The Brain Warrior's Way

Warrior.

We may not want to identify with that label, but the Amens tell us we MUST if we are going to appropriately respond to the challenges facing our families and world today.

I always love to bust out a classic Socrates quote when we talk about engaging in the battle of life: “I desire only to know the truth, and to live as well as I can… And, to the utmost of my power, I exhort all other men to do the same… I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly conflict.”

And, I typically remind us that Gandhi’s handbook was the Bhagavad Gita—a manual of life set on the battlefield representing the battle within that ALWAYS rages and that we must win.

As the ancient Stoics taught us, we’re not here to be librarians, cataloguing these Ideas. We’re here to be warriors, fighting to embody and live them.

One of the metaphors Daniel and Tana use throughout the book is to be a sheepdog not a sheep. (And, obviously, certainly not a wolf.) The sheep are vulnerable to the wolves. Sheepdogs fiercely protect them. We need to be sheepdogs. Not sheep.

Ultimately, I think we’re all called to be heroes.

Remember the classic etymology of the word “hero”? In Natural Born Heroes, we learned that in Greek hērōs literally means “protector.” A hero has the strength for two. They’re a trained warrior ready to go to battle to protect their loved ones.

Let’s be that hero.

P.S. In The Road to Sparta, Dean Karnazes tells us about Pheidippides who, he argues, performed the greatest athletic feat of all times when he ran from Athens to Sparta during the Battle of Marathon. Check out the Notes for more on that jaw-droppingly inspiring story.

One of the things Dean talks about is that the hero never knows when fate will beckon him or her to the call of duty. The hero, the warrior, you and I, must ALWAYS BE READY.

Which reminds me of earlier today when Emerson and I went to the farmer’s market. Emerson got to hang out with three of his heroes—firemen! (He even got to sit in the Captain’s seat which, of course, equals 4-year-old heaven).

Long story short, I thanked them for helping us out when we needed it when Alexandra had her seizures last year. I told them how much I appreciated what they do and that I still can’t believe how fast they got to our house—I’d guess 2 to 3 minutes. (To put it in perspective, Alexandra started having her seizure, we called 911, they arrived before she was done.)

I had goosebumps as I thanked them and tears as I type this—re-feeling how grateful I felt that night to be in such good hands. In response to one of Emerson’s 100 questions, one of the fireman (Scott) told Emerson: We’re always ready to help. When we hear a call, we’re on our way within a minute.

Heroes are ready. Let’s have the strength for two and protect those we love.

Who are you here to protect? What do you know you could be doing to strengthen yourself?

P.P.S. Another hero for us is Dr. Amen. We connected shortly after the seizures and spent a couple days in his clinic—tapping into his enormous wisdom and equally big compassion.

So, what are we in a battle for and who are we fighting?

You are in a war for your health. And, as Daniel and Tana tell us, “The real weapons of mass destruction in our society are foods that are highly processed, pesticide sprayed, artificially colored and sweetened, high glycemic, low fiber, food-like substances, laden with hormones, and tainted with antibiotics.”

Unhealthy food and lifestyle choices are so incredibly ubiquitous that it truly takes something heroic within us to step back and see it and then choose to win the battle against it.

(Remembering Krishnamurti’s wisdom would be good here: “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.)”

(Remembering Emerson’s wisdom would be good as well: “And truly it demands something godlike [warrior-like?] in him who cast off the common motives of humanity and ventured to trust himself for a taskmaster.”)

Two things we need to keep in mind.

First, “mass denial.” With 67% of American adults overweight or obese and SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT of all healthcare costs spent on chronic, PREVENTABLE illness (including Alzheimer’s, depression, ADD/ADHD, diabetes, obesity, etc.), that seems like an apt phrase.

Then we have our anxiety levels. Obviously, we don’t want to dial our anxiety up to an 11 all.the.time. But we also don’t want it at a .1.

One of the metaphors we talked about in Conquering Anxiety 101 is the idea that people who suffer from too much anxiety have “overactive bodyguards”—they get freaked about every little thing that isn’t actually a threat.

That’s not optimal, obviously. But neither is having too little anxiety.

If you think it’s fine to eat candy (it was just Halloween as I type this and I still can’t believe we all think it’s cool to give our kids sugar-poison-treats—more on that in a moment), cookies, chips, and all the other junk then you’re anxiety level is inappropriately low. You need to dial up your vigilance warrior-style and protect your tribe.

Quick check in: Is your positive thinking killing you and your family?

P.S. Here’s a blurb on sugar: “Sugar is not your friend. One study from UC San Francisco found that sugary soda had the same negative impact on your cells as cigarettes, and was associated with accelerated aging. Robert Lustig, MD, a pediatric endocronologist from UCSF, flatly states that sugar is addictive and is the PRIMARY cause of obesity, hypertension, heart disease, cholesterol problems, and diabetes—all of which cause brain damage. He says that fructose is particularly troublesome as it is processed in the liver like alcohol. If you watch Dr. Lustig’s 90-minute You Tube video, Sugar: The Bitter Truth, you will be much less likely to ever drink fruit juice again.”

(Here’s the video by Dr. Lustig! Have I/we convinced you to eliminate sugar yet, Warrior?)

So, basically, the properly dialed-in level of anxiety—not too much, not too little—can be captured in one word: conscientiousness. Got it. And I like it.

That’s from Part 2 of the book in which Daniel and Tana walk us through the assessments we want to make on our current health—including a range of tests we can/should take so we know our baseline starting point and what needs optimization.

Hard to improve what you don’t measure, eh? Do you know your basic numbers and what needs work? Have a plan to optimize? In short: How’s your conscientiousness?

P.S. Another thing to remember regarding conscientiousness/how to deal with challenges is the fact that the WARRIOR doesn’t crawl into bed and pull the comforter over his head when faced with perceived threats. (The victim does that.) The warrior marches out to meet those challenges and do what needs to get done to win the battle.

As King Agis II of Sparta would say: “The Spartans do not ask how many enemy there are, but where they are.” ← Where are your health enemies? You marching out to meet them?

That’s from Part 3 in which we explore: “Sustenance of a Brain Warrior: High-Powered Nutrition for a Victorious Life.” Daniel and Tana offer us 10 brain warrior nutrition tips to win the war.

Their Ideas echo wisdom we discuss in Nutrition 101 and our Notes on David Ludwig’s Always Hungry? (in fact, David is the first person they thank in their appreciations at the end of the book) + Eat Fat Get Thin by Mark Hyman.

One of the things I enjoyed about this section was their brief chat about the “Plants vs. Protein” battles between jumbo-passionate fans of a more vegan or more Paleo approach—commenting that “We’ve seen people argue about vegetarian vs. caveman diets more heatedly than others debate politics or religion! Each camp manages to root out just enough evidence to support its own position, but rarely shows any evidence supporting the opposing view—because it has become about their philosophy, about winning, instead of about promoting health.”

As we’ve discussed, you can be vegetarian and super unhealthy if you’re gorging on pasta, bread, potatoes and sugar. Same goes with the caveman side of things if you’re eating too much protein and not getting enough plants. They believe that “The answer lies not in the polar extremes of diet, but in a reasonable, science-based and highly nutritious path.”

Here’s a quick look at the 10 tips: “1. Focus on high quality calories. 2. Drink plenty of water and not many of your calories. 3. Eat high-quality protein in small doses throughout the day. 4. Eat smart carbohydrates (low glycemic, high-fiber). 5. Focus your diet on healthy fats. 6. Eat from the rainbow, which means healthy foods of many colors (not Skittles!). 7. Cook with brain-healthy herbs and spices to boost your brain and body. 8. Make sure your food is as clean as possible: organic, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, grass-fed, and free-range. 9. If you struggle with mental health or physical issues, eliminate any potential allergens or internal attackers, such as MSG, gluten, corn, soy, and dairy. 10. Eat Healthy during the Day, but fast for 12 hours at night.”

First, think about it. Would a therapist ever give a smoker or alcoholic or sex addict a “cheat day”? That makes no sense. Alas, same goes with our food addictions. We need to know what our trigger foods are and AVOID THEM. Period. Done. 100%. Non-negotiable. etc.

And… When/if we make the inevitable mistake, we GPS it and simply get back on course. No shaming necessary.

And I LOVE this: “Turn bad days into good data.” NEVER waste a bad day. Just put on your lab coat and go to work looking at the data so you can make even wiser choices tomorrow. That’s the +1% incremental Optimizer’s secret weapon to awesome. Let’s use it.

Angela Duckworth echoes this wisdom in Grit—telling us that THE fastest way to boost our grit is to join a gritty community. Period. Inspired by this wisdom, every morning when I journal I reflect on our Purpose + Mission + Strategy with our business, Optimize.

Our Purpose is very simple: We help people Optimize.

Our Mission is equally simple: Change the world. One person at a time. Together.

Our Strategy is simple as well: Wisdom + Oasis. Wisdom helps people Optimize “inside-out” while the Oasis (think: Facebook-like platform) helps people Optimize “outside-in.” We’re committed to providing the greatest collection of wisdom we possibly can (next target: 1,000 Notes by 2020!) AND world-class social tools *exclusively* focused on helping you Optimize your life with other inspired humans from around the world. If you’d like to be one of the very first to join us, cruise on over to Heroic.us/optimize/coach.

Here’s to surrounding ourselves with people who inspire us to be our best!