When You Know it's Time to Start

Good morning, my friend. I hope you're doing well. Dr. Lee Warren here with

you with some self -brain surgery on Tuesday.

Hey, it's not Tuesdays with Tata, but today, last weekend, we've been sick and

Tata just isn't ready to record, I'm not ready to record a whole episode again either.

So we decided, the other day I mentioned to you how all this started as the

You Start Today podcast.

Lisa and I had you know lost our son Mitch in the in the fall of 2013 and,

shortly after that my Letters that I started writing to our family became a

newsletter that other people started reading and and that led to this.

Decision that we made to get ourselves around other bereaved people and try

to start helping and as a means of trying to find our Own way back.

We started trying to help other people find their way back to and that ultimately,

resulted in the decision that I made with Lisa to start a podcast.

And the very first episode of the podcast was April 28th, 2014.

So almost 10 years ago now. And we did that. We've called it You Start Today

because we had this mission.

We recognized that when you've lost a child, like all these things become very clear.

Like when you go through something really hard. And friend, if you're listening

to this after you've had a massive thing,

some kind of trauma or tragedy or difficulty or you're in the middle

of a long season of those then you'll know what I mean

like it can become either destructive and

you can be kind of defined by the massive thing as

I talk about in my new book hope is the first dose or it

can be refining and ultimately you can say I need to redeem this pain I need

to do something with my life to honor my loss or or to honor God or to find

some new way forward and I thought in the spirit of new thing November since

we're at this place where we're trying to cast off things that are holding us

back and change our minds so we can change our life and really move forward.

If God really has a year of favor that he wants to give us, and he does,

he says in Jeremiah 29, I know I have plans for you, I have plans to prosper

you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future. God has a plan for you, friend.

And most of the time, there's something that we need to cast off or get rid

of that's holding us back.

And we had this inertia of having lost our son and we had to say,

okay, are we gonna let God Keep his promise to refine us and redeem this and

use it for some kind of purpose or we gonna let it burn us up,

We realized you leave a lot on the field with your family You miss a lot of

moments if you're not careful and lots of times you wait and wait and wait There's something you know,

you need to do or you need to make a phone call You need to make a decision you

need to make a change and you just don't do it and ultimately you don't have

tomorrow You just have today and so we decided at least and I just was decided

to Take this little slogan that we had and turn it into the name of the podcast

We called it you start today like it's you got to get after it like when you

know you're supposed to do something.

When God's calling you to do something, you gotta get after it, and you start today.

And so, in the basement studio of our home on Covington Ridge in Auburn,

Alabama, where we lived and raised our family, I decided it was time to go.

And Lisa encouraged me, and we scripted these episodes out, like I wrote them

out, and at the time, I didn't know how to use editing software,

and I started over every time I made a mistake, and I was so incredibly nervous.

And why was I so nervous? I've done a lot of public speaking,

I've done a lot of writing, I'm not nervous in front of a crowd.

I was nervous because I was putting myself out there and saying,

hey, I'm trying something new because I believe in the message that we have

for other people who are hurting.

And I believe the message is sanctified, it's important.

And I didn't want to botch it. I didn't want to botch the delivery and have

something with my voice or the format or anything and get in the way of what

I thought was an important message about how you really make changes in your

life when you know you're supposed to.

And so I thought it'd be fun today, since we were sick and I'm having to stop

this and edit out a sneeze every five seconds and Tata and I weren't ready to

record Tuesdays with Tata.

I thought, since we're in the spirit of New Thing November, maybe you can benefit

from going back and hearing the new thing that I did almost 10 years ago with Lisa sitting at my side,

Reading this carefully crafted 14 -minute love message.

That I had for you about how important it is for you to start today.

This is episode 1 of the YST podcast that Ultimately led to the dr.

Lee Warren podcast and and we had I don't know I think a hundred downloads of

this episode at the time when it came out or something and now we're you know

Getting a hundred and twenty thousand a month or so.

Just incredible to me that you're listening that you're with us in this journey,

But I think the reason that you're with us is because

we tell the truth about how important it is To never forget that you can't change

your life until you change your mind and to do that you have to start today

I'm gonna play the whole thing Okay We'll play our normal theme music so you

can get the links and all that stuff and then you're just gonna go into it You'll

hear the original theme music that we used to use you'll hear the little timid Dr.

Lee Warren getting started for the very first time.

And maybe this message from nine years ago in the shadow of us losing Mitch

and the grief that we were still in, this desperate message that we had that

you have to start today, maybe it'll help you.

I'd love to hear from you if you did, if it does help you in some way,

but this is where it all started.

I just want to give it back to you today to remind you that when God's calling

you to something, step into it.

You never know how far it'll take you. You never know what it'll do for other

people you never know if it'll save somebody else's life or talk somebody off

the ledge or Change the arc and course of somebody else or inspire another person

to start a podcast or write a book We've done all those things with this podcast

over the years people have written in and said hey,

I'm gonna follow your lead I started my own show and I'm doing this thing or

I've written a book and I got it published and and all of that I've had two

people write in and say hey, I was gonna kill myself.

It's something you said gave me hope So friend, I'm just saying that to say

this sometimes God nudges you and you can't see what the result of following

that nudge of being Obedient it's gonna be it might be more than your wildest dreams.

It might be something that changes somebody's eternal destiny It might be something

that changes somebody's life.

It might just be for you But whatever it is If you know it's time to cast off

whatever's holding you back to embrace the new thing that God wants to do to

embrace the of his favor and the plans that he has for you and for other people through you,

then there's just one thing you have to do and it starts with one question.

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.

Music.

You start today the dr. Lee Warren podcast episode 001 the secret to real -life

change In today's conversation.

I will give you the one true secret to changing your life If you want to become

healthier feel better and be happier stay with me Trust me.

I'm a brain surgeon get the text of this show and all the links I mentioned

at www .youstarttoday .com.

Music.

Welcome to You Start Today, the Dr.

Lee Warren podcast, where we're developing a community of people learning together

to become healthier, feel better, and be happier. If you want to experience

real -life change, you start today.

Music.

Congratulations on being here. Since you're listening, it means that you've

decided you need to change something in your life. I can help.

Let me introduce myself. I'm Dr. Lee Warren, and I'm a writer and a real -life

neurosurgeon. You can check me out on my website, wlewarrenmd .com or on my Amazon author page.

Now in the course of my job as a neurosurgeon, I take care of people during

some of the worst times in their lives.

My patients are dealing with deadly diseases, chronic pain or injuries that

limit their lives in a variety of different ways.

Some of them have medical issues that require surgery or other kinds of treatments

that I'm grateful and honored to be able to provide for them during their time of need.

But I started this podcast for a group of people who need a different kind of help.

That group includes all of us. And yes, that means you.

All of us, if we're honest, want the same three things. We want to become healthier,

feel better, and be happier.

I'm shooting at the same targets as everyone else.

You might say, no, Lee, what I want is to lose weight or I want to grow my business

or improve my marriage and I would counter that all of those specific things

fall under the big three targets that I mentioned before.

We all want to become healthier, feel better and be happier in our lives.

If we're honest with ourselves, we can admit that many times we don't make changes,

because we're afraid that if we try, we might fail.

And sometimes we give in to a pattern of negative thought that amplifies our

fears and produces an almost gravitational field around us that guarantees we'll

never be able to move an inch.

If you're there, if you're stuck in that place, I want to help.

When I meet a patient who feels stuck in some area of their life,

when they feel that a particular issue is insurmountable,

a given problem is unsolvable, or a goal is unattainable, I know one thing for

sure, they need brain surgery.

Now I don't mean flesh and blood brain surgery. What I've learned is that if

you want to accomplish real life change, you have to start by changing some

things under the hood in between your own ears.

And that's where I come in. In this podcast, I'll introduce you to something

I like to call brain surgerization.

That sounds funny. I say brain surgerization because I want to separate that

from real flesh and blood brain surgery.

And I know it sounds funny, but this is important. So pay attention.

Before we go any further, I feel like I need to share some things with you.

You see, I'm not coming to you here from a place of having this thing called life all figured out.

In fact, far from it. I started this podcast because in my own life,

in my personal life, I had some things going on and I realized that I needed

to become healthier, feel better, and be happier.

And I wanted to develop a community of people to walk those paths with me.

You see, I've been through three of the hardest things you can encounter in life.

I've been to war, I've been through a divorce, and I've lost a child.

My experiences in the Iraq War left me with some scars and a years -long battle

with post -traumatic stress disorder.

You can read about that in my memoir, No Place to Hide, a brain surgeon's long

journey home from the Iraq War.

My divorce was difficult, and if you've ever been through a divorce,

you know what I mean. It's not easy.

Even when it's necessary, divorce hurts everyone involved, and it changes your whole life.

And less than a year ago, we lost a child.

Without question, this has been the most difficult period of time in my entire life.

Simple decisions for most of us became impossible to make, like the decision to go back to work,

to try to get back into a normal life so we could do normal things like take

care of our other children and not lose our business, became almost insurmountable.

All these necessary things that

had to be done seemed impossible in the context of having lost a child.

So when I tell you that I've learned some secrets about real life change and

how to become healthier, feel better, and be happier, that's where I'm coming from.

I'm coming in this podcast from a place no one should have to go,

but from which I've emerged by the grace of God, alive and stronger,

and with a simple message for you.

The message? You really can survive this life. You can have real life change.

In fact, from what I've figured out so far, there's only one secret to becoming

healthier, feeling better, and being happier. What's the secret?

This is the thing people have spent millions, possibly billions of dollars trying to find.

They've sought out mountaintop gurus and therapists and mentors.

They've bought books and programs, attended seminars, all searching for this one little secret.

And since I promised to share it with you, I'll go ahead and give it to you now.

The secret to real life change, you start today.

That's it. That's the secret to changing your life. You start today.

I know it doesn't sound very profound, but trust me on this.

I am a brain surgeon If you don't start today, you never will.

Hear me here. If you don't start today, every one of your tomorrows will still

hold insurmountable issues, unsolvable problems, and unattainable goals.

You will never lose those 30 pounds. You'll never quit that two -pack -per -day

habit, and you'll never improve your marriage or go back to school or whatever

else it is that's hurting you and limiting your life.

If you don't start today, every today will feel just like every yesterday.

And every yesterday will be a vast field of unfinished projects, unhealed sorrows,

unfulfilled promises, and the person you see in the mirror will remind you less

and less of who you always hoped you'd someday become.

If you don't start today, you never will.

Because tomorrow is a lie.

Tomorrow is a later version of your current reality, unless you start today.

When I hit the wall with my PTSD, when the nightmares spilled over into the daytime,

when every helicopter I heard overhead put me back in a rack,

when every loud noise made me feel like I was being mortared again.

When the blood and the smells and the screams of dying Marines and burned babies

came right back into my brain without warning, something had to give. I made a decision.

I was going to write about it, talk about it, and with Lisa's help,

actually with her insistence, assistance, I chose my today and I started healing.

Now I'll be honest with you, life hasn't stopped throwing bombs at me.

A divorce and a lost son brought different kinds of war into my life.

And I survived by choosing my today and trying to make every day one in which

I could be proud of my own yesterday.

When you start today, every victory, even tiny ones, guarantee that tomorrow will feel different.

Tomorrow will feel more hopeful.

It'll feel like things are going to be okay.

And guess what? It all starts under the hood.

You see, in between your ears lies the greatest supercomputer in the history of the world.

– almost a trillion cells intricately designed into a 3 -pound organ that programs

and determines everything about who you are, what you believe,

how you think, and what you feel.

And that machine, your brain, is in most ways under your control.

Now, I'll give you a disclaimer here.

Some problems are medical, and to solve them, you need a doctor.

But many of the problems we face in life can be improved or overcome by changing our thinking.

There's a great book by Dr. Daniel Amen called Change Your Brain,

Change Your Life, and I would recommend that you read it if you want to understand

how things that we do, how we eat, what we drink,

substances we take, things that we think about change the way our brain actually

functions and therefore determine how we live, how we think,

how we feel, and how we act and react.

Change your brain, change your life. It's a book you should read by Dr. Daniel Amen.

In future episodes of this podcast we will discuss the ways that we can improve

our brain chemistry and therefore improve our lives by focusing on positive things,

developing better thought patterns and avoiding toxic mental habits and behaviors.

And we will together explore how learning to start today will help us conquer

our fears, overcome our hurts and achieve our goals of becoming healthier,

feeling better, and being happier.

Now before our next episode, I want you to do four things for me.

Number one, identify something you need to change in your life but haven't known how.

Two, think of the mental conversations that you typically have with yourself

about these needed changes.

Three, make a decision to start today working to change those thought patterns.

Four, send me an email. Tell me what's going on, what you're thinking about,

how you feel about this podcast and what decision that you've made and I'll write you back.

I'll hold you accountable and together we can develop a community of people

who are trying to figure this thing out, trying to accomplish real life change. Make your decision.

Change your life. Start today.

You can do it. It's not brain surgery.

On the next episode of You Start Today, the podcast, we will look under the

hood and learn how to brain -surgerize our thought patterns and take control of them.

Now, go check out my website for helpful resources and information.

I write blog posts about similar topics.

I want you to sign up for my weekly newsletter.

In the newsletter, which comes out on Sundays, you get my best writing.

You get things that the blog visitors don't get. and we discuss all kinds of

things about real -life change.

Also, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast on iTunes or wherever you get your podcast feeds.

Do it now. Don't forget. Start today.

And then come back next time for Episode 2, Brain Surgerize Your Life.

I'm Dr. Lee Warren. Thanks for listening to You Start Today,

the podcast, where together we're learning to become healthier,

feel better, and be happier.

Go out and make your life better. I'll see you next week.

Music.

You've been listening to You Start Today, the Dr.

Lee Warren Podcast, where we're developing a community of people learning together

to become healthier, feel better, and be happier.

Visit my website wllewarrenmd .com, sign up for my weekly newsletter,

or look up my author page on amazon .com to check out my books.

Don't forget to subscribe to the You Start Today podcast, and come back next

week for more You Start Today.

Music.

There you have it, friend. There's episode one of the You Start Today podcast

from way back April 28th, 2014.

One thing that struck me as I listened to that is I remembered that right from

the start, Lisa and I had this vision, this idea that there was a community of people out there.

This wasn't just going to be something we sent out into the ether,

but there was a group of people who had gone through something hard or were

going through something hard and they They were going to want a place to gather.

They were going to want a community of people to think like they did and to

give them ideas and hope and prayers.

And it took us a while to figure out the prayer wall and all the other things.

And now coming soon to you is the Society of Self -Brain Surgeons.

We're finally getting our…,

paid subscriber program back and we're getting all that ready to launch again

and then the Society of Self -Brain Surgeons is going to be this community of

people who helps me write the next book.

We're going to talk about work worksheets and and books and plans and processes

you can put in place and I'm going to learn from you as you learn from me how

we can use the applied neuroscience and scripture and faith to smash together

to change our lives and really make big changes so that we can get things going

in the direction God wants them to go,

so that we can start today to change our minds and change our lives.

And right from the start in this episode, I hope you heard that passion,

that budding little idea that was out there. It's community.

And that's the treatment plan, friends, right? It's prehab.

It's getting things ready so

that you know where to go and how far you're gonna fall when things hurt.

It's self brain surgery to get your thinking under control, take your thoughts

captive, make positive change so

that you can make sure that your brain is helping you and not hurting you.

And then it's rehab, this community of people that comes alongside you to help

you process and move forward and grow and heal and become more resilient and

all those things right from the start you can hear that in that younger guy

who was starting something new way back in the day. So I hope it was helpful for you.

I thought it was really fun to kind of go back in time and we'll bring me maybe

bring those episodes online one at a so you can hear how we went from start

to finish as we went along in those 73 episodes that was the You Start Today podcast back in the day.

We had no idea by the way then that we'd be moving to Wyoming and then moving to Nebraska.

Didn't know there was gonna be additional books coming and didn't know any of

that stuff. We just knew we had a message that people needed to hear and I hope it was helpful.

Don't forget friend, when God moves your heart, it is time to get after it.

It's time to change your mind and time to change your life. And the good news is, you can start today.

Music.

Hey, thanks for listening. The Dr. Lee Warren podcast is brought to you by my

brand new book, Hope is the First Dose.

It's a treatment plan for recovering from trauma, tragedy, and other massive

things. It's available everywhere books are sold.

And I narrated the audio books. Hey, the theme music for the show is Get Up

by my friend Tommy Walker, available for free at TommyWalkerMinistries .org.

They are supplying worship resources for worshipers all over the world to worship the Most High God.

And if you're interested in learning more, check out TommyWalkerMinistries .org.

If you need prayer, go to the prayer wall at WLeeWarrenMD .com slash prayer,

WLeeWarrenMD .com slash prayer, and go to my website and sign up for the newsletter,

or self brain surgery every Sunday since 2014, helping people in all 50 states

and 60 plus countries around the world.

I'm Dr. Lee Warren, and I'll talk to you soon. Remember, friend,

you can't change your life until you change your mind. And the good news is you can start today.

Music.