Change Your Brain Every Day - Try This Technique to Radically Transform the Way You Think

Episode Date: March 31, 2021

It’s spring cleaning week at The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, and Dr. Daniel and Tana Amen are here to help you clean not only your environment, but your mind and your life, too. In this episode, the Amens introduce a powerful technique that’s an absolute game-changer in terms of how you think about yourself. It’s a surefire way to help you psychologically distance yourself from the daily whirlwind in your head. 

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 talking about spring cleaning your mind. And today I'm going to give you a very fun technique. I think you'll like a lot, but you have something. I have a review. It says, Wonderful, by J. and S. Hillman. This podcast has been wonderful. I've only been listening for a short time only because I just found it, but I fully intend to binge it.

I've been struggling for years. Now I'm trying to find a way to make a scan happen for me. I've bought the cookbook and have just started reading Your Brain is Always Listening. I came across Tana and Daniel Amen listening to Robin McGraw's. I've got a secret. I'm trying the happy saffron now. I'm hoping with this book, I'm hoping with this and working on my part,

I can, I can clear the 10 years plus of brain fog as my grandmother would say. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That's so awesome. Our friend, Robin McGraw.

That's so cool. I love, Robin McGraw. That's so cool. I love that. Let her know. Yeah. All right. Spring clean your mind there. I'm just finishing actually this week, my book for next year. You'll hear all about it. You say that like it's normal to write a book a year that's normal for me and i just you know i love your brain is always listening it was really one of my favorite books to write a good book but the world is unhappier now than it has been in our lifetime. Yeah. And I wanted

to see, is there a way to be happy in unhappy times? And so the new book is called You Happier, the neuroscience of feeling good based on your brain type. Now you'll hear all sorts of things about it. It's not out till next March, but there's one technique in the book based on your brain type. Now you'll hear all sorts of things about it. It's not out till next March, but there's one technique in the book I love a lot. And I actually got it from this podcast

when we interviewed Dr. Stephen Hayes. And we interviewed him about acceptance and commitment therapy act. And he had this idea of give your mind a name. And the name he gave his mind was George. And as we were doing the podcast, I'm like, well, what name would I give my mind? And it's based on a concept called psychological distancing. If you can separate yourself from the noise in your head,

you're happier that you just don't have to believe the storms that come through. Like you were talking at the beginning of the week on, you know, you wake up in the middle of the night and there are the negative thoughts. I've got twins fighting in my head. and you get the broom and sweep the thoughts away well another way to do that is to give your mind a name and i gave my mind the name of hermie who was my pet raccoon when i was 16. and I loved this raccoon. I loved me.

But she was a troublemaker. Oh my God. She was so beautiful and so cute, but she- Sounds like our cat. Beautiful, cute, and just a troublemaker. Oh, she would TP my mom's bathroom. She ate your sister's goldfish. She pooped in your shoe. Whenever he, he came back pregnant. That's how you realize he was a she.

And I raised her Catholic, you know, we'd like say prayers and, and then she's awesome. She does loose. I mean, it was really disturbing for me. And that's my mind.

Yeah. Not the loose part. I don't know about that. But anyways. But it's my mind in that it just causes trouble. Right? I mean, it's adorable. So I think, yeah, see, I think that's so funny because yours is cute and funny.

Mine are just evil. Mine are just, yeah. I've got twins fighting in my head. And as I've been playing with this concept, I realized Hermie holds up signs all the time about your bad CEO, or someone else's book is better than yours, or you're going to get sued, or you're going to die. That's funny. Both of mine have a foul mouth. Detective Mullins and Beth. They're in there constantly just fighting.

And so you named your mind. And as you're listening to this, what name would you give your mind? So mine is detective Mullins from the heat. I just, I think she's so funny, but she's not all that nice. Oh my God. I love her. I love her so much. But then Beth from Yellowstone, I mean, she's pretty twisted, but she's kind of awesome, but she's pretty twisted. So, yeah, those two are constantly, and they're very foul-mouthed, and that's my mind can tend to do that. So when Hermie's acting up, I can metaphorically put her in her cage

because I can choose to listen to her or not. And what I've been thinking about recently, I mean, I really love this record. I used to put her on a cat leash and we'd go to the beach. Oh, oh, I know where this is going. Oh, geez. It's like walking a puppy only worse. Her me is the best way to Yeah, girls. Yeah. And, but she loved to be stroked. She loved to be tickled. Oh, I can. Yeah. And you're gonna try and tell me that you're not loose. Like,

not. Well, you're not now not now in college i was actually voted biggest yeah um but that was then um when my mind acts up rather than put her me in the cage i metaphorically put her on her back and tickle her oh that's funny and's like, I just don't have to take it seriously. And if you don't have to take yourself seriously, you're going to be so much happier. And it's just a wonderful, simple, yet profound. I have to figure out what I'm gonna to do with detective mullins and beth i can't put them on their backs and tickle them what am i going to do with them well you can

choose to ignore them yeah they're not really ignorable maybe i need to rename my mind something i have a bit more control over yeah those Yeah, those two you would have no hope of controlling. When Detective Mullins would get upset, she would just be so hard on other people. For those of you who've not seen The Heat, that will make you happy. It's just two hours of insanity and fun. So spring clean your mind

by psychologically distancing yourself from the whirlwind. So we've talked about, please don't believe every stupid thing you think. When you feel sad or mad or nervous or out of control, write it down. Ask yourself if it's true. If you can absolutely know that it's true. You're going to spring clean your mind. You have to move more. It sort of gets the cobweb. It's so true with you. It's one of the fastest ways to change your mood is to change your physiology.

But you got to move how you move matters. So move like you mean it. Coordination exercises seem to be super helpful. Eating right. There's a linear correlation between the number of fruits and vegetables you eat a day and your level of happiness. So BrainMD makes something called NeuroGreens. They're actually not just greens, it's greens, you know, it's powder from healthy, organic green foods and red foods and blue foods and purple foods, orange foods.

I mean, it's just really great. We put it in our shake every morning. All of these things can just be so healthy. When we come back, we're going to answer several of your questions. Stay with us. 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.