The Source Quotes

“Note to self: we do not have to be slaves to our chronological age!”
― Tara Swart, The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life - The neuroscience of manifestation, as seen on Diary of a CEO

“we live in a world where logic is massively overrated, emotions are seen as a weakness and decisions based on intuition have little or no place. We have forgotten where we came from.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life - The neuroscience of manifestation, as seen on Diary of a CEO

“Manifestation and magnetic desire are useful for raising your awareness of what you want and focusing your attention on it, guiding your actions to make it happen. Patience and harmony will help ensure you stick with your goals and that they align with your deepest self. Finally, becoming aware of abundance and universal connection encourages you to think about your goals in the context of other people and the wider world; to consider your place in it and provide you with a powerful sense of purpose that will guide The Source, making you more resilient, compassionate and integrated in your thinking. This shift leads to an exponential increase in the consciousness of your own power.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Once we give ourselves permission to open up and play with lots of potential ideas and possibilities, creativity rewards us, enabling us to spot opportunities in unlikely places. It means we can sense when to take a chance and when to question or pursue something. It helps us hone a strong intuition, giving us the flexibility to recognize possibilities that might bypass us otherwise.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Physical” refers to what you feel in your body; “mental” is about what is going on in your thoughts; “emotional” is how you are feeling; and “spiritual” is about how you feel deep down, at a more fundamental level, in terms of your sense of meaning, purpose and place in the world. You will be reimagining all of these thoughts and feelings by conjuring up past memories of a time when you felt very negative, stressed or unhappy; followed by a contrasting situation when you were confident, happy and fulfilled.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Reassessing our own “failures” and rebranding them as “not yets” is a good way to start rewriting our own story: the internal narrative of our past struggles. When we decide to switch to abundant thinking, there is always a positive spin. Such is the stuff of success. It means we’re able to maintain the resilience to stick with our goals, rather than walking away at the first hurdle.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“To get the maximum benefit from this practice, you’ll need to write in your journal daily about your thoughts and reactions to events and the people in your life. You don’t need to write long entries, but aim to be honest and open about your emotions, motivations and behaviors.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Attract what you expect, reflect what you desire, become what you respect, mirror what you admire.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Throughout this week, aim to adopt an attitude of positive encouragement towards yourself at all times. Praise activates the emotional circuitry associated with love/trust and joy/excitement which correlates to the bonding hormone oxytocin, making us feel warm towards others and ourselves.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life - The neuroscience of manifestation, as seen on Diary of a CEO

“Quite simply, when you do allow your brain to be conscious of and focus on what you want in life, the raised awareness that results will work in your favour to automatically bring opportunities into your life.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life - The neuroscience of manifestation, as seen on Diary of a CEO

“The neuronal mass of a number of regions of musicians’ brains is far denser than that of non-musicians. Some of this increase appears obviously located in certain areas: brain scans of violinists show that the area of their brain associated with the left (fingering) hand was far denser than the same area in the general population, for example.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life - The neuroscience of manifestation, as seen on Diary of a CEO

“As social creatures, we have a great need for belonging. The desire to foster alliances and act in a compassionate and collaborative way with other people and the world is a powerful motivator in neuroscientific terms because it activates the brain’s empathy pathways. Attachment emotions such as love and trust trigger the release of the neurochemicals oxytocin and dopamine, which contribute to feelings of bonding and pleasure as part of the brain’s reward system. Countless studies show that having a strong sense of meaning and purpose correlates with life satisfaction.4”
― Tara Swart, The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life - The neuroscience of manifestation, as seen on Diary of a CEO

“When I feel stressed about not finding the time, I remind myself of a wonderful story of a monk advising an executive to meditate for an hour a day. When the reply is that at busy times this won’t be possible, the monk simply states: “At those times you must do two hours a day.” The irony is not lost on me.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“While motivation is what keeps us going when it would be easier to give up, resilience matches this drive with the ability to bounce back from adverse situations and adapt to cope better in the future. Having a clear “why” inspires us to look at obstacles flexibly when they stand in the path of our hopes. Defeatism isn’t an option for a motivated person, so if you’re serious about maximizing The Source and building a resilient brain it’s important to understand your own motivations.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Sleeping in the side position is the most efficient for allowing the glymphatic system to cleanse the brain, so if I’m having a restless night, I take the opportunity to turn onto my side before I fall back asleep.5”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“What can you do to turn a bad day into a good day? To turn yourself during a difficult moment into your best self? Write down the answer to this in your journal, and make a mental note to keep your eyes peeled for images in magazines that could represent your positive self on your action board.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Noting in your journal what happens when you follow your intuition/body instead of doing what is expected of you, or what everyone else is doing, can be an eye-opening exercise. Even minor deviations from your own needs (such as acquiescing to your partner’s choice of vacation destination or going to a work event because you feel you ought to) have hidden costs.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Quite simply, when you do allow your brain to be conscious of and focus on what you want in life, the raised awareness that results will work in your favor to automatically bring opportunities into your life.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Self-esteem issues resulting from a childhood where we were criticized at home or school or labeled as a non-achiever may mean we sabotage career opportunities because, at a deep level, we fear that we are not deserving of them. Similarly, if we start a healthy eating plan but believe that we won’t be able to keep it up, we can find ourselves easily giving in to temptation and making bad choices. This is because strongly emotional experiences that have shaped our brain pathways can derail our value-tagging system, skewing it towards what we think keeps us safe even if this is not conducive to thriving in our current life. Our selective filtering will prioritize avoiding shame or criticism over potential career success or romantic fulfillment.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“we need to actively direct our brain to move away from prioritizing these unconscious biases, and to being more open, flexible and courageous about pushing ourselves towards our goals and choices that feel “new” and “dangerous.” Focusing on what we do want rather than what we need to avoid in order to survive will mean we are more likely to manifest it (in the same way that if you’re mountain biking, you should never look at the potholes and boulders you don’t want to ride over, but instead focus on the path through them).”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“we live in a world where logic is massively overrated, emotions are seen as a weakness and decisions based on intuition have little or no place. We have forgotten where we came from. Over time, we have neglected the limbic brain that got us to the pivotal moment in our evolution, and instead placed the cortex on a pedestal. We have demoted depth, passion and instinct and come to rely on the surface-level capabilities—such as exams, rote-learning or transactional relationships—that are more connected with material gain than true joy. We live a life dominated by stress and are too busy to really take notice of who we are, where we are going and what we want from life. We are now at a moment where technology will disrupt our minds and bodies more than we can begin to imagine.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Understanding and aligning messages from our logical brain, emotional brain and gut (the idea of mind, body and spirit being on the same page rather than in conflict) are the foundations to living in harmony with ourselves and thriving in a world that is constantly evolving. Only then can we trust our feelings and have the confidence to sense what is right and best for us and within our communities. These “messages” can range from getting goose bumps when we feel unease to a sense of peace when a situation aligns with our deepest desires and core values. Noting in your journal what happens when you follow your intuition/body instead of doing what is expected of you, or what everyone else is doing, can be an eye-opening exercise. Even minor deviations from your own needs (such as acquiescing to your partner’s choice of vacation destination or going to a work event because you feel you ought to) have hidden costs. If there are lots of these compromises, it can undermine your deepest needs and aims, stirring up resentment and anger that lead to stress, elevating your levels of stress hormones which prime you for threat and push you into survival mode, making it harder for you to think from a perspective of abundance, and to fully form and focus on your true intention. There are two major systems we can hone that will help us to gain access to our deepest intrinsic wisdom and personal power: listening to messages from our body (“interoception”) and paying attention to what our “gut instinct” is telling us (“intuition”). We look at what is happening in our brain and body during these in Chapters 7 and 8. Later in Part 4, we will learn how to use the practical tools of journaling, gratitude lists and mindful living as the conduits to achieving this power.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Life is not just happening to us; we are creating it with everything that we do.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: Open Your Mind, Change Your Life - The neuroscience of manifestation, as seen on Diary of a CEO

“What Is Presence? Put simply, becoming more present is the process of bringing our attention to experiences occurring in the current moment, which can be developed through meditation, mindfulness or other forms of training. I prefer to think of presence as a way of life rather than discrete practices. Personally, I consider mindful eating, mindful walking and paying full attention to people as we interact with them to be as important as formal mindfulness practices such as yoga or meditation. This everyday presence often gets forgotten and I encourage people to make this the focus of their mindfulness practice, rather than obsessing about getting traditional meditation “right.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Each week in your journal, you should also choose three aims for the week. Choose a relationship (romantic or platonic) aim, a work aim and a personal development aim. These should be achievable small steps on the way to your big-picture goals. You’ll already have strong ideas about what these big-picture goals should be and the rest of this book will help you develop them further. Examples of micro-challenges to aim for weekly might be: Relationships: Make an effort to listen actively more often to colleagues/partner. (Big-picture goal: Develop my emotional intelligence and empathy to strengthen key relationships.) Work: Speak up more about my ideas, or research potential mentors. (Big-picture goal: Start my own business.) Personal development: Commit to repeating a new affirmation each day to boost my self-esteem. (Big-picture goal: Stop self-criticism and be confident and happy in my life choices.) Once you feel the benefits of these small changes, you’ll be more inclined to push yourself further in the future—to take a bolder stance on your home, work and commute. Ask yourself big questions:”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Exploring the “ghosts” we all carry, and thinking about how well they serve you now, is a revealing and rewarding process. Are there ghosts you have taken on without questioning their helpfulness or accuracy? Have you found yourself following “rules” that conflict with your deep wishes? Note down any insights in your journal. Try to keep these insights in the front of your mind and notice when they play out in real life. Make journal notes on how they show up in the present. Start to make small changes that can adjust these sub-conscious reactions over time. This is how you start to take charge of your future.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Turn to a fresh page in your journal and start by filling in what the words below meant within your family and close relationships when you were growing up. What examples can you think of? Roles: What was your “role” in your family? What other “roles” were there and how did you relate to them? Examples might include “go-between,” “scapegoat,” “peacemaker,” “rebel” or “deputy mother.” Secrets: What were the secrets and lies in your family when you were growing up? Who kept them? How did they influence your life growing up? An example might be: “No one talked about Uncle Ray’s drinking problem.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“This provides the raw material to feed into Step 2 (Chapter 13): creating the powerful Action Board to design your vision for the future and set your goals for change. Turning your imagined future into reality requires action. This is where Step 3: Focused Attention (Chapter 14) comes in. Practicing new behaviors and training yourself to think in new ways will be helped by you being more present, using mindfulness and visualization to help you devote your energy to the things that matter. Deliberate Practice (repetition) is the crucial final Step 4 (Chapter 15), as you work on different aspects of The Source and embed new brain-friendly habits to ensure you can flourish, manifesting the full potential of The Source at its abundant best.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction

“Whether your aims are work-related, romantic or have more to do with general self-development, I’ll be encouraging you to start disrupting your established pathways and creating change, using a mixture of simple and more involved exercises to turbocharge The Source. These exercises will build through a four-step plan. You can follow this over four weeks or four months—you decide the pace that works for you. The golden rule is only to move on to the next step once you feel you’ve received meaningful benefits and insights from the previous one. Where appropriate, continue the actions of the previous steps in unison as you move forward. The four-step plan is based around cognitive science, specifically the principle that lasting behavior change happens in four stages: Step 1: Raised Awareness (making the subconscious conscious and turning off your autopilot). You’ll have thought a lot about this already as you’ve worked through the book. Hopefully, you are already feeling motivated to change.”
― Tara Swart, The Source: A Transformative Guide to Unlocking Your Mind, Harnessing Neuroplasticity, and Manifesting Success Through the Power of the Law of Attraction