Change Your Brain Every Day - What would you do if Disaster was Coming?

Episode Date: January 26, 2018

In the wake of the Hawaii false alarm debacle, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen share an intriguing discussion about disasters. If there were an actual imminent attack in your area, what would you do? How would you react? Is there anything you could do to better your chances of safety? Daniel and Tana share their personal perspectives.

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. Welcome back. Well, as many people know, there was a mistake in Hawaii where a text message went out saying in 10 minutes a ballistic missile is going to hit that state and there was hysteria uh for 35 40 minutes before they sent out a correction saying it was a mistake um there have been cases reported of a guy having a heart attack because of the stress and dying.

Terrible. People are having nightmares. They're having flashbacks. They're having symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Children were put in. We could get into all of this crazy stuff about, how does that happen? I mean, you came to lead a television program without it saying, are you sure?

Like, what? But without getting into all that and blaming and all that other stuff. Well, you know, when disasters like this happen, typically people were either on drugs, they were drinking. Not sleeping. Or they were sleep deprived. Right. Which I think in the military that happens a lot. So, you know. And so there are these personal disasters that happen all

the time. But the question we really want you to think about and we want to talk about is if you had 10 minutes left, what would you do? I want to talk about something first before we get into that. Because after this happened, all of a sudden you were so interested in asking me, well, or telling me we need to have a plan. We need to like, you know,

I have been planning this forever. I have like an end of the world plan. I have an end of the world room. I have got like, I literally have a handwritten plan that I put in your briefcase three or four years ago. There's one on our bulletin board in the kitchen. You didn't even know it was there. Okay. So you have been giving me grief. I worry more about dying. But you have given me so much grief over the fact that I actually do have a plan. All of a sudden this happens and suddenly you're like, whoa, wait. Oh my gosh, this could happen.

We need a plan. So it took this to get your attention, but I'm happy we're talking about it. So are you gloating? I'm gloating. Is that what we're doing right now? And I remember you saying, I hope I never have to thank you. But. All right.

It was a mistake. Somebody in Hawaii made a mistake. But it made you think that we need a plan. And there is actually an article recently on how to survive a nuclear blast. And the takeaways for me. So if you're within a half a mile, a mile you're going to be toast literally right so just say goodbye thank you it was great it's sort of like a drop the microphone moment right and be grateful for the time you had because gratitude makes everything, even the end of the world, better. But what I thought was really interesting, they said, if you're close, get inside right away to decrease your exposure to the ionizing radiation.

And don't go out. Look how passionate you are. Don't go out for a couple of days. So I have a question. Now, we have food at our house for months. For a year. Okay, but I have a question. Are you regretting at this moment

that you did not allow me to take the pool out and put a bunker in? Absolutely not. Okay. I'm not going to live with the end of the world disaster in mind every day. You don't have to have it in mind every day. I like my pool. You prepare for the worst.

You expect the best. So anyways, all of that. These people who are listening are not therapists they may be therapists but they're not our therapist but they're doing therapy right right in they're doing therapy vicariously they're doing therapy vicariously okay so all of this let me finish if you actually are in an area where there's a nuclear strike's don't go to work and pick up your husband. Tell him. Oh, say goodbye to your husband.

Let him die. No. Is that what you're saying? Tell him to stay in the building. Oh. You stay in the building. Don't go outside to go get the children, you know, four miles away.

Tell them to get in the building. Text them, get in the building. And that is the most important thing if you survive the actual blast in a building. And that is the most important thing. If you survive the actual blast is try to get around concrete. So something that can protect you from the radiation. So anyways, if you had 10 minutes left, and you knew that was it, and I couldn't get inside

or you could what would you do what is important to you in the last 10 minutes because one of the things that i've done since college is i live my life with the end in mind okay so i was just going to say so two things come to my mind number one i Number one, I did a live chat not that long ago on my birthday. And I said, live every day like it's your birthday. Unless you go get smashed on your birthday, then don't do that. But if you... Unless your birthday is your excuse to hurt yourself. Right. So, but I didn't do anything different on my birthday.

Why? Because I do what I want to do every day. Like every day is like my birthday because I spend it with the people I love. I do something meaningful every day. So I don't feel like I would have to like change that or do something extraordinary. So hopefully I would be with the people I love because I actually do spend most days with the people I love, you and Chloe. You know, I would hope that my mom would be somewhere nearby. I don't know that.

But I spend my time with people I love. I do the things I love doing that are already meaningful. You know, a thousand things come to your mind, what you would do in those 10 minutes. But honestly, the thing I would do is grab the people that are right near me, and I would start praying with gratitude and forgiveness. Like, just forgive me, forgive the people that, you know, I've held any grudges toward and have gratitude for everything in my life. So you'd review the positive things about your life? Yes, because what else is there? So I have six siblings and, I don't know,

60 immediate family members. Your family's huge. I love them. They're huge. So I created a group chat. And so if that happens, I at least can tell the people I love that I love them and to stay inside.

Okay. So one of the things I'm the most grateful for in this process, you actually decided we need a plan. I'm grateful for this. So one little tip I'm going to give everybody, write your plan out. You need to write out a family plan. The Red Cross actually has one online. And you need all of your phone numbers written down.

Cell phones are not going to work. So landlines, maybe. But write them down. Write down where you go during the day so everybody knows where you are. And then work on what you have been grateful for. Right. All of us are going to die. All of us. At different rates. And most people live as if that's never going to happen. So they don't get their wills in order, they don't get their estate plans in order, and that's a huge mistake. Right. Right. I think anybody— So I faced that early in life? I faced that idea?

Over 40 should have that plan written down, prepared, because that's the last thing you want to be worried about. Yeah. the last thing you want to be worried about. So have your plan prepared. And I actually think it's a good exercise periodically to go, if this was the end of my life, well what would have been important to me? So that you can then go back and make sure you're living a life that matters. And people go, oh well at the end of your life work will not have mattered and then do something go do work that matters and i'm like well that's not true yeah but that's how that sucks for you then it's like because you spend so much time working, at least you and I do, that we want you to do work that matters.

Now, if you can't because you're financially connected to a job you don't love but you have to do it, it's your free time could be working toward getting a skill that would be more meaningful. You know, sometimes, though, and this is like dig digressing a little sometimes that's about how you see it because you know i mean i worked in a hospital like seeing the worst things on the planet um and people used to say to me ew how can you do that job like i dealt with body fluids like all day long disgusting like stuff that i saw like horrifying stuff um stuff we'd see at the end of the world. At the end of the world, yeah. It actually kind of looked like that.

But the truth is, is I actually went home every day feeling like I was doing something purposeful. And I did it because I knew not everyone could do it and I could do it. And God chose me to do it. So that was a really good feeling for me, even though it was not an easy job. But I was talking to someone that I was coaching

and she was complaining to no end about her life and her job at Starbucks. And she's like, washing other people's dishes or glasses is beneath me. And it really frustrated me, actually. And I chewed her out a little bit, lovingly, firm and kind. But I'm like, is that true? Like, why is that? I mean, I cleaned body fluids all day and I never had that thought that it was beneath me. I actually wanted to do this and help people be dignified at that stage of their life. And you're complaining about washing people's

dishes when in fact you have a job at a company that's known to be a fairly good company and you get to do something that makes people happy first thing in the morning like it makes them happy going to work it's their comfort it's their joy like yeah but she's also a drug dealer okay shut up anyways seriously the point is it's how you look at it the brain warriors okay stop it's not the point the point is that she stopped and she thought about it and she was like, I didn't think of it that way. I just thought I was washing other people's dishes. Oh my God.

That is so important. Albert Eller is a long time ago. He's a very famous. Are you saying I said something important? Very important. Thank you. I just wanted you to say it again. So I don't know that we've

talked about it much but a is what happens to you in life it's the abc model right a is what happens to you in life working at starbucks b is your interpretation of what happens to you in life I'm blessed to have a job uh or I have to wash someone else's dishes, it's beneath me. C is how you react. C is what you actually do. And C has nothing to do with A. Right.

It's the B stuff. It's how you think of it. And we had this, so we went to church. So it's no surprise we go to church and we talk about that on the show. And it was a couple of weeks ago. Oh, this was so good. There was a sermon about betrayal. And two of the people closest to Jesus on the night he was taken, on the day before he was crucified um betrayed him judas kissed him

and identified him as the messiah and took money for it and took 30 pieces of silver for it and peter which you know if you think if you're going to get paid for betraying jesus i mean come on make it worth your while at least. That was like, really? Well, 30 pieces of silver. Yeah, no, no. 30 pieces of silver. Peter, who is one of the closest apostles to Jesus, betrayed him three times.

He said he didn't know him. Right. And he swore he would never do that. He said he didn't know him. Right. And he swore he would never do that. Judas said he knew him. Right. So he identified him. Peter said, I don't even know him. Right after he said he would never do that. I don't even know him. So same A stuff, betrayal. The B stuff is what I did is unforgivable from Judas. From Peter, it's I'm sorry, I can't believe it. How do I change this? What can I do to make a difference? And so one who betrayed him returned the money and then committed suicide, hung himself. Because it's not forgivable.

His thought was it's not forgivable. Peter went on to help found the Christian church. And changed the world. And changed the world. And so all of us have done bad things. So the B, I just want to point out, the B is the interpretation. How you see it, what you do about it. How you interpret A. Right.

And that's what determines. The outcome. The outcome. So I saw it as I'm helping people be dignified at the worst time in their life, which is why I can do the things I do in the hospital, which are a little bit different than washing dishes, right? And so that's why I left every day exhausted, but feeling fulfilled versus I washing dishes is beneath me. So in those last 10 minutes, you can be angry and hysterical,

which is pointless, or you can be hopeful thinking well maybe it's a mistake right i mean don't like completely ruin all of your relationships if it's somebody in hawaii didn't sleep who made a mistake right but if it's not a mistake i don't i want to go with like being clear. And being loving. Loving and grateful. Right. And forgiving. Right. And appreciative. So think of all the words because at that point, bitterness is not helpful. No. You're listening to the Brain Warriors Way. Stay with us. Thank you for listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Go to iTunes and leave a review and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing to get a free signed copy of the Brain Warriors Way and the Brain Warriors Way cookbook we give away every month.