienna Colonese (39:02.289)
Yeah, thank you so much for having me. It was great.