You would throw your computer in the garbage in an instant if it operated like your brain. Imagine you are working on an email for work, and all of the sudden a calendar event, your loved ones birthday pops up overshadowing your email. So you make a note to yourself to buy a gift and go back to working on the email. Ten seconds later your address book opens up and your doctors phone number takes over your screen and you make a note to remind yourself to call your doctor for that check up. Back to that email. Just then your email closes and the email from your accountant, you didnt answer, pops up and takes over. So you make note to self, call accountant. Since you were thinking about money, your bank balance opens up and you are on the bank’s website so you can see your balance, again covering your email. Another second later your retirement account website page opens up so you can see what is there. Then amazon takes over your screen so you can order that supplement. It’s as if your computer has a virus and it can’t keep one program open without so many other programs and websites taking over your whole screen and your attention.

Isn’t that exactly how your brain operates?
Aren’t there thoughts popping into your head all day long with the tens of thousands of thoughts that are crowding themselves into your brain that can only think one thought at a time?

It is sheer chaos. If your computer behaved that way you would immediately toss it in the garbage. This is true no matter what you are doing. Have you ever had a conversation where something the person said prompted you to think of something else? Of course you did, and you either interrupt, or you can not wait to talk and tell them your insight or how you had that same experience, or what it reminded you of. Because it’s the same with every brain. No one can tell you how it’s really wired. Is it your subconscious, wherever or whatever that is? Is it just the fact that all the information is connected?

If you have the capacity to shut up for 60 minutes and simply listen, get a job as a psychiatrist you will be the world’s greatest since Sigmund Freud.

So you can read one thousand books on how the brain works. But no one has been inside your brain or any brain for that matter. We can run an MRI to see what part of your brain lights up. But how are all of these stored thoughts and memories stored? Why do they keep popping up at the wrong time and interrupting what you are doing or the conversations you are having? How are they really connected? Is there multiple connections for every thought?

Why is your brain running a mile a minute when you are trying to sleep? Why didnt that very active brain warn you when you met the wrong person and they were exhibiting red flags all over the place? Why didnt that active brilliant brain warn you when your stock advisor told you to sell your apple stock in 2003 because the company wasn’t going anywhere

Anyone who says they do not have an inner dialogue is literally the biggest liar on the planet. OK maybe one of the greatest meditators on the planet can quiet their brain for some time Are any of you perfect meditators with no thoughts whatsoever passing through your brain? OK great.

What about when you are done meditating and working is your brain concurrently thinking? Of course it has to. It is noticing your punctuation, grammar (OK maybe not me LOL). But your brain is thankfully reminding you of relevant stored information to the task at hand. The problem is that it is also bringing up irrelevant information that is also being triggered by words and thoughts unrelated to the task at hand.

So the quality of all of our lives is like a broken computer vs being at peace and joy all of the time. I write this because I have achieved long periods of peace and joy every day and I am trying to reconstruct how that happened and share it as quickly as possible with the least amount of steps and or expense.

As I have always said if there is severe depression or anxiety go see a doctor. But all of us have some degree of sad days or hours, or moments, and might be anxious about certain things.

The first thing to do is manage your diet. If you are on a “white” diet you are toast, literally. White flour, white rice, potatoes, starches, sugars. Your blood sugar is going to be spiking and crashing all day long like a pinball machine, making it impossible for you to maintain an even mood or temperament. You need protein and fat at every meal. You need fish oils. As I said in my section on health. When I was working for Dr Oz Garcia I had to research every ingredient for claims. Fish oil or omega 3’s was the easiest. There are hundreds of studies on brain function inflammation mood and more. Of course supplementation requires its own chapter.

And there are countless books on supplements. I remember reading a whole book just on CoQ10. But if you are eating like shit, no supplements can help you. You also absolutely need sunshine and light during the day. And you need darkness at night. I almost feel foolish writing that. It kind of is light during the day and dark at night. But most of us violate that law of nature every day with our TV and devices late into the night.

We have so perverted that natural animal rhythm that a whole book was written and dedicated to the premise that all that is wrong in the world and every disease is merely the elimination of darkness at night. Half of the book cites studies that show once this country was completely electrified the body was no longer able to heal itself at night. The theory of the book based on correlations is that every disease coincides with electrification both here and internationally. At the least sleep in a dark room. I loved that book. It’s called Lights Out.

So eat right get some exercise and find a method that works for you to quiet your brain for starters. I have a lot of tips in each area. Hopefully something I say or the manner in which I say it, will click for you. It’s a journey. But along the way you are improving and happier each time you take a step in the right direction. It’s kind of like freezing your butt off in New York and driving to Florida or maybe even walking. It gets warmer every step you take. Although in the context of the 1000 mile journey you might not recognize it. If you walk 10 miles a day you will get there in merely a few months. But one thing is for sure it will get warmer the closer you get. Also if you keep going in the same direction it will get warmer and sunnier. There might be storms along the way, but if you prefer warmer weather you will get there.

In the mean time get to work on that broken computer you call a brain. PS there are countless brain stimulation devices on the market, countless supplements, and countless YouTube for meditation you can try. Whatever works for you. Try it and write it down so you don’t forget what works for you. I still maintain that if you ate right exercised, observed good “light” hygiene, avoid BS on your electronic devices, you will have a marked improvement in mere days. Anyone I have spoken to that merely avoided the news or their favorite BS social media app was happier in a day or two. Try it you will like it. PS it is a drug. Talk about your brain. If you get into merely Dopamine (the happy chemical) you will find that it is being released during scrolling and or playing games. They are designed to hijack your brain and make them billions.

So you get poor stupid and depressed with a house cluttered with junk bought online, which is even more depressing, while they make a few more billion. It doesn’t have to be that way. And you don’t need a three thousand dollar brain scan to know that you need to put down that device, stop watching the boob tube, or at least stop watching it at some point in the evening. Try reading a book, what a novel concept. I don’t even have to tell you want to do, you already know probably a dozen things you aren’t doing. I remember back at our printing company, when the smartest guy who ran the computer room came to me and said my kid is doing great but sometimes right before he goes to bed he gets all wound up. I said tell me more. He said well he eats a bowl of ice cream and he just goes crazy. Ok I’ll let you answer this one. PS it’s not just the sugar spiking his blood sugar which of course would do it. The kid could be lactose intolerant. But almost all of the answers are that easy and it actually costs less money to do the right thing and get your brain to start working like a well functioning computer not like a one overloaded with viruses that just keeps changing programs a thousand times a day without you prompting it to do so.

You can be at peace and happy all day every day no matter what is going on in your life. I have more challenges today then I have ever had. But being at peace makes it so much easier to see novel solutions and opportunities vs having my brain buzzing around in circles with worries, concerns and fears. Plus all my interactions with co workers and anyone I might want to collaborate with is facilitated by my ease and confidence. Its a no brainer 🙂

And I get to live my days in joy and happiness. In fact my happiness is so strong it feel like I just ran 5 miles. I suspected and confirmed that indeed we do release endorphins and dopamine when we are meditation or joyful.