MMS_Skeletons_AUDIO
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[00:00:00] Dr. Julia Bowlin: Not all ghosts live in graveyards. Some live in your pantry, some in your wine glass. Some are hiding in the way that sugar has quietly become your best friend.
[00:00:15] Welcome back to the Mindset Medicine Show. I'm Dr. Julia Bowlin, physician author, hypnotherapist, and the founder of Personal Awareness Medicine. This October, we've been on a journey of unapologetic living. It's a four part fall cleanup for your soul. First we buried the diet, then we unmasked cravings.
[00:00:33] Last week we gave death sentence to old habits. Now it's time for part four skeletons in your kitchen. How appropriate with Halloween being around the corner. Here's the truth though. Not all ghosts live in graveyards. Some live in your pantry, some in your wine glass. Some are hiding in the way that sugar has quietly become your best friend, your reward, and your numbing agent.
[00:00:59] I [00:01:00] knew this went personally when I finally started cutting back on alcohol years ago. I thought I was winning the battle, but the ghost just changed its costume. All of a sudden I was reaching for sweets late at night after a stressful shift, or when I felt lonely, my body was screaming for the sugar rush that alcohol had once delivered, and instead of solving the real problem, my stress, my grief, my need for comfort, I just gave it another mask, sugar.
[00:01:27] That's what hidden triggers do. They shape shift. They whisper in your ear that you need that glass of wine or that leftover Halloween candy or the drive through fries. But in reality, it's just an old ghost trying to stay alive in the shadows. And here's the beautiful thing. When you shine a light on those skeletons, they lose their grip.
[00:01:48] They stop being monsters under the bed, and they start being information. Data points and information is power. So in today's episode, we're not just talking about food or alcohol. [00:02:00] We're talking about facing the hidden triggers in your life, the ones that sneak in quietly and take over. We're going to drag those skeletons out into the light, and I'm gonna show you how to finally take your power back in your kitchen, in your habits and in your mind.
[00:02:17] Alright, so let's break this down. What exactly are these skeletons or hidden triggers? A trigger is anything internally or externally that sparks a thought, a feeling, or a craving that pushes you towards an old unusually unhelpful behavior. Hidden triggers are the ones you don't even realize that are running the show.
[00:02:38] They slip under the radar and sneak into your decision making without you catching them. Here's what science tells us. Our brains wire pleasure and relief into very strong memory circuits. Alcohol, sugar, comfort foods, even scrolling TikTok at midnight, all of this taps into the same dopamine pathways over [00:03:00] time.
[00:03:00] Your brain doesn't just crave it. It craves the cue that leads to the thing. That's why you can walk past a bakery and suddenly need a cookie, not because you're hungry, but because your brain has a skeleton in the closet whispering. Ooh, remember how good that felt when we had that cookie last time? So, so how do we identify these hidden triggers?
[00:03:21] There's three big steps. You recognize patterns, not products. Don't just look at what you're reaching for that wine, the sugar, the snacks. Look at when and why you reach it. Are you doing it after work, after an argument? When you're alone, the pattern is the ghost. Then you're gonna check your body signals, triggers show up in tension, restlessness, and emotional ache before you notice the cravings.
[00:03:49] It might be a tightness in your chest when you pass the fridge. That's the skeleton knocking, and then you wanna figure out the cover story. The hidden triggers [00:04:00] always come with a sneaky justification. Maybe it's, I deserve this, or it's just one. Or, I'll start fresh tomorrow. That story is the mask. The craving is the skeleton underneath, and here's the deal.
[00:04:16] When you identify the trigger, you take away its invisibility cloak. You drag it into the light. You might still feel it, but now you can name it. And when you can name it, you can choose what to do with it instead of being hijacked. Think of it like flipping the light on an old haunted house. Suddenly all the shadows shrink away.
[00:04:36] The monsters in the corner go away. Turns out it was just an old chair with a sheet over it. The fear loses power and the craving does too.
[00:04:49] Commercial Break: If stress and overwhelm or that relentless inner critic has been running the show, it's time to take back control. You don't need another motivational quote or a feel good pep talk. You need a system, a tool, [00:05:00] something that actually works when life gets messy. That's exactly why I created mindset medicine worksheets.
[00:05:05] No fluff, no filler, just proven strategies that are powerfully designed to help you rewire your thoughts for clarity and confidence. Break the cycle of overwhelm in minutes. Set boundaries that stick without guilt and turn stress into focus and action. This isn't about theory, it's about real transformation.
[00:05:23] And the best part is each episode of this podcast comes with a worksheet designed specifically for what you're learning today. No more wondering how to apply this. It's all mapped out for you. And if you're ready to stop spitting your wheels and start making real shifts, grab today's worksheet below because life's too short to stay stuck.
[00:05:41] Check out the episode specific worksheet in today's podcast. Show notes below. The link is right there for you.
[00:05:53] Dr. Julia Bowlin: So let's go deeper. One of the most practical tools I use comes from Alcoholic Anonymous, and they've been teaching this for [00:06:00] decades. It's the acronym halt, HALT. It stands for Hungry, angry, lonely, and Tired. And it's brilliant because nine times outta 10, your craving isn't really for the wine, the cookie, or the chips.
[00:06:17] It's for the relief from one of these four states. Hunger the H. Often you're not just hungry for food, you might be hungry for something else, attention, purpose, connection, but your body translates that void into a sugar and alcohol craving because that's fast and it's easy. The A stands for angry. Have you ever find yourself raiding the pantry after a fight or pouring a drink after a stressful day?
[00:06:44] Anger flips your nervous system into fix it. Now, mode, food and alcohol promises to take the edge off, but only for about 10 minutes before guilt takes its place. The L in HALT stands for lonely when you feel [00:07:00] disconnected or unseen. The craving isn't about taste, it's about filling an emotional gap, and that's why we call it comfort food, but the comfort, it's really short-lived.
[00:07:11] And lastly, the tea stands for tired. Exhaustion tricks your brain into begging for energy, caffeine, carbs, alcohol. But what you really need isn't another glass of wine or cookie. You just need rest. So here's how this landed in my life. Years back, my husband and I had a ritual. We'd sit on the back porch at the end of the day with a cocktail.
[00:07:33] It became a thing and a way to unwind to be together. But then I realized it wasn't just a casual habit anymore. It became automatic porch equals drink. Stress equals drink. And when I did the alcohol experiment with a NA Grace information is in the show notes about this. It's amazing. I started practicing halt.
[00:07:54] Instead of walking straight to the porch, I'd asked myself, am I hungry? Am I angry? Am I [00:08:00] lonely, or am I tired? Most of the time, the answer was simple. I was hungry. I had not been eating enough during the day. So of course my body was screaming for a quick hit, quick calories, quick sugar. Once I started having a healthy snack at work before leaving, then I got home.
[00:08:18] Those cocktail cravings lost their power, but as my husband's cancer journey progressed, anger and loneliness crept in. Instead of numbing with alcohol, I started to do self check-ins with friends, sending texts, even showing up more intentionally on social media to create new connections. Now, it didn't fix everything, but it fed the loneliness in a real way.
[00:08:40] Then there's the tiredness. This one surprised me. Some days all I needed was rest. I invested in a self-regulation mat. Now I come home, lay on it for 20 minutes, put my binaural beats on, and let my body and mind reset. That 20 minutes replaces what used to be cocktail hour, except now it actually [00:09:00] restores me instead of draining me.
[00:09:02] Halt. The acronym showed me the ghost in my own kitchen. It made the invisible visible. Once you see the skeleton, you can finally choose something that serves you instead of something that sabotages you. And I want to give credit where credit's due. Annie Grace, the author of the Alcohol Experiment, was one of the voices that opened my eyes to this process.
[00:09:24] If you want to explore her work, you can check it out at the Alcohol Experiment with Annie Grace links in the show notes below Now. Here's where we take this from theory to practice, because it's one thing to know about halt, it's another to actually use it when the skeletons are rattling around in your kitchen.
[00:09:41] So here's an exercise. The next time you feel an urge, a craving catch. The craving. Is it to grab a drink. To dive into the candy stash, to hit the pantry, just pause and say to yourself, halt. Ask yourself four questions [00:10:00] out loud if you can, in your head, if you have to. Am I hungry? Am I angry? Am I lonely or tired?
[00:10:07] Name the ghost. Once you answer honestly, you just drag that skeleton into the light. It's no longer invisible. No longer sneaky. It's clear. Next, you get to choose a real solution. If you're hungry, eat real food, protein, a snack that fuels you. If you're angry, step outside, breathe, journal, or punch a pillow.
[00:10:30] If you need to move the emotion out of your body. If you're lonely, send a text, call a friend, comment on a post or walk into the next room and just ask for a hug. If you're tired, give yourself permission to rest. Sometimes I'll carve out 20 minutes on that couch in my car or on my mat, and it's simple and it helps my body slow down and reset.
[00:10:53] And when I really need a recharge, I'll use binaural beats app called the Brainwave. It helps me rest [00:11:00] deeply without falling asleep. It's a mental reset button, but doesn't leave me feeling hungover. It's the brainwave binaural Beats Link will be in the but below. I do not get any kind of kickback for any of these recommendations.
[00:11:13] And lastly, celebrate the catch. Even if you don't do it perfectly, the fact that you noticed and asked Halt is a win right there. You're rewiring your brain with every single pause. Here's the why. Every time you interrupt the automatic loop, you're weakening the old wiring in your brain and strengthening the new.
[00:11:32] That's neuroplasticity at work. Your brain literally reshaping itself to support better habits. And remember this, cravings aren't commands, they're just cues. And with halt, you get to be the one who decides how to answer them. All right, let's do a little disassociation with the skeleton visualization.
[00:11:53] I'm using a small hypnotherapy technique. It's just a way of getting focused attention and imagination in [00:12:00] an effort to shift the subconscious. It's safe, it's natural, and you are always in control. So if you're in a safe space, let's do this together. If you're driving, just listen and imagine. Take a nice deep breath in through your nose and hold it gently.
[00:12:17] Let it out slowly through your lips. Feel your shoulders drop and your back relax. Just one more time. Breathing in, holding it, and slowly releasing it. Allowing your neck and your face to relax, feeling a nice relaxation, energy flow down your arms. To the tips of your fingers, feel that loving, warm, comfortable energy flowing down from your neck, into your torso and into your pelvis, [00:13:00] down into your legs, and down to your toes.
[00:13:04] Feel this healing, warm energy embracing you, feeling relaxed and focused on my voice. Now imagine you're stepping into your kitchen, and at first glance it looks normal. The counters, the refrigerator, maybe a few dishes left behind, but then you notice something unusual in the corners. In the shadows, there are skeletons.
[00:13:36] One has a wine glass shimmering in its bony hand, another's dangling candy wrappers, shaking it, taunting you. And another one's pointing to the pantry, urging you to go closer. These are your hidden triggers. They've been haunting you without you ever realizing it. But here's the shift. Instead of getting pulled in, [00:14:00] you step back in your mind.
[00:14:02] You see yourself standing across the room. And notice your posture. It's steady, calm and tall. You are not the haunted one. You're the witness. You are the light holder. And as you stand there, imagine a soft spotlight turning on above you. It shines outward spilling across the room, and the moment that light hits the skeletons, something changes.
[00:14:33] Their rattling slows down, their movements weaken. One skeleton's bones turn, brittle and crack under the light. Another crumbles into dust, right where it stands one by one. They collapse into nothing more than piles of harmless powder.
[00:14:54] I'll take a deep breath.
[00:14:58] With every [00:15:00] inhale, feel your strength expanding. With every exhale, watch another skeleton, dissolve, hungry, angry, lonely, tired. Those ghosts don't own you. They were just shadows waiting for the light. Now, picture yourself walking right to the center of that kitchen stage. You look around. No more skeletons, just you.
[00:15:33] Strong, clear, free. This is your space. Now, your choice, your calm. Your authority and as you stand there, let yourself feel the shift. You are no longer reacting, you're choosing. You are not haunted, you are healed.
[00:15:58] Take one last breath in [00:16:00] hand out,
[00:16:05] and when you're ready, open your eyes. Here's the science behind what you just did. Disassociation creates space between you and the craving. Instead of being inside of the urge where it feels overwhelming, you can step outside and see it as an object. Neuroscience shows that this mental distancing reduces activity in the amygdala.
[00:16:29] That's that fear and urge center of the brain, and it increases activity in the prefrontal cortex, which is the rational decision maker. In other words, disassociation tricks your brain into cooling down the craving by visualizing skeletons losing power, your nervous system gets this message. This isn't a threat anymore.
[00:16:50] The craving loses intensity and you gain control. Alright. Before we close today, I want to give you some space to reflect. Think [00:17:00] back to that exercise. Which skeleton showed up the loudest for you? Was it hunger? Angry? Loneliness, tiredness, or maybe something else altogether? An old memory, a pattern, a whisper.
[00:17:14] You've been caring for years. Here's the important part. There is nothing wrong with us for having these ghosts. We are not broken. We're human. And being human means that sometimes we reach for food, alcohol, or a distraction as a way to soothe. That's desire for comfort. That's for satisfaction, for relief, and is part of our wiring.
[00:17:39] For some, it just shows up as an occasional snack after a stressful day. For others, it might become binge eating and it pulls even more intensity. That desperate attempt to fill an emotional hole with food or drink, it doesn't mean we're weak. It means our nervous system is looking for something for safety.[00:18:00]
[00:18:00] And here's where I wanna be clear. There is a difference between everyday struggles that tools like HALT can help with and deeper patterns that need more than self-help. If your skeletons are tied to a longstanding anxiety, depression, or painful memories that really haunt you, please hear me out. You don't have to carry that alone.
[00:18:20] Professional support, whether through therapy, coaching, or medical care, is not a sign of failure. It's a sign of wisdom. It's shining an even brighter light into the room. So as you reflect today, I want you to ask yourself, what is a skeleton trying to tell me? What need is hiding underneath the cravings?
[00:18:43] And is there something I can shift with awareness and simple tools, or is it something that deserves more support, more healing, and more help? Write it down, say it out loud, or just hold these questions in your mind for the rest of the day. [00:19:00] Because awareness is the first light, and the light is what makes the skeletons crumble.
[00:19:05] And let me ground you in a little truth. Every time you pause, every time you ask halt, every time you breathe before reacting, you are strengthening your power, you're retraining your brain, you're teaching yourself, I can do this differently. Remember, cravings are not commands. They're just cues. And when you learn to see them for what they are, data points and cues, you can step into freedom.
[00:19:31] And as we close today, I wanna pause and honor something even bigger. This isn't an end of an episode. It's the finale of our October series. Over the past four weeks, we've buried old diets, unmasked cravings, laid to rest habits that no longer service, and now we face the skeleton in our kitchens. It's been a journey of release of reckoning in a reclaiming our power.
[00:19:53] If you've been listening along, you've done more than just hear words. You've taken steps and steps, no [00:20:00] matter how small or what, create transformation. So as we wrap up, I want you to remember this. The ghosts and the skeletons don't define us. They're not our identities. They're just old patterns, and patterns can be changed.
[00:20:14] We have the ability to shine the light, to ask the questions, and to choose differently. And if today stirred something deeper. If you recognize skeletons that feel too heavy to face alone, give yourself the gift of support. That might mean therapy coaching or reaching out to a trusted friend or a professional.
[00:20:30] Please don't fight these ghosts alone by yourself, because at the end of the day, this isn't about being perfect. It's about being free. Thank you for walking with me through this October series. If these episodes spoke to you, please share them. Please comment, help me reach my dream of a hundred new people in a hundred days, because the more people we reach, the more lives we can light up together.
[00:20:53] And don't forget, I've created special worksheets to go with these series, so check out the show notes down below. Most of the time [00:21:00] there's a link there. You can go download it. It's just taking into action what you're learning through these episodes. You can also connect with me on all my social medias, links are below as well, and may you share with me what skeletons you've faced and what shifts you've made.
[00:21:16] As always, my closing wish was for you to, may you be happy. Be healthy and be fulfilled.
[00:21:29] Outro: Thank you for listening to Mindset Medicine with your host, Dr. Julia Bowlin. To learn more about mindset medicine, go to www.juliabowlinmd.com and connect with Dr. Julia to find out how our team can help you today. Join us again next week for more expert tips, tools, and strategies to become healthier, wealthier, and wiser in your personal and professional [00:22:00] life.
