Frontal Lobe Friday

S8E94 Frontal Lobe Friday
[00:00:00] Hey, are you ready to change your life? If the answer is yes, there's only one rule. You have to change your mind first. And my friend, there's a place where the neuroscience of how your mind works smashes together with faith and everything starts to make sense. Are you ready to change your life? Well, this is the place.
Self Brain Surgery School. I'm Dr. Lee Warren and this is where we go deep into how we're wired. Take control of our thinking and find real hope. This is where we learn to become healthier, feel better, and be happier. This is where we leave the past behind and transform our minds. This is where we start today.
Are you ready? This is your podcast. This is your place. This is your time. My friend, let's get after it.
I've been trying to write a new intro for the show. As we get close to season nine is going to be all in on. The [00:01:00] neuroscience side, neuroscience and faith smashing together, how we make all this stuff work. This is Dr. Lee Warren. I'm your friendly internet brain surgeon, not really internet brain surgeon.
I'm an actual real life brain surgeon, but you probably know me more in the context of reading my books and listening to the podcast. And I hope you're getting my newsletter, drleewarren. com, wleewarrenmd. com. You can sign up for the newsletter. Listen, it's Friday, and I'm going to start a new thing today.
As we get close to Season 9, like I said, we're going to dial in more on the neuroscience. And Friday is going to be, sometimes, Frontal Lobe Friday. What in the world does that mean, Dr. Warren? Frontal Lobe Friday. Your frontal lobe is probably the pinnacle of God's creative ingenuity. Of all the things that He made, the human frontal lobe sets us apart from the animals in numerous ways.
But the most important one is, you have The gift of something called selective attention you could choose To think about one thing and not another thing. You [00:02:00] can make a conscious Decision friend when something is stressing you or giving you a hard time or something is not worth your time You can make a decision to switch and think about something else No other animal had that Harvey and Louis God rest them.
We miss them, by the way Really, it's crazily quiet around here But Harvey and Lewis when they got on a raccoon or a coyote or something They couldn't stop. That's ultimately what led to them, their demise is they would get engaged with something and they could not switch away. I would have to grab them, drag them, fire a gun, shock them with their collars, do something to change their minds because they were incapable of changing it on their own.
But you. You were given this incredible gift of the human frontal lobe and the frontal lobe allows you to make an executive decision. You know, we talk about the way businesses are organized and most companies and our hospitals, a good example, have what they call the C suite [00:03:00] the chief officers suite, where they'll have this.
Chief executive officer, the chief operating officer, the chief financial officer, chief nursing officer, all those people, the chiefs, the C's are in the suite of all those offices and they're in charge of the business. Of that organization, right? And in big companies, it's often the top floor, like that, the suite of the executives up there, right?
So down on the ground in a business, if something's happened and there's a fire in the cafeteria of the hospital, it's a little while before the executives get involved in that. And what's happening on the ground in the cafeteria is that somebody is getting a fire extinguisher and trying to put that fire out and making all kinds of decisions and implementing policies that hopefully had prepared them for handling whatever's going on at putting that fire out.
Right. But the business of what's happening acutely immediately on the ground isn't directly under the control of the executives. Right. But in a little while, somebody is going to make a [00:04:00] phone call or send a text or run down. To the CEO's office and they're going to say, Hey, there's a fire in the kitchen and the CEO is going to send somebody or go himself or herself and go down there and get involved and make sure that this, that the problem is being handled appropriately, that resources don't need to be allocated differently that decisions and policies and procedures have been followed properly to try to prevent it from happening again, all that kind of stuff, the executives get involved in that ultimately will lead to a better system, hopefully.
If they're good executives, right, ultimately will improve the safety conditions, ultimately reward the heroism of whoever got involved and solved the problem and put the fire out and saved everybody. Or, you know, challenge and punish, reeducate, handle the people who didn't do the things properly that led to the trouble that they will fix the problem and make sure that going forward, things were better.
That's what you hope your executives do. But the most important thing about that is the [00:05:00] executive function takes a little bit of time. And on the ground, in the early stages of the problem flaring up, other parts of the organization are firing. Well, your brain is wired the exact same way. Your limbic system, particularly the amygdala, all this emotional stuff that the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic nervous system happen.
Instantly, instinctually, quickly, and they get things like fight or flight, fear, anxiety, stress, trauma responses, all those kinds of things almost ingrained synaptically to happen instantly without you having to think about them. That's the analogy we always talk about when you put your hand on something hot, you immediately draw it away, which is a whole complex bunch of neurons firing to make your arm pull away before you think to yourself, I need to move my arm.
Right? You've already gotten yourself out of danger. And the problem with that is, that same set of reactions and responses to traumas, real or imagined, or fear, [00:06:00] anxieties, real or imagined, happen automatically in other areas of our lives too. And that messes up our relationships and causes us trouble with our kids or our parents or our employers or employees.
That those automated responses, right? And I just want you today here on Fontal Lobe Friday. I want you to realize that you were more basal, more instinctual, more ingrained responses aren't always happening in your best interest. And so learning then to get your executive function engaged more quickly is a superpower that will help you become healthier and feel better and be happier in your life.
It will help you, okay? Learning to get that executive function happening. And I want to remind you of a quote from the book called Disruptive Thinking by TD Jakes that I read. And boy, I would love to have him on the podcast sometime. He is really hard to get ahold of. Bishop T. D. Jakes would be a great interview for the show, but his book, Disruptive Thinking, was [00:07:00] incredible to me and covered some ground, made me think about a lot of things differently than I have, and I'm not necessarily recommending that you read it.
It's a very specific kind of thing. And it's not really. In the vein of most of the things we talk about on this podcast But boy, he said some things that really shook me up in that book And here's one of them the older we get The longer we live the more we realize that we are born looking like our parents, but we die Looking like our decisions.
We're born looking like our parents But we die Looking like our decisions friend. That is exactly What you need to hear and you need to absorb on Frontal Lobe Friday. You need to get that. You're born looking like your parents, but you die looking like your decisions. If you're dealing with some kind of problem right now.
And your go to reason for why you're dealing with it is that's just how I am, that's how my parents were, my dad was that way, [00:08:00] that's just the way I was raised. If you're saying anything like that or I'm this way because that thing happened to me when I was 17, I'm behaving this way, I'm drinking this thing, I'm sleeping with that person, I'm doing this thing, I'm not going to church, I'm doing this and I'm feeling that and I'm reacting this because of, So and so that did this thing to me 20 years ago, or my child died, or my husband died, or my wife left me.
If that's the answer to why your behavior is what it is, then I would just suggest to you. That it's not their fault anymore because you're making a decision and you may not be consciously making it, but you are making it. You're making a decision not to change your brain and not to change your life because you can, you have the absolute power to get your frontal lobes in an executive role, to make the changes that are needed to be made, to make your organization of your life.
better than it has been. You [00:09:00] can make those decisions. You can make those changes. You may think, no, I can't. I've lost too much. I want to remind you of Ernest Hemingway in the book, The Old Man and the Sea, which is one of my favorite little books. If you've never read it, you should go read it. It'll take you about four hours probably.
It's a short little guy little book. And the story is an old man in a boat out in the ocean. He catches the big fish that he's been trying to catch his whole life, the biggest marlin he's ever seen. He's got it lashed to the side of his boat and all of a sudden the sharks show up. And they're going to take that fish from him that he's fought so hard for.
It's the only thing he's got in his life is this one triumph. He's finally achieved this thing and they are going to eat it all up or he's going to die and he may not even make it back safely to land. And he's struggling because he's out in the boat in the middle of the ocean in the midst of the struggle with the sharks and the distance and the weather and the lack of food and water and all those things.
And he says this, now is no time [00:10:00] to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is. Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is. And friend, that's what I'm telling you today here on the inaugural episode of Frontal Lobe Friday.
You can stop. And you must, if you want to become healthier and feel better and be happier, you must stop living your life in the echo and shadow of what's happened before and what other people have done before and how you think your genetics are and how you think your parents forced you to live and think and behave in a certain way.
And you must stop thinking, I don't have this and I don't have that. And that's why I can't be happy. Or if I could only get to this place, or only get that promotion or only achieve this thing, then I would be happy. If you are believe that your happiness and your peace of mind and your ability to have a meaningful and purposeful life depends on any external [00:11:00] circumstance, person, relationship, achievement, experience, emotion that could be taken from you.
Or has been taken from you, then you will never actually be happy. You will just find yourself in a series of shooting and moving targets that you were never able to hit and wondering why you can't find your way towards being happy. And you will ultimately blame it on somebody else or something else that's happened.
But now my friend is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do. With what there is that my friend is the way to get your frontal lobe Engaged and take over all those basal instincts and teach them new ways to behave You make new brain cells Every day of your life and those brain cells are looking for a job to do They're looking for a pathway to be wired into because neurons that fire together wire together in your [00:12:00] job As the CEO of your own life, and please accept the title of the CEO of your own life.
Now understand, even CEOs answer to somebody higher. Okay? So I'm not saying you're the God of your own life, I'm not saying that. Because, if you have it right, if you're doing things properly, you're going to be in submission to the Lord, and He's going to help you live the life that He designed for you, and that's going to make you even happier, and even more whole, and aimed at the purpose that you were created for.
So I'm not saying be the God of your own life. Don't hear me saying that. But the CEO answers to the board. Okay. The CEO answers to the shareholders and you, if you're the CEO of your own life, you answer to the Lord and he's going to help you be better at managing your own life. Okay. So when I say that, just understand the context as which I'm saying it, your frontal lobe is the executive of your brain and your mind and your brain and your mind control what your body does and your [00:13:00] body controls what your life looks like.
Okay. And now we know from epigenetics and neurobiology that the things you think about change the way that your brain behaves and that changes how other people experience you and changes their brains too through mirror neurons and you are actually incredibly influential in the life and success of other people around you and in the genetic changes and markers that get expressed in your children and your children's children and your children's children.
That's the basis of generational curses. It's also the basis of generational blessings, and you can be in charge of deciding that it's gonna stop with you or start with you to get better. Okay? I wanna to tell you, if you really want to tune in to your spirit and start hearing things that are better than, this is just how I am, or this is how it's always gonna be, or I can't make this happen because I'm just faded and genetically coded to be this way.
I want you to understand, God has a different story for you. How do you hear Him? [00:14:00] Jesus is what God sounds like. Pete Greek said that in his incredible book, How to Hear God. If you're wondering why you're not hearing God, the first thing to do is cuddle up to places where He definitely is, and that's in the Word.
He's already given you a lot of His own words. And Jesus is what God sounds like. So get to know him. That's going to give you some tools, some tool kits, some prehab to handle the things that you think about when you're going through something hard. Okay. And that's going to allow you to get your frontal lobe involved and learn how to do that front, that thought biopsy and put that little space in between the stimulus and that immediate, Hey, I got to put this fire out and, Hey, maybe I should call the CEO and find out what I need to do next before I make a decision that might be the wrong one after I get the fire out.
Think about getting your executive team on board. Let those smart neurons help you make better decisions so that you can stop dying, [00:15:00] looking like your decisions if they're not good ones. Look like better decisions. I'm rambling just a little bit, but I want you to dial it in with me as we get close to the conclusion of this episode.
Your brain is wired to help you. Make pathways that automate decisions, feelings, and behaviors so that you don't have to use as much brain power to think about them. That's why you can drive to work after a few days to a new job without having to think about all the turns and you can instead start thinking about the audio book you're listening to or the radio.
You don't have to think about all the stop signs and all the turns and all the lights and changing lanes and all those things because your brain will wire that in over time as something that you can do without having to expend a lot of mental energy on it. So remember, be kind to yourself, be trauma informed towards yourself.
Remember not what's wrong with me, but what happened to me gives you insight, not excuses. About how you can [00:16:00] move forward from now because what got you here To this place where you're listening to this podcast and wondering how you can make things better And wondering if you can really test out some better opportunities to live differently in the future this september as we're examining ourselves Then also be patient with yourself because neurologic damage in my patients when they have a spinal cord injury or brain injury, the first thing I tell them is be patient.
These wounds take a long time to heal. Your spinal cord takes a long time to get better. It doesn't happen overnight. So be patient with yourself. And love your brain and understand the way it's wired and that you are given this gift of the frontal lobe that nobody else in all of creation has. You can decide what you're going to think about.
And Paul says in Philippians chapter 4, hey. If you're unhappy, if you're anxious, if you're stressed, then maybe think about some different stuff. Maybe change what you think about for a, maybe just spend a little time getting your brain on some different things. If you're [00:17:00] stressed, if you're worried, if you're concerned, if you're anxious, then hear these words from 000 years ago.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every way, in every situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Finally, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.
That's what's going to help you, friend, change your mind. You'll change your life. Take control of that beautiful frontal lobe that you have. Stop using your past as an excuse and enable instead a new pathway forward because what got you here won't get you there on this frontal lobe Friday. We're going to change our minds.
I'm going to change our lives. We're going to grab a hold of the power of directed neuroplasticity. We're going to rewire our brains and start understanding that it doesn't have [00:18:00] to be the way it's always been, but we do. Have to start today. Hey, thanks for listening. Please subscribe to the show so you automatically get every episode and if you like the show, you'll love my weekly letter.
Check out my writing at drleewarren. substack. com, drleewarren. substack. com. Get the free newsletter every week for my best prescriptions for becoming healthy. feeling better and being happier through the power of faith and neuroscience smashing together via self brain surgery. drleewarren. substack. com and if you need prayer, go to the prayer wall at wleewarrenmd.com/prayer
wleewarrenmd.com.prayer. The theme music for the show is Make Us One by Tommy Walker, graciously provided for free by the great folks over at TommyWalkerMinistries. org. Check it out and consider supporting them. Tommy Walker ministries. org. Remember, you can't change your life until you change your mind. And the good news is you can start today.
I'm Dr. Lee Warren. I'll talk to you soon. God bless you, friend. Have a great day.