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This Neurosurgeon Just Blew My Mind. — Transcript

by Lisa Bevere · 7,970 words · 1,236 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Your brain is never the same two days in
0:02a row. It's not even the same two
0:03minutes in a row. Problem is, [music]
0:05most of us think the same things over
0:07and over. 80% of the things we think and
0:09feel every day are false.
0:10>> No way, 80%? Somebody [music] might say,
0:13"Well, I've always been this way. It's
0:14never going to change." What is your
0:16hope to that person?
0:17>> God built your brain to get better over
0:20time and not to get worse over time.
0:22There is an element of what we hear in
0:24our heads that is not just neurological
0:27activity, but spiritual warfare.
0:29>> Wow. What do you think the percentage is
0:31of people that are held back by their
0:33thoughts [music]
0:34versus their actual circumstances?
0:36>> All of them.
0:40>> What if you could actually do brain
0:43surgery on yourself? What if you could
0:46actually move away from those parts that
0:50kind of seem to linger and limit? Well,
0:52today we're going to be talking to Dr.
0:55Lee Warren. And Dr. Warren has been a
0:57friend to our family for quite a while,
0:59and he's just written an amazing book
1:01called The Life-Changing Art of
1:04Self-Brain
1:05Surgery. We're not going to use knives,
1:07but we are going to use something
1:10actually way more powerful to pull
1:13things that are holding you back out of
1:16your life. Dr. Warren, thank you so much
1:18for joining us, and I believe this book
1:21is so crucial. There is so much going
1:23out there right now that is about mind
1:26over matter, manifesting, new age, and
1:30you are approaching this from a
1:31completely
1:33different frame of mind. You are going
1:36with scripture, and you are going with
1:37the word of God, and I cannot wait to
1:40unpack this book.
1:41>> Thank you for having me, Alisa. It's
1:42good to be with you.
1:43>> Absolutely.
1:44It's a joy. Well, why? Why did you write
1:47this book?
1:48>> Well, so I'm a practicing neurosurgeon,
1:50right, for 25 years now. Um, but I'm
1:52also a guy who's been through a lot.
1:54I've been to the Iraq War as a
1:55neurosurgeon and dealt with PTSD from
1:57some of the things I saw there.
1:59Um and then we lost a son in 2013.
2:03Um and so as a person who works in the
2:07space of helping people process and
2:09navigate through hard things, I became
2:11one of those people that was navigating
2:12hard things.
2:13And I found that my faith and my science
2:17that I taught and practiced um
2:20needed to unite and unify. And so I I
2:22started studying how science and faith
2:25are supposed to work together to help us
2:27flourish, which is what I think both of
2:28them are designed to do. And so for the
2:30last 12 years since Mitch died, I've
2:32been working on that and um now I'm
2:35ready to
2:36help other people understand
2:38how how things have been does not have
2:40to be how they are.
2:41>> Yeah.
2:42You know, I we were talking just very
2:44briefly beforehand and I said it's like
2:47people have lost their minds.
2:48>> Yeah.
2:49>> And and no, and I wasn't I wasn't, you
2:51know, like you used to say, "Oh, they
2:53have lost their mind."
2:54And it would it seemed like it was a few
2:55people. But it feels like there is a
2:58collective
2:59uh
3:00people just they're not making sense.
3:03>> Yeah.
3:03>> They're not processing things
3:06correctly. They're not processing other
3:09people's pain correctly. And um what can
3:13we do about that? Because I feel like
3:14this is something and I'm I'm assuming
3:17that you're saying we start here.
3:20>> Yeah.
3:21>> And then we respond out. Can you kind of
3:24kind of frame what your greatest hope is
3:27for this book and why this is incredibly
3:30crucial? Cuz somebody might say, "Well,
3:32I you know, I've always been this way.
3:34It's never going to change. My past is
3:37is today is like yesterday. It's just
3:39going to keep going back." And what what
3:41is your hope to that person and what is
3:43your hope for this book?
3:45>> [snorts]
3:45>> My greatest hope is that I can help
3:47people understand
3:49that
3:50there is a tremendous amount of agency
3:52and control and therefore hope in the
3:55fact that God built your brain to get
3:57better over time and not to get worse
3:59over time. And
4:00>> Wow.
4:01>> cultural moment right now, we're being
4:03taught that if the wrong stuff happens
4:05to you, or you're raised by the wrong
4:06folks, or you inherited the wrong genes,
4:08or you go through something hard, that
4:10it can break your brain in a way that
4:12you can't recover from. And then
4:13everybody needs to just huddle around
4:14you and pat you on the back and and feel
4:17sorry for you for how hard you've had
4:19it.
4:20>> And stop triggering you.
4:21>> And stop triggering you. And and we put
4:23we put these things that we we almost
4:24adopt them as identities. We put them in
4:26our Instagram profiles and say, here's
4:28how I am, here's my personality type,
4:30here's my enneagram score, this is how
4:32you need to treat me.
4:33>> Mhm.
4:33>> And the perception has been that our
4:36brains create who we are and therefore
4:38[snorts] we're stuck with that. But the
4:40truth is, from both scripture, what it's
4:42always said, and from what neuroscience
4:44is discovering in the 21st century, your
4:46brain is never the same 2 days in a row.
4:49>> [snorts]
4:49>> It changes constantly.
4:50>> wait, hang on. Your brain is never the
4:53same 2 days in a row.
4:56>> It's not even the same 2 minutes in a
4:57row. Because your brain is constantly
5:00disconnecting and reconnecting itself
5:02from neurons and groups of neurons in
5:04your brain. And so that means that
5:05you're literally never have the same
5:07structural brain as you had a few
5:08moments ago. And what we've learned in
5:10the 21st century is that the primary
5:12thing that drives how neurons connect
5:15going forward is not how they've always
5:17been, it's about what you're thinking
5:18about. And so our thoughts literally
5:21structurally change what our brains
5:23become structurally and that changes
5:25turns into what our bodies do
5:27hormonally, neuro- neurotransmitter
5:28wise, and how our genes get turned on
5:30and off and passed on to our children.
5:32So literally from thought to thought,
5:34you're building a brain that's different
5:35than the one before. The problem is,
5:38most of us think the same things over
5:40and over. We begin to believe that how
5:42it's been is how it has to be. This is
5:43just who I am.
5:45I got the wrong set of stuff from my
5:46folks, or I went through the wrong
5:48things. And so we create the same brain
5:50over and over that we've always had and
5:51that's why we feel so stuck.
5:53>> And is there safety for people to
5:56actually perpetuate the stuck?
5:58Cuz I do feel I do feel like my okay,
6:00I'm a boomer. I think you might be a
6:02boomer. I don't know, but I was born in
6:041960
6:05and
6:07we did have the mindset that hey, you go
6:11through some hard stuff
6:13it makes you stronger. You you you go
6:15through these hard things. It doesn't
6:16mean that doesn't mean they're easy. It
6:18doesn't mean you know, you losing a son.
6:21I cannot even imagine that, but I've
6:23talked to every single person that's
6:25ever been in that situation and they
6:27don't deny the grief but they redeem it.
6:30>> That's right.
6:30>> And it sounds like you've taken this
6:33and said I I'm I'm not going to make
6:36excuses
6:38for you to remain in captivity
6:41when God is offering you freedom.
6:42>> That's right.
6:43>> And um
6:45I I do think there's sometimes people
6:47would rather be prisoner of war
6:49than warriors.
6:51>> Well, I think we we develop a comfort
6:52level with what we know, right? And so
6:56psychologically speaking it seems safer
6:58sometimes to stay even in an
6:59uncomfortable position or if you find
7:01validation and identity in that place
7:04and other people are in fact you'll have
7:06no shortage of people who will come
7:07along and pat you on the back and say I
7:08feel so sorry for you, right? It's easy
7:10to find those folks.
7:11>> Sure.
7:11>> What's hard is to start changing the
7:13dynamics of the family you grew up in or
7:15the people that you're around or the
7:16people who have gone through something
7:18hard with you and you say I want my
7:20future to be different than this. I
7:21don't want to think these same things
7:22again. Sometimes that challenges power
7:25structures and and other relationships.
7:27And so it can be hard and scary to
7:29change. But what's interesting is we've
7:31learned from neuroscience in the 21st
7:33century that it's actually true that
7:35when you go through something hard, your
7:36brain gets stronger and more robust and
7:38more able to deal with hard things.
7:40>> But we're being told it breaks down.
7:42>> That's right. But we're seeing with what
7:44we call functional imaging now, we can
7:45put you in a scanner and we can look at
7:47what your brain is doing when you think
7:48certain things.
7:49>> [snorts]
7:49>> And we can actually see people get more
7:51robust and more resilient and develop
7:53more willpower because they've gone
7:55through hard things, which is what
7:56Romans 5 says all along, right? That
7:58suffering produces endurance, endurance
7:59produces character, character produces
8:01hope. So,
8:03neuroscience is coming around to the
8:04idea that if you want to be a hopeful,
8:06resilient person, you need to have gone
8:07through some hard things. And then that
8:09backs up the how do we raise our kids?
8:11We're seeing this generation that are we
8:12got to protect them. We can't let them
8:14can't let them go through anything hard.
8:16If they're sitting behind a mean kid, we
8:18need to write a letter to the teacher
8:19and make sure they move my kid
8:21put them on the team with the coach that
8:22they like. And what we're teaching what
8:24we're seeing is that kids are growing up
8:26and they they can't launch. They can't
8:27go through hard things. Life is hard and
8:29they don't know how to deal with it
8:30because we didn't let them go through
8:31hard things when they were younger and
8:33their brains were looking for proof that
8:35they could survive hard things. And so,
8:38one of the things I'm most passionate
8:39about now is having gone through the
8:42loss of a son and I've seen God keep
8:44that Romans 8:28 promise on the back end
8:46that he's going to work good out of
8:48this, not that it will become a good
8:50thing, but that he can work something
8:52good and beautiful out of it. He can he
8:54can show us what meaning and purpose
8:55look like on the backside of trauma. And
8:58I can just tell you 12 years after
9:00losing my son, it is
9:02it became the thing that showed me what
9:04my life was for.
9:06>> Wow.
9:06>> Because I lost such a went through a
9:09such a great loss and me and my family
9:10went through that and we found that
9:12God's promises were true. You do get
9:14stronger, you do get more resilient and
9:16then you find other people who don't
9:17have the same gifts that you do, who
9:19needs you to show them that it's
9:21possible to find hope again.
9:23And that's this whole self-brain surgery
9:24idea is
9:25applying what neuroscience and scripture
9:27have said all along in a way that you
9:29can see a future that doesn't look like
9:31the past did.
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10:24Going back to what you said, you go
10:26through something,
10:27and there is there always a more robust
10:31possibility, but some people don't
10:33choose that?
10:34>> There is.
10:35>> So, there's always a robust possibility,
10:37but sometimes people are like, "No, I'm
10:39going to I'm going to stay with the
10:41victim mentality." And then your brain
10:43would reprogram accordingly?
10:45>> That's right. So, the the thing is, a
10:46lot of us, and I think most of us, at
10:49least on some level, we equate
10:51quality of life with ease of
10:53circumstance.
10:54>> Wow, okay.
10:55>> So, if I as long as nothing bad happens,
10:57I can have a good life. And then and
10:59then society will validate that, right?
11:01Well, if you're if you're a good person,
11:03you work hard, and you do right, and God
11:05will protect you, and nothing bad's
11:06going to happen to you. And then when
11:07something does, it can throw your faith
11:09into a tailspin, or if you're not a
11:11believer, you can wonder, you know, why
11:14would a would a good guy allow this kind
11:15of thing to happen, or maybe there's not
11:17a God, or something like this evil can
11:18exist. And what we find out is, you can
11:21either choose to wallow in the
11:23circumstance and allow it to define what
11:25your future looks like.
11:26>> Mhm.
11:27>> Isaiah called that the furnace of
11:28suffering, right? You can you can be
11:30burned up and defined by the suffering,
11:33and we all know that person, the person
11:34who 20 years ago something hard happened
11:37and if you bump into them on the street
11:38today, you'll say, "How's it going?" and
11:40they'll say, "Well, I'm having a rough
11:41day cuz I went through this hard thing
11:4220 years ago." Right? They're staying in
11:45that and it has become the thing that
11:46defines them. And now that we understand
11:48that your thoughts turn your brain into
11:51what it is, which means that's how you
11:52feel, those are the emotions that you
11:54feel, those are the neurotransmitters
11:56that you make, your your your repetitive
11:58thoughts create the brain that creates
12:00the life that you have. If you decide
12:02instead, "I'm going to allow God to show
12:04me what my future could look like, how I
12:06could find meaning and purpose again."
12:07Then you'll begin to develop a brain
12:09that supports you in trying to learn how
12:11to find hope and move forward again. And
12:14so it's a choice. It doesn't always seem
12:16like an easy choice, but it is always an
12:17available choice to to each of us if
12:19we're willing to do the work.
12:21>> Dr. Lee, how much of our thinking
12:23processes are just inherited from our
12:26parents or it's just like woven into our
12:29environment? Uh what what are your what
12:31are your thoughts on that?
12:33>> That's a really important point because
12:35most all of us are raised in an
12:37environment with a certain set of
12:39genetics that we inherited and a culture
12:41and a worldview before we ever had
12:43language or understand the rules of
12:45engagement for the world are sort of
12:47imposed upon us and so the baseline ways
12:50in which we think, feel, believe, and
12:51act are imprinted upon us before we ever
12:54have an opportunity to get cognitive
12:55about it and think about it.
12:57>> Wow.
12:57>> And so that's why so many of us feel
12:59like this is just how I am. This is how
13:01my dad was, this is how my grandfather
13:03was. There's another thing called
13:04epigenetics that that sort of programs a
13:07lot of your baseline stress responses
13:08and cortisol levels and all those things
13:10based on hard things that your parents
13:12and grandparents went through that you
13:13never experienced yourself.
13:15>> Wow. [snorts]
13:16>> And so understanding those two things
13:17that that you react a lot of the ways
13:20that you do because of the rules of
13:21engagement that were imprinted upon you
13:23before you were aware of it and that a
13:25lot of the things about how your genes
13:26are expressed came from things that
13:28happened to generations before you,
13:30then if you understand that and that you
13:32begin to remodel your brain as soon as
13:34you change the the way that you think
13:36about things, then you can say it's not
13:38my fault how I got here, but I have
13:40responsibility for where I go next. And
13:43the process of neuroplasticity and
13:45renewing your mind changes as soon as
13:47you start thinking one thing and not
13:48another thing.
13:49>> Wow, that is amazing. I love that. That
13:52is so That is so empowering. You know,
13:54cuz the Bible says that that sins of the
13:57parents are not to be visited on the
14:00children, okay, anymore. It says, you
14:02know, it's used to be for three to four
14:04generations, but you're saying the
14:06thought patterns
14:08can still be there with the epigenetics.
14:10>> That's right. Not only the thought
14:11patterns, but we know that certain
14:13things do run in families, alcoholism,
14:14abuse, um
14:15abnormal stress responses have been
14:17studied really well in Holocaust
14:19survivors down to four generations that
14:20those kids are born with abnormally high
14:23cortisol levels.
14:24>> Wow.
14:25>> So that means what you do, so the
14:26generational curse mentioned wasn't a
14:28threat from God, I'm going to punish
14:29your kids. It was a warning because if
14:32you don't get this right in your
14:33lifetime, your kids are going to
14:34struggle with things they've never
14:35actually encountered.
14:37>> Wow.
14:37>> the the freedom there is that if we get
14:40it right, our kids can improve it in
14:43their lifetimes and future generations
14:44can be born better off than we were
14:47because we learned how to renew our
14:48minds in our in our generations.
14:50>> Wow, so if we don't, what's at risk is
14:53our children are going to struggle with
14:55things.
14:56>> Perpetuating things that that we are
14:59responsible
15:00>> going to still wrestle with those things
15:03that were in previous generations. Wow.
15:04>> That's right.
15:05>> Wow.
15:06Wow, that is sobering and empowering at
15:08the same time.
15:09>> It is.
15:10>> So Dr. Leaf, let's say there's a mother
15:13and maybe a mother and a father and
15:15they're sitting home and they have
15:18bought into the lie that avoidance of
15:21every problem is the best situation for
15:23our son or for our daughter. And now
15:25they're realizing, "Wow, I did not
15:28position them to develop strengths that
15:31they needed."
15:32>> Yeah.
15:32>> Um where do they start now? What do they
15:35do? They Let's say their their child is
15:37is 10 or their child is a teenager. And
15:40they're like, "Oh, no. Is there Is there
15:42hope? Is there a way to to flip some of
15:45this? What What What What would some of
15:47that uh catalyst look like for them?"
15:50>> I think the
15:51the first thing is that that because we
15:54know the science is on your side, that
15:56the brain begins to remodel and change
15:58as soon as you start thinking different
15:59thoughts. And the first thing is to
16:01understand this research also indicates,
16:04Lisa, that about 80% of the things we
16:06think and feel every day are false.
16:09>> No way. 80%?
16:11>> About five to one. Most of the thoughts
16:12that pop into your head are not true.
16:14>> I'm pretty sure 80% before I drink
16:15coffee is definitely wrong. I know that.
16:18>> And so So, here's the here's the
16:19interesting thing. If your thoughts
16:21create the brain that you have, and
16:23about 80% of your thoughts are untrue,
16:26if you don't know that and you react to
16:28them as if they are true, then you're
16:29building a brain to support you in
16:31making decisions based on information
16:33that was never true.
16:34>> So, I'm [snorts] making a brain that
16:36lives uh supported by falsehoods.
16:39>> In falsehood. That's right. So, if
16:40you've got a child and you recognize,
16:41"Hey, I've taught my kid to be over
16:45sensitive to risk, to be risk-averse,
16:47and now I'm seeing that they're a
16:49a child who can't engage with anything
16:52that feels scary or dangerous and it
16:53creates anxiety and panic in them." The
16:55first step is to say, "Well, the first I
16:57need to teach my child that not
16:59everything they think and feel is true."
17:01And that's what the Bible said all
17:03along, right?
17:03>> Right.
17:04>> Take your thoughts captive, 2
17:05Corinthians 10:5. Reform your thinking,
17:07don't conform your thinking.
17:08But research has shown very clearly now
17:11that not only are 80% of the things we
17:12think false, but about 90% of the things
17:15we think about every day are the same
17:17set of things that we thought about the
17:18previous day.
17:20And so that means if you take those two
17:21things in context that most of what
17:23>> Hearing more.
17:24>> [laughter]
17:24>> Right.
17:25Most of what pops into my head isn't
17:27true, and most days I wake up and think
17:29about the same bunch of stuff I thought
17:31about the previous day. And [snorts] now
17:32that I know that my thoughts turn my
17:34brain into what it is, I'm continuing to
17:37feed my brain the same generally untrue
17:39thoughts and and tell my brain that the
17:41generally untrue things I feel are true.
17:44And then my society says I need to
17:46validate my feelings, I need to follow
17:48my heart, I need to live my truth, all
17:50those things, then what I'm doing is I'm
17:52creating a brain that's looking at the
17:54world and seeing falsehood and not
17:56having a mechanism by which to determine
17:58that it's false.
18:00And so you you're your job as a parent
18:02is to say, "Hey, I know this feels big
18:06and I know it feels powerful, but it
18:07might not be true. And so let's develop
18:10a mechanism for discerning whether the
18:12things I feel and think are true or not
18:14before we react to them. Because if it's
18:16not true, you don't need to react to it.
18:18You don't need to live in it if it isn't
18:20true.
18:21>> Wow. Well, I mean, that explains what I
18:23said at the the very beginning like
18:25people have lost their minds. They're
18:26they're actually living in a stronghold
18:30of lies.
18:31>> That's right.
18:32>> like everything's being processed
18:34through faulty reasoning. Um okay, so
18:36going back to that parent because I I
18:38know I've got a lots of moms and they're
18:40like, "Oh my gosh, Dr. Lee, what do I
18:43do?" So I love that you can say, "Hey,
18:46that's big."
18:47Would it be beneficial for the parents
18:50to maybe sit their son or daughter down
18:52and say, "Listen,
18:53we love you so much
18:55that we thought the best situation for
18:57you
18:58was to
19:00keep you and shelter you from any type
19:03of hardship or confrontation or, you
19:06know, conflict, and we realize now
19:09that that was a mistake.
19:11And we realize now cuz it sounds like
19:13you're actually saying that the parents
19:15are trying to protect them from anxious
19:16situations is actually creating anxiety,
19:20a generation of anxious children because
19:22they've never developed the skill set to
19:25realize, "Oh, I went through that and I
19:27I I lived. I survived. I I'm still
19:30friends with that person. I had a hard
19:31conversation, but it's okay.
19:33Um I lost that game, but I can doesn't
19:36mean I'm a loser." I mean, those kind of
19:37things. So,
19:39can there be a turning point where the
19:42parents can say that to
19:45the child and then the family as a whole
19:49says, "This is the new way of we're
19:50looking at things." Cuz if it really
19:53feels like if the parents don't see it,
19:56they're going to by accident perpetuate
19:57that.
19:58>> Um I'll just speak for myself
20:00personally. My mother and my father my
20:03mom had a very traumatic upbringing.
20:06And I would hear her retail incidents of
20:08things that happened 20, 30, you know,
20:1040, 50 years ago. And some of those I
20:13was part of and I didn't even recognize
20:17what she was saying because she repeated
20:20it so many times, but it got layered
20:23with emotion and her present-day context
20:28or or whatever where it was I was like,
20:30"Wait." And And I It was like there was
20:33a situation where
20:35there was no ability to move forward
20:38because we were working with a bunch of
20:41non-truths over here.
20:42>> Right. Right.
20:43>> And and almost
20:45like
20:46I remember there was a day
20:47[clears throat] I I said to her, "Mom,
20:50that's just not true."
20:53And her
20:54her little eyes, she just looked at me
20:56like, "Oh my gosh.
20:59Have I built all this time
21:02on something that was false?"
21:03>> Mhm.
21:04>> And um
21:06and I I do believe there's a lot of
21:08people right now
21:10that are waking up
21:13and realizing
21:14that there's been a constant messaging
21:18of you're a victim, you're a victim,
21:21people are after you, you know, divide
21:23division, uh you know, whatever's going
21:26on, you choose sides instead of renew
21:29your mind. As a woman who is 65 and went
21:32through menopause in the last decade,
21:35I'm going to tell you there's a crazy
21:36woman in your brain if you don't renew
21:38it. I mean, it is it is a it is a real
21:40thing. And 80% of probably the things I
21:44was thinking or reacting to emotionally
21:46and wanted to spend emotional
21:48>> Not true.
21:48>> would have gotten me arrested, you know,
21:50or thrown off of airplanes, or out of
21:53public speaking, or edited in my books.
21:56And so, um
21:59it sounds like there needs to be a
22:01a turning
22:02>> An adjustment. Yeah.
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23:00And I'm going to tell you one of the
23:01most key things you can do as a parent
23:03is read with your children.
23:06>> So, as a brain surgeon, um one of the
23:08hardest things to do
23:10>> [snorts]
23:10>> is to recognize in the middle of an
23:13operation that I made a choice that
23:16isn't going to help me complete that
23:17operation in the way that I wanted to.
23:19>> [snorts]
23:19>> And it's hard as a surgeon. We call it
23:22we call it approach in surgery. The the
23:25the the set of things that we're
23:26thinking about, the [snorts] the way
23:28that we put the patient on the table,
23:30the the location of the incision, the
23:32technologies [snorts] and tools we're
23:33going to use for the operation. All
23:35those things we go into what we call
23:36approach.
23:36>> Mhm.
23:37>> And one of the hardest things to do,
23:38Lisa, is to be in the middle of an
23:40operation and start to see that this is
23:43going to be harder than it should be.
23:45I'm going to lose more blood. I might
23:46hurt my patient in some way. I might not
23:47be able to get this whole tumor out. One
23:49of the hardest things is to stop an
23:51operation and change approaches. To
23:53recognize and admit to my team, "Hey
23:55guys, we need to close this up. I need
23:57to move the patient. I need to change
23:59the approach." It's hard. And a lot of
24:01surgeons don't have the juice to do
24:03that. And they'll just
24:04>> be humility?
24:05>> It's humility. It's integrity. It's it's
24:08willingness to introspect on your own
24:10decision-making. And so, sometimes
24:12surgeons just finish an operation and
24:14they tell the family, "We did all we
24:15could do." When they really just chose
24:17the wrong approach. And I think going
24:19back to your question about parents,
24:20like one of the one of the hardest
24:22things to do is to say to your children,
24:25>> Mhm.
24:25>> "We've been saying some things to you
24:27that we recognize aren't the best advice
24:29to have given you. We chose a wrong
24:31approach. We need to rethink how we
24:34discuss feelings and thoughts in this
24:36house. We need to rethink how we make
24:38decisions in this house because a lot of
24:39the things we've been reacting to were
24:41never true. And so, now we need to
24:43change approaches. And I can tell you
24:44though
24:45>> [snorts]
24:45>> that if you're a patient, you want a
24:48surgeon who is willing to say, "You know
24:50what?
24:51>> I'm going to switch approaches here
24:52because I want this tumor out. I want my
24:54patient to survive. I want the best
24:56outcome here. It takes It takes a lot of
24:59courage. And so when I talk about self
25:01brain surgery, it it's this idea that
25:03you're a patient, you're dealing with
25:04your own life, your own brain, your own
25:06mind, all these things going on, your
25:07own family, but you also have some
25:10agency and control as if you're a
25:11surgeon because you can decide to
25:13interact with your thinks with your
25:15thoughts and feelings in a different way
25:16than you have before. I think especially
25:18when it comes down to parenting, like
25:19love your kids enough to acknowledge
25:22when you chose the wrong approach and
25:24show them that that good people can make
25:27mistakes and that they can pull a
25:28trigger and change when they need to to
25:31get the best outcome.
25:32>> Wow. Wow. I love that. And again, you
25:35know, we
25:36we've had to change approaches so many
25:38times with our own children. And um
25:42and I know for us
25:44that has always been an opportunity to
25:46learn.
25:47>> That's right.
25:47>> It's always been an opportunity to learn
25:48and it's not just
25:51us that learn in that moment, but our
25:53children learn.
25:54>> Yeah.
25:54>> Oh,
25:55it's okay to own a mistake.
25:57>> That's right.
25:57>> It's okay to to say you made a mistake.
26:00You know, John and I were even just
26:01talking about something yesterday and I
26:03thought could it be that we need to
26:04change our approach on some of this and
26:06he was like,
26:07"You know what?
26:09I think that needs to be a
26:10conversation." And so I just want people
26:12to be empowered that almost sounds and
26:15and it sounds like you're saying, "You
26:17can step away
26:19and you can look at this in the light of
26:21God's word."
26:22>> That's right.
26:23>> And the approach you're doing right now
26:25is not working.
26:26>> That's right.
26:27>> So maybe we need to flip this
26:28and maybe we need to look at it from a
26:30different angle. Maybe we need to
26:31approach it from a different way. Maybe,
26:35you know, this is a a a way that we've
26:38never walked before,
26:40but we know that scripture will give us
26:43light and give us truth and and let's
26:46just
26:47be curious enough to to say, "Let's
26:49Let's do this." You know, I am
26:52I am half Sicilian, which I'm very proud
26:55of, and I always say to the women when
26:59we're
27:00when I'm doing certain messages, I say,
27:02"You think you're a victim."
27:04But because I'm Sicilian, if I get
27:06attacked,
27:07I think I'm a threat.
27:08>> No.
27:08>> And they said, "You need to see yourself
27:10as a threat rather than a victim."
27:12>> Yeah.
27:12>> And the attacks against your life have
27:15more to do with who you might be in the
27:16future than who you have been in the
27:18past. But most people live in the
27:21limitations
27:23of their brain's past, and then it
27:26sounds like here's the past where
27:28there's pain,
27:29and then you're saying the enemy comes
27:31and layers
27:32false information. God doesn't care
27:34about you.
27:35Uh people don't care about you. You'll
27:37never be enough. You'll never be loved.
27:39You'll never change. All men leave. All
27:42women Whatever that that false narrative
27:46is
27:47that keeps people
27:49from actually going to the root of
27:52getting like that tumor out.
27:53>> That's right. We need to understand that
27:56there is an element of what we hear in
27:58our heads
27:59that is not just neurological activity,
28:02but spiritual warfare.
28:03>> Yes.
28:04>> And it's not always diagnosis, sometimes
28:05it's devil, too. Right? I mean, so I
28:08think we do need to be aware that we
28:10have an enemy. Jesus said in John 10:10,
28:12"The thief comes to steal and kill and
28:13destroy.
28:14I came that you might have life and have
28:16it abundantly." And Jesus isn't talking
28:18about material circumstances,
28:20possessions, wealth. He's talking about
28:21our peace of mind, our ability to be
28:24resilient, and to navigate hardship in a
28:26way that still shows us that there's
28:27meaning and purpose, right? So, you have
28:30an enemy that doesn't want you to live
28:31in abundance, doesn't want other people
28:33to find their way towards that
28:35abundance,
28:36>> [snorts]
28:36>> and he gets in your head, and everything
28:38he says to you is a lie or at least is a
28:40truth wrapped in lies.
28:42And so, that's why it's so important to
28:45discern and be aware that not everything
28:47you think and feel is true, but also not
28:49everything you think and feel is from
28:50you or from the Lord. And so sometimes
28:52we have a we have an enemy spirit
28:54operating who wants us to focus on our
28:57feelings. Who wants us to focus on the
28:58past. Wants us to separate from our
29:00parents if they were mean to us when we
29:02were nine. You know, that [snorts] we
29:03see this whole spirit right now. People
29:06disowning their families.
29:07>> Yes.
29:08>> But who hasn't made mistakes raising
29:10their children, right? Like um [snorts]
29:12so I heard you talked to Henry Cloud
29:14about that about boundaries and how
29:15about we're not supposed to be using to
29:17break up families. We're supposed to be
29:18using them to heal families. So so
29:20remember that there's an enemy and
29:22remember that neurological activity
29:24explains part of what's going on in your
29:25head, but spiritual activity explains
29:27most of it or a lot of it.
29:28>> You know, I I know I just did something
29:30with Dr. Axe and we talked about how
29:32everything is spiritual and it doesn't
29:34mean
29:35um it's always the devil, but there
29:37usually is a spiritual element whether
29:40it's whether you want to acknowledge it
29:42or not. Like even what you said, those
29:44high things that would exalt themselves
29:46against us knowing God. There is
29:48thoughts. There is it you know, those
29:50constantly messaging and right now with
29:53what is going on in our world with
29:56social media and all the
29:58irresponsibility of the media and you
30:01know, uh everything going around it
30:03feels like chaos chaos chaos chaos and
30:07and yet God is is saying people
30:11I need you to renew your mind and we
30:13can't renew our mind by looking at
30:16yesterday's news. You know, we have to
30:18renew our mind with the word of God cuz
30:20the word of God is alive and is active
30:21and it's sharper than any two-edged
30:23sword. So Dr. Lee, what do you think the
30:26percentage is of people that are held
30:28back by their thoughts versus their
30:31actual circumstances?
30:33>> All of them.
30:34>> All of them?
30:34>> I I would say if you think about this
30:36this sequence, I call it thoughts become
30:38things sequence that we just referenced
30:40in Ephesians 4 a moment ago.
30:42When you choose Let Let's say you you
30:44think of yourself as a person carrying a
30:46bow and arrow and you got all these
30:47arrows in a quiver on your back, right?
30:49>> [snorts]
30:50>> Your thoughts exist in that quiver
30:52before you decide which one to think and
30:54turn into a real thing in the world.
30:56They're all equally possible, but until
30:58you choose an arrow and put it in the
30:59bow and energize it and release it, it's
31:01potential. But once you choose a thought
31:04and react to it, a series of things
31:05happens and here's what they are.
31:07>> [snorts]
31:07>> That immaterial thought in your mind
31:09turns into an electrical event in your
31:11brain.
31:12>> Wow.
31:12>> So now you've turned a thought into an
31:13electrical event in your brain.
31:15>> [snorts]
31:15>> That neuron fires and goes to release a
31:17neurotransmitter in your hypothalamus.
31:20And now that
31:21thought event has become an electrical
31:23event and now it's become a biological
31:24event.
31:25>> Wow.
31:25>> And that neurotransmitter releases a
31:27hormone in your pituitary gland that
31:29goes to your adrenal gland and releases
31:30cortisol.
31:31>> Mhm.
31:32>> And now you have a physiological
31:33response that raises your blood pressure
31:35or switches on epigenetics. And you can
31:37take a thought to an electrical event to
31:39a biological one to a historical one by
31:42changing how your kids are born. And so
31:44everything you think about literally
31:46turns into something real in the world.
31:48So long before your circumstances have a
31:49chance to change how things turn out for
31:52you, the way you think about
31:53circumstances in general is already
31:56writing how you're tending to respond to
31:57those things. And so I would say 100% of
32:00people have more trouble with the subset
32:01of things that they think about than
32:03they do with what actually happens. And
32:05that explains how
32:06two people can go through the exact same
32:08circumstance and have vastly different
32:10outcomes.
32:11>> Mhm.
32:11>> You know, so many so many women are now
32:13wrestling with a number of autoimmune
32:17diseases. Is this something that can be
32:20addressed with changing their thinking?
32:24>> Yes and no. And there there is there are
32:26physical diseases that we can't change
32:28with the things that we think about.
32:29However, there is really good research
32:31to show that just about every
32:33physiological process in your body will
32:34respond to changing the milieu of things
32:37that you think about. And so, that's why
32:38cognitive behavioral therapy, for
32:40example, has been so effective in
32:41chronic pain syndromes. And so, we can't
32:44ameliorate or eliminate every physical
32:46ailment that comes along. If we could,
32:48by changing our thoughts, then we'd live
32:49forever. And we know that we don't.
32:51>> [snorts]
32:51>> But we certainly can man- we can make
32:54our thought environment serve our
32:56physiological environment at a holier
32:58level, if you want to submit your
33:00thinking to God. And then you can
33:02optimize the physiological environment
33:03of your body, which we know now that
33:06that reducing inflammation and changing
33:08the way that your body responds to
33:09things affects and reduces the symptoms
33:11of many autoimmune diseases. And so, I
33:13think although we can't eliminate
33:15everything, we can certainly improve our
33:16experience of it by changing the things
33:18that we think about.
33:19>> I love that. I um
33:21I didn't ask for this test to be done,
33:23but somebody did a genetic test on me.
33:25And I guess I have a a janky uh DNA
33:29strand or chromosome or something, and
33:31it they printed out this list of all
33:34these horrible things that are supposed
33:36to happen to me. And I read them, and I
33:38I just like I threw it away. I tore it
33:40up. I threw it away. And a couple of
33:42them I'd already I'd already had cancer
33:44at five. There was a couple of things
33:45that already had happened. But I
33:47remember calling another friend who
33:49would think very much like we were
33:50thinking, and he said, "Lisa,
33:53pretty much everybody has
33:56these things dormant in their body." And
33:58he said, "Stress is what He said, 'These
34:01kind of things is like a gun held to
34:03your head, but stress is what pulls the
34:05trigger.'"
34:05>> Sure.
34:06>> And he said, "So, we're we're like we
34:07weren't made to live forever. We all
34:09have these kind of uh things that are
34:12like part of the fall or part of
34:13whatever." And he said, "But you just
34:15you just have to manage your stress and
34:17your thought thoughts so you don't pull
34:19that that trigger."
34:20>> That's right.
34:21>> So, it sounds like you're saying you you
34:22don't deny that those things are uh
34:25evidentially there or a possibility, but
34:28you don't allow stress to cause you to
34:30have those things be your focus.
34:32>> That's right. Look at identical twins.
34:33So, they they don't live the same
34:35lifespans. They don't develop the same
34:37disease profiles. They don't have the
34:38same kind of health problems. And the
34:40reason is they they have a different
34:41lives. And they have different thought
34:43lives. And so, we know that it's not the
34:46genes you inherit that tell the story of
34:48what you're going to have in your life.
34:49It's the epigenetic switches that come
34:51on and off in your lifespan lifespan.
34:53And so, that means it's it's your
34:54environment, your thought environment,
34:56the decisions you make. In fact, TD
34:58Jakes said in one of his books
35:00that we are born looking like our
35:01parents, but we die looking like our
35:03decisions.
35:04>> Mhm.
35:04>> And that that line stuck with me because
35:06it speaks to epigenetics. It speaks to
35:08the things that become real in your
35:09life, you have a lot of control over
35:11them.
35:11>> So, in this book, I love first of all
35:14that you're merging. I love that you
35:15said at the very beginning that science
35:17is catching up to what the word of God
35:20has always said. Like science is, "Oh,
35:22wait. Wait. Maybe God knew what he was
35:24saying. Maybe Solomon knew. Maybe maybe
35:26all of this kind of stuff was already in
35:28play." So, it's catching up.
35:31Is this book
35:34is it user-friendly? Is it practical?
35:36>> Yep. So, I give you um what I call the
35:3910 Commandments of self-brain surgery,
35:40which are my
35:41>> I like that.
35:42>> the right? The Why did I choose 10?
35:44The the 10 most important things I've
35:46learned as I've tried to apply science
35:49and faith to each other in a way that
35:52honors God.
35:53>> [snorts]
35:53>> Um and as a brief father, how I've done
35:54that. So, there's 10 lessons that are
35:56insanely practical about how people can
35:58flourish in their lives using science
36:00and faith together.
36:01And then I give you 15 very specific, we
36:03call them self-brain surgery operations,
36:06particular things you can do if you're
36:07feeling panic or anxiety or grief or
36:09chronic pain or all kinds of things. Um
36:12and so, there's a lot of practical stuff
36:13in the book as well. And then I just
36:15[snorts] try to teach you a process of
36:17how you can practice this in your life
36:19going forward because the one of the
36:21most important things is to understand
36:23that that operating your brain the way
36:25God designed it to be operated isn't
36:27something you do when you're feeling bad
36:29or or when you're having a bad day. It's
36:31how we're supposed to live our lives all
36:33the time.
36:34Cuz if you look at Ephesians chapter 4
36:36for example, Paul talks about what he
36:38calls the Gentiles and and and the
36:40problems that they're having and he
36:41lists all these sinful things that
36:43people are doing, their adultery, the
36:44murder, all that. And then he says,
36:46"They're lost in the futility of their
36:47thinking."
36:48>> And their reasoning, yeah.
36:49>> So, thinking turns into your life. What
36:51you think about isn't a problem in your
36:53life, it's the root problem in your
36:55life. And then he says in 4:23, "You
36:57need to be renewed in the attitudes of
36:58your mind." Right? So, [snorts] the
37:00prescription for human flourishing is to
37:01change the things you're thinking about.
37:03That will turn into better things come
37:05out of your life. And so, I tried to
37:06write a book that was prescriptive and
37:09also descriptive of a life what a life
37:12looks like if you want to pursue that
37:13flourishing and abundance that Jesus
37:14gave us.
37:16>> Well, I love that. And I want to thank
37:18you for writing that book.
37:19>> Thank you.
37:19>> And I am believing that there has been
37:21never Well, there's never been a more
37:23desperate need
37:25for a book like this. And I'm just going
37:27to say this to you out there, this is a
37:29book that is going to not only give you
37:31practicalities, but it's going to hold
37:33you accountable. And a lot of people are
37:35afraid of being accountable, but I just
37:38want to remind you, you don't want to
37:40give away your power to everybody else.
37:42>> That's right.
37:42>> You want to actually be accountable, you
37:44want to own your mistakes so that you
37:47can walk free and go forward. And this
37:50is a time where deception is abounding,
37:53fear is
37:55just radically compromising people's
37:57ability to love, people's ability to
37:59connect, people's ability to learn. And
38:02so, I believe this book is going to be a
38:04tool, it's going to be a sword in your
38:06hand to slice through the enemy's lies
38:10and actually recover. I also believe it
38:12can be a restorative restorative tool. I
38:15believe it'll be a restorative tool for
38:17you to have conversations with your
38:18family. So many people out there, they
38:21thought they were doing the right thing
38:22with their children and then found out
38:25that maybe they didn't position them for
38:27strength or maybe you made a lot of
38:29mistakes. I feel like John and I made a
38:30lot of mistakes with our children, but
38:32this can be a new beginning for all of
38:35you. And so this is such a key important
38:39book. Imagine. Imagine thinking you can
38:44build a God-honoring life with 80% of
38:48your thoughts being untrue, being false,
38:52and therefore the conclusions being
38:54completely corrupted. I believe that we
38:57need to renew our mind, that we need to
38:59get into God's word, we need to allow
39:02that word of God to have its way in our
39:04life like never before. And Dr. Lee
39:05Warren, you have always been a pioneer
39:08for this, so thank you so much for
39:10joining me today.
39:11>> Thank you, Lisa. It's an honor to be
39:12with you.
39:12>> And they can get this book wherever
39:14books are sold, I'm assuming?
39:15>> The book is called The Life-Changing Art
39:17of Self-Brain Surgery, connecting
39:19neuroscience and faith to radically
39:21transform your life. It's releasing
39:22February 3rd everywhere books are sold
39:24all around the world on Audible, too.
39:26>> All right. Grab a copy for yourself,
39:29grab one for your friends, grab one for
39:31your kids that maybe you messed up with.
39:33I believe this is the beginning and a
39:35catalyst for a new life for your family.

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