1 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:03,520 Speaker 1: Life Audio. 2 00:00:05,559 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 2: All you have to do is say yes, I'm willing 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:10,040 Speaker 2: to learn how to operate my system this way. So 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 2: whatever state you've been in, however long it's been true 5 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:19,280 Speaker 2: for you, however stuck you feel, I promise you, neurologically, physiologically, theologically, practically, experientially, 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 2: you can change your life as soon as you're willing 7 00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 2: to think different. 8 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 3: This podcast is for the woman who loves Jesus or 9 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 3: who is longing to reconnect with him, and who knows 10 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 3: deep down that alcohol is no longer serving her. I'm 11 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 3: your host and your coach, Christy Osborn. Here we'll talk honestly, 12 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 3: with grace and truth about how stepping away from wine 13 00:00:37,440 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 3: opens the door to the love, joy, peace, and connection 14 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:44,040 Speaker 3: you've been searching for. Because, Babe, those were never meant 15 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 3: to be found in a bottle of wine, They're found 16 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 3: in Jesus. Through scripture, coaching and neuroscience, I'll help you 17 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 3: make sense of your habits, your nervous system, and your 18 00:00:52,479 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 3: heart so freedom feels possible and sustainable. You don't have 19 00:00:56,240 --> 00:01:01,640 Speaker 3: to do this alone, Babe. Welcome to Love Life Sober. Hey, babe, 20 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 3: welcome back to Love Life Sober. Today is a really 21 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 3: special episode to me because I get to chat with 22 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 3: my friend and mentor, doctor Lee Warren. His work isn't 23 00:01:11,280 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 3: just essential for every woman on a sobriety journey, it's 24 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 3: essential for every human on a sanctification journey. His new 25 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 3: book is called The Life Changing Art of Self Brain 26 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 3: Surgery and Babe. It's basically the user manual for take 27 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 3: your Thoughts captive. In our community, we talk all the 28 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 3: time about how we get to change our thinking to 29 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 3: change our drinking, and this book is the practical, step 30 00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 3: by step how behind that. It's basically like an operating 31 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 3: manual for your mind. Once you read it, you're going 32 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:45,119 Speaker 3: to start seeing your cravings differently. You're going to realize 33 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 3: you don't have to obey every thought that shows up 34 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 3: in your head, and you don't have to treat your 35 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 3: feelings like their facts. In this conversation, doctor Lee walks 36 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 3: us through why our brains get stuck in patterns, how 37 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:02,840 Speaker 3: new neural pathways actually and why numbing out always comes 38 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 3: with a cost. So, whether you're in the early days 39 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 3: of not drinking, you're working on healing negative self talk, 40 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:11,359 Speaker 3: or you're just a human trying to do your best 41 00:02:11,400 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 3: and wondering why your brain feels like it's fighting you 42 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 3: at the end of the day. This episode is going 43 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,080 Speaker 3: to give you language tools and so much hope, because, Babe, 44 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 3: you have so much more power than you think you do. 45 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:25,320 Speaker 3: You are not stuck with the brain you woke up 46 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,000 Speaker 3: with this morning. You are not doomed to repeat the 47 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 3: same five PM pattern just because you've done it a 48 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:35,240 Speaker 3: million times before. You have the choice to change your thinking. 49 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 3: And when you change your thinking, you can change your drinking. 50 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 3: Let's start renewing our mind together. Okay, let's dive in. Hi, 51 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 3: doctor Lee, how are you? 52 00:02:44,880 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: Christy? Is so good to see you, friend. I'm doing great. 53 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: Thank you, It's. 54 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 4: So good to see you. This book is just so good. 55 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 3: I was familiar with the Ten Commandments, obviously, because I 56 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 3: love them and I use them all the time, and 57 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 3: so I kind of into this book just thinking, Okay, 58 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 3: I kind of know what he's going to say. But 59 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 3: it is so rich, and it is so well laid out, 60 00:03:07,520 --> 00:03:10,520 Speaker 3: and it is so practical. This book, you guys, the 61 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 3: life changing Art of Self Brain Surgery order right now. 62 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 3: I told Doctor Lee it is required reading for the 63 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 3: love life sober community gals. But I'd actually like just 64 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 3: love to start kind of weirdly at the end, I 65 00:03:23,600 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 3: got really emotional listening to your epilogue and having this 66 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 3: moment with Lisa where you realized that what you had 67 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 3: put together with your faith and all of your expertise 68 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 3: in the medical field had helped so many people after 69 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 3: what you had been through, what you guys had been through. 70 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 3: Can you just speak a little bit about how self 71 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 3: brain surgery literally changed your life. 72 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for the kind of words that I 73 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 2: just have to say. Like, the lesson of all this 74 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 2: is that whatever adversity comes into your life, whether it's 75 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 2: challenge your sobriety or losing a child God forbid, or 76 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 2: whatever it is, there's this funny promise in Psalms. I 77 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 2: think it's one twenty five that says those who plant 78 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 2: in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. Those who 79 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 2: go out weeping will bring home sheets of joy. And 80 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,560 Speaker 2: it's just weird verse. And we ran into it two 81 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 2: different times. One was right after our son Mitch died. 82 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 2: And if you don't know my story, Christine and I've 83 00:04:26,360 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 2: talked about it before. I think my son Mitch was 84 00:04:29,360 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 2: stabbed to death when he was nineteen and just remains 85 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 2: thirteen years later as the single most devastating phone call 86 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 2: I've ever received. 87 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,680 Speaker 1: Devastating period in my life. We heard a sermon. 88 00:04:41,080 --> 00:04:44,240 Speaker 2: We were watching church online a couple of weeks after 89 00:04:44,279 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 2: Mitch died, and the preacher was talking about the pastor 90 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:49,640 Speaker 2: was talking about that verse and it didn't make sense, 91 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:52,720 Speaker 2: what does that mean? So in tears, We're crying all 92 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:55,359 Speaker 2: the time. Right then, shortly after that, we had to 93 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,320 Speaker 2: go back to work. My wife ran our practice. I'm 94 00:04:58,320 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 2: a neurosurgeon and brain surgeon, and we had a practice 95 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,160 Speaker 2: in Alabama. I was the only doctor in the practice, 96 00:05:03,160 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 2: which means if I wasn't working and we weren't making 97 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,240 Speaker 2: any money, and our business was in trouble because we 98 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 2: had ten employees and we had to pay salaries and 99 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:12,960 Speaker 2: pay the rent on the business and all that. So 100 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 2: if I wasn't working, there was going to come a 101 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 2: time when we were literally we're going to have to 102 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 2: close our business or let people go or whatever. And 103 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 2: so our accountant sent us this email and said, guy, Isaac, 104 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 2: you got to go back to work, like you got 105 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 2: to go generate some revenue or you're gonna have to 106 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 2: close your business. And so we went back to work, 107 00:05:30,520 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 2: and literally, Christy, I would see a patient and I 108 00:05:34,279 --> 00:05:35,840 Speaker 2: would come back into the office and Lisa and I 109 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:37,599 Speaker 2: would cry for five or ten minutes, and I'd go 110 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 2: back and see another patient. It was just terrible, Like 111 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 2: I can't even talk about it now without feeling what 112 00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:48,800 Speaker 2: that felt like. And then the first time I had 113 00:05:48,839 --> 00:05:51,240 Speaker 2: to go do surgery on somebody turned out to be 114 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 2: somebody else's kid that got hit in the head and 115 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 2: had a brain hemorrhage and was going to die. And 116 00:05:57,200 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 2: they called me from the er and I went and 117 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,719 Speaker 2: operated on this kid and I saved his life because 118 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:03,520 Speaker 2: God gave. 119 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: Me this ability to do this thing. 120 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 2: And then I remember after I talked to the parents 121 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 2: and told him it was going to be okay and 122 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 2: all that stuff, and the little boy did great. 123 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 1: I got so mad at God that night. 124 00:06:13,360 --> 00:06:15,240 Speaker 2: And I was never the guy that shook his fistic 125 00:06:15,320 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 2: God Like I went to a divorce and I went 126 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 2: through PTSD from the Iraq War, and I went through 127 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:22,359 Speaker 2: a lot of hard stuff in my life, and I 128 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 2: never shook my fist at God during any of those moments. 129 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 2: But I was really mad at God, Christy that day. 130 00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:30,240 Speaker 2: I was like, why can I save somebody else's kid, 131 00:06:30,279 --> 00:06:33,120 Speaker 2: and I can't say mine. I was not there, like okay, 132 00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:36,039 Speaker 2: Mitch bled out from a wound in his crowded artery. 133 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 2: I kept hearing this voice if I had been there, 134 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:39,919 Speaker 2: I know how to fix that. I know how to 135 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 2: you know, like I've done that before. I've saved somebody's 136 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 2: life in Iraq when they had a jugular vein torn open. 137 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 2: And I had this irrational thought that if I was there, 138 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 2: I could have, you know, And so I was so mad. 139 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 2: And then a long time after that period where we 140 00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 2: were weeping and crying and angry and all that stuff, 141 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,919 Speaker 2: we heard that verse again. It is somebody emailed daily 142 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:04,840 Speaker 2: devotional and it was in that and it said those 143 00:07:04,880 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 2: who would go out weeping will harvest with shouts of joy. 144 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 2: And I said, I get it now, And what it 145 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:13,640 Speaker 2: meant was, Okay, we were crying, but we went to 146 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 2: work anyway, and we planted our tears, and we a 147 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 2: year later was what was true. Our marriage didn't come apart, 148 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,000 Speaker 2: our business didn't fail, we never missed a payroll, we 149 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:25,960 Speaker 2: didn't lose our house. 150 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:28,040 Speaker 1: We made it. 151 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 2: We made it, and we were so glad on the 152 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 2: other side of that that we went back to work, 153 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 2: and we didn't just tell the account it okay, close it, 154 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 2: you know, close it. I would get another job. We 155 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 2: didn't say that. We just went back to work and 156 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 2: God kept that promise. And then along the way something 157 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:48,880 Speaker 2: else happened. I started writing emails to my kids and 158 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 2: family to try to encourage them, because I was the dad, right, 159 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 2: I was the one that was supposed to suck it 160 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 2: up and help everybody get through this and hold on 161 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 2: to the family. And those emails turned into turned into 162 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 2: my block, and that blog turned into my podcast, and 163 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:04,760 Speaker 2: that turned into my first book and all this stuff. 164 00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 2: And then we started getting emails from people who said, hey, 165 00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 2: we lost a kid and I didn't know what I 166 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:13,600 Speaker 2: was going to do, and somebody forwarded me your message 167 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 2: and it gave me some hope that maybe we could 168 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 2: make it like as you were making it. And so 169 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 2: all of that crystallized Christy into that moment that day 170 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 2: when God sent that verse back to us, and we said, Okay, 171 00:08:26,040 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 2: we're shouting with joy now because Mitch's death maybe has 172 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 2: some purpose now, not that he died has a purpose, 173 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 2: but we're finding our real calling here because now we 174 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 2: can minister to other broken brief families, and we didn't 175 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,240 Speaker 2: lose our business, and we made it through and we 176 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 2: kept our marriage together and our kids are doing okay 177 00:08:44,679 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 2: and all that. So it's just to say, and I 178 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:49,959 Speaker 2: wrote that epilog just to say that whatever type of 179 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,839 Speaker 2: suffering you're going through, if you can persevere through it, 180 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 2: God will equip you, and He will come down the 181 00:08:58,240 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 2: road at some later time and show you that He 182 00:09:01,679 --> 00:09:04,360 Speaker 2: was there all along, that the stuff you planted while 183 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 2: you were crying is going to produce a crop that 184 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,559 Speaker 2: you can't even right now, can't even fathom. Like I 185 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,480 Speaker 2: got an email this morning, Christy, from a woman in 186 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,840 Speaker 2: Africa who wrote this incredibly painful email about how she 187 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 2: had been serially sexually abused as a child and threatened 188 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 2: and harassed and had grown up hopeless and in despair 189 00:09:23,679 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 2: and in utter poverty, and then somehow found the Lord 190 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 2: and kind of navigated her way through that. And now 191 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 2: she's a grown person and she still had all this 192 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 2: bitterness and anger and all this stuff. And somebody sent 193 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:38,400 Speaker 2: her one of my books in Africa, and she wrote 194 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 2: this email. And I found you, doctor Warren, and now 195 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:42,240 Speaker 2: I've read your book, and I found her YouTube channel 196 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 2: and your work has given me back the hope that 197 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 2: I can have a life again. And none of that 198 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 2: stuff would have happened if I hadn't lost my son. 199 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:55,960 Speaker 2: And so that's not to say it's good that I 200 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 2: lost my son. 201 00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:56,880 Speaker 1: It's not. 202 00:09:57,000 --> 00:09:58,839 Speaker 2: And I would trade all of this for having him 203 00:09:58,880 --> 00:10:01,439 Speaker 2: back right now. I would jump off the zoom call 204 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:03,199 Speaker 2: and go hook his neck, and I would never think 205 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 2: about writing again. 206 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:05,080 Speaker 1: I would just be happy. 207 00:10:05,280 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 2: But that weird passage in Romans Ad that says all 208 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 2: things work together for the good of those who love 209 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 2: the or it doesn't say for good, it says for 210 00:10:15,640 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 2: the good of and it turns out to be true. 211 00:10:18,080 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 2: Like I'm a fundamentally different person than I was before 212 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 2: I lost my son. I care about the right stuff now. 213 00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:27,960 Speaker 2: My marriage is about the right stuff now, like I 214 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 2: know what my life is about now. And if I 215 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 2: hadn't lost my son, I would still probably be chasing 216 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 2: after a lot of things that don't matter very much. 217 00:10:35,840 --> 00:10:37,760 Speaker 2: I was kind of a typical I don't know what 218 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 2: neurosurgeons are like in the UK, but over here they're 219 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,320 Speaker 2: kind of arrogant and brash, and we think we know 220 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,000 Speaker 2: everything and we pursue how much money we can make 221 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 2: and how much status we have and all those things. 222 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 2: And I was one of those guys. I wasn't that bad. 223 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,480 Speaker 2: I was a Christian, but I was motivated by a 224 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:56,240 Speaker 2: lot of the wrong stuff. And now I'm like, my 225 00:10:56,400 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 2: job is not to be a neurosurgeon. My job is 226 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 2: to help people figure out what's hurting them and what 227 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:02,959 Speaker 2: they can do about it. And I do that writing, 228 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,640 Speaker 2: and I do it podcasting, and I do it operating. 229 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 2: And now I know that all of the different things 230 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:10,840 Speaker 2: that I do serve that single purpose. 231 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,080 Speaker 1: And so I know what I'm for now. 232 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 2: And Victor Frankel said in the concentration camps of Germany 233 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 2: and World War Two, he said, if you can find purpose, 234 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:23,559 Speaker 2: you stop suffering. And that's what happened with me. Like 235 00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,760 Speaker 2: I've found out what my life was for in the 236 00:11:26,880 --> 00:11:29,720 Speaker 2: fire of the pit of despair that Isaiah calls it 237 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:31,839 Speaker 2: the furnace of suffering. I found out what my life 238 00:11:31,880 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 2: was for in the furnace of suffering. I have been 239 00:11:33,679 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 2: refined by it, and I'm bettered by it. I'm not 240 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:39,520 Speaker 2: grateful for having lost my son, but I'm grateful for 241 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 2: that refining process. And that's what I tried to convey 242 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 2: in that epilogue. 243 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,040 Speaker 3: And that's why I just love and respect you so 244 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:49,960 Speaker 3: much because I relate to so much of that, not 245 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,800 Speaker 3: that the trauma is the same, but being able to 246 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 3: use it to help others. 247 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,160 Speaker 4: It's just wild and God is so so good. 248 00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:02,079 Speaker 3: So just relate to everything that you just said about 249 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:07,360 Speaker 3: having your priorities realigned, because that's exactly what happened to me, right. 250 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 3: I was like living the glamorous life in London, posting 251 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 3: it all on Instagram, making drinking champagne look really pretty, 252 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:20,160 Speaker 3: and it just was empty. And this is still not 253 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 3: And so I just appreciate you so much, and I 254 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 3: relate to so much of your journey, and. 255 00:12:27,840 --> 00:12:30,080 Speaker 2: We just challenge one little thing that you said. You 256 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:33,120 Speaker 2: said that you said your trauma's not the same. But 257 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 2: but I have to tell you, because whoever's listening out there, 258 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:41,400 Speaker 2: like neurologically, your trauma, your hardship, you're suffering, the thing 259 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 2: that you're going through is the thing that you're going through, Yeah, 260 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:50,880 Speaker 2: and it's not comparatively relevant to whatever somebody else is 261 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:55,599 Speaker 2: going through. It's the thing that's rewiring your experience and 262 00:12:56,360 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 2: it needs to be honored and acknowledged and dealt with 263 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 2: because it is in your life. And so one of 264 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:06,679 Speaker 2: the hard things, one of the mistakes that we often 265 00:13:06,720 --> 00:13:10,320 Speaker 2: make is just to discount our own pain and say, oh, well, 266 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 2: at it's just not as bad as what that guy's 267 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 2: going through. Like, that's that woman in Africa that got 268 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,360 Speaker 2: raped seventeen times whence she was five. That's a lot 269 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 2: worse someone I'm going through, So I shouldn't be complaining 270 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:21,760 Speaker 2: that's true. I mean, what she's going through objectively worse 271 00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:23,920 Speaker 2: than what I've been through, is even as a brief father. 272 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 2: But if I don't process what I'm going through and 273 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,360 Speaker 2: dealing with, then I'm not going to become the fully 274 00:13:29,400 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 2: realized person who God can redeem that story through. And 275 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,319 Speaker 2: I'm not going to live the life that I need 276 00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:39,079 Speaker 2: to live in response to the circumstances that I'm dealing with. 277 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:43,200 Speaker 2: So what you went through is your story, and the 278 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:45,440 Speaker 2: way you're navigating it and the way you're turning it 279 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:49,840 Speaker 2: into His service is beautiful and it's powerful, and it's 280 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 2: exactly what people in your community need to hear, and 281 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 2: it doesn't have anything to do with what somebody else 282 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:57,560 Speaker 2: went through. It's the thing that you went through and 283 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:01,560 Speaker 2: honoring that is the way that you are able to 284 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 2: then turn that into that purpose and reap that harvest 285 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 2: of joy. So I don't want you to discount any 286 00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 2: part of your story because it is your story. 287 00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 3: Thank you for that. Thank you so much for that. 288 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 3: We'll be back right after a quick word from our sponsors. 289 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:19,600 Speaker 3: I guess the other side of that is, let's encourage 290 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 3: the woman who's listening right now, who thinks that her 291 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:27,120 Speaker 3: trauma is too great and that, like you know, approach 292 00:14:27,240 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 3: number one, nothing can help her. I would love for 293 00:14:29,760 --> 00:14:31,760 Speaker 3: you to just speak to her right now, because I've 294 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:34,440 Speaker 3: heard this. My stuff is too hard and I can't 295 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:37,560 Speaker 3: use it, nothing will help me, and so can you 296 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:38,200 Speaker 3: encourage her? 297 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 2: So Hoover's listening. I want to address the answer to 298 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:48,200 Speaker 2: Christy's question from a perspective that's purely based on neuroscience 299 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,440 Speaker 2: and psychology, and a perspective that's based on faith and 300 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:56,080 Speaker 2: particularly christ them, but in general, how faith in neuroscience interacts. 301 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:58,160 Speaker 2: So I want to address that two different ways, and 302 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 2: I think it's important to do so because a lot 303 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 2: of people hear us talk about Jesus in the Bible 304 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:05,440 Speaker 2: and Scripture and all that and they if they don't believe, 305 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 2: then they might say, well that's not for me, like 306 00:15:07,400 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 2: I don't get that, and then they might think that 307 00:15:09,880 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 2: it's what I'm talking about is hopeless for them unless 308 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:14,200 Speaker 2: they believe what I believe. And I just want to 309 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 2: really be clear, neurologically speaking, everything that I'm about to 310 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 2: tell you is true of you. Whatever you have been through, 311 00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:25,040 Speaker 2: and whatever your personality type is, and whatever your genetics are, 312 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 2: and whatever situation you were raised in, and whatever your 313 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:29,720 Speaker 2: worldview is, what I'm about to tell you is true, 314 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 2: and it's true. I can tell you as a board 315 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 2: certified neurosurgeon what I'm about to say iss true, and 316 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 2: as a buried father who has lived it and worked 317 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:37,760 Speaker 2: through it. So the second thing I need to say 318 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,440 Speaker 2: as a qualifier here is that I'm coming to you 319 00:15:41,800 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 2: and telling you this as a fellow traveler through suffering 320 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 2: and not just somebody who's pontificating about what the science says. Okay, 321 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:53,080 Speaker 2: So so hear me as a guy who this saved 322 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 2: my life, Okay, compassionately, I'm one of you, and not 323 00:15:56,600 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 2: just talking to you. Okay, I'm not talking down to you. 324 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 2: I'm talking with you. So that said every time I 325 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 2: say what I'm about to say, one hundred percent of 326 00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 2: the time somebody sends me an email and they say, well, 327 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 2: that might be fine, except you don't know what I've 328 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 2: been through, or what I have experienced is too much 329 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:18,800 Speaker 2: that just isn't true for me, or because I have 330 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:22,760 Speaker 2: ADHD that doesn't work for me. First of all, it 331 00:16:22,840 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 2: is true for you that there is tremendous hope. And 332 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 2: what I'm about to say that every operator of a 333 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 2: human brain can get better if you apply what I'm 334 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 2: about to teach you. Okay, everybody can. Some of us 335 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 2: have particular situations that require professional help in order to 336 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:43,400 Speaker 2: gain the kind of help that you can get from 337 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:46,200 Speaker 2: operating your brain this way, but everybody can, because this 338 00:16:46,280 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 2: is how your brain works. The misconception is that the 339 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:54,760 Speaker 2: current society especially teaches us that you're pretty much just 340 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 2: stuck with the brain that you have, and that everything 341 00:16:56,920 --> 00:16:59,360 Speaker 2: about your life is the product of how your brain works. 342 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,239 Speaker 2: Potential and your hopes and your dreams and your aspirations 343 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:05,880 Speaker 2: and your possibilities are all about what kind of brain 344 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:08,919 Speaker 2: you have. And if you've got a genetically great brain, 345 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:11,760 Speaker 2: then you can be resilient and hopeful and all those 346 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 2: things will work out for you. And if you've got 347 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 2: the wrong brain, or the wrong family, or the wrong 348 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:17,639 Speaker 2: stuff happened to you, that your host and you just 349 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:20,199 Speaker 2: have to drink to feel better, or you have to 350 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 2: get the right therapist to give you the right prescriptions 351 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:23,920 Speaker 2: so you don't have to think about it, right, that's 352 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,880 Speaker 2: what everybody thinks, But the truth is onely first century 353 00:17:26,960 --> 00:17:30,120 Speaker 2: neuroscience is making it abundantly clear. So regardless of any 354 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:33,760 Speaker 2: sort of faith connotation here, it's abundantly clear that your 355 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:38,119 Speaker 2: mind is not the same thing as your brain, and 356 00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 2: your mind has controlling influence over what your brain can 357 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:46,959 Speaker 2: do and what your brain becomes. It is true, is 358 00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 2: unequivocally true, that you make new brain cells every day, 359 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 2: and that you constantly disconnect and reconnect those brain cells 360 00:17:55,480 --> 00:17:58,360 Speaker 2: to networks of other cells, these connections that are called synapses, 361 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:03,080 Speaker 2: That your brain is constantly undergoing structural change every second 362 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 2: of your entire life. Your brain is never the same 363 00:18:06,400 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 2: one minute to the next in your entire life. So 364 00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 2: the idea that you can be stuck with a particular 365 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 2: brain because of bad genetics or whatever is just fundamentally false. 366 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:20,480 Speaker 2: It's absolutely untrue and it is clear from scientific research now, 367 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:25,560 Speaker 2: from functional imaging studies, that the primary thing that directs 368 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 2: those structural changes is the set of things that you 369 00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 2: are thinking about most of the time. So it's not 370 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 2: when we talk about, oh, think better thoughts and you'll 371 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:36,120 Speaker 2: make a better brain, you'll have a better life. That's 372 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,560 Speaker 2: not a metaphor. It's not a self help trick that 373 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,159 Speaker 2: encourages you to just be positive and have toxic positivity 374 00:18:43,200 --> 00:18:47,200 Speaker 2: and all that stuff. It's literally the mechanism by which 375 00:18:47,280 --> 00:18:50,720 Speaker 2: human beings are able to structurally improve how their brains work, 376 00:18:50,760 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 2: and thereby improve the chemical environment of their body and 377 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:56,760 Speaker 2: improve the quality of their life. The mechanism by which 378 00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:59,480 Speaker 2: that happens is the changing of what we think about. 379 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,879 Speaker 2: Really good research that says, especially in this current environment 380 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:07,360 Speaker 2: where we're taught to follow your heart, live, trust your feelings, 381 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,400 Speaker 2: you do you you know, live your truth, all those 382 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,600 Speaker 2: kinds of things that we're taught, it turns out that 383 00:19:13,600 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 2: that is terrible advice if you want to flourish in 384 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:19,400 Speaker 2: your life, because we know now from good imaging research 385 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:22,960 Speaker 2: and good psychological research, that the more you focus on 386 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:25,879 Speaker 2: what you feel, the more you feel what you feel. 387 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,919 Speaker 2: If you're anxious, and you focus on your anxiety, and 388 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:30,959 Speaker 2: you go to support groups about your anxiety, and you 389 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 2: try to navigate around your anxiety and avoid situations that 390 00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 2: make you anxious, you're going to be more anxious. That 391 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:40,000 Speaker 2: produces more structural anxiety in your brain. The truth is 392 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 2: that the things that you think about drive what your 393 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:44,640 Speaker 2: brain becomes. 394 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:45,480 Speaker 1: Really good. 395 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:49,120 Speaker 2: Research shows that something like two thirds, almost eighty percent 396 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:52,400 Speaker 2: of the automatic things that pop into our heads from 397 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 2: day to day, the things that you think and feel 398 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 2: that jump into your brain and sound so real and 399 00:19:56,359 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 2: true because they're in your voice, are false. The majority 400 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 2: authority of the things that we think about in our 401 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 2: lives are not true. And that means if you're basing 402 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:09,120 Speaker 2: your reactions and your decisions on things that you think 403 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,879 Speaker 2: and feel about eighty percent of the time, you're going 404 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:15,159 Speaker 2: to make the wrong decision in response to things that 405 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:17,720 Speaker 2: were never true. And then there's another interesting bit of 406 00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,199 Speaker 2: research that shows that something like ninety percent of the 407 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:24,200 Speaker 2: thoughts that you think in a given day are the 408 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:27,160 Speaker 2: same set of things that you thought about the previous day. 409 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:29,199 Speaker 2: And if you don't believe that, if you think, no, 410 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,359 Speaker 2: I think different stuff all the time. Take a piece 411 00:20:31,400 --> 00:20:34,639 Speaker 2: of paper and for the next seven days, right before 412 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,040 Speaker 2: you go to bed, write down the top three things 413 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 2: that you can remember thinking about today, and then do 414 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 2: it again tomorrow and the next day and the next day. 415 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:43,200 Speaker 2: And I promise you most of the time your thoughts 416 00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:47,520 Speaker 2: are about did I drink today? What's going on with 417 00:20:47,560 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 2: my marriage or my kids? Okay, you know, do I 418 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:51,679 Speaker 2: have enough money? Or did I pay that bill? Like, 419 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 2: you're thinking about the same set of stuff over and 420 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:56,760 Speaker 2: over and over every day. Now that we know that 421 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:59,880 Speaker 2: what you think about determines what your brain does structural, 422 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 2: it's no surprise. Then if we keep thinking the same thoughts, 423 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 2: and if about eighty percent of those thoughts are false, 424 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:09,920 Speaker 2: and we keep writing our brains to do the same 425 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 2: connections with other neurons that they do in response to 426 00:21:12,760 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 2: our thinking, then we think I'm just who I am. 427 00:21:15,760 --> 00:21:17,679 Speaker 2: This is just how things are for me. And we 428 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 2: think that because we keep thinking the same thoughts in 429 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:23,639 Speaker 2: the same way, and so we're creating the brains that 430 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:25,760 Speaker 2: we have over and over and over. And the other 431 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,399 Speaker 2: thing about your brain, there's a thing called neuroplasticity that 432 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 2: means that your brain makes and reinforces connections between cells 433 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 2: in response to what you think about. The more you 434 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,159 Speaker 2: wire those things together, the more automated that behavior in 435 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:41,879 Speaker 2: your brain becomes, and the less you have to consciously 436 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 2: think about it to enact that brain habit, if you will. 437 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,160 Speaker 2: And so that explains things like why you can take 438 00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 2: your kid to a new school tomorrow. In the first 439 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 2: two or three days that you drive, you have to 440 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:54,320 Speaker 2: think about the drive a lot, like every turn and 441 00:21:54,359 --> 00:21:56,399 Speaker 2: every stop signing, every school zone and all that stuff. 442 00:21:56,440 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 2: And after a couple of weeks, you get to school 443 00:21:58,320 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 2: one day and you realize you never even thought of 444 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:01,720 Speaker 2: about the dry Like you were on your phone, or 445 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 2: you were listening to music or whatever, you're yelling at 446 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 2: the kids or talking to your child or whatever, and 447 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:08,119 Speaker 2: you never even thought about it because your brain automated 448 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:10,439 Speaker 2: all that stuff that you needed to do and you 449 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,920 Speaker 2: didn't have to use your mental processing power. Your mind 450 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 2: and your brain are not the same thing. Your brain 451 00:22:14,880 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 2: automated that because you directed it to do so, and 452 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 2: neuroplasticity kicked in to wire that in and make it automated. 453 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:23,399 Speaker 2: And so what happens to most of us is we 454 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 2: think the same thoughts every day. We believe our thoughts 455 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 2: and feelings. We do that over and over and over 456 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:31,200 Speaker 2: enough that the brain says, okay, Well, if you want 457 00:22:31,240 --> 00:22:33,639 Speaker 2: me to feel anxious all the time, every time this 458 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,359 Speaker 2: happens or every time I get a text message I'm 459 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 2: supposed to be scared or I'm supposed to be mad 460 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:39,399 Speaker 2: or whatever, I'm just going to automate that, and that'll 461 00:22:39,440 --> 00:22:42,560 Speaker 2: become how I feel all the time. Yeah, And now 462 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:45,360 Speaker 2: I don't think about why I feel that way. It's 463 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,960 Speaker 2: just how I feel. And then I've become a person 464 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:50,159 Speaker 2: who's just sad all the time or I'm anxious all 465 00:22:50,160 --> 00:22:53,120 Speaker 2: the time or whatever. And it's because it's not your 466 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:55,560 Speaker 2: fault because you weren't aware that you were automating that, 467 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:58,880 Speaker 2: but it's because you have automated it. And so when 468 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:00,600 Speaker 2: we get back to the question that you gave me, 469 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:03,080 Speaker 2: when somebody feels my brain doesn't let me do this, 470 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 2: the truth is if you are willing to decide to 471 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,080 Speaker 2: become curious about your thoughts and feelings instead of reactive 472 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:12,200 Speaker 2: to them. If you say, hey, wait, if doctor Warren 473 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:14,159 Speaker 2: said eighty percent I want to think about, it's not true. 474 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:16,879 Speaker 2: If I just start thinking about what pops into my 475 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,320 Speaker 2: head and questioning it before I react to it come 476 00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:23,280 Speaker 2: about automatically going to be about eighty percent more accurate. 477 00:23:23,320 --> 00:23:25,040 Speaker 2: And the choices that I make about how I'm going 478 00:23:25,080 --> 00:23:26,840 Speaker 2: to respond to the things I think and feel, because 479 00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 2: if I say, hey, wait a minute, that's not necessarily 480 00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,639 Speaker 2: true that thought that I just had down, I'll never 481 00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:33,919 Speaker 2: be able to overcome this. Or I'm such a loser. 482 00:23:34,040 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 2: You know, I had a drink last time. I must 483 00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:37,400 Speaker 2: be a horrible person. I'm never going to be okay, 484 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,800 Speaker 2: I might as well just give in like that's not true. 485 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 2: Like so I know it's not true because Christy got 486 00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:44,320 Speaker 2: sober and other friends that might have done it. I 487 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,119 Speaker 2: know people can do it. People who are just like me, 488 00:23:46,480 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 2: with the same set of troubles are able to do this, 489 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:51,159 Speaker 2: So I may be able to do it too. So 490 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,080 Speaker 2: I can question that thought, get curious about it instead 491 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 2: of just giving into it, and then all of a sudden, 492 00:23:56,960 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 2: I'm in charge of that thing that's happening in my 493 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 2: brain instead of the victim of it. I said to 494 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:05,120 Speaker 2: my friend Daniel Emon, I said, if you don't operate 495 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,199 Speaker 2: your nervous system, your nervous system will operate you. And 496 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:10,399 Speaker 2: that's where most of us live. We live in this 497 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:12,600 Speaker 2: thing where something pops into our head and we're obligated 498 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,199 Speaker 2: to respond to it or we feel something, and it 499 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,920 Speaker 2: means that we're experiencing something. But here's a little thing 500 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:21,239 Speaker 2: that most people don't know. Your brain doesn't actually have 501 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:24,399 Speaker 2: the ability to discern between something that's really happening and 502 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:27,480 Speaker 2: something that you're just imagining. And that's why it's so 503 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 2: bad for us to have these imaginary conversations in our head. 504 00:24:30,960 --> 00:24:32,800 Speaker 2: Like when I get to this office, when I get 505 00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 2: to the office today, that guy says that thing to 506 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 2: me again, I'm going to this is what I'm going 507 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:38,840 Speaker 2: to say, and then he's going to say this, and 508 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:40,439 Speaker 2: then she's going to say that, and I'm going to 509 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:42,440 Speaker 2: put them in their place, and we have this whole 510 00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,040 Speaker 2: conversation in the shower. And guess what you're doing when 511 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:49,199 Speaker 2: you do that. You're wiring your brain to be in 512 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,640 Speaker 2: an elevated cortisol state, So you're stressing your physiology out 513 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:56,919 Speaker 2: even though there's nothing actually happening. Yet you're automating a 514 00:24:57,000 --> 00:24:59,719 Speaker 2: behavior that says that when I interact with this person, 515 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 2: it's going to end poorly and it's going to be hostile. 516 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 2: And then you automatically begin to expect that person to 517 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 2: treat you that way even though they haven't done so yet. 518 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:12,880 Speaker 2: And now, when you walk into the office today, your 519 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,879 Speaker 2: emotional state and your electromagnetic state, and your heart coherence 520 00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:20,400 Speaker 2: and your mirror neurons and all these things that are 521 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 2: nonverbal about how humans communicate. Did you know that when 522 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:28,040 Speaker 2: you get within fifteen meters of another person, your heart 523 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 2: rate affects theirs. Your physiological things that are happening in 524 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,760 Speaker 2: your body begin to affect theirs, that their mirror neuron 525 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 2: system begins to mimic your emotional state even before they 526 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:40,960 Speaker 2: speak to you or hear your voice. That means that 527 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:44,280 Speaker 2: you have ways that you're influencing other people based on 528 00:25:44,440 --> 00:25:47,359 Speaker 2: your current emotional state, even if you never speak to them. 529 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 2: That's the basis of that Debbie Downer effect where somebody 530 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,000 Speaker 2: walks in the room and you feel bad even though 531 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 2: you haven't talked to them, just because there's all kinds 532 00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,440 Speaker 2: of things that God put inside you that affect other 533 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 2: people that aren't just about what you say, say or do. 534 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 2: And so that means if you're rehearsing something internally and 535 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:06,800 Speaker 2: getting yourself into this state where you're mad at somebody 536 00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:10,720 Speaker 2: or angry or whatever. You're already predetermining how the outcome 537 00:26:10,720 --> 00:26:12,280 Speaker 2: of that thing is going to play out, because they're 538 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:14,640 Speaker 2: going to start reacting to that emotional state of yours 539 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,240 Speaker 2: before you ever get there. So this question that you ask, 540 00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:20,000 Speaker 2: it's just a big It's a big question when you 541 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,840 Speaker 2: say to yourself, I can't change because my brain is 542 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:26,159 Speaker 2: ex or because this is true. That's true, it's not. 543 00:26:27,040 --> 00:26:30,400 Speaker 2: You do have incredible power to change what your brain 544 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 2: becomes by changing what you think about. The social scientists 545 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 2: define hope as being composed of two things, agency and opportunity, 546 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 2: and that means that you have to have the ability 547 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,840 Speaker 2: to do something about your situation, and you have to 548 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,240 Speaker 2: have a chance to do something about your situations. And 549 00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:48,159 Speaker 2: I'm here to tell you if you feel hopeless and 550 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:50,120 Speaker 2: stuck in the way that you feel inside your own 551 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 2: skin or the situation that you found yourself in your life, 552 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 2: the hope comes from this. You are neurologically wired to 553 00:26:57,600 --> 00:26:59,840 Speaker 2: change and not be the same from moment to moment, 554 00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 2: and the opportunity is all you have to do to 555 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,720 Speaker 2: make that change happen is think different thoughts than you've 556 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:08,920 Speaker 2: been thinking. So hey, I'm not hopeless. There are people 557 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:10,920 Speaker 2: who have been able to do this. It is possible 558 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:12,240 Speaker 2: for me. I can go get the help that I 559 00:27:12,280 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 2: need and I will get this done. And you're wired 560 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 2: to do so. Now add the faith element and I'll 561 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:22,040 Speaker 2: tell you this. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit 562 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:24,600 Speaker 2: of the Great Physician of your creator, the person who 563 00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 2: built your nervous system, wants to step in and communicate 564 00:27:29,760 --> 00:27:31,600 Speaker 2: with you in a way that will help you make 565 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,880 Speaker 2: better decisions. The Bible says, you'll hear a voice that says, 566 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:37,400 Speaker 2: don't turn this way, turn that way, don't go that way, 567 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,280 Speaker 2: do this. You'll hear a guiding voice. It's true. I 568 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:41,840 Speaker 2: mean all of us hear that from time to time. 569 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:45,400 Speaker 2: This little nudge we call it conscience. Sometimes people don't 570 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:48,120 Speaker 2: believe in God call it conscience. It's little nudge that says, hey, 571 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,400 Speaker 2: that's not the best decision. That's not the best thing. 572 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:55,199 Speaker 2: So you have an indwelling helper who will nudge you 573 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:58,720 Speaker 2: towards making a better decision, who has built the system 574 00:27:58,800 --> 00:28:02,399 Speaker 2: that is inside your brain to improve things for you 575 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:04,879 Speaker 2: if you choose to operate from a mind down perspective, 576 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:10,119 Speaker 2: who has then predisposed you to physiologically improve and feel 577 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 2: better inside your own skin when you operate it that way. 578 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:15,919 Speaker 2: So you've got help. You've got a system that you 579 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 2: didn't have to build yourself that if you just are 580 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:20,120 Speaker 2: willing to operate at the way it's designed, it will 581 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:22,919 Speaker 2: produce a better outcome for you. That's why there's a 582 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,680 Speaker 2: Bible verse in Romans eighty six that says God works 583 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:29,240 Speaker 2: in you to will and to act in ways that 584 00:28:29,280 --> 00:28:31,160 Speaker 2: are in accordance with His plan for you. Is good 585 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 2: and perfect plan for you. So that means you don't 586 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:35,879 Speaker 2: even have to come up with the desire to get better. 587 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:38,560 Speaker 2: He gives you the desire to get better. You don't 588 00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:40,480 Speaker 2: even have to come up with the hardware to make 589 00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:42,520 Speaker 2: it possible for you to get better. He already did that. 590 00:28:42,960 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 2: You don't have to come up with the adrenal glands 591 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 2: that will improve the physiology of your body. He did 592 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 2: that for you already. All you have to do is say, yes, 593 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,240 Speaker 2: I'm willing to learn how to operate my system this way. 594 00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:55,000 Speaker 2: So whatever state you've been in, however long it's been 595 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:58,000 Speaker 2: true for you, however stuck you feel, I promise you 596 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:03,080 Speaker 2: neurologically physiologically theologie practically experientially, you can change your live 597 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 2: astion as you're willing to think different thoughts. 598 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:07,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, and that's why your book is so powerful, because 599 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,280 Speaker 3: it's the operating manual, right, it's how to do this. 600 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 3: We'll be back right after a quick word from our sponsors. Babe, 601 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:17,040 Speaker 3: can I pause us just for a moment if you're 602 00:29:17,080 --> 00:29:19,040 Speaker 3: listening to this and thinking I don't want to do 603 00:29:19,080 --> 00:29:21,320 Speaker 3: this alone anymore, I want to tell you about the 604 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 3: Love Life Sober Community. This is the space where the 605 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:29,080 Speaker 3: podcast turns into real connection and real support. Inside the community, 606 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 3: we gather weekly for live connection calls where you can listen, share, 607 00:29:33,480 --> 00:29:36,640 Speaker 3: or simply be present. There's a beautiful leadership team holding 608 00:29:36,680 --> 00:29:40,040 Speaker 3: this space with wisdom and care, a dedicated prayer request 609 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 3: area where you can be covered, regular masterclasses led by 610 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,560 Speaker 3: expert guests, and even a worship music playlist to help 611 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 3: you reconnect when your nervous system needs it. Inside the community, 612 00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 3: there's also a dedicated coaching space called Truevine for women 613 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,280 Speaker 3: who want even deeper support. The Love Life Sober Community 614 00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 3: is a place to connect with like minded women and 615 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:00,200 Speaker 3: open up in a way you might not be able 616 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 3: to in your church or small group. This space was 617 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 3: created specifically for women who are questioning their relationship with 618 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,560 Speaker 3: alcohol and who want the kind of freedom that can 619 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 3: only be found in Jesus. All the details to join 620 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:13,479 Speaker 3: us are at the link in the show notes. I 621 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:15,840 Speaker 3: can't wait to meet you. All right, let's jump back 622 00:30:15,840 --> 00:30:18,640 Speaker 3: into the episode love to just dive into some of 623 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,480 Speaker 3: the commandments that I feel like are most relevant to 624 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 3: the gals listening who are maybe struggling to put down 625 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:28,480 Speaker 3: alcohol or are kind of in the early stages. Commandment too, 626 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 3: feelings are not facts. I feel like that's so powerful 627 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:33,240 Speaker 3: for the woman who really feels like at the end 628 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 3: of the day that that voice. And by the way, 629 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:37,600 Speaker 3: one of the things that I say all the time 630 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 3: is that having this kind of struggle with alcohol gives 631 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,120 Speaker 3: you the ability to think about your thoughts because those 632 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:47,880 Speaker 3: craving thoughts are really loud, and therefore you can distinguish them. 633 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:50,040 Speaker 3: And then when you learn to do that and call 634 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 3: those out as false and untrue and replace them with truth, 635 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:55,520 Speaker 3: then you can start doing it with all the other 636 00:30:55,560 --> 00:30:58,800 Speaker 3: thoughts in your life. So talk about feelings are not facts, 637 00:30:58,840 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 3: even though sometimes they feel like they are completely true. 638 00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:04,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that's great. And let me just say too, 639 00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:08,880 Speaker 2: as a thank you to you. You were the first person, Christie, 640 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 2: outside of our internal team who saw the value and 641 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:16,600 Speaker 2: the ten commandments invalidated them for me, and it just 642 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:19,800 Speaker 2: gave me so much encouragement as I was creating this 643 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:22,840 Speaker 2: work that hey, this is going to help people like it. 644 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:25,520 Speaker 2: It was Christy Osborn if you were the first one 645 00:31:25,560 --> 00:31:27,960 Speaker 2: that said, hey, there's power here and I'm going to 646 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:30,680 Speaker 2: use it for my sobriety community, and that was incredibly 647 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 2: helpful to us. 648 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 1: So thank you for that. 649 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:34,800 Speaker 2: That being said, the second commandment is I must believe 650 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:36,920 Speaker 2: that feelings are not facts. They are chemical events in 651 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:38,560 Speaker 2: my brain. And what I just talked about with the 652 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:42,240 Speaker 2: good research that says that a huge percentage of what 653 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:45,200 Speaker 2: we think and feel isn't true, this relates back to 654 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:47,240 Speaker 2: the second commandment. But I'm gonna give you an example 655 00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 2: just to try to prove it to you. So chemically speaking, 656 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:55,520 Speaker 2: the things that you feel in your body, anxiety, depression, stress, 657 00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:58,640 Speaker 2: whatever it is that you feel, happiness, joy, all of 658 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:02,320 Speaker 2: those feelings are created a very small number of chemical 659 00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:05,200 Speaker 2: neurotransmitters in your brain. All the things that you feel 660 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 2: come from a small set of chemicals. Okay, I'm going 661 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:09,760 Speaker 2: to give you one example to help you understand why 662 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:12,080 Speaker 2: feelings aren't facts and why should never trust them up 663 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:15,520 Speaker 2: front and here it is, what's your tax authority in 664 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 2: the UK? Like, who sends you your tax bill? What 665 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:24,360 Speaker 2: do they call? Did you say that on the envelope? 666 00:32:24,720 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 2: In the United States, in case there's any other Americans listening, 667 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:30,560 Speaker 2: that it's the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service. If you 668 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:33,400 Speaker 2: get a letter from the IRS, it's usually not good 669 00:32:33,480 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 2: news if they sends you something in the mail, right, So, 670 00:32:36,680 --> 00:32:38,680 Speaker 2: let's imagine that you go to your mailbox, you pull 671 00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:41,200 Speaker 2: a letter out and says his Majesty or the IRS 672 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 2: or whatever, and you see that letterhead and instantly you 673 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:48,480 Speaker 2: feel something in your body. And what you feel is 674 00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 2: your heart rate goes up, and your blood pressure goes up, 675 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:53,080 Speaker 2: and your hair on the back of your neck stands up, 676 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 2: and your mouth gets dry and you're breathing quickens. That's 677 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 2: a set of physiological things that you're feeling. Right now, 678 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 2: I'm going to ask you a question. Is that fear 679 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 2: because you didn't pay your bill or you're worried about 680 00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:08,520 Speaker 2: getting arrested or fined? Or you made a mistake on 681 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:10,120 Speaker 2: your return or whatever, you're gonna be in some kind 682 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,160 Speaker 2: of trouble. Or is it excitement because you might be 683 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:15,760 Speaker 2: getting your tax refund that you needed to make your 684 00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:17,880 Speaker 2: house payment, because you were behind on your bills or whatever. 685 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:18,560 Speaker 1: It is it. 686 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,120 Speaker 2: Excitement or is it fear? Well, ask yourself this. When 687 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:24,320 Speaker 2: I'm excited, what do I feel? I feel my heart 688 00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:26,200 Speaker 2: rate go up. I feel the hair on the back 689 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:28,200 Speaker 2: of my neck stand up. I feel my skin tingles, 690 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:31,280 Speaker 2: my breathing goes faster. Right, what do you feel when 691 00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:33,800 Speaker 2: you're afraid? My heart rate goes up and my blood 692 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:36,080 Speaker 2: pressure goes up. My feeling, all that stuff happens. So 693 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:40,880 Speaker 2: you feel the same things in your body when you're 694 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:43,920 Speaker 2: afraid or when you're excited. Right now, you're looking at 695 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:50,400 Speaker 2: that envelope. What makes one fear in one excitement? The 696 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:53,960 Speaker 2: story that you're telling yourself. Yeah, the decision that you 697 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 2: make about what those feelings mean. Now, which one is true? 698 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 2: You don't know yet because you haven't opened the envelope. 699 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 2: Right now you look at it again and that you 700 00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 2: realize it's addressed to your neighbor. It was put in 701 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 2: the wrong mailbox, so it wasn't even your letter, and 702 00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:11,759 Speaker 2: you're reacting to it as if it was real. But 703 00:34:11,840 --> 00:34:14,640 Speaker 2: it was never even possible for it to have been 704 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,279 Speaker 2: good or bad for you because it wasn't your letter. Right, 705 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:19,440 Speaker 2: or now, maybe it is addressed to you and you 706 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,080 Speaker 2: open it and you find out what it actually says, 707 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 2: and it says, hey, the government's behind and it's going 708 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:28,160 Speaker 2: to be twelve weeks before you hear anything else this 709 00:34:28,239 --> 00:34:30,759 Speaker 2: year about your taxes. So now it's neither of the 710 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:32,879 Speaker 2: two things that you were worried about. It's nothing. It's 711 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,400 Speaker 2: just a notice that you're not going to find anything 712 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,160 Speaker 2: out for a while. So what that tells us that 713 00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:40,160 Speaker 2: story that's very true, and all of us have had 714 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 2: an experience like that. What it tells us is that 715 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:48,400 Speaker 2: the things that you feel don't mean anything intrinsically until 716 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,080 Speaker 2: you find out what the truth is about what's happening. Right, 717 00:34:52,440 --> 00:34:54,920 Speaker 2: what it means is always determined a BYuT what our 718 00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,760 Speaker 2: brain is telling us, the story that we're telling ourselves, 719 00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:00,759 Speaker 2: and that's based on our whole life and other experiences 720 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,839 Speaker 2: in the current emotional state that we're in. Imagine acknowledge 721 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:08,040 Speaker 2: to yourself that sometimes your husband, I'm assending everybody listening 722 00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:11,120 Speaker 2: to most people listening to women. Sometimes your husband can 723 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 2: look at you a certain way and you go, oh, man, 724 00:35:13,520 --> 00:35:15,360 Speaker 2: he's the most beautiful man in the whole world, and 725 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:17,000 Speaker 2: I love him so much, and I just love when 726 00:35:17,000 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 2: he looks at me like that. And sometimes he can 727 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 2: look at you the same way, and you say, what 728 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:23,560 Speaker 2: in the world are you looking at That's what's going 729 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:24,080 Speaker 2: on with you? Like? 730 00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:24,400 Speaker 1: Why you? 731 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,040 Speaker 2: How dare you look at me like that? What changes 732 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 2: his glance from alluring to irritating? It's are you sleepy, 733 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:32,160 Speaker 2: are you hungry? 734 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: Are you mad? 735 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:37,759 Speaker 2: Or what's your emotional state? It's your state that determines 736 00:35:37,840 --> 00:35:41,440 Speaker 2: the truth of what you feel, or what determines the 737 00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:43,919 Speaker 2: thing that you think is true about what you feel. Right, 738 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,080 Speaker 2: But when I say feelings aren't facts, they're chemical events, 739 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 2: that's something you need to own. If you can own that, 740 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:53,319 Speaker 2: and you can say, I am no longer going to 741 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 2: live as if everything I feel is true, and I'm 742 00:35:56,120 --> 00:36:01,200 Speaker 2: going to instead develop a curiosity my body is telling me, 743 00:36:01,719 --> 00:36:04,560 Speaker 2: and a willingness to investigate it for a moment before 744 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:07,399 Speaker 2: I decide how to appropriately respond to it. That will 745 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,839 Speaker 2: change your life in innumerable ways. It will improve your 746 00:36:10,880 --> 00:36:14,000 Speaker 2: flourishing dramatically if you can just do that one thing. 747 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,440 Speaker 2: Get curious about your feelings instead of accepting them as 748 00:36:17,600 --> 00:36:18,800 Speaker 2: truth right off the bat. 749 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:23,080 Speaker 3: Yeah so good, it's so so good, and it's so true. 750 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:28,000 Speaker 3: Let's hop to Commandment six, loving tomorrow more than how 751 00:36:28,040 --> 00:36:31,120 Speaker 3: you feel right now. The tomorrow text no anesthesia allowed, 752 00:36:31,640 --> 00:36:32,560 Speaker 3: give it to us. 753 00:36:33,719 --> 00:36:37,399 Speaker 2: So I'm a surgeon, right, so I require the help 754 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:40,880 Speaker 2: of an antithesiologist or an anesthetist for my patients to 755 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 2: go to sleep for surgery and not suffer while I'm 756 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:45,080 Speaker 2: operating on them and not feel pain and not move 757 00:36:45,160 --> 00:36:47,959 Speaker 2: and all that. I need anesesia to do my job 758 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:51,239 Speaker 2: as a surgeon, but as a self brain surgeon, which 759 00:36:51,239 --> 00:36:54,920 Speaker 2: all of us are. If you choose to anesthetize yourself 760 00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,360 Speaker 2: against the pain of whatever it is that you're feeling, 761 00:36:57,920 --> 00:36:59,880 Speaker 2: and that will relate to the folks to struggle with 762 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:03,000 Speaker 2: alcohol or any other type of addictive behavior, or Netflix 763 00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:05,319 Speaker 2: or scrolling or shopping or anything that we use to 764 00:37:05,360 --> 00:37:08,880 Speaker 2: numb ourselves. The problem is that there's no such thing 765 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:12,880 Speaker 2: as regional or local anesthesia. When we're talking about numbing 766 00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:15,440 Speaker 2: our brains, you're going to numb your entire brain, and 767 00:37:15,480 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 2: you will numb your entire life. And you cannot selectively 768 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,400 Speaker 2: numb yourself against one type of pain without eliminating your 769 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:23,720 Speaker 2: ability to feel other things that you need to feel 770 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:27,319 Speaker 2: to be a fully realized human being. And so the 771 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:30,399 Speaker 2: first part of that commandment is to say that if 772 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,480 Speaker 2: you choose to numb yourself from what you're feeling, two 773 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:36,120 Speaker 2: adverse things are going to happen. Number One, you're not 774 00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:38,640 Speaker 2: going to deal with the problem that you're trying to 775 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:42,000 Speaker 2: cover up, and tomorrow you're going to wake up and 776 00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 2: you're going to still have that problem, and you're going 777 00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:47,920 Speaker 2: to feel bad for what you did the night before. 778 00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:51,240 Speaker 1: You're going to be hungover, or have a headache or special. 779 00:37:52,400 --> 00:37:54,839 Speaker 2: Right, or have spent some money that you didn't have, 780 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:57,080 Speaker 2: or send a message that you should have sent, or 781 00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:59,080 Speaker 2: spent the night with somebody you shouldn't have spent the 782 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:01,640 Speaker 2: night with. Because it's trying to cover up a feeling 783 00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:03,840 Speaker 2: that you have, and you're going to have a problem 784 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,360 Speaker 2: that you didn't have yesterday when you only had one problem, 785 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:10,319 Speaker 2: and now you have two problems. And your brain, if 786 00:38:10,320 --> 00:38:13,520 Speaker 2: you use alcohol, particularly or drugs, your brain is in 787 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:17,279 Speaker 2: a chemically worse position to help you make the decisions 788 00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:20,440 Speaker 2: that you will need to make to solve that problem today. 789 00:38:20,600 --> 00:38:23,480 Speaker 2: And so I call that the tomorrow tax. You're doing 790 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,920 Speaker 2: something today so you don't have to feel something today. 791 00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 2: You're taxing yourself tomorrow for what you don't want to 792 00:38:29,239 --> 00:38:32,480 Speaker 2: deal with today. In surgical terms, one of my professors, 793 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:35,120 Speaker 2: doctor Janetta, used to say, don't treat a bad feeling 794 00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 2: with a bad operation. Don't worry about your patient and 795 00:38:38,640 --> 00:38:41,160 Speaker 2: try to feel sorry for them and then treat them 796 00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:42,960 Speaker 2: with the surgery that's not really going to solve that 797 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,120 Speaker 2: problem just because you feel like you need to do something. 798 00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:47,760 Speaker 2: So don't treat a bad feeling with a bad operation 799 00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:51,360 Speaker 2: in your life either. So don't pay tomorrow taxes, and 800 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:53,880 Speaker 2: don't treat a bad feeling with a bad operation, And 801 00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:58,839 Speaker 2: don't anesetize yourself because you can't selectively numb yourself from 802 00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:01,480 Speaker 2: the one thing that's actually hurting you. So the path 803 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:05,160 Speaker 2: to flourishing here is to be willing and courageous enough 804 00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:08,160 Speaker 2: to feel what it is that you're feeling and use 805 00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:11,640 Speaker 2: that to motivate you to make decisions that will help 806 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:13,799 Speaker 2: you navigate it and get better from it, instead of 807 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:15,080 Speaker 2: just covering it up another day. 808 00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:16,960 Speaker 4: Yeah, that's so good. 809 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:21,000 Speaker 3: There are so many commandments that are so helpful for 810 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:24,960 Speaker 3: the gals that are listening, and I have questions on them, 811 00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:27,479 Speaker 3: but I kind of want to jump to a little 812 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:30,440 Speaker 3: rapid fire here from the gals in the community who 813 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,640 Speaker 3: posted questions for you. One gal asked, can you reverse 814 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:35,200 Speaker 3: the effects of alcohol in your brain? 815 00:39:35,600 --> 00:39:38,080 Speaker 1: Absolutely, at least to a large extent. 816 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:41,360 Speaker 2: If you've been a serial heavy drinker for many, many years, 817 00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:44,080 Speaker 2: it can create brain atrophy and you can lose enough 818 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:47,239 Speaker 2: volume that it can't be recovered. But most people, even 819 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:49,799 Speaker 2: with heavy alcohol you use for a long time, the 820 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:54,560 Speaker 2: brain has remarkable restored to power just from eliminating alcohol. 821 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,400 Speaker 2: Your body has a designed healing process, and yes, you 822 00:39:57,440 --> 00:39:58,040 Speaker 2: can recover. 823 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:01,520 Speaker 4: How long does it take for neural pathways to form? 824 00:40:02,239 --> 00:40:05,680 Speaker 2: The first answer is instantly, Like it's been shown with 825 00:40:05,840 --> 00:40:09,640 Speaker 2: the structural elements of how synapses form. The structure that 826 00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:13,520 Speaker 2: lays down the grid is called a microtubule, and microtubules 827 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 2: begin to be laid down within seconds to minutes of 828 00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:20,080 Speaker 2: a new thought process taking place. So your brain begins 829 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:22,840 Speaker 2: to lay down the pipes to create the synapse that 830 00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:25,200 Speaker 2: you're going to need to reinforce that within seconds to minutes. 831 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:26,200 Speaker 1: To make it permanent. 832 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,360 Speaker 2: Takes they think between twenty one and sixty days to 833 00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:31,880 Speaker 2: really wire something in and to begin to degrade the 834 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 2: old pathway to where it stops being the default and 835 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:36,840 Speaker 2: the new one starts to be. So there's some instant 836 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:39,680 Speaker 2: happening and some things that take repetition in time. 837 00:40:40,280 --> 00:40:42,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, so then this is a good follow up question 838 00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:44,719 Speaker 3: to that. What happens to the new neural pathways when 839 00:40:44,760 --> 00:40:47,600 Speaker 3: we break the alcohol free cycle and then we go 840 00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:49,640 Speaker 3: back and we have just one drink? Is it like 841 00:40:49,719 --> 00:40:52,759 Speaker 3: taking two steps forward and then one step back when 842 00:40:52,760 --> 00:40:55,000 Speaker 3: we go alcohol free for forty days and then we 843 00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:56,239 Speaker 3: have a drink for one day. 844 00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,000 Speaker 2: I think that part of that is is not something 845 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:01,680 Speaker 2: we can blame entirely on neuropathways. Part of it is 846 00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:05,799 Speaker 2: our perceptions and our attitudes too, because if you have 847 00:41:06,160 --> 00:41:09,640 Speaker 2: sufficiently abstained long enough to have degraded the default, then 848 00:41:09,680 --> 00:41:12,440 Speaker 2: you're less likely to have that one day trigger a 849 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:15,920 Speaker 2: complete relapsed. But the psychological part is that many of 850 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:18,719 Speaker 2: us see that one time, and this is where you're 851 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,040 Speaker 2: teaching is so valuable. Some of us see that one 852 00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:24,400 Speaker 2: failure as oh no, I've blown, my whole thing, blown, 853 00:41:24,440 --> 00:41:26,839 Speaker 2: my whole streak. Come I as well just dive in now. 854 00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:29,279 Speaker 2: And I'm a regenerate drunk and I'm never going to 855 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,680 Speaker 2: be sober as we drink like so, so part of 856 00:41:31,760 --> 00:41:35,080 Speaker 2: it is psychological, and that relates to getting our thoughts 857 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,120 Speaker 2: under control and not believing that all of our thoughts 858 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:41,759 Speaker 2: are true. And so it probably is true that if 859 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:43,840 Speaker 2: you have abstained for a very long time and you 860 00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:47,560 Speaker 2: pursued with the right attitude and the right plan, you've 861 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:51,359 Speaker 2: pursued an alcohol free lifestyle and not begrudgingly, so you know, 862 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:54,680 Speaker 2: then you probably have prepared yourself to be able to 863 00:41:54,719 --> 00:41:59,480 Speaker 2: withstand that temporary setback. But if you psychologically believe that 864 00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:01,960 Speaker 2: any kind of setback means that you haven't actually made 865 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:05,319 Speaker 2: any progress, and that old pathway is there and you 866 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:08,640 Speaker 2: can reactivate it if you don't pay attention there. So 867 00:42:08,880 --> 00:42:11,000 Speaker 2: I think both of those things are relevant. 868 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:13,719 Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think tie in the Ninth Commandment to that, right, 869 00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,680 Speaker 3: like we have to believe that we're getting better at it. 870 00:42:15,719 --> 00:42:17,600 Speaker 3: And even if you do have a drink, how can 871 00:42:17,640 --> 00:42:19,960 Speaker 3: you mind that for data? How can you grow from that? 872 00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:22,279 Speaker 3: How can you learn what were the thoughts telling you 873 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:23,439 Speaker 3: before you had that drink. 874 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:23,840 Speaker 1: All of that. 875 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:27,000 Speaker 3: I'm going to have to have you back because I've 876 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:29,120 Speaker 3: got more questions from the gals, But you're just going 877 00:42:29,200 --> 00:42:31,320 Speaker 3: to have to come back to Love Life Sober. 878 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:34,560 Speaker 1: That would absolutely love to come back. 879 00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:37,320 Speaker 3: I appreciate you, Thank you so much for writing this book, 880 00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:38,759 Speaker 3: all the work that you do. It is so so 881 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:41,120 Speaker 3: relevant for the women who are trying to break free 882 00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:44,880 Speaker 3: from alcohol, so so relevant, and we appreciate you. The 883 00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,799 Speaker 3: whole community are just big fans, and so thanks for 884 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:48,480 Speaker 3: stopping by. 885 00:42:48,680 --> 00:42:50,279 Speaker 4: We appreciate you, Christu, We. 886 00:42:50,280 --> 00:42:52,080 Speaker 2: Love you, We're grateful for you, and we hope to 887 00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:53,480 Speaker 2: get over there and see y'll someday. 888 00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:57,319 Speaker 3: Oh definitely, that'd be so cool. Thanks doctor Lee, thank 889 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:03,719 Speaker 3: you Goblet. Thank you for spending this time with me 890 00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:07,120 Speaker 3: on Love Life Sober. If today's conversation stirred something in 891 00:43:07,160 --> 00:43:09,760 Speaker 3: your heart, don't rush past it, take it to prayer. 892 00:43:10,160 --> 00:43:13,480 Speaker 3: If you're feeling ready for deeper connection and support, I'd 893 00:43:13,520 --> 00:43:16,000 Speaker 3: love to invite you into the Love Life Sober community, 894 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:19,880 Speaker 3: a grace filled, shame free space where real connection grows 895 00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:23,160 Speaker 3: and lasting change takes root. You can find the link 896 00:43:23,200 --> 00:43:26,920 Speaker 3: to join us in the show notes love. Life Sober 897 00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:30,040 Speaker 3: is part of the Life Audio podcast network, where faith 898 00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:33,080 Speaker 3: centered podcasts help you grow deeper in your walk with Christ. 899 00:43:33,440 --> 00:43:37,400 Speaker 3: You can find more faith centered podcasts at lifeaudio dot com. 900 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:41,279 Speaker 3: Until next time, be gentle with yourself, stay curious, and 901 00:43:41,320 --> 00:43:42,480 Speaker 3: trust God's promises. 902 00:43:42,920 --> 00:43:44,360 Speaker 4: He has freedom waiting for you.