Change Your Brain Every Day - How To Find Your Purpose Through Pain

Episode Date: June 13, 2017

In this episode of the Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen dig into the mailbag to address some messages from our listeners. A common thread among Brain Warriors is the notion of transformation from a place of pain to one of purpose, gaining mastery over both brain and body. Other topics include nutrition, social isolation, spirituality, and your body as a temple.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Here we teach you how to win the fight for your brain to defeat anxiety, depression, memory loss, ADHD, and addictions. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we've transformed lives for three decades using brain spec imaging to better target treatment and natural ways to heal the 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 nutraceutical products to support the health of your brain and body. For more information, visit brainmdhealth.com. Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Today, we're going to talk about finding your purpose through pain. And this is a really important topic to me. I know we've talked about it before, but those of you who have read the Brain Warriors Way or you have listened to our podcast, watched our YouTube channel, you know how important this is to me with some of the pain that I've been through in my early years, the drama, trauma, the illness.

This is what I live for. I live for these stories that come in. And we've been getting some amazing stories now with people who have been doing The Brain Warrior's Way. And I want to take a few minutes. Daniel and I are going to read a couple of these stories that literally people's lives have not only been transformed, but they are now going on to transform other people's lives. And this can be you, whatever you're going through. I had no idea at the time that I was going through some of that

pain I was going through that I could ever use those worst experiences of my life to become the best thing that ever happened to me. So why don't you start and read one of the stories? Well, for those of you who haven't read The Brain Warrior's Way, we would just highly recommend it. It is so practical and it highlights the war you're in, but how to be arm prepared and where so that you can win the fight of your life for your health. So this one is from Crowd Control the Avenger. Love that title. Where was this when I was younger? Growing up, I had a horrible diet. I remember when I was 13 during summertime, my diet was caffeine-free Pepsi and cookies. I was horribly lethargic and felt

tired all throughout high school because of my diet and sleep habits. I can say after following Daniel and Tan Amon's program, I feel much better and have taken up running as a hobby. This podcast is something that keeps me motivated to not creep back into bad habits. It reminds me of the life I had, where I am, and where I want to be. Thank you so much. I love that. You're beaming. I love the smile. So for those of you that aren't watching, you can also watch these on YouTube. For those of you that aren't watching, that are listening, she's just beaming and gorgeous. I actually, these stories are like a paycheck.

Okay. So those of you who don't know, people think, I've had people walk up and they'll say, I know you hear this all the time and I'm sorry to bother you. And I just have to tell you, it doesn't matter how often you hear it and it doesn't bother me. Okay. You never get tired of hearing that something that you do helps to change someone's life. You guys are the ones doing the work, but just the fact that there's something that we could put out there that makes that difference, that helps you take that leap is really important. That's my purpose. So I want to read this one from Chantel and you can see the pictures of her on YouTube. Can't show you the pictures on the podcast, obviously, but the change in her is radical. She only lost 15 pounds, but she literally looks 15 years younger.

Chantel, she says, when I started the Brain Warriors Way class over a year ago, I felt like I was slowly dying and that if I didn't do something, I wouldn't live to see my 60th birthday. I was 57 years old then. I changed my diet, followed the instructions given in the Brain Warriors Way classes.

Plus I've been working with one of the internists there, Dr. Philaday. That's one of our doctors here. Through recommended testing, I found that I had some serious overgrowth of bad bacterias in my gut, adrenal fatigue, and possibly Lyme disease. I'm very excited about the positive changes I see now,

and I don't feel like I'm dying anymore. I'm sleeping better most nights. The surgical scars on my abdomen look white and healed for the first time since my surgery in 2009. My sense of well-being has returned. I don't wake up anxious in the morning. I have no anxiety at all. I lost 15 pounds. A mysterious rash on my neck that would come and go has disappeared. Allergies were minimal this spring. Almost off high blood pressure medication, no more chronic infections, and the biggest surprise to me is that my foot is a size smaller. That's from inflammation, by the way, sidebar. So all of this

is just from following the Omni diet and doing a few things to heal my leaky gut. The adrenal support supplements and herbs for my immune system are fairly new. My progress has probably been slow, but it's been a wonderful journey. And I'm looking forward to the coming year When I hope to lose the last 10 pounds To reach my goal after my adrenal glands Are working back up to speed Tana, helping me kick the sugar addiction By showing the ugly consequences

Of sugar consumption And telling the class to sip on green juice To stop the cravings Was awesome advice My favorite cold pressed green juice is cucumber, apple, lemon, and fresh mint. I've learned so much from you and Dr. Amen and continue to learn by listening to your podcasts. I will be forever thankful to you both. Hope to meet you someday. So the reason I love this story is because all of the symptoms that she talks

about, the rash, the scar that won't heal, her feet losing a size, like going down a shoe size, the sleep, the fatigue, these are things that we hear, like I would, what, at least half of the people we see, they might have another presenting symptom that brings them in, but those are very common things. And so she was like the perfect story. And the 15 pounds she lost, she might say she needs to lose 10 more, but the 15 she lost took 15 years off of her. Like she looks amazing. So it's just incredible to get these stories and see this. And that slow progress is actually better.

So don't lose hope. Well, it's a war. And for those people just listening to the podcast and have not read the book, it's based around this concept we developed called mastery. How to develop mastery over your brain and body. So it's mindset. Are you a sheep or a sheepdog? We're training sheepdogs to really take control. Assessment, you say this all

the time, you can't change what you don't measure. Know your important health numbers. If you never check, you really don't know if you have leaky gut or a low thyroid or high mercury. um sustenance food is just so important it is really the foundation of getting and staying well at least half of the illnesses we see um as physicians are food-based illnesses training what are the daily habits to do like sleep i love that she's sleeping better most nights. Essence, turning pain into purpose, which is what we're talking about. Our responsibility. I know people don't want to hear it, but your behavior is contagious. Are you giving away healthy behavior? Are you giving away sickness and illness? And years long, the why is years long, is this isn't for 10 pounds or 10 weeks. And I'm grateful she lost 15 pounds. That's awesome. I mean, just pick up 15 pounds.

You know, people go, oh, it's not that much. Pick it up and carry it around. And it is a lot. But it's really not the point. It's the side effect of truly getting well. And putting mastery into your life, if you become a warrior and you're arm prepared and aware, and the side effect is energy. The side effect is memory. The side effect is you're happier. Sleep and weight loss.

And you can be more purposeful. And ultimately, it's what makes most people happy. It's not money. It's not fame. It's making a difference that there's a reason why you're breathing. Right. So we work with a lot of, because we did the Daniel Plan, there's a lot of people we work with who are Christian and they have this sense of eternal life, right? The eternal. And so I've actually had this conversation and like, why, like, believe it or not, I've had some people say to me, well, why does it matter what I eat? Because it doesn't matter.

It doesn't have eternal value. I'm going to go to heaven anyways. And it frustrates me a little bit because my thought is, well, do you want to, number one, feel miserable for the time that you do have? And number two, is that what God would want for your life? Don't you want to live a purposeful life while you're here? So, don't you want to do something meaningful with the time that you have? Is that what you were put on the planet for? Well, and if you talk to Pastor Warren, who we did the program with, who we developed it with,

he actually put it right in the beginning of this decade when he said, if you're going to do anything special, you have to have energy. You won't feel good. That means you have to get your physical habits right. And it's like... And it's biblical. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit that was given to you by God that was bought for you at a price. So, if your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, well, how are you treating the temple? And, you know, are you spray painting and then really defiling it? Or are you optimizing it so you can do your purpose in life? Well, and from a, even from a scientific, psychological and biological standpoint,

you know, Maslow's hierarchy, right? When you feel terrible, when you are sick, you cannot focus on anything else you must feel better and take care of yourself and be able to raise through that hierarchy before you can give away something else before you can give of yourself well and ultimately i think getting well is the ultimate act of self-love right because you're taking care of, and anybody, you know this because you've been sick. And all I could think about was myself and being sick. Sick. Whether you have billions of dollars, incredible fame, none of it matters. Nope.

None of it matters if you don't have your health. So we're going to talk about our friend Tony Robbins, who came to see us. But without health, it is really the foundation for success in anything in your life is brain health, whether it's your relationships, your work, your money, your physical health without taking care of your health and your brain. None of that is as possible, and ultimately, none of it matters. So one more podcast review that I just love. Extremely rich information from Ashley. I've struggled with ADD and anxiety for a long time. It's pretty severe.

The information that Dr. Amen and Tana provide is like nothing I've heard before. It's so useful. And I've started applying their tips and suggestions through whole food eating, and I'm seeing results. I would recommend this information to anyone looking for a change. So, Ashley, thank you so much. What is your purpose? I think people need to write that down. Why are you on the planet?

What is your deepest sense of meaning and purpose? I love the line you use. Why is the world a better place? Because you breathe. So, because God gave you breath. Why is the world a better place? Because it takes the focus off of you and helps you contribute. It's about contribution. And I just think that that is-

One of the really interesting parts about that is social isolation, you know, I mean, which is really, it's all about you when you're isolated, shrinks the hippocampus. Yeah, interestingly. You know, those major structures, we play with them around here. You know, hippocampus is Greek for seahorse. And when you're alone, when you're lonely, when you're isolated, and a great story of that is your dad's story, that it actually shrinks your seahorses and makes it harder for you to remember and to think.

So living with purpose, and there's a fascinating new study out of Baltimore where they actually measured people's brains and then they had half the group go and volunteer in schools in Baltimore and the other half just continued to do what they usually did and the volunteer group grew their seahorses it grew their hippocampus so if you're feeling isolated and alone, find somewhere where you can volunteer, where you can get outside of your head to be helpful to other people. It can help so much. You are listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast.

Stay with us. Thank you for listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. We have a special gift for you. It's an opportunity to win an evaluation at the Amen Clinics. All you have to do is subscribe to this podcast, leave a review, and rate us on iTunes. To learn more about Amen Clinics and the work we do, go to amenclinics.com. You can also learn about our nutraceutical products at brainmdhealth.com. Thanks for listening.