Change Your Brain Every Day - The True Meaning of Victory, with Justin Wren

Episode Date: November 20, 2019

MMA fighter-turned author Justin Wren was at a crossroads in his life when he made the decision to venture into the Congo. The impact he made on the pygmy culture he found there would change their lives for the better, forever. In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Dr. Daniel Amen and Justin discuss how purpose can transform your life, and how the concept of victory can exist on many different levels.

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 here with Justin Wren, Fight for the Forgotten, my new friend, and I'm just so grateful you came to the clinic and you're going to have a better brain. I know that. And with a better brain, you're going to have a better life. I know that. But you have really focused on making other people's lives better and we left off our story with you having this vision and then meeting this guy and taking you to the congo yeah and it's pretty wild because uh yeah i told caleb

and then another buddy that came with us named Colin, I told him the vision and then we fly on numerous planes to get out there. Then we drive a crazy amount and then we get out and we, uh, get on a motorcycle. Then we get in a canoe and go across a river and then, um, and then we hike and hike. And then all of a sudden we hear we're on a little footpath and just like in the vision, we hear, um, drumming and then we get a sudden we hear, we're on a little footpath and just like in the vision, we hear drumming and then we get closer and we hear singing and then we get into a clearing and we meet these people. And the first guy in the vision I saw had his ribs kind of poking out. This guy was coughing and coughing and he was sick. We come to find out he has tuberculosis, but even to the, we find out they're hungry, poor, sick, oppressed, all these things. And

Caleb and Colin are grabbing me saying, this is your vision. And I'm like, it was just too crazy to believe. And so I still don't have a way to really explain that except to higher power. But I've been adopted in this family. I heard the prophets had visions. Okay. And as a psychiatrist, when I hear visions visions i don't automatically assume crazy i i get curious and i see where it fits in someone's culture because i think it's like 60 of the world they

actually believe in visions and voices and things like that so So the first thing is, is it culturally a norm? And does it fit who you are? So I went to a Christian college and a Christian medical school, and there are certain parts where it would fit, where if you're in a secular place and you hear that they're like oh schizophrenia have to put you on some medication for that but isn't it awe-inspiring to have that vision that then turns out to be what you experience right and so even the the chief pulled us aside and says everyone else calls us the forest people because i was was still doubting it kind of, or in disbelief. And then the chief pulled us aside and I told Caleb and Colin, like, this is just too crazy or too wild. Like, I don't understand like why. And the chief pulled us aside and said, everyone else calls us the forest people. We call ourselves the forgotten.

And that was what I wrote down on the piece of paper at the very top forgotten. And so that's where our name comes from is fight for the forgotten and since then i went and got to live there for a year um in the forest slept in the twig and leaf huts on the dirt um and uh the fire was our blanket and um and we've been able to get back 3 000 acres of land for them for the first time in their country's history uh drill 61 back in their name and one of the big issues was they were getting their land stolen from them and the water rights yeah were stolen is that correct yes or either it was stolen from them or they didn't have any access to clean water and so uh one of the traumatic things we see in my brain scan is a little boy named andy bow and i

flash back to that moment at different times. And I was cupping the back of his head and holding his little hand whenever he took his last breath or when the blood came out of his ears. And that changed me. Seeing a little boy, one and a half years old, die. And we dug his grave. And that's happened a few times. And so that wrecked me and forever gripped my heart.

But it's also motivated me to, how can we help people get access to clean water so they don't? It broke your heart open. Absolutely. Crushed me. And then now we've been able to help drill 61 water wells there, help them start farms. Wait, you said crushed you? Say more about that. It was crushing to my spirit at that time,

but I think either my spirit, there's been a new resolve or resilience that's formed through it. So I like broken open. Broken open. Because crushed sort of means damaged okay there you go and it motivated you it did and the words you use matter matter pretty safe right the words you use matter so you want to always like i edit all my books and then i have an editor edit the

books yeah right you want we want to be editing our thoughts and is this helpful or is it hurtful for us and crushed is is seems sounds permanent right we're broken open means you felt the pain it's i like that horrifying um but then you let the pain motivate you to help more people yeah and and as our and there's videos of this online actually you have a ted talk i do where can so people google justin wren fight for the forgotten or justin wren ted uh and it will come up uh and it shares more of that story there yeah no it's beautiful i watched it thank you um, we've seen 1,500 people transition out of life of slavery and into a life of freedom, like from getting their own land, having their own water, even helping. So that's got to be a better feeling than raising your hand

in a cage. Absolutely. A village getting access to clean water or land or starting their own farm and having that celebration of eating their own fruit for the first time after being hunter-gatherers and not having any way to have sustainable food. Let me just break in a little bit. I've treated a lot of world-class athletes and singers and actors, and fame is a drug. Fame is a drug that actually wears out your pleasure centers. And a lot of people who get well-known, the fight or the performance or being recognized over and over again releases dopamine

in the pleasure centers of the brain. But if you do it too much, too often, it actually deadens that part of the brain. You actually wear it out. But transforming a life never wears out, right? It's like the gift that keeps on giving. So you're giving me a good visual here. I've been to the Super Bowl and the World Series and the NBA finals. And I've been to UFC 100 and 200

and some of the biggest boxing fights like Pacquiao. And those arenas full of tens of thousands of people. But a small village of 80 or 130 people getting access to clean water, that celebration is something so different. And it's the depth of gratitude and the transformation. It's a victory over death. It's a victory in life that matters. And it's not a show.

Right. It's not a show. It's life. Yeah. And so's not a show. Right. It's not a show. It's life. Yeah. And so those moments are what I live for now. Whether it's for a village or if it's just for one person. There's a young boy named Radon that we're helping here now with Fight for the Forgotten.

He was relentlessly bullied. He was born deaf in his right ear. He's got autism. And he's diabetic. He's got autism and he's diabetic. He's gained 110 pounds in the last 10 or 11 months because he's on seven medications. And so we're trying to help him get healthy. But this video went viral of him getting beat up at school at the urinal, 12 kids in the bathroom, four or five filming it. Then the next day, just on a yard, three people are hitting him all at once. And now it's

like, how can we help him? And he was diagnosed with a concussion. And I was at that doctor's appointment with his parents. And the doctor mentioned hyperbarics and that that would be great for a concussion. And so I was like, oh my gosh, everything happens for a reason. I just started and decided to take Radon with me to Hyperbarics. It's a place called Oklahoma Oasis in Oklahoma City or Edmond. And he's actually more than me now. I've taken him to like 20 treatments. And since I've been out of town, he's at 22 treatments.

And we're just loving him. Oklahoma's actually a very unusual state. That's where I went to medical school. So I'm very fond of Oklahoma. But they actually passed a law giving access of hyperbaric oxygen to veterans. That is so cool. I mean, I was like so proud of my state for that.

And I'm still irritated with them about the whole obesity thing. We need to do better. Right. So my wife and who, you know, Emily is helping readon discover hummus, carrots and hummus, and cotton candy grapes, or different things to try to replace the food,

just to help him have a healthier lifestyle. So we're getting him in the neurofeedback and all this stuff to try to rally around him. And I think the point of that is Emily shared with me, I know why you're doing this. And you just want to be the person to Raiden that you needed when you were his age you were being bullied right and so and how she's loved him and how we our team with Fight for Forgotten has loved him in the whole community

even the Pittsburgh Steelers and the LA Chargers and Baker Mayfield of OU and now the Browns like everyone's starting to rally around this young man. And it's awesome. You can't do everything you want for everyone, but you can do what you hope to do for everyone for one person. And so just investing that time to be just, I don't know if you call it a mentor, but just someone to love him like I wish I was loved at that age.

And when are the treatments? And when we come back, we're going to go back to the bullying and how to get it out of your head. Stay with us. 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 or a 10% discount on all supplements at brainmdhealth.com.

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