Change Your Brain Every Day - How a Disability Can Be an Inspiration, Not a Limitation with Kelli Davis

Episode Date: June 27, 2019

Kelli Davis has seen and been involved with many miraculous stories of children facing and overcoming huge obstacles. What she’s learned from these stories is that perspective can make all the difference. In the last episode of a series on miracles and giving, Kelli shares the incredible story of how a child born without a lower jaw thought outside the box to realize his life’s dream as a musician.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com. Welcome back. We're with Kelly Davis. And as we finish the Brain on Giving week, I want you to ask yourself, those of you that are listening,

what miracles have happened in your life? And what is the miracle you can find today, big or small? What is the miracle you can find? Because if you start teaching your brain to do that, you'll be amazed at what happens. And one thing that's really helped me do that is for the last 15 years, every night before I go to bed, I write 10 things down that I'm grateful for. Puts my brain in a different state when I go to sleep. And when I wake up, I'm in a state of gratitude. And that's the first thing when I wake up is being grateful for my bed, being grateful that I can breathe. I do the same thing. I do it when I wake up, but it's the same thing. Another thing to do when you wake up is say to yourself,

today is going to be a great day. What if you said today's going to be a miraculous day? That would be really good. Today is going to be a miraculous day. I'd love that. But when you say today is going to be a great day, your unconscious mind then begins to find why it's going to be a great day. So a lot of people who struggle with depression have really hard mornings. That is because when you go to sleep, the brain actually gets sleepy and becomes less and less active. And when you wake up, often it's flooded with all the worst things that's going to happen because your frontal lobes aren't active yet. And your frontal lo and it takes a while for them to wake up so depression is often worse in the morning and but as people get moving and get to their day it's better that's why the worst thing people can do if they suffer with

depression is stay in bed because just the act of getting up begins to activate their brain. So a way around that is say, today is going to be a great day, or I like what you said, today is going to be a miraculous day, and then get up. Because if you stew in the depressive soup, it spirals. And sometimes it will chain you to the bed. I like the quote, speak what you seek until you see what you said. I like that. Because really the language that we use will determine the time of day that we create for ourselves. I like it because your brain will find it.

Kelly, tell us another story because the story about Maverick just made me cry. I just think those stories are so special and they teach us so much. Well, I'm so excited to share with you the story of Isaiah Acosta. He is the world's first mute rapper. Isaiah was born without a jaw and an air passage and didn't have oxygen for 15 minutes. Doctors said Isaiah would be a vegetable. But today, Isaiah just graduated from high school. And a couple years ago, probably in 2017, we were communicating through text because he has no voice and he doesn't have a jaw. So he looks different and people make fun of him and bully him all the time. He could have surgery to get a job,

but he doesn't want to because he knows God made him perfectly. And he wants people to accept him for who he is. So he loves rap music. And we were talking one day and I'm like, I say, I bet you have a lot inside of you that you want to say that you've never been able to say. So I said, send me your thoughts.

He sent me a blank piece of paper and a pen and said, I'm going to get started. A couple hours later, I have lyrics on a paper. We teamed him up with a rapper called Rap House. And they wrote his first rap called Oxygen to Fly. All proceeds benefit Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. And you can watch the short documentary that we produced. It's oxygentofly.org. And it shares his journey. Oh my God. And he is inspiring the world with his voice, even though he has no physical voice. That's so special. You know, my favorite part of that story is he refused to get

his job fixed. Yeah. He could have surgery, but he accepts himself the way God made him. Can you imagine if every kid did that? If every kid would do that? Yeah. So he, he inspires me every day. And he actually, this is a very sad part of the story. Trap, his voice passed away on January 19th after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer stage four, two months earlier. So Isaiah has really been struggling with never having a voice, getting a voice. Now his voice is gone again, but he's, he's inspiring people. And every day you can follow him. It's on Instagram. It's just Isaiah Costa, but he's inspiring the world. He's a miracle to me. And right now I'm trying to help

him get a Ted talk because I don't know if anyone else who doesn't have a voice that's given a Ted talk, but he will. That's really amazing. I just love that. It's like, no, I'm not going to get it fixed. People need to accept me for who I am. If every female on the planet could just learn that, that would just be incredible. I wonder if people listening are like me and they're like you know the things i don't like about myself right compared to that are not really important you had a kid like that though with that golden what's it called there's a syndrome called golden Golden Hearse, where I saw this boy who was born without a left mandible, so his jawbone. And by the time I saw him, he had 21 surgeries. And he started having panic attacks after the 19th surgery. And that's why his mom brought him to see me. And I did some hypnosis with him.

And his panic attacks just went away, which were really great. But I decided I had to keep seeing him. I was in the army at the time, so there was no charge. I had to keep seeing him because I needed to find out why he was the healthiest emotionally, the healthiest person I had ever met. He was a straight-A student. He was president of his class. He had a girlfriend. People loved him. He was loved, even though his face looked like it was a railroad track because of all the surgeries that he had.

And I realized his mother never allowed his disability to be an excuse. I love that. So he always had to go to school. He needed to do chores. He needed to be a giving part of the family, never in a mean way, but it was the expectation you have many gifts and I expect you to give them to the world. And, you know know i think of all the patients i've seen over the years he's just inspired me to not look at my problems but to look at the blessings i i have well you know what's cool is isaiah's never spoken a word he's never tasted food he really shouldn't be here today but he goes out and he feeds the homeless.

Goes to the hospital, gives back to the kids. His whole life is meant to inspire others. And I get annoyed in traffic. What? I'm like, what? That's just crazy. Kelly, we're going to have to have you back

because it will help my wife in traffic. Yes, it will help you in traffic. I'm going to get in the car today and go, I have no right to be annoyed in traffic today because I'm going to think of Isaiah. So that's incredible. It's like this kid. No, think about this. His big frustration is that he wants to have a voice to inspire the world. It's not because he wants a job. It's not because he wants to taste. I mean, maybe he wants those things, but that's not, that's not why he's like,

you know, what he's pushing for. But I think the greatest thing too, is even though he doesn't have a voice, he has one of the biggest voices out there. So whatever limitation you see in your life, don't look at it as a limitation. Look at it as an opportunity where you can thrive.

You have been really amazing. So inspiring. We look forward to talking to you again. When you're in Southern California, Look at it as an opportunity where you can thrive. You have been really amazing. Yeah, so inspiring, Kelly. We look forward to talking to you again when you're in Southern California. Let us know because we'll want to look at your brain. And thank you so much for your time. So tell us one more time how people can learn about you and your work and the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals? Well, if you go to my website, book, Kelly Davis, K-E-L-L-I Davis.com, you can learn all about Children's Miracle Network

Hospital, my book, 100% of the proceeds benefit Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. On Instagram, I'm Kelly Davis1, childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org or cmnhospitals.org. Uh, but yeah, we would love, we would love the support. It matters. And you can just drag today. You can make a miracle happen. Please do it. Think of Isaiah, think of Maverick. It's so great. So, and I want, and I want you, I want you as listeners to think about the question we first asked, what miracle can you find today or what miracle has happened in your life that you just know was very special, even if it's small, sometimes the small things that lead to the big things are really important, um, and change our lives. And, you know, tag us, tag us and let us know. We want to be able to talk about those things. If you go to, um, brain warriors way

podcast.com, you can actually, um, we'd love it if you left us a review. Um, and so if you leave us a review or if you, and you can leave your comments there, we love to read our testimonials. We love to read our comments. So do that tag us Tana Amon, um, on Instagram, you can tag Daniel Dr. Amon on Instagram and go to children's miracle network. No, children. No. Miracle. CMNHospitals.org. I'm going to get it right. Thanks, everybody. If you're enjoying the Brain Warriors Way podcast,

please don't forget to subscribe so you'll always know when there's a new episode. And while you're at it, feel free to give us a review or five-star rating as that helps others find the podcast. If you're interested in coming to Amen Clinics, use the code PODCAST10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com. For more information, give us a call at 855-978-1363.