Change Your Brain Every Day - How the Hierarchy of Needs Shift During a Pandemic, with Dr. Derwin Gray

Episode Date: April 23, 2020

When people’s lives are upended, it has a tendency to shift their focus of priorities. It turns out that there’s one crucial thing that can bring fulfillment despite one’s circumstances. In the final episode of a series with NFL player, pastor, and author Dr. Derwin Gray, he and the Amens discuss where to bring your attention in a time of crisis.

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, everyone. We're just having this great conversation with our friend,

Pastor Derwin Gray, former NFL player. He's written a number of books, has a new book, The Good Life, coming out June 2nd. We just feel like he's ministering to us, and we're grateful to share it with you. I was thinking during the last episode about Maslow's hierarchy of needs in a pandemic. That the first need is safety, and it's food and shelter. And so many people are feeling the foundation of their psychological security threatened. But they don't know that the time Maslow was writing his hierarchy of needs, that Viktor Frankl was working on something called Logos therapy, which is basically

meaning and purpose. And Viktor Frankl ended up in a Nazi concentration camp. And he found that even when people did not have their basic security needs met, it wasn't safe, they didn't have food, they didn't have clothing, that if they had purpose, if there was some deep meaning in their life that typically involved other people, that they were more likely to survive and thrive than the people who had lost meaning. Purposeful people live an average of 11 years longer anyways. How do you see that, Derwin, play out in your ministry? Yeah, you know, this reminds me of Matthew chapter 6 verses 21 through 34 when Jesus is saying, look at the birds of the air, the lilies of the field, God provides for them. Life is more than just food, water, and clothing. And yes, food is important,

water is important, clothing is important, but I think there's a double beautiful meaning in that because in verse 33, Jesus says, but seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness and these things will be added to you. So think about this. Life, food, water, clothes. Jesus is the bread of life. He's the living water and he will clothe you in your robes of righteousness. So Jesus himself is the one who meets the need so that we can participate in his purpose. And I do agree with Dr. Frankel in that there's something about purpose. And when you have purpose, it's like gravity. It pulls you back. It pulls you through. Gravity, as you guys know, when you jump, you come back. So purpose in the midst of whatever circumstances going on brings you back. What greater purpose could there be than this? Love God and love your

neighbor as you love yourself. And the beautiful thing about that purpose that Jesus communicated is that that can happen anytime, anywhere, through any type of context. And so what we do is we build our lives on achieving accomplishment. And that's why in my realm of the NFL, when a lot of guys get done playing, they feel like their purpose is how do I leverage my life so that others can love God, so that I can love my neighbor as I love myself. Purpose is how do I make someone else's life better as a result of mine? During this really hard time, loneliness is a monster issue. And many'm friends with Pastor Miles McPherson, who's the senior pastor and founder of The Rock,

also another NFL player. And he said they're just busier now than they've been. And you had told us that online attendance has gone up 400%, which totally makes sense. So two questions. How can the church better serve people during the pandemic? Because this isn't just going away. and how can people lean into their churches to get the support they need? And how can some of us lean in better to give more support? Yeah, totally.

So the first thing that I would say is not only has our online viewership grown, but our online small groups have grown. Like our small groups are exploding. Wow. People want to connect. And then a lot of times, you know, so think about this. To go to a small group at someone's house, you got to get in the car. So let's say you're a mom and you've worked, you're single and you got to get in the car so let's say you're a a mom and you've worked you're

single and you got kids and then okay so i want to go to a small no no no it's the my reason for not getting involved in a regular bible study has been because i i it's so difficult to get the homework the food the you know all these things together and and things together. And it's on my to-do list, and I can't seem to get to it. And so what we found, and this was even before the pandemic, is that people are willing to have community like this. Now, it's not the full thing, but it's something, and there are ways to enhance that. So, but even before the pandemic, community was very important to us. Like, the church is not a weekend rock show with a guy or girl who speaks well. The church is a family that's 24-7, you know, and so we want to be that type of community.

But it's also important. It's also important that people trust God and learn how to build relationships and community. But our Zoom groups are just flourishing and growing. That's really awesome. Yeah. We're going to have to stop in just a minute. But if you had one word of encouragement for the people listening, what might that be? And again, they can find out about the new book at thegoodlifebook.net. And I just encourage, and they can also attend services online at transformationchurch.tc. Correct. Yep. We do live stream every Sunday. We've got YouTube,

Roku, Apple channel, Facebook. You can find us for sure, for sure. And we would love to have you view. You know, Doc, what I would say is this by way of illustration. All of us are taking, quote, unquote, a test. Let's just call it the ACT test. And we have to score perfect to enter into the life experience that we want. Well, all of us take the test, and we all fail miserably. We feel like we're not enough. We feel like we're unworthy. We feel like it's over. But Jesus comes to take the test for us. He lives a sinless, perfect life because we couldn't.

He dies for us on the cross for our sins, and he raises again so that we actually can share his life. And from all eternity, Jesus is our enough. That it's true, I'm not enough, but Jesus is my enough, so it's okay. And the more I think about him being enough, the more I'm changed. So when I get off of pre, when I occupy my mind with him being enough for me, instead of me not being enough, it's amazing how my life flourishes, how I experience the good life and happiness that I can say, you know what, I'm not enough. But Jesus is my enough. And the more I see that he's my enough, the healthier I become. Well, thank you so much, my friend. I look forward to seeing you soon.

Yes. Love you guys. You guys are awesome. And I appreciate your years of counsel and just your friendship. And Tani, I look forward to getting your new book. I want an autographed copy. Well, I would love to have you read it and tell me what you think. I would love to do that. I would love to. And I just have to tell you, I'm so glad you didn't listen to the nonsense about how you should not be up speaking because you are an amazing speaker. You are compelling and you are motivating. Thank you. And I think you and I are talking on Friday.

Yes. We're talking on something for the church. So I'll see you then. I'll look forward to it. 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 considering coming to Amen Clinics or trying some of the brain healthy supplements from BrainMD, you can use the code PODCAST10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com

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