Dr. Daniel Amen - Your Listening Brain and Taming Your Hidden Dragons

“I’m really interested in changing the conversation from mental illness to brain health,” said Amen. “We want to end mental illness, and the only way to do that is a revolution in brain health.”

Amen provided affirming advice, instructing listeners to ask themselves this question before everything they do: “Is this good or bad for my brain?” Amen went on to describe the importance of loving their brain and how most people ignore or neglect their brain. He used a child purposefully banging his head against a soccer ball as a clear-cut example of how little consideration people give to their minds.

Amen’s epiphany came when he saw a scan of his own brain and was shocked by how much older his brain looked than his year. He connected that to his own poor eating, sleeping, and mental activities.

“It is very important to realize you don’t have to believe every stupid thing you think,” he continued. “We never teach kids to manage their minds.” Amen has started a foundation to try and address these issues, going to the root source to tackle mental illness.

Amen closed by discussing how people who survive and thrive through stressful personal and social situations are flexible and recognize that these situations are temporary.

He authored the book Your Brain is Always Listening, available now wherever books are sold, and he runs the website BrainHealthAssessment.com, which has a free brain quiz.