Daniel Amen Quotes

To feel successful, you must be able to be honest about the things that are really important to you.

Your brain is the organ of your personality, character, and intelligence and is heavily involved in making you who you are.

Practice saying no to the things that are not good for you, and over time, you will find it easier to do.

Stop worrying about what others think of you. Base your thoughts, your decisions, and your goals on what you want and what is important in your life.

18–40–60 rule. It says that when you are eighteen, you worry about what everyone thinks of you; when you are forty, you don’t give a damn what anyone thinks about you; and when you’re sixty, you realize no one has been thinking about you at all.

And, dear God? Thank you for creating Daniel in all his sweet-ass hotness. That’s probably sacrilege, but I mean it most sincerely. Amen.

My favourite bit of advice comes from Dr. Daniel Amen’s 18, 40, 60 Rule: “At 18 you worry about what everyone thinks of you. At 40 you don’t care. At 60 you realise no one was thinking about you anyway!

Your brain is involved in everything you do. Your brain controls everything you do, feel, and think. When you look in the mirror, you can thank your brain for what you see. Ultimately, it is your brain that determines whether your belly bulges over your belt buckle or your waistline is trim and toned. Your brain plays the central role in whether your skin looks fresh and dewy or is etched with wrinkles. Whether you wake up feeling energetic or groggy depends on your brain. When you head to the kitchen to make breakfast, it is your brain that determines whether you go for the leftover pizza or the low-fat yogurt and fruit. Your brain controls whether you hit the gym or sit at the computer to check your Facebook page. If you feel the need to light up a cigarette or drink a couple cups of java, that's also your brain's doing.ACTION STEP Remember that your brain is involved in everything you do, every decision you make, every bite of food you take, every cigarette you smoke, every worrisome thought you have, every workout you skip, every alcoholic beverage you drink, and more.

When the deep limbic system is less active, there is generally a positive, more hopeful state of mind. When it is heated up, or overactive, negativity can take over.

Dried oregano has thirty times the brain-healing antioxidant power of raw blueberries, forty-six times more than apples, and fifty-six times as much as strawberries, making it one of the most powerful brain cell protectors on the planet.

The first thing on Dr. Amen’s master to-do list, the first thing he sees each day, is his gratitude list. Rather than just writing down a few things, he keeps a running tab on what he is grateful for, looks at it every day, and adds to it as joyful moments occur.

Caffeine dehydrates the brain and body.

There is rising concern about pesticides, used on plants for food, causing endocrine disruption, meaning that the residual pesticides appear to be changing hormone levels in our populations.

Studies show that journaling is a powerful tool to help get worries under control and out of your head.

Dear Lord," she prayed, "please help me to handle all the work You've set before me. I can only do this with You at my side. Amen.

Caffeine restricts blood flow to the brain.

It is your brain that decides to get you out of bed in the morning to exercise, to give you a stronger, leaner body, or to cause you to hit the snooze button and procrastinate your workout. It is your brain that pushes you away from the table telling you that you have had enough, or that gives you permission to have the second bowl of Rocky Road ice cream, making you look and feel like a blob. It is your brain that manages the stress in your life and relaxes you so that you look vibrant, or, when left unchecked, sends stress signals to the rest of your body and wrinkles your skin. And it is your brain that turns away cigarettes, too much caffeine, and alcohol, helping you look and feel healthy, or that gives you permission to smoke, to have that third cup of coffee, or to drink that third glass of wine, thus making every system in your body look and feel older.Your brain is the command and control center of your body. If you want a better body, the first place to ALWAYS start is by having a better brain.

Most people throughout the world, not just in Newport Beach, care more about their faces, their boobs, their bellies, their butts, and their abs than they do their brains. But it is your brain that is the key to having the face, the breasts, the belly, the butt, the abs, and the overall health you have always wanted; and it is brain dysfunction, in large part, that ruins our bodies and causes premature aging.

Self-esteem is the difference between where you believe you are and where you think you should be compared to others. If they match, you tend to feel good about yourself. If they don’t match, you feel inferior.

Before you let your doctor give you testosterone shots or pills, try to boost it naturally by dramatically decreasing or even eliminating sugar, wheat, and processed foods from your diet. A sugar burst has been found to lower testosterone levels by up to 25 percent. If you and your sweetheart share the cheesecake at the restaurant, no one is likely to get “dessert” when you get home! Another way to naturally boost your testosterone level is to start a weight-training program. Building muscle helps your body increase its testosterone levels. The supplements DHEA and zinc can also help. Zinc is necessary to maintain

I have an idea that the phrase “the weaker sex” was coined by some woman to disarm the man she was preparing to overwhelm. —OGDEN NASH

In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. ERIC HOFFER

Your thoughts really matter. They can either help or hurt your deep limbic system. Left unchecked, ANTs will cause an infection in your whole bodily system. Whenever you notice ANTs, you need to crush them or they’ll affect your relationships, your work, and your entire life. First you need to notice them. If you can catch them at the moment they occur and correct them, you take away the power they have over you. When a negative thought goes unchallenged, your mind believes it and your body reacts to it. ANTs have an illogical logic. By bringing them into the open and examining them on a conscious level, you can see for yourself how little sense it really makes to think these kinds of things to yourself. You take back control over your own life instead of leaving your fate to hyperactive limbic-conditioned negative thought patterns. Sometimes people have trouble talking back to these grossly unpleasant thoughts because they

When a woman understands the uniqueness of the female brain—how to care for it, how to make the most of its strengths, how to overcome its challenges, how to fall in love with it, and ultimately, how to unleash its full power—there is no stopping her. In her personal development, at work, and in her relationships, she can bring the best of herself to her family, her community, and her planet. By contrast, a woman who is not caring optimally for her brain, who is not giving it the full range of nutrients, exercise, sleep, and emotional support that it needs, is squandering her most valuable resource. If you are not taking good care of your brain, you are at a significantly higher risk of brain fog, memory problems, low energy, distractibility, poor decisions, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Physical exercise is the fountain of youth; it’s critical to keeping your brain vibrant and young. If you want to attack Alzheimer’s disease, depression, obesity, and aging all at once, move every day. In fact exercise is one of the most powerful antiaging tools, and it directly fights depression, anxiety, heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

When the Parent Dragons are triggered, you feel like you’ve done something wrong, you are not good enough or supported, and you are motivated to work harder.

Operating out of Columbia University’s Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Oz is like a modern-day shaman as he mixes traditional medicine with a wide variety of occult/New Age practices.

energy and concentration. For most people with ADD, the right diet is a higher-protein, higher-healthy-fat, lower-simple-carbohydrate diet.” I was able

Decades of research shows this combination of firmness and kindness to be one of the primary factors differentiating successful from unsuccessful parents.[1]

Tech companies create addictive gadgets that hook your attention and distract you from your loved ones and your purpose.

Tiny habits are the smallest things you can do that will make the biggest difference in your life.

Vitamin D: This is an essential nutrient for your brain and your skin. Low levels are associated with depression and memory problems, and problems with your skin like psoriasis. Get your vitamin D level optimized.

Complete Blood Count (blood test)—This test checks the health of your blood, including red and white blood cells. People with low blood count can feel anxious and tired, and they can have significant memory problems.

Reframing the discussion from mental health to brain health changes everything. People begin to see their problems as medical, not moral. It decreases shame and guilt and increases forgiveness and compassion from their families

For you to consistently make the right decisions regarding your brain, you must have a burning desire to get it healthy. Why do you care about your brain? Write it down and look at it every day. Write down at least five important reasons to get healthy, such as these: Living longer Looking younger Feeling happier Feeling calmer and more relaxed Making better decisions Having better energy Increasing mental clarity Being a better role model for my children

It is interesting to note that the people who had a good relationship with the person who died often heal their grief much more easily than those whose relationship with the deceased was filled with turmoil, bitterness, or disappointment. The reason is that a positive relationship is associated with good memories, and remembering and reprocessing these memories helps in the healing process. When people who had a bad relationship think back on it, they have to relive the pain. In their mind, they are still trying to fix what was wrong, to heal the wound, but they can’t. In addition, the guilt they carry with them impairs the healing process. Donna is a case in point. Donna and her mother had had a stormy relationship, fighting constantly over things that seemed insignificant in and of themselves. Yet in spite of their problems, the year after her mother’s death was the hardest of Donna’s life. Her husband could not understand the force of her grief; all he had ever heard her do was complain that her mother was selfish and uninterested in her. What he failed to understand was that Donna had to grieve not only over her mother’s death, but also over the fact that now she would never have the mother-daughter bond she had always wanted. Death had ended all her hopes.

Distractibility. People with ADD tend to notice more in their environment than others, which makes them easily distracted by outside stimuli, such as light, sounds, smells, certain tastes, or even the clothes they wear. Their keen sensitivity causes them to get easily off task.

Whenever you get a worry (a negative thought that won’t go away), write it down. The act of writing helps to crystallize it and get it out of your head. The worry is now on the paper, a tablet, computer, or phone. Once the worry is written, evaluate it for its accuracy. Is it true or realistic? If not, smile and let it stay on the paper to get it out of your head. If the worry has merit, write down three or four things you can do about the worry, and equally important, write down what you cannot do about the worry. For example, Jeanne had a daughter, Nina, with

thoughts (ANTs) and talk back to them, you begin to take away their power and gain control over your moods. Kill the ANTs by feeding your emotional anteater. The “kill the ANTs/feed your anteater” exercise is for whenever you feel anxious, nervous, depressed, or frazzled. Here are some examples of ways to kill these ANTs:

Yet it was not until I was 28 years old, starting my psychiatric residency, that I learned I was not my mind and I did not have to believe every stupid thought that came into my awareness. I learned that my thoughts create my feelings; my feelings create my behaviors; and eventually my behaviors create my outcomes in relationships, work, finances, and

Rule #2. Drink plenty of water and don’t drink your calories. Your brain is 80 percent water. Anything that dehydrates it, such as too much caffeine or alcohol, decreases your thinking and impairs your judgment. Make sure you get plenty of water every day. To know you are drinking enough water for your brain, a good general rule is to consume half your weight

It was the conclusion that the secret to living a long life had nothing to do with happiness, a lack of stress, or avoiding hard work. They found that the secret was living conscientiously and using forethought, planning, and perseverance in all aspects of one’s life. Conscientiousness was the number-one predictor of longevity. Friedman offers a number of reasons

Having greater self-esteem Looking better in jeans or a bathing suit Being able to participate in sports and other activities I used to enjoy Having a better relationship with my spouse Reversing diabetes, heart disease, or other health risks Decreasing my risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases of aging Having the confidence to apply for the job I really want

Heavenly Father, I yield to you. What you say I will do. Where you say to go, I will go. What do you want me to do today? (Pause to listen) What do you want me to say today? (Pause to listen). I am your servant. Lead me and I will follow. (Pause to listen) I submit to your agenda and not mine. What is Your Will for my life today? (Pause to listen) Yes, I will do it. In Jesus’ name, Amen. ● Four

The people close to you influence your outlook, your values, how you spend your time, and how you treat other people. In other words, who you hang out with matters. If you are consistently in the company of someone who gossips, for example, it’s likely you’ll gossip. If you live with someone who is depressed, in my experience you are likely to become depressed. Spending time with positive, uplifting people will make you feel positive and hopeful. If you want to improve your attitude and conduct, spend time with someone whose conduct and values you admire. Emulate his or her behavior, and you will likely find it rubs off! You’ll notice yourself avoiding actions and statements that might cause disapproval in the person you admire. By the same token, you find yourself naturally guided toward better, more life-affirming, behavior.

This includes drugs, alcohol, environmental toxins, obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, depression, negative thinking patterns, excessive stress, and a lack of exercise or new learning. 3. Consistently do good behaviors that help your brain. Adopt a great diet, learn new things, exercise, develop accurate thinking habits, work on stress management, and take some simple supplements to nourish your brain.

How can you be happy while the world is falling apart? The people who are resilient versus those who are not have a TLC mindset. They see what is happening as temporary, local, and with some sense of control. People who crumble in hard times tend to see the situation as permanent (things will never change) and global (it’s everywhere), and they feel as though they have no control over the situation (they feel like a victim). Here’s how I used TLC to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The other major hormonal player in your cycle is progesterone. It helps to prepare the uterus for implantation with a healthy fertilized egg and supports pregnancy. If no implantation occurs, progesterone levels drop, and another cycle begins. Progesterone receptors are highly concentrated in the brain. Progesterone can support GABA, the brain’s relaxation neurotransmitter; acts to protect your nerve cells; and supports the myelin sheath that covers neurons. I like to think of progesterone as the “feel-good hormone.” It makes you feel calm and peaceful and encourages sleep. It’s like nature’s Valium, but better, because instead of making your brain fuzzy, it sharpens your thinking. It has also been shown to help with brain injuries by reducing inflammation and counteracting damage. It is so much more than a sex hormone. Progesterone increases during pregnancy, which is why many pregnant women often feel great. Some women with hormonal issues, in fact, feel so much better during pregnancy that they will

Like a muscle, the more you use your brain, the stronger it becomes and the more it can do. The opposite is also true: The less you work it, the weaker it becomes. Repeatedly engaging in “no brain” activities, such as TV, decreases a person’s ability to focus. In addition, the pacing of TV has changed over the past thirty years. Thirty years ago a thirty-second commercial had ten three-second scenes. The same commercial in 2000 has thirty one-second scenes. We are being programmed to need more stimulation in order to pay attention.

Before I got serious about being healthy, I gave in to my urge for bread, especially freshly made bread dripping in butter. Yet when I fell in love with my brain, I realized I love being healthy, having energy and cognitive clarity, and being able to get into the same size jeans I wore in high school much more than the momentary pleasure of unhealthy food. The new benefits were so much better than the old ones. I now see free bread as a “weapon of mass destruction,” and I feel badly when I give in to a behavior that does not serve my health.

The Number of Hours You Sleep Each Night—One of the fastest ways to hurt your brain is to get fewer than seven or eight hours of sleep at night. People who typically get six hours or fewer of sleep have lower overall blood flow to the brain, which hurts its function. Researchers from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the University of Pennsylvania found that chronically getting fewer than eight hours of sleep was associated with cognitive decline. Strive to get at least seven or eight hours of sleep a night. There are hypnosis audios on the Amen Solution @ Home.

Social: Alizé grew up in an environment that was contributing to lower blood flow in the brain. When she came to live with me and my wife, however, we surrounded her with people who live brain-healthy lives. It has inspired her to start adopting healthier habits that are boosting blood flow to her brain. Spiritual: For many people, like my grandfather, taking care of others takes precedence over taking care of themselves. Making your own health a priority may feel selfish, but making sure you are happy, healthy, and energetic is the key to being there for your family and friends.

So people feel tired, wired, and stressed at the same time. In one group of patients with rapid cycling bipolar disorder, more than 50 percent had hypothyroidism. Experts conservatively estimate that one-third of all depressions are directly related to thyroid imbalance. More than 80 percent of people with low-grade hypothyroidism have impaired memory function. Low thyroid is associated with a host of symptoms and problems, such as: Feeling cold when others are hot Weight gain Constipation Fatigue High cholesterol High blood pressure Dry, thinning, or losing hair, especially the eyebrows, where the outer third are often missing

A study in the Journal of Neuroscience tested pain sensitivity in women at different times during their menstrual cycle—first during their period when estradiol is at its lowest and then when their estradiol levels were at their highest. The women in the study were subjected to a controlled amount of pain and asked to rate the level of their discomfort. At low levels of estradiol, the women reported feeling much more pain than when the hormone was at its highest. The implication is that when your estrogen levels are low, such as during menopause or during the premenstrual or menstrual phase of your cycle, you are likely to feel pain more acutely, which is also likely true for emotional pain. Just one more reason a smart man is especially sensitive at this time!

Reproductive hormones aren’t the only hormones that affect how you look and feel and think. Among the most influential are the hormones produced by your thyroid gland. Too little thyroid, and you feel like a slug. Hypothyroidism makes you feel like you just want to lie on the couch all day with a bag of chips. Everything works slower, including your heart, your bowels, and your brain. When we perform SPECT scans of people with hypothyroidism, we see decreased brain activity. Many other studies confirm that overall low brain function in hypothyroidism leads to depression, cognitive impairment, anxiety, and feelings of being in a mental fog. The thyroid gland drives the production of many neurotransmitters that run the brain, such as serotonin, dopamine, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. A

feel that such obvious age-old “truisms” simply must be real. They think that if they don’t continue to believe these thoughts, they are lying to themselves. Once again, remember that to know what is true and what is not, you have to be conscious of the thoughts and have an intelligent perspective on them. Most negative thinking is automatic and goes unnoticed. You’re not really choosing how to respond to your situation, it’s being chosen for you by bad brain habits. To find out what is really true and what is not, you need to question it. Don’t believe everything you hear—even in your own mind! I often ask my patients about their ANT population. Is it high? Low? Dwindling? Or increasing? Keep control over the ANTs in order to maintain a healthy deep limbic environment. Whenever you notice an ANT entering your mind, train yourself to recognize it and write it down. When you write down automatic negative

Whenever possible, avoid animal protein that has been raised with hormones or antibiotics. Europe won’t accept hormone-laden U.S. beef because of the health risks. Look for grass-fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free organic beef and chicken, which is richer in omega-3 fatty acids and will therefore act to reduce inflammation and help your hormone receptors to function properly. Also, eat organic vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans, and grains. Pesticides are known to cause hormonal imbalances and some pesticides have been shown to act as “endocrine (hormone) disrupters,” interfering with the body’s natural hormone systems and causing an array of health problems. While the Environmental Protection Agency began looking at this issue in 1999, little change has yet occurred in the marketplace, and women are well served by educating themselves on this important issue. (I’ll discuss this more later in this chapter.)

In human studies, black cohosh has been found to decrease hot flashes associated with menopause. Unlike conventional estrogen effects on individuals predisposed to breast cancer, black cohosh has been shown in laboratory studies to inhibit cancer cells. Most studies used doses of 20–80 mg twice daily, providing 4–8 mg triterpene glycosides for up to six months. Melatonin—This hormone is produced in the pineal gland that, among other functions, helps sleep. Melatonin levels decline with age and may lead to the sleep disturbances common during menopause. Melatonin has been shown in laboratory studies to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells. Melatonin acts as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant in the brain and other tissues like the intestine. Studies show that low melatonin levels increase breast cancer risk in women. So if you are having trouble sleeping consider 3–6 mg of melatonin before bed. It may boost your immune system and help you sleep.

healthy deep limbic pathways. Then a bond or connectedness between the parents and the baby can begin to grow. Without love and affection, the baby does not develop appropriate deep limbic connectedness and thus never learns to trust or connect. He feels lonely and insecure, and becomes irritable and unresponsive. Touch is critical to life itself. In a barbaric thirteenth-century experiment, German Emperor Frederick II wanted to know what language and words children would speak if they were raised without hearing any words at all. He took a number of infants from their homes and put them with people who fed them but had strict instructions not to touch, cuddle, or talk to them. The babies never spoke a word. They all died before they could speak. Even though the language experiment was a failure, it resulted in an important discovery: Touch is essential to life. Salimbene, a historian of the time, wrote of the experiment in 1248, “They could not live without

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential. Insufficient levels of two of the most important omega-3s—eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)—have been linked to depression and bipolar disorder, suicidal behavior, inflammation, heart disease, ADD/ADHD, cognitive impairment and dementia, and obesity.[1] Ninety-five percent of Americans do not get enough dietary omega-3 fatty acids.[2] The human body doesn’t produce omega-3s on its own, so you have to get it from outside sources, such as fatty fish. If you aren’t getting enough of this essential nutrient from your diet, it’s bad news for your brain. That’s because omega-3s contribute to about 8 percent of your brain’s weight. At Amen Clinics, we tested omega-3 levels of 50 consecutive patients who were not taking fish oil supplements. A shocking 49 out of 50—that’s 98 percent!—had suboptimal levels. In a subsequent study, we analyzed the scans of 130 patients with their omega-3 levels. Patients with the lowest levels had lower blood flow in the areas of the brain associated with depression and dementia.

All of us have Dragons from the Past influencing our present feelings and actions.”[1] Unless you recognize and tame them, and consciously calm and protect your amygdala from overfiring, these dragons will haunt your unconscious mind and drive emotional pain for the rest of your life. What blows from an ember, or a small action of another, can turn into a destructive fire of anxiety and rage. After learning from Dr. May, I started using this concept with my patients, including Jimmy. Over time I identified 13 Dragons from the Past, including their origins, triggers that make them overpowering, and how they cause us to react. All of us have more than one Dragon from the Past driving our behavior, and they are always interacting with the Dragons from the Past of others, causing both internal and external battles—a modern-day Game of Thrones. All of us have primary and secondary dragons driving our behavior. Primary ones are present most of the time, while secondary ones come out during times of stress, such as the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. You’ll learn which ones apply to you. (You can also take the Hidden Dragons quiz at KnowYourDragons.com.)

I keep fighting voices in my head that say I’m not enough. LAUREN DAIGLE, “YOU SAY

She was so scared that she actually went out and bought a siren to get her up in the morning. Even though that helped her, she had made all of her neighbors mad at her, and now she was threatened with eviction from her condominium.

happiness is about 40 percent genetic (you inherit it from your ancestors), 10 percent your situation in life or what happens to you, and 50 percent habits and mindset.

Mastering your mind and gaining separation or psychological distance from the noise in your head is essential to protecting happiness.

Having clearly defined values, purpose, and goals are essential to a strong foundation for happiness.

Lie #1: Having more and more of something (love, sex, fame, drugs, etc.) will make you happy.

people” die early from accidents and preventable illnesses.[3] You need some anxiety to be happy. Appropriate anxiety helps us make better decisions.

Lie #2: A “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” mindset, promoted by the popular 1988 Grammy Song of the Year of the same name by Bobby McFerrin, will make you happy.

Lie #3: Advertisers and fast-food restaurants know what will make you happy.

Lie #4: Someplace else will make you happy.

Secret 1: Know your brain type.

Ditch quick-fix thinking for lifestyle longevity.

You Cannot Change What You Do Not Measure

Scientific research has made it clear that our lifestyle choices affect brain health.

Your brain controls everything you do and everything you are.

You are not stuck with the brain you have. With the right guidance you can make it better, and I can prove it.

Physical health takes consistent effort and daily practice over a long time, including eating right, smart supplementation, exercising, managing stress, and making many, many more good decisions than bad ones.

If you are struggling with your brain or mind, welcome to normal.

the better overall brain function someone has, the more likely they are to exercise a high degree of free will. On the other hand, people whose brains are unhealthy often struggle with feeling ineffective in life and making good decisions for themselves. Consequently, they experience a diminished sense of free will.

I wanted a healthier brain like hers, so I spent decades working to improve it.

Warren Buffett has two rules of investing: Rule #1 Never lose money. Rule #2 Never forget Rule #1. In the same way, the most important rules of brain health are as follows: Rule #1 Never lose brain cells. Rule #2 Never forget rule #1. Losing brain cells is much harder to recover from than any financial loss.

Pick one of the strategies listed above to add to your daily routine.

Instead of seeing himself as a failure, he recognized his own potential and found great fulfillment in serving his country.

We can fix these problems, but it requires a new perspective.

18–40–60, which stands for a rule I teach my patients, called the 18–40–60 rule. It says that when you are eighteen, you worry about what everyone thinks of you; when you are forty, you don’t give a damn what anyone thinks about you; and when you’re sixty, you realize no one has been thinking about you at all. People spend their days worrying and thinking about themselves, not you.

etc. In the APA program abstract Dr. Jaeger wrote, “Regardless of the initial diagnosis, patients who underwent brain SPECT prior to, or during, psychiatric hospitalization had markedly shorter stays than controls. As demonstrated by this clinical database (two thousand patients), brain SPECT may lead to more effective, shorter, safer, and less expensive diagnostic and treatment modes in children and adolescents with suspected neuropsychiatric illness.

etc. In the APA program abstract Dr. Jaeger wrote, “Regardless of the initial diagnosis, patients who underwent brain SPECT prior to, or during, psychiatric hospitalization had markedly shorter stays than controls. As demonstrated by this clinical database (two thousand patients), brain SPECT may lead to more effective, shorter, safer, and less expensive diagnostic and treatment modes in children and adolescents with suspected neuropsychiatric illness.” His experience completely dovetailed with mine. I wondered, “How can we not look at the brain?” Cardiologists look at the heart, orthopedic doctors have X-rays to examine bones, gastroenterologists look at the gut, pulmonologists look at the lungs, every other medical specialist looks at the particular organ they treat. And, we deal with the most complicated organ in the body. How can we treat it without having any information on how it functions? Psychiatrists are the only medical specialists who never look at the organ we treat!

There were brain-imaging studies that suggested there was overactivity in the anterior cingulate gyrus in patients who had obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). There was a SPECT study in 1991 reporting that Prozac decreased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus in OCD patients. I saw hyperactivity in the anterior cingulate gyrus in many patients who did not have OCD. But I noticed a common thread with OCD. Patients had trouble shifting attention. Researcher Alan Mirsky wrote a book chapter highlighting the anterior cingulate area of the brain as being involved with shifting attention. In Robbin, Kaitlyn, and many of my patients who had too much activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus I saw this problem of shifting attention: there was a certain cognitive inflexibility that was evident in many of their symptoms. Could it be possible that oppositional children had a similar underlying brain mechanism found in OCD? I was intrigued. Over time the finding proved to be true. When there is increased activity in the anterior cingulate gyrus a certain cognitive inflexibility is present. This can present as many different symptoms, but the underlying mechanism, trouble shifting attention, remains. The symptom list at the beginning of the chapter is a compilation of what we have seen in these patients. The anterior cingulate area of the brain is heavily innervated with serotonin neurons. We have also found that serotonergic medications seem to be the most helpful in this disorder. The Anterior Cingulate Gyrus

Write down five things you are grateful for every day. Our research suggests that focusing on gratitude helps to calm the deep limbic or emotional areas of the brain and enhances the judgment centers. Exercise. It not only boosts PFC activity,

Aim for 11–14 hours for toddlers, 10–13 hours for preschoolers, 9–11 hours for elementary and junior high schoolers, 8–10 hours for teenagers, and 7–8 hours for adults. Turn off tech devices 1–2 hours before bedtime.

Sensitivity to Noise At the same time the ADD person may also be sensitive to noise. They often need to escape from others to feel calm or peaceful inside.

In dealing with kids, employees, and spouses with ADD—NO YELLING! Many people with ADD have low activity in the front part of their brains, due to lower levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. As a way to feel more alert they often find themselves seeking conflict or excitement. They can be masterful at making other people mad or angry at them. Do not lose your temper with them, because it often makes things worse. If they get you to explode, their unconscious, low- energy frontal cortex turns on and unconsciously they come to crave it. Never let your anger be their medication. They can get addicted to it.

There Are Five Hallmark Symptoms of ADD Short attention span, for regular, routine, everyday tasks. People with ADD have a difficult time with boring tasks and need stimulation or excitement in order to stay engaged. Many people with ADD can pay attention just fine for things that are new, novel, interesting, highly stimulating, or frightening. Distractibility. People with ADD tend to notice more in their environment than others, which makes them easily distracted by outside stimuli, such as light, sounds, smells, certain tastes, or even the clothes they wear. Their keen sensitivity causes them to get easily off task. Disorganization. Most people with ADD tend to struggle with organization of time and space. They tend to be late and have trouble completing tasks on time. Many things get done at the last moment or even later. They also tend to struggle keeping their spaces tidy, especially their rooms, book bags, filing cabinets, drawers, closets, and paperwork. Procrastination. Tasks and duties get put off until the last moment. Things tend not to get done until there are deadlines or someone else is mad at them for not doing it. Poor internal supervision. Many people with ADD have issues with judgment and impulse control, and struggle not to say or do things without fully thinking them through. They also have a harder time learning from their mistakes.

Untreated ADD increases the risk of depression, drug abuse, obesity, smoking, Type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimer’s disease.

In the largest effectiveness study to date, with more than four thousand patients with major depressive disorder in primary care and community settings, only 31 percent were in remission after 14 weeks of optimal treatment. In most double-blind trials of antidepressants, the placebo response rate hovers around 30 percent . . . The unfortunate reality is that current medications help too few people to get better and very few people to get well.

Gene-Jack Wang and colleagues at the Brookhaven National Laboratory found that treatment with Ritalin over a year increased the dopamine transporters (proteins that help clear dopamine, the neurotransmitter that helps us focus) out of the brain’s synapses, meaning that there is less dopamine to do its work. Taking the stimulant seems to increase the need for it.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 (HCSB) The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you. Psalms 9:9-10 (NLT) The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him. Nahum 1:7 (NLT) The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy 4:18 (NIV)

(1) Love your brain (you have to really care about your brain). (2) Avoid the things that hurt your brain. (3) Do the things that help your brain.

In general, poor PFC function leads people to make repetitive mistakes. Their actions are not based on experience, or forethought, but rather on the moment. The moment is what matters. This phrase comes up over and over with my ADD patients. For many people with ADD, forethought is a struggle. It is natural for them to act out what is important to them at the immediate moment, not two moments from now or five moments from now, but now! A person with ADD may be ready for work a few minutes early, but rather than leave the house and be on time or a few minutes early, she may do another couple of things that make her late. Likewise, a person with ADD may be sexually attracted to someone he just met, and even though he is married and his personal goal is to stay married, he may have a sexual encounter that puts his marriage at risk. The moment was what mattered. In the same vein, many people with ADD take what I call a crisis management approach to their lives. Rather than having clearly defined goals and acting in a manner consistent to reach them, they ricochet from crisis to crisis. In school, people with ADD have difficulty with long-term planning. Instead of keeping up as the semester goes along, they focus on the crisis in front of them at the moment—the next test or term paper. At work they are under continual stress. Deadlines loom and tasks go uncompleted. It seems as though there is a need for constant stress in order to get consistent work done. The constant stress, however, takes a physical toll on everyone involved (the person, his or her family, coworkers, employers, friends, etc.).

Ioften tell people I know more about ADD than I want to. I have not only studied ADD from the perspective of a clinician and researcher, I have lived with it at home. My first wife, Robbin, and my current wife, Tana, both have ADD. What can I say, I love exciting women.

Well God knew I was like that, so God gave me Kaitlyn. Hyperactive from before birth, we thought Kaitlyn was going to be a boy, because the lore is that the more active babies are inside their mother’s womb the more likely they are to be boys. Well she wasn’t. Trying to hold Kaitlyn when she was a year old was like trying to hold a live salmon. I had a spiritual crisis because of this child. Many Catholic churches have the tradition of young children sitting with their parents at mass. It was no fun with Kaitlyn, because she was the worst-behaved child at church, which was not only embarrassing, it was bad for business. I treated half the children in the congregation and if my child was the worst one, people would lose confidence in me. So after a while I stopped going to church. Have you ever seen children on little yellow leashes in the mall? After having Kaitlyn I believed in little yellow leashes because she was always trying to get away. But my problem was that I wrote a column in the Daily Republic, a local newspaper where I lived, and whenever I went to the mall people recognized me and said things like, “Hey, you’re Dr. Amen! I loved your column.” I just could not deal with, “Hey, you’re Dr. Amen! Why is your child on a leash?” So what I used to do with Kaitlyn was put her in her stroller and tie her shoelaces together so she couldn’t get out. Now, I am not proud of that but when you have a hyperactive child you do things just to survive.

Sensitivity to taste is another common problem. Many people with ADD will eat only foods with a certain taste or texture. Parents frequently complain that they have trouble finding foods their children will eat. One of my patients went through a two-year period where he would only eat burritos with peanut butter and bananas.

People with Type 3 Overfocused ADD often appear very organized on the outside. They are often perfectly dressed, and parts of their living spaces may be very neat. For example, they may insist on perfect living rooms, but if you go into their drawers or their closets, you’ll find a disaster.

Before you can set goals and work towards them, it helps to have a mental picture of what you want to create. The most commonly asked question in coaching is, “What do you want?” Lots of time is spent developing the skill of “metaview,” meaning seeing things in The Big Picture. This is an area that tends to be weak for people with ADD, especially the Overfocused subtype. We use metaphors like gardening to help clients get an image of what they want the “landscape” to look like, what type of flowers they want to plant, and what sort of care the garden is going to require. Clients often find that they are spending too much time nurturing a flower they don’t even like or studying one part of the garden while not seeing that another section is dying.

It was time to go “gremlin hunting”! The “gremlin” is a concept used in coaching to identify the voice within us that holds us back from being who we want to be. It sabotages our growth and keeps us from taking action. Richard Carson, in his book, Taming Your Gremlin, provides a format to help become aware of the gremlin and how to control it. The concept of the gremlin is one of the most powerful tools someone takes away from coaching.

Your brain was not meant for your head to be hitting soccer balls, playing tackle football, boxing, or participating in Ultimate Fighting Championships.

It doesn’t have to be a “serious” injury to have serious consequences for your body and your health.

Studies show that people who have suffered brain injuries, even mild ones, often experience emotional, behavioral, or cognitive problems.

Protect your brain.

Whenever you notice these automatic negative thoughts (ANTs), you need to crush them or they’ll begin to ruin your whole day. One way to crush these ANTs is to write down the negative thought and talk back to it. For example, if you think, Other kids will laugh at me when I give my speech, write it down and then write down a positive response—something like The other kids will like my speech and find it interesting. When you write down negative thoughts and talk back to them, you take away their power and help yourself feel better.

Doctors aren’t sure why people with ADD have more sleep problems. Some doctors think it has to do with serotonin, the neurotransmitter most closely tied to types 3 and 6 ADD. However, we all depend on serotonin to fall asleep, and when there is not enough of it, getting to sleep can be an awful chore.

ADD tend to ruminate on the bad things that happened that day in their own world and the world at large.

Chronic insomnia triples your risk of death from all causes and is a common problem with people who have ADD.

refuse to be a sheep and you’ll arm yourself with a sheepdog’s attitude of being serious, guarding and fighting for your own life and the lives of those you love and serve.

self-awareness. Learn to recognize your negative inner dialogue, or what leading psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen calls ANTs (automatic negative thoughts), and to let them pass over like a rain cloud. 10. Take time for self-care. When you nurture your well-being, you become a source of energy and light for yourself and others. We live in a culture where productivity is valued over things that fill up our hearts and souls. Take time to develop simple practices that bring you back to yourself and support the health of your body and mind and heart.

Education about ADD—its impact on home, school, family, and the self—is the first step in treatment. The more accurate information you have the more likely you are to get the best help. Robert Pasnau, M.D., past president of the American Psychiatric Association, said that coping requires three things: information, self-esteem, and a sense of control. Obtaining accurate information is the critical first step in treating this disorder.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.

Whenever you blame someone else for the problems in your own life you become a victim of that other person and you have no power to change anything. Without a sense of personal power people often feel overwhelmed and hopeless.

Biology: how the physical body functions         • Psychology: developmental issues and thought patterns         • Social connections: social support and current life situation         • Spiritual health: what life means

You can take our Amen Solution Brain Type Questionnaire on our web coaching site, the Amen Solution @ Home (www.amensolution.com

Take the Amen Solution Brain Type Test—Log on to the Amen Solution @ Home (www.amensolution.com) to find out which of your brain systems might need help and what specific supplements might be of benefit to you.

Developmental issues, such as being adopted or experiencing a significant loss or trauma as a child, are also significant. Children often believe that they are the center of the universe and that if something bad happens, such as if a mother gets cancer, a child may think it is her fault and spend the rest of her life racked with guilt. Past successes and failures are a part of this circle, as are hope and a sense of worth and personal power or control.

Children of immigrants or Holocaust survivors often get very different psychological messages from those of children whose families have been established for generations. For example, many Holocaust survivors will never speak to their children or grandchildren about what happened. Nonetheless, the messages of the unspeakable horrors may be transmitted nonverbally to the subsequent generations, and the younger generations can end up with anxiety and PTSD issues without ever hearing the actual stories. The trauma messages can be conveyed unconsciously through looks and gestures.

Beyond the biological, psychological, and social aspects our lives, we are also spiritual beings. So to fully heal and recover, we must recognize that we are more than just our bodies, minds, and social connections, and we must ask ourselves deep spiritual questions, such as the following: What does my life mean? What is my purpose? Why am I here? What are my values? Do I believe in God or a Higher Power? How does that manifest in my life? What is my connection to past generations, future generations, and the planet?

Having a sense of purpose, as well as connections to past and future generations, allows us to reach beyond ourselves to affirm that our lives matter. Without a spiritual connection, many people experience an overriding sense of despair. Morality, values, and a spiritual connection to others and the universe are critical for many people to feel a sense of wholeness and connection, and a reason to get up in the morning and to take good care of themselves.

people act badly, it is easy to just call them negative or derogatory names. But once you look at their scans and realize they might have a damaged or toxic scan, it gives you more understanding and empathy.

Laboratory tests are the next set of important numbers to know. Here are the key lab test numbers you need to know:   1. Complete blood count   2. General metabolic panel with fasting blood sugar and lipid panel   3. HgA1C   4. Vitamin D   5. Thyroid panel   6. C-reactive protein

Homocysteine   8. Ferritin   9. Free and total serum testosterone 10. Cortisol and sulfated DHEA (DHEA-S) 11. Estrogen (oestrogen) and progesterone

According to a large study from Kaiser Permanente, for every 0.05 increase above 4.72, patients had an additional 6 percent increased risk of developing diabetes in the next ten years (4.82 = 12 percent increased risk, etc.) Above 5 indicates that vascular damage has already occurred and a patient is at risk for having damage to the kidneys and eyes. Why is high fasting blood sugar a problem? High blood sugar causes vascular problems throughout your whole body, including your brain. Over time, it causes blood vessels to become brittle and vulnerable to breakage. It leads not only to diabetes but also to heart disease, strokes, visual impairment, impaired wound healing, wrinkled skin, and cognitive problems. Diabetes doubles the risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

According to the American Heart Association, optimal levels are as follows (note: those levels have been converted from US mg/dL measures): Total cholesterol (3.7–5.1 mmol/L, below 3.7 has been associated with depression) High-density lipoprotein (HDL) (>= 1.5 mmol/L) Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (<2.6 mmol/L) Triglycerides (<1.1 mmol/L).

According to the American Heart Association, optimal levels are as follows (note: those levels have been converted from US mg/dL measures): Total cholesterol (3.7–5.1 mmol/L, below 3.7 has been associated with depression) High-density lipoprotein (HDL) (>= 1.5 mmol/L) Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (<2.6 mmol/L) Triglycerides (<1.1 mmol/L). If your lipids are off, make sure to get your diet under control, as well as taking fish oil and exercising regularly. Of course you should see your physician. Also, knowing the particle size of LDL cholesterol is important. Large particles are less toxic than smaller particles.

have been associated with obesity, depression, cognitive impairment, heart disease, reduced immunity, cancer, psychosis, and all causes of mortality. Check your 25-hydroxy vitamin D level, and if it is low, try to get more sunshine in a safe way and/or take a vitamin D3 supplement. A healthy vitamin D level is between 75 and 250 nmol/L (nanograms per liter). Optimal is between 125 and 250 nmol/L. Personally, I never wanted to be in the bottom of any class I was ever in. Two-thirds of the population are low in vitamin D; this is the same percentage of U.S. residents who are overweight or obese. According to one study, when vitamin D is low the hormone leptin that tells us to stop eating is not effective. One

Thyroid Panel (blood test)—Abnormal thyroid hormone levels are a common cause of anxiety, depression, forgetfulness, confusion, and lethargy. Having low thyroid levels decreases overall brain activity, which can impair your thinking, judgment, and self-control and make it very hard for you to feel good. Low thyroid functioning can make it nearly impossible to manage weight effectively. To know your thyroid levels, you need to know these figures: thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) Free T3 Free T4 Thyroid antibodies (thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin antibodies)

There are hundreds of hormones in the body that affect the brain. To keep it practical, I am going to show you how to optimize seven of your most important hormones: • Estrogen • Progesterone • Testosterone • Thyroid • Cortisol • DHEA • Insulin

When you have a deficiency of progesterone and an imbalance of hormones, it literally feels like the “decision part” of your brain has been taken away from you. Women describe feeling like they are watching themselves handle situations with anger and frustration, as if they were someone else.

Estrogen helps you think clearly. Progesterone helps you relax.

Healthy levels of estrogen help you feel good. Too much estrogen can make you feel as anxious and irritable as a wet cat. Estrogen withdrawal makes you feel depressed and confused. It’s the rise and drop in estrogen that drastically affects your mood, and the more erratic your particular fluctuation is, the more upset it can make you. These problems become worse during perimenopause and menopause, when estrogen levels wane. There are three different kinds of estrogen: estrone (oestrone), estradiol (oestradiol), and estriol (oestriol). According to my friend and colleague Dr. James LaValle, author of the Metabolic Code, estrone is the estrogen to worry about. Estrone can make you more prone to cancer. Your liver, gut, and adrenal health determine what types of hormones are made. Depending

Estradiol—Estradiol is the strongest estrogen; it helps you think clearly. It is produced in the ovaries and has many protective effects, including maintaining bone density, improving growth hormone production and cardiovascular function, keeping your blood from getting “sticky,” supporting cognitive function and mood, assisting in growth hormone release, and improving your lipids profile. Too much estradiol can be associated with estrogen-related cancers, but deficiencies can lead to osteoporosis, heart disease, dementia, and other diseases of aging. Estradiol keeps you looking and feeling young and vibrant. It also provides antiaging protection for the skin. And it even helps prevent weight gain. Researchers at Yale University have found that estradiol suppresses appetite using the same pathways in the brain as leptin, which is one of the hormones that regulate appetite.

Estriol—Estriol is the weakest of the three estrogens and has a protective role in breast tissue. It is believed to protect vaginal tissue too. Estriol helps to reduce hot flashes in women, protects the urinary tract, and plays a role in retention of bone density. It can help increase “good” HDL and decrease “bad” LDL cholesterol. One compelling study showed that taking estriol can reverse brain lesions in women with multiple sclerosis. Estrogen is particularly needed in women to make serotonin function at its best in the brain. Serotonin is one of the brain’s feel-good hormones. With no estrogen, your mood can change to anxious and depressed. Cognitive functions, such as critical thinking and short-term memory, are also eroded with the loss of estrogen production. Below is a list of symptoms related to low and high estrogen levels:

In a young, healthy woman, the estrogen ratio generally averages as follows: 60–80 percent estriol, 10–20 percent estradiol, and 10–20 percent estrone. While these levels vary from one individual to another, the goal of bioidentical hormone restoration therapy (BHRT), discussed later, is to re-create a more natural balance in the levels of estrogen and in combination with all the other sex hormones. Estrogens convert into several metabolites. Estrone, for example, may convert into three different forms: • 2-hydroxyestrone, protective against cancer • 4-hydroxyestrone, promotes cancer • 16-alpha-hydroxyestrone, promotes cancer

The main areas for estrogen breakdown are the liver and gastrointestinal tract. Diets high in refined sugar and low in fiber feed the unfriendly bacteria in the intestines, causing them to disrupt estrogen metabolism. One of the by-products of the unfriendly “bugs” in the intestines is that the estrogen metabolites can’t be excreted and they build up in your tissues over time, causing trouble.

Dietary Changes to Improve the 2:16 Ratio There are great foods that can help improve the conversion of estrogen into good metabolites and away from the bad ones. These foods include insoluble dietary fibers, such as lignin found in green beans, peas, carrots, seeds, and Brazil nuts. The reason that dietary fiber, especially lignin, is so beneficial is that it can bind harmful estrogens in the digestive tract, so they can be excreted in the feces instead of being reabsorbed. Dietary fiber also improves the composition of intestinal bacteria so that harmful estrogen metabolites can be excreted from the body. It also decreases the conversion of testosterone into estrogens, maintaining a healthy testosterone level. Sugar and simple carbohydrates cause unfriendly flora to grow in the gastrointestinal tract and disrupt estrogen metabolism. These foods also raise blood sugar and insulin levels, resulting in adverse influences in sex hormone balance. Too many simple carbohydrates have been associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk among overweight women and women with a large waist

Your lifestyle may expose you to environmental estrogens that can disrupt your body’s natural balance or interfere with proper therapy. Here are some tips from Dr. LaValle to reduce your exposure: 1. Limit drinking out of plastic containers, and when you do, drink only from containers that are free of bisphenol A, better known as BPA. 2. Do not microwave food in plastic containers or covered in plastic. 3. Avoid using personal care items such as face creams, cosmetics, shampoos, tampons, and toiletries that contain environmental estrogens and particularly phthalates. Phthalates are synthetic substances found in many plastics. They have estrogenic properties and are banned as a toxic substance in Europe.

Help for PMS—Low progesterone is often one of the culprits of PMS symptoms. Progesterone cream used during the last week of a woman’s cycle is often helpful. I also recommend a combination of supplements to balance the brain, especially 400–500 mg calcium citrate twice a day, 200–300 mg chelated magnesium twice a day, vitamin A, B complex with 50 mg B6, and 500 mg evening primrose oil twice a day. I also suggest 50–100 mg 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) twice a day to help to boost serotonin and decrease anxiety and worry. If focus is a problem, try green tea or 500 mg L-tyrosine two to three times a day. Chaste-berry, 20–40 mg a day, can also help for PMS symptoms of especially breast pain or tenderness, swelling, constipation, irritability, depressed mood or mood alterations, anger, and headache in some women. Boost exercise in the last week of your cycle, and hold the sugar and alcohol.

Get your testosterone level checked and start with natural ways to normalize it when it is low. What Steals Your Testosterone Levels     • Abdominal fat     • Stress     • Excess sugar, processed foods, and insulin     • Zinc deficiency     • Alcohol

During the worst time of Jesse’s cycle, the “worry” region of her brain was overactive, which caused her to become fixated on things, and the judgment and impulse control part of her brain was underactive. The alcohol likely further dropped her ability to control her behavior. That’s why she was so distraught with her husband and why the idea of grabbing the knife wasn’t properly processed and filtered out. During the best time of her cycle, Jesse’s brain was much more balanced. The answer to this woman’s problem was not just anger-management therapy. It was to get her hormonal fluctuations under control. During the days prior to starting your period, estrogen and progesterone levels hit rock bottom. On scans, I see the worry center of the brain (the anterior cingulate gyrus) start to fire up; as a result, women can get stuck on negative thoughts or give in to behaviors they think will make them feel better, such as reaching for wine or cookies.

The anterior cingulate fires up as the end result of a series of events. First, estrogen levels fall. Meanwhile, serotonin, the feel-good neurotransmitter, also decreases. The deficiency in serotonin causes the anterior cingulate gyrus to fire up. To make things worse, just about this time the PFC tends to quiet down, which is why women may have a hard time focusing and controlling impulses. So we see emotional difficulties, intensified feelings of sadness, and disturbed sleep.

To maximize the benefits of BHRT, you need to make the brain-healthy changes in your life. Eating healthier, taking supplements where needed, getting more sleep, and exercising will have a synergistic effect.

sleeplessness, anxiety, irritability, racing thoughts, a fast pulse, breathlessness, weight loss despite an increased appetite, feeling too hot for no clear reason, and always feeling as though somebody set the thermostat too high, you could have an overactive thyroid. In extreme cases, you might see the classic systems of a goiter (a growth on the thyroid), weight loss, bulging eyes, and an intense staring gaze. Your thyroid is a small butterfly-shaped gland located in your lower neck. When your doctor runs her hands along the base of your throat, she’s checking to see if there are any noticeable problems with the size of your thyroid. But you can’t really tell what’s going on without a blood test. And it can take some adjusting to get your thyroid optimized. The main thyroid hormones—TSH, T3, and T4—all have to be in the right balance. It is estimated that tens of millions of people worldwide (5–25 percent of the world’s population) have thyroid problems. Thyroid problems are more common as we age and they seem to be increasing in the population.

Diindolylmethane (DIM)—This is a phytochemical found in cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower. It shifts estrogen metabolism to favor the friendly or harmless estrogen metabolites. DIM can significantly increase the urinary excretion of the “bad” estrogens in as little as four weeks. The typical dose of DIM is 75–300 mg per day. Omega-3 Fatty Acids (fish oils)—These contain eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which has been reported in laboratory studies to help control estrogen metabolism and decrease the risk of breast cancer. Eating grass-fed organic beef also supplies these fats. I typically recommend 2,000 mg a day. Calcium d-glucarate—This natural compound is found in fruits and vegetables like apples, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and cabbage. Calcium d-glucarate inhibits the enzyme that contributes to breast, prostate, and colon cancers. It also reduces reabsorbed estrogen from the digestive tract.

Probiotics—These help maintain healthy intestinal flora and healthy estrogen levels. Make sure you get human-strain probiotics that have live cultures. Consider taking 10–60 billion units per day. Plant Phytoestrogens—These plant-based compounds have healthy estrogen-like activity and have been found helpful for a variety of conditions, including menopausal symptoms, PMS, and endometriosis. Phytoestrogens can be found in soy, kudzu, red clover, and pomegranate. Resveratrol is a bioflavonoid antioxidant that occurs naturally in grapes and red wine and has been reported to inhibit breast cancer cell growth in laboratory studies. Black cohosh—This herb has been used for centuries by Native Americans for hormonal balance in women.

Jesse I first saw Jesse after she split from her husband. During a fight, she pulled a knife on him and told him not to go to sleep. He left her that evening. It turned out that Jesse had long-standing temper issues that paralleled her menstrual cycle. Regularly in the week before her period started, she became moody, anxious, and aggressive. And she aggravated the problem by drinking a lot. The incident with the knife had occurred at precisely this point in her cycle. When Jesse came to see me, I knew it would be helpful to find out what was going on in her brain.

Low thyroid doesn’t kill you. It just makes you wish you were dead. —RICHARD AND KARILEE SHAMES, THYROID MIND POWER THYROID

Many people with ADD suffer from moodiness, excessive worrying, and negativity. This attitude comes from their past. They have many experiences with failure, so they come to expect it. Their “sky is falling” attitude has a tendency to get on the nerves of coworkers and can infect the work environment.

Without understanding your place as a conscious entity manifesting and engaging an experiential Reality, you will only be able to perceive Jesus within the confines of your belief structure. And that would present that hall-of-mirrors Jesus caricature comprising a divine myth or a deduced, amenable stick figure – either of which may perhaps satisfy your own needs, but have nothing to do with the real man.

Evolve the Brain: The Science of Changing Your Mind,

Unchain Your Brain: 10 Steps to Breaking the Addictions That Steal Your Life,

MORE FROM GOD’S WORD I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30:19-20 HCSB Ignorant zeal is worthless; haste makes waste. Proverbs 19:2 MSG But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself…. Daniel 1:8 KJV But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Matthew 6:33 HCSB Above all and before all, do this: Get Wisdom! Write this at the top of your list: Get Understanding! Proverbs 4:7 MSG The wise people will shine like the brightness of the sky. Those who teach others to live right will shine like stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3 NCV SHADES OF GRACE The Gospel is not so much a demand as it is an offer, an offer of new life to man by the grace of God. E. Stanley Jones A PRAYER FOR TODAY Dear Lord, today I will focus my thoughts on Your will for my life. I will strive to make decisions that are pleasing to You, and I will strive to follow in the footsteps of Your Son. Amen

Research clearly tells us that being in a loving, healthy, affectionate relationship helps you be happier, live longer, have a better body, and even help to protect you from depression and memory problems.

... Amen. GOD Created all things seen and unseen. The True Believers in GOD believe that over a period of about 1600 years, GOD inspired 40 Holy men of GOD to write the Holy Bible. The Holy Bible is The Only Holy Book written under Divine Inspiration by about 40 Holy men of GOD over a period of about 1600 years. "In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth."(Genesis 1:1). GOD is a Spirit. (Genesis 1;1; John 1;1; 1 John 1:1 -7; John 4:24; John 17:1-3 etc) ABBA GOD, is Our Heavenly Father. (Matthew 6:9-13; Romans 8:15; Romans 8:15 ;Galatians 4:6;etc ) GOD Lives. GOD Exists. GOD is Real and GOD is Eternal. GOD is The Creator and He Created all things seen and unseen. GOD is a Spirit and He is Masculine. There is nothing impossible with GOD. Finite mortal minds should never try to limit the Infinite Eternal GOD. GOD is Love.( 1 John 3;1; 1 John 4:8 ; John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9; Daniel 9:4; Deuteronomy 7:9 ;Deuteronomy 30:20; Hebrews 6:10 ; John 3:8 ; John 13:35 ; John 14:31 ; romans 6:23; 1 John 5:23 ; John 17:22-23 ; Ezekiel 36:26-27 ; Ephesians 2:4-5 ; Deuteronomy 10:12-13 ;2 Corinthians 6:17-18 ; John 3:16-18 ; Romans 5:6-8 ; Matthew 22:36-40 ; Matthew 22:36-40; 1 John 3:11-18 ; 1 John 4:7-16 ; etc ).

A cup of warm lemon water infused with ginger is a stimulating, detoxifying way to wake up. Not

And Jesus cast demons out of several of you.” “I was blind and mute by a demon,” said a man, who was obviously seeing clearly and speaking freely. Demas thought, A demon or your own captivating fears and madness? Peter’s mother-in-law added, “And there were those tormented by long maladies.” She pointed at a middle-aged woman. “Sarah, you had an issue of blood for twelve years.” Sarah spoke out, “Yes! I simply touched his garment and I was made well.” Peter’s mother-in-law continued, looking at two men in the corner. “And Josiah and Daniel. We all know you were blind until a week ago.” More amens where whispered.

DL PRESCRIPTION 6: RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL CONTACT The deep limbic system not only is involved in emotional bonding, it is also involved in physical bonding. Actual physical touching is essential to good health. It would probably surprise some people to know that there are couples who can go for ten years and longer without touching each other. I have seen them in my practice, and they invariably show such deep limbic system problems as irritability and depression. It is only after I help them correct their nontouching behavior that their depressive symptoms improve. Physical connection is also a critical element in the parent-infant bonding process. The caressing, kissing, sweet words, and eye contact from the mother and father give the baby the pleasure, love, trust, and security it needs to develop

petting.” This powerful finding has been rediscovered over and over, most recently in the early 1990s in Romania, where thousands of warehoused infants went without touch for sometimes years at a time. PET studies (similar to SPECT studies) of a number of these deprived infants have shown marked overall decreased activity across the whole brain. Bonding is a two-way street. A naturally unresponsive baby may inadvertently receive less love from its parents. The mother and father, misreading their baby’s naturally reserved behavior, may feel hurt and rejected and therefore less encouraged to lavish care and affection on their child. A classic example of this problem is illustrated by autistic children. Psychiatrists used to label the mothers of autistic children “cold” they believed the mother’s lack of responsiveness caused the autism. In recent times, however, it has been shown in numerous research studies that autism is biological and preceded any

relationship. The mothers of autistic children in their studies started out warm, but actually became more reserved when they did not get positive feedback from their children. The kind of love that is critical to making the parent-infant bond work is reciprocal.

something differently, I wouldn’t be in the predicament I’m in. It’s your fault, and I’m not responsible.” Whenever you blame someone else for the problems in your life, you become powerless to change anything. The “blame game” hurts your personal sense of power. Stay away from blaming thoughts. You have to take personal responsibility for your problems before you can hope to change them. Summary of ANT Species 1. “Always/never” thinking: thinking in words like always, never, no one, everyone, every time, everything 2. Focusing on the negative: seeing only the bad in a situation 3. Fortune-telling: predicting the worst

possible outcome to a situation 4. Mind reading: believing that you know what others are thinking, even though they haven’t told you 5. Thinking with your feelings: believing negative feelings without ever questioning them 6. Guilt beating: thinking in words like should, must, ought, or have to 7. Labeling: attaching a negative label to yourself or to someone else 8. Personalizing: investing innocuous events with personal meaning 9. Blaming: blaming someone else for your own problems DL PRESCRIPTION 2: KILL THE ANTS/ FEED YOUR ANTEATER

I’m stupid. Labeling Sometimes I do things that aren’t too smart, but I’m not stupid. It’s your fault we have these marital problems. Blaming I need to look at my part of the problem and look for ways I can make the situation better. Your turn: EVENT: Write out the event that is associated with your thoughts and feelings.

ANT Species of ANT Kill the ANT You never listen to me. “Always/Never” Thinking I get frustrated when you don’t listen to me, but I know you have listened to me and will again. The boss doesn’t like me. Mind Reading I don’t know that. Maybe she’s just having a bad day. Bosses are people, too. The whole class will laugh at me. Fortune-telling I don’t know that. Maybe they’ll really like my speech.

While I was doing my fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry, my family and I lived in Hawaii. When my son was seven years old, I took him to a marine life educational and entertainment park for the day. We went to the killer whale show, the dolphin show, and finally the penguin show. The penguin’s name was Fat Freddie. He did amazing things: He jumped off a twenty-foot diving board; he bowled with his nose; he counted with his flippers; he even jumped through a hoop of fire. I had my arm around my son, enjoying the show, when the trainer asked Freddie to get something. Freddie went and got it, and he brought it right back. I thought, “Whoa, I ask this kid to get something for me, and he wants to have a discussion with me for twenty minutes, and then he doesn’t want to do it!” I knew my son was smarter than this penguin. I went up to the trainer afterward and asked, “How did you get Freddie to do all these really neat things?” The trainer looked at my son, and then she looked at me and said, “Unlike parents, whenever Freddie does anything like what I want him to do, I notice him! I give him a hug, and I give him a fish.” The light went on in my head. Whenever my son did what I wanted him to do, I paid little attention to him, because I was a busy guy, like my own father. However, when he didn’t do what I wanted him to do, I gave him a lot of attention because I didn’t want to raise a bad kid! I was inadvertently teaching him to be a little monster in order to get my attention. Since that day, I have tried hard to notice my son’s good acts and fair attempts (although I don’t toss him a fish, since he doesn’t care for them) and to downplay his mistakes. We’re both better people for it. I collect penguins as a way to remind myself to notice the good things about the people in my life a lot more than the bad things. This has been so helpful for me as well as for many of my patients. It is often necessary to have something that reminds us of this prescription. It’s not natural for most of us to notice what we like about our life or what we like about others, especially if we unconsciously use turmoil to stimulate our prefrontal cortex. Focusing on the negative aspects of others or of your own life makes you more vulnerable to depression and can damage your relationships.

Bold Prayers Joshua prayed to the LORD in front of all the people of Israel. He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon.” JOSHUA 10:12 NLT Do you pray conservatively or audaciously? Joshua prayed audaciously—and the sun stood still. Hannah prayed audaciously—and God granted her a son. Daniel prayed audaciously—and the lions’ mouths stayed closed all night. (Whew—what a relief to him!) Jesus prayed audaciously—and Lazarus rose from the dead. What about you? Have you dared to pray a bold prayer, or are you content to ask God for easy things? Jennie, her husband, and two boys decided to pray audaciously that God would help them adopt a little girl from Haiti. They had no extra money, and the fee to adopt came to over $15,000. Still, they felt led to start filling out the required paperwork and making plans. About the time they had hoped to complete the process, the family was still woefully short on funds. But out of the blue, a distant relative called Jennie and said that her great-uncle (whom the family had only met once) had died and left an inheritance to Jennie. The next week, Jennie nearly fainted when she opened a certified mail envelope—and a check for $14,500 fell out. Pray audaciously. You never know what God will do. God, thank You for answering mightily when we pray with bold faith. Amen.

the Freedom of Information Act and the pharmaceutical companies found that antidepressants, except for the most severely depressed patients, worked no better than placebos or sugar pills (4).

it’s been estimated that the brain has the storage capacity of three million hours of TV shows (7).

(It amazes us how often people forget they have had head injuries!)

Food is a powerful drug. You can use it to help mood and cognitive ability or you can unknowingly make things worse.

Happiness comes from moving your life forward toward your life goals with meaning and purpose, based on your values, despite whatever obstacles are in your way. A happy life doesn’t focus on the past with regret or look to the future with fear.

You are not your mind. Your ability to separate from, manage, and not be a victim of your mind is essential to feeling happy. Yet it was not until I was 28 years old, starting my psychiatric residency, that I learned I was not my mind and I did not have to believe every stupid thought that came into my awareness. I learned that my thoughts create my feelings; my feelings create my behaviors; and eventually my behaviors create my outcomes in relationships, work, finances, and how healthy I am physically and emotionally.

overconsumption of protein can lead to increased stress and inflammation in the body, which is associated with low moods and anxiousness.

Consistent happiness is about making the right decisions again and again over time, which builds the neural pathways of feeling good.

You will increase your happiness if you scrap or reduce any unrealistic expectations. Chances are you’re not going to have the perfect career, the perfect spouse, or the perfect kids. In fact, seeking perfection is a recipe for unhappiness because you will always be disappointed. Set expectations that make sense to the current situation you find yourself in. And match those expectations with what you’ve learned about yourself through a strengths-based assessment.

Part of living in the present means not worrying about the future, which will kill your happiness every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Worrying may be second nature to many, but most of us are not aware of how much we dwell on fearful thoughts. Research shows that happy people worry far less often than unhappy people do.

Dr. Gael Chételat, the coauthor of the study, echoing what I’ve been saying for many years. “Looking after your mental health is . . . not only important for people’s health and well-being in the short term, but it could also impact your eventual risk of dementia.

Thinking about the good things that happened to you sets up your dreams to be more positive, which will help you sleep better, enhance your mood, boost your energy levels, and put a smile on your face. When you fall asleep happier, you wake up happier, ready to embrace the day with a positive bias.

In three decades of working with patients, I have found that when you tell your brain what you want, your brain will help you make it happen.

When you feel better, have better recall, and sleep better, you are more likely to be on top of your game, and that makes you happier.

At Amen Clinics, we published a study on nearly a thousand pot smokers compared to nonusers. As a group, the pot smokers showed lower blood flow in every area of the brain, especially the hippocampus (mood and memory).[16] This is clear evidence that getting stoned can cause lasting damage.

correctly reprogramming the brain is more than reminding yourself to think happy thoughts. I prefer that you adopt a mindset of “accurate thinking” with a positive or optimistic can-do spin to stay in the right frame of mind—happy. However, that’s not easy to do because the default setting on the brain—set back in prehistoric times—is negativity.

Today, you still need to pay attention to what lies ahead because that’s how you protect yourself and survive, although my experience is that most people overdo forward-looking thoughts and make themselves miserable

On the other hand, positive, happy, and hopeful thoughts lead to a parasympathetic response: relaxed muscles, lower blood pressure, healthier heart rhythm, warmer hands and feet, clearer thinking, a healthy PFC, and a calmer limbic brain. Those are characteristics of happy, contented individuals.

Years of research show that “distanced self-talk” can help someone gain some psychological distance from intrusive thoughts, helping them better regulate their emotions, self-control, and wisdom.[10] People are better able to handle negative emotions and intense situations, even if they previously struggled to manage their feelings or behavior.

Where you bring your attention always determines how you feel.

Cautious Brain Types often look to the future with trepidation, but when you are wrapped up in the future, it means you are missing out on the present and live with a baseline level of anxiety, which creates misery.

Cortisol is involved in the fight-or-flight response to threat, helps control blood sugar levels, regulates metabolism, decreases inflammation, and helps us form new memories, especially about possible threats. It also helps balance blood pressure and salt and water ratios. Cortisol is a crucial hormone to protect overall health and well-being. It is generally higher in the morning and gradually decreases throughout the day.

Taking care of the gut starts in the brain, where annoying, exasperating, enraging, or furious thoughts gather like storm clouds and cause a rise in your sympathetic nervous system. This invariably leads to muscle tension, higher blood pressure, sweaty palms, cold hands and feet, irregular heart rhythm, confused thinking, and gut and immune system problems.

Pollyanna’s philosophy about finding something to be glad about in any situation is an excellent way to go through life. If there were ever a good time to play the Glad Game, then today would undoubtedly qualify. But no matter what situation or setback you find yourself in, I urge you to ask yourself this question: What is there to be glad about?

For other brain types who may be hesitant to speak up because they fear they may offend others or their ideas won’t be well-received, practice speaking up and sharing your opinions. You may be surprised to find that others respond more positively to you when you say what’s on your mind.

These people are often so wrapped up in their negative thinking patterns that they sabotage their relationships without realizing it. Whenever you have a distressing thought about your relationship, write it down and ask yourself if it is true. Equally important is asking your loved one to explain what they really mean whenever they say something that you interpret in a negative way.

A 27-year study concluded that living with purpose and meaning is the key to happiness and longevity.

Thanks, praise, glory, honor, worship, and reverence to our great Redeemer. He is faithful and true to his promises, and always takes care of us. He is the greatest leader; he provides us with full armor, to enable us to stand before the enemies. Without him we can do nothing. We ask for his goodness to crown our struggles with success, and give us strength to complete the course, and at the end receive what he prepared for us, not that we are worthy of it, but only through his grace. Glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.