Brain Health Optimization | How To Make Sure Your Brain Is Working Optimally

Kathleen (00:02)
Welcome to the journey of an awakening spirit.

a sacred space where transformation begins. This podcast is your guide to rediscovering your true self, breaking free from old limitations and embracing the power of your soul's calling. Here, you'll receive practical tools, soulful insights, and uplifting conversations that remind you you are never alone on this path. We'll open the lines and dive deep into the questions that matter most to you.

Now, let's begin this powerful journey together with your host of the journey of an awakening spirit, Kathleen Flanagan.

Kathleen Flanagan (00:48)
Your brain controls everything. When you optimize your brain health through five simple daily practices, everything else follows, energy, mood, metabolism, immunity, and longevity. You've inherited a brain designed for a world that no longer exists. The daily pace and practices of modern life work against your design. You can learn to reclaim control of your brain and your life with this simple strategy.

Hello everyone and welcome to the journey of an awakening spirit. This is Kathleen Flanagan and I am your host. Today we have Dr. Ryan Williamson who is a board certified neurologist, proud Navy veteran and the owner and founder of Transcend Health. After commissioning as an officer in the US Navy, he completed his medical training at the Florida State University College of Medicine.

neurology residents at Georgetown University Hospital, and ultimately separated from service as a Lieutenant Commander. After this, Dr. Williamson ultimately dedicated his career to improving brain health and helping individuals expand their longevity. Driven by a passion to make a broader impact, Dr. Williamson founded Transcend Health, a platform that bridges neuroscience with entrepreneurship.

He empowers leaders and individuals to optimize their cognitive performance through evidence-based strategies that address brain fog, improve memory, and help them overcome cognitive overload. Dr. Williamson's expertise has garnered significant attention with his insights impacting communities across the globe. He is currently engaged in high-level conversations with influential figures to integrate his knowledge into their communities, curricula, and beyond.

Through Transcend Health, Dr. Williamson offers a membership program featuring exclusive educational calls, wellness protocols, and a private community forum for members to connect and collaborate. He is also the author of a ⁓ best-selling, number one best-selling book.

I'm not sure where it is, but it says in this bio, it says it's releasing, but it is released. And we'll go over that in a little bit too. That aims to further disseminate his knowledge and empowers individuals to live longer, deeper, and more impactful lives. Dr. Williamson's vision is to help individuals and group achieve their full potential by taking control of and optimizing their health so they can live more fulfilling lives and leave a lasting legacy.

Welcome Dr. Ryan.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (03:27)
Thanks Kathleen, I'm happy to be back.

Kathleen Flanagan (03:29)
It's so good to have you back. And what I want to share with everyone is in the, since I met Dr. Williamson in March of this year, he was in the process of writing a book, which is now a number one bestseller. And that happened in September. That was so exciting. He also is, wrote a chapter in the anthology book that I was part of that became a number one bestseller the same day he became a bestseller on his book launch.

which is exciting. And what I noticed about Dr. Williamson back then was just how he was. And I just was like, ⁓ this guy's gonna be so different in a year. And how I saw him a year from March is where he is today. He looks 20 years younger. That's first thing, folks, 20 years younger. He loves us for that, but he looks younger. He's more vibrant and confident. And the fact that he's a neurologist doing the things that he does,

He's now out there in the world. He started a podcast, interviewing on podcasts, marketing his book, doing lots of social media, and he's doing like a life that is way beyond what I can even begin to comprehend knowing what he does for a living. And now he's squeezing this much more in, and I know how hard it is for me to keep my brain going.

So I really wanna know what this topic is, but I really wanna do for now, I wanna do some huge kudos and congratulations on your win and what that feels like for you and what you've noticed in these last six months. And then we'll lead into what we can do for the brain health because God knows you're in the middle of doing your own talk. ⁓

Dr. Ryan Williamson (05:17)
Thank you, Kathleen. ⁓ It certainly feels good to finally have some of these things done. To have the book out in the world. You just have no idea how something's going to turn out until it's out there, right? And I spent the better part of the last year writing and researching and trying to distill as much of this medical science as I could into something that I hoped would be accessible to

people that don't have a medical background. And that was ⁓ a big impetus for why I started Transcend Health, which is my coaching business in the first place and wanted to write the book, The Incredible Brain. And I think we hit the mark. ⁓ The feedback we've gotten from everybody is that, know, so-and-so texts me and says, I've lost 30 pounds already. ⁓ You know, I hear from another person that my sleep is better than it's ever been. I'm waking up every day feeling more rested. I'm more focused.

got a renewed sense of my purpose or what's important to me in life or whatever. I mean, it's, I get these messages multiple times a week and it's really powerful, Kathleen, to know that I'm able to have this kind of impact and not just with patients in a clinic or in a hospital, which is meaningful, but with more people and those are just the folks that have reached out. I know more people have read it and I get this even peripherally from like,

We own some rental properties and one of our cleaners was texting Cory the other day. She was in her doctor's office and it wasn't even a patient, but there was a provider in North Carolina in a clinic who was reading my book. I'm going, how in the world? mean, how'd this person even find out about this thing? So just little moments like that that are really fun. Thank you,

Kathleen Flanagan (06:59)
Well, that's just super exciting because I knew just by how you showed up and I do read energy and I do read people very well. I'm very good at that part and I own that part of myself. But I think what struck me the most and the fact that I have you back on six months later and why I wanted to bring you on more regularly on the show, but a lot of things shifted during this period of time.

of which is okay, it was perfect, it's all perfect timing, was just that for a neurologist and all of my experiences with doctors have always been kind of very egotistical, especially brains people, surgeons, neurologists, whatever. Even their staff is egotistical, because I met somebody who was very egotistical and she worked with neurologists. And what I found with you was just you had a heart.

You weren't in your head. There was a compassion about you and a heart about you. And yeah, you might've felt a little insecure because you're like shifting where you were going, know, really shifting. mean, changing the whole dynamic of you by doing that because as we shift and grow, it is insecure and it's a little wobbly. But you stayed a course and...

And I believe that you were gonna be incredibly successful with your book because of the knowledge you were bringing forth in March and you were just scratching the surface. And that's what was amazing to me because I've had other people that knew about the brain on my show. So I've learned a lot about the brain and how it operates. But when you came on and you talked, there was science behind it. It's not woo woo, it's not.

you know, maybe it's this way. You brought an element to the brain that I've never heard about before. And that's why I think this is so critical because I think as we understand more how our brain operates, because we know so little about it, I think that makes us more powerful because we really do have that power and control within us. It's not spiritual anything. There's a science and spirituality are coming together.

And I think that's what I love so much about you is that you are bringing that in a way that nobody else seems to be able to, or they're just so wrapped up in their medical practice that they forget that there's a human element to it. And you don't strike me as that kind of guy. You never did. Even if you had to go say, give bad news to your patients, parents or kids or relatives or whatever, family members.

Even if you had to act a certain way, I don't think that you ever got used to bad news.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (09:51)
No, first off, thank you for the compliment, Kathleen. That's one of the nicest things anybody could ever say to me. And I mean that. Because it's taken a lot of work for me to strike that balance and be present with people in the middle of suffering and still do my job. And to your point, balancing the heart-centeredness with the medical science is something that comes from ⁓ a long history of personal loss in my family.

Kathleen Flanagan (09:58)
You're welcome.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (10:20)
I write about this in the introduction of the incredible brain, but some of my first memories in life are of sitting on my mom's lap at my grandmother's funeral. That's literally one of the first things I remember. And that's one of multiple funerals that I attended ⁓ even in the years that followed. ⁓ So that got these gears turning early about, you know, what is life and death and loss, and that pushed me into medicine. But even with that, I mean, through most of my medical training,

I did attend a program that was very patient-centered. We would do patient-centered rounds, you rather than just the typical kind of biomedical model where it was, it's paternalistic and, you know, take two of these, call me in the morning. Doctors, those days are over, I think, for good reason. But there are a lot of people that still practice that way and that's not how I was trained. So I'm thankful for that. But even still, and I wrote about this in the anthology chapter, I mean, it really wasn't until 2022.

Kathleen Flanagan (11:04)
Yeah.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (11:18)
that I fully unlocked this layer of emotion that I had suppressed for so long. And as strange as it may sound, even my first few years of practice, and even when I was through training, I would show up and be empathetic towards people, and I would comfort them and put my hand on their shoulder, but I wouldn't feel anything. And that was very pathologic. And I think it's very easy for...

a lot of, mean, forget about just doctors, but anybody that works in the healthcare setting, we see some pretty terrible things and we see people in their worst moments, patients and families, and we've got a tough job to do. So it's very easy to put up a shield to protect yourself. And to a degree you have to, because you're the only person between them and just everybody, the wheels come in off the wagon. But ⁓ it's going to that next level is...

very difficult and to be more open and to be more emotional and to really feel more of what my patients and their family members feel, it's ⁓ hard. I I'm feeling emotionally even thinking about it right now because it's that special to me. ⁓ So thank you for recognizing that. And I've done my best to bring that to the book and to what I do, of course, at Transcend Health and to what I hope to help.

Kathleen Flanagan (12:44)
Well, I know that I saw one of your posts when I decided the name of the topic was that post about, you know, trying to keep up with the pace and your brain is on fire. And even though I spend, I can't tell you, I'm in isolation a lot because I need to be, because the world is too hard for me. And when I come out, it's a very conscious point of coming out and I feel good when I come out and I'm engaged, but then it's like, whoa, I have to go back and regroup.

because of just all the insanity of what's happening and what's coming for next year since I have a little bit of an insight going on. But I know that for me, when I do that, I spend a lot of time alone. I'm not always on the computer. I do downtime. I do meditation. Sometimes I write depending on what it is. And part of my next book is about just the process of what I'm going through.

and what it was like to navigate my father's death, being a perpetrator and all of that. And if you read the book, you know what that's about. ⁓ And it was hard because I was in suicidal tendencies, believe it or not. No, but most people do not know that, but I was very suicidal. And it took me a while to understand that. And even though I'm awake and aware and I was present, there's a part of me that just took that in. And I realized that I was suicidal when the event happened.

and it showed up at 16 till 30. I became suicidal again when my mother died because there was that feeling of hopelessness again. And then my father, which would make sense because these are the three that brought me, because my mother was, my grandfather beat my grandmother. So there was domestic violence there and my father was sexually molested by my grandmother. So do you think that we have a problem here? So I think that they suffered suicide.

old tendencies at one point and it was given to me because you know as we go through this and I think that with the brain as we remember it on a spiritual side we bring that because it's you know the generational stuff that we bring forward and the dysfunction and with what you're saying and what I believe in is we can rewire our brain we just have to know how to

rewrite our brain because I think that's where everybody gets confused of like I can heal my body and it's like yeah, but see when I do it I know I'm using my brain somehow. I just don't know what that is yet. And I think being able to have that kind of control it would be huge because understanding my brain has helped me to feel more level.

You know, like I'm not woo woo, I'm not out there, you know, where somebody's going to put me in a straight jacket like I've lived my whole life as. And yet I'm also wanting to keep my brain healthy and not suffer from dementia or anything like that, even though that doesn't run in my family of other things. It doesn't matter. We live in a society and we have bad food and we have bad air and bad water and bad everything. And that all destroys the body.

So that's why I thought with you doing all the work that you're doing now, because you can have a team of a million people, but you still have to do the work and you're still doing the work. You can't bring somebody out to go out on the podcast for you. You can't market your book like you can market your book. You can't go in and do brain surgery on somebody else. You know what I mean? So you getting out there and meeting and greeting the people.

What is it that you're doing? What's the protocol that you're using that can help people manage that on a smaller scale? I mean, just to get started, if nothing else, just to start the process until they get a hold of you or your book or whatever they choose to do.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (16:38)
Yeah, so many directions to go here Kathleen. No, it's good. It's great. ⁓ Well, I think you framed the problem well, and that's that the pace and the conditions of today's world are inherently incredibly stressful. And when we look at our biology and our design, we are really set up for failure. And that's a scary place to be. ⁓

Kathleen Flanagan (16:42)
I know I do this to everybody. I'm sorry, Ryan.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (17:06)
I mean, I won't go into the long list of anxiety provoking stressors, but I think we all are aware of them in our own world anyway. Most people are very stressed. mean, 50 % of Americans report feeling stress every day. 75 % report feeling stress in time of the last month. Those are just the people that are aware of it and that report that. In my experience, those numbers are much higher. So just as a backdrop, one of the many reasons we are so stressed is again, our design, our biology is not congruent with the modern.

world. And what I like to think about is, okay, what is our design? What is our biology? And how can we mimic or match that? And when we look at what our ancestors did, they got up, they moved a lot, they woke up with the sun, they formed together in tribes or tight-knit groups, they went to sleep when the sun went down, they ate a largely whole food diet, or maybe plant-based Mediterranean, maybe some small game, something like this.

mimicking that along with the right lifestyle is the best way that we know when we look at the medical evidence to get us back to a good place. And I put all these parameters and these different interventions in the book, but Kathleen, it wasn't even until actually after I published the book. I mean, I almost scrapped the whole thing and rewrote it and my team said we got to publish it. And I'm glad I did because again, it's doing good in the world. But I really wanted to come up with something even more radically simple for people.

And so I've developed what I call the brain protocol and brain is an acronym, B-R-A-I-N. And each of these interventions or health pillars that I talk about in the book represent a letter of brain. so we can go through any number of these that you want, but just at a high level so people understand what I'm talking about. ⁓ B stands for breath work. So this is intentional guided breathing, things like mindfulness, meditation. R is for rest. So resting your body and achieving adequate quality sleep.

A is for activity, so all things exercise related, integrating purposeful movement into your day. I is for intakes, this would be all things nutrition related, supplementation. And then N is for nurturing, which has to do with community relationships ⁓ and that tribe-like mentality. And Kathleen, when we look at all of those independently, there's data behind each of these that this actually lowers our absolute risk of developing dementia, lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease.

high blood pressure that can lead to heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, all these chronic conditions, which by the way, 60 % of Americans have at least one chronic condition, if not multiple, which leads to 75 % obesity rate. 93 % of us are metabolically unhealthy, which our metabolic health is what drives a lot of these chronic diseases. So these things are all interrelated and we are really in a conundrum and in my mind, a crisis that we just need somebody to help wake us up from.

And that's the, if nothing else, that's a big part of my job is to just shine a spotlight on what the problem is and get people aware of it because we don't know what we don't know. And our brain, as you said, is incredibly complex and it does a pretty good job of telling us that everything's okay when the house is on fire. ⁓

Kathleen Flanagan (20:18)
Yeah.

Yes. I noticed that if you listen, your body will tell you something's wrong. I just don't know how to fix it when something's wrong. I have to go to a doctor and rely on a doctor. And I don't think doctors sometimes know enough about what's wrong because all they want to do is test you and all this instead of really listening to what I'm saying.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (20:27)
Yes.

Yes.

Kathleen Flanagan (20:44)
you know, and that's what I found. And every time when I had a thyroid issue, and this is a side note, because I just want you, because I want you're saying things that are really dynamic, as that I just kept saying, every time he tested me, he'd kept dropping, I would go in and say, drop the medication. And he said, why would you say that? said, because it's too much. And every time he did the blood work, we dropped the medication. He says, how do you know this? I listen.

Sometimes we need that guidance, you know, so that's why I tell people, listen to your body. It talks to us. We just have to learn what it's saying or how is it that is communicating and maybe you can help people a little bit more with that since again, it's our brain talking to us, our body, so to speak, is what's telling us when something's not right. And that's why when I get a little like, what's this? And I do, I have my own little personal panic attack because

I know when something's not right. And instead of just relaxing and breathing into it, which I do more now, thank God, I still panic. Because I know my body. I'm not a sick person. I haven't, I've had issues. I've had things happen, but nothing major. And I think it's because I prevented so much by listening.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (22:09)
That makes a massive difference. I think Kathleen, you we are all trained to listen to our thinking brain and less to our intuition or to, you know, our more subconscious voice. And a lot of that voice or that feeling I think is connected to how the rest of our body is connected to your point. And this actually gets into some of the fun work that GenAxe is doing. Who, I don't know if you've...

had her on, she's a really fun one to talk to when it comes to expression and movement, right? ⁓ So I think there's some neuroscience behind that as well, which she and I talked about. back to the stress feeling and that body signaling this mechanism, when we're in a chronically stressed state, it becomes very difficult to reclaim control over your thoughts and over your emotions and over how you respond because you literally just go into reactive mode.

And again, this is designed for our survival. So back to design, back to our biology, it's there for good reason. ⁓ You if we need to get out of danger quickly, run away from the lion, fight the tribe. ⁓ Freezing is not so useful most of the time, fight, flight, freeze. That's sort of maybe a pathologic one, but ⁓ maybe, I don't know, camouflage of a predator's nearby. Maybe that's why that's there. I'm not sure. ⁓ But neither case, the more we enter into that state, which Kathleen and I truly believe on some level has become

baseline for most people, which is not good. That's not how that system was designed to function. Our brain rewires itself to anticipate more of that condition in the future. And this sets us up for failure when it comes to regulating our emotions, to operating from a higher point of decision-making, and ultimately to being successful in life, because we're robbed of agency and control to actually go do what we want to do.

If we're stuck frozen due to, again, all these circumstances, history of trauma and current life stressors and our blood pressure's too high, that activates the sympathetic nervous system. I mean, again, these are all connected. If we can't break free from that cycle, then we truly are stuck and we're just along for the ride. ⁓ So the brain protocol just is a systematic way that people can easily plug in one letter at a time, ⁓ which by the way, I don't tell people to do the whole thing. ⁓

I encourage people to focus on which letter works for them the best. ⁓ So if you're somebody who already likes to meditate or you like breath work, great, do more of that, master it. You gain a little momentum, which by the way, breath work and mindfulness, yoga, meditation, all of these things actually help rewire your brain in the opposite direction. So you get away from that stress state and you actually reform these connections and rewire yourself to have more agency.

And not only does it help you feel better in the moment, but it actually helps you in the future because your brain then anticipates being in that state from there forward. so you create, elevate your baseline. You create a, you create more agency, more function. And then once you've maybe mastered that letter, mastered that function, you can add on, you know, something else or work on your nutrition or work on your sleep. And it becomes this positive, uh, habit stacking feed forward sort of snowball method that I mean, within.

short order, mean really a period of several months, people can absolutely transform how they feel and then their capabilities, which is just really fun to watch.

Kathleen Flanagan (25:34)
I started my journey in my 20s, well, longer before that, but 20s, I'm gonna say I started meditating. And I remember I spent hours, it be Sunday afternoon, I'd spend about three or four hours learning how to meditate. So I learned how to shut the noise up in my head. That was the first thing. Because I didn't know how much noise was in your head until then. And now, of course, this is very early in the 80s, okay?

I started learning meditation in the 70s, but it was in the 80s and we didn't know a lot about meditation or any of that back then. This was becoming like, ooh, transcendental meditation, you know, kind of thing like, ooh, I'm doing transcendental. And it was the big word for the year. And I remember doing that and just really learning how to discipline my body in a way that I never did. And I remember when I stopped meditating.

and I became very agitated and like crazy again almost. And I came out to Colorado to visit my mom and I met somebody, because we went to some meditation group here in Colorado and I was talking to him and he said, you stopped meditating, didn't you? And I said, yes. And he said, that's why you're feeling the way you are. Now he couldn't explain it other than I was calm and then I wasn't.

and what was the differentiation was meditation. That's why I spend so much time in the morning. Like if I know I have to go someplace early in the morning, I get up earlier so I can still do my routine because I have discovered that if I get up and just get in the shower and go, I'm like a cranky bitch the whole frigging day because I'm like out of sorts with myself. So what I'm trying to do here is make a point of what you're saying.

as far as this stuff does work. Now we have science that's behind it where when I was learning it, was just, it was the feel good thing. Well, yeah, it was a feel good thing, but there was a reason why it felt good. So if people, if we're used to being a certain way, what would you say or what would you recommend people do to like really pay attention to that?

being mindful about where they are to like, cause if you don't think anything's wrong and you think this is normal, how would you reach somebody to say this really is not normal? What would you say to that? Because I want to be able to get people because when you said, well, this is normal and it's like, but it's not normal. There's nothing normal about it.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (28:14)
Yes, it gets back to awareness and which again, the average adult attention span is about eight seconds, 8.25 seconds. Yeah, kind of the actual number, but which is crazy because when I post social media content that you were referencing earlier, when I look at the metrics or the insights on the different platforms, it's about eight seconds that someone looks at your post and they're scrolling and they're under the next one. And that's how these applications are built.

Kathleen Flanagan (28:22)
Yeah, I've heard that.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (28:41)
And that reinforces a further shortened attention span because again, your brain's anticipating more of that type of content. Rather than being able to sit.

Kathleen Flanagan (28:50)
Well, isn't

something that have to do with like the, some of the chemicals in the brain? Okay.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (28:55)
Sure does. Yeah, dopamine is a big part

of that. So there's something called a reward prediction error, but dopamine functions largely not as a reward or a feel good for doing something, but it functions more in anticipation of a reward. so again, back to design and the way this worked, if we were trying to find food and we were hungry, your brain would actually increase dopamine levels to give you the energy and the feel good to go track down game or go find the

go dig up a root or whatever, you know, just insert example here, but to get you there. usually the, eating the food or getting the present or the reward, the physical reward is more anticlimactic. And I think we can all relate to that to a degree. mean, think about back to childhood and if you really wanted a toy or a shiny new bike or even just opening presents on Christmas day period.

the anticipation, the weeks and months before, oh my gosh, the presents, the tree, that's the excitement. And more often than not, we actually unbox everything and okay, maybe you get a little quick hit, but then it's all over and you kind of feel the same again. I think we've all experienced that. When back to the apps, so what we're doing, we used to have to have a degree of work to do this, to go find food or maybe less with the presents, it's probably not a great example, but when you just hold your phone in your hand, all you have to do is this with your thumb,

every few seconds, that's a very minimal amount of work for being rewarded with a new stimulus. And, you know, there these wildly engaging videos where you can look at waterfalls in Switzerland or your favorite race car or a picture of a beautiful person that you like or whatever. mean, it just, it's just these unbelievably stimulating images that you would normally have to travel halfway across the world to go see or do or experience or whatever. And it's all right in the palm of your hand. So.

We're creating this ⁓ addiction to these sort of unrealistic scenarios with minimal work. And this again rewires our brain for, really sets us up for failure in my opinion. ⁓ So anyway, that's that whole system. ⁓ But the question was awareness, I think, about how do we get people aware of what's happening or what's going on? And I think one of the best ways or best examples this was put to me was actually by my friend Joey Klein. ⁓ Joey has done a lot of work.

Kathleen Flanagan (31:15)
I know

Joey. knew Joey when he was 16 years old, honey. I did. knew Joey. Yeah, I met Joey Klein at 16. So and I read his book and like Joey, I could have written this book, you know. So yeah, yeah, I knew when I was a kid.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (31:18)
Did you really?

Yeah.

Well, as you know, Joey's had quite the journey and he has traveled the world. I mean, between his, that's not my story to tell. I'll let Joey tell that story, but in either case, he's a wonderful person. We met a few years ago through the lifestyle investor mastermind and we've done some fun things together, traveled, raced cars. He's a fun car guy. But anyway, I interviewed Joey for my rewire series a few months ago and he asked him, you know, how, should people start? Kind of the same question. And

Kathleen Flanagan (31:34)
yes.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (31:59)
his advice to his clients and anybody that's in his world is sit with yourself for 20 minutes. ⁓ You've heard this. put your phone away. This isn't watch TV or watch Netflix or do a podcast. This is just sit by yourself in silence for 20 minutes and just see what happens. And what's wild is most people have never actually done that.

We're always consuming, we're always engaged by something. Back to the constant alert notifications, techno stress is the term that I use in the book for that. I didn't come up with that, but that's one of the big stressors of our brain. Get away from all of that and it is unbelievable what you will uncover. And his joey's feedback is that his clients come back and they yell at him, like, why'd you make me do that? It's very unpleasant for a lot of people. ⁓

But the point, Kathleen, and for your audience is that if you do this purposeful exercise, it allows you to bring awareness to actually your internal state, to what you're experiencing, to what your habits are. Because for most people, it is very uncomfortable because they're not willing to turn inward and face how they feel and what's going on because our attention is constantly somewhere else and there things competing for our attention all day. So that's one way to...

maybe not the most pleasant way, but it's an effective way, we'll say that, ⁓ to bring awareness to what we're dealing with.

Kathleen Flanagan (33:30)
And I believe that because again, when I started meditating, I was afraid I was gonna find this really God awful, ugly person on the inside. I mean, I'm dead serious. I really thought that because of all the head trash that I always had going on in my head and nobody talked about head trash back then. So I thought I was the only one that was crazy and discovered now everybody's crazy that way. That's our brains never shut up. And I remember like Sal, he lost his job and he's always, you know,

the scrolling and I get really upset with that. So I just told him, said, know, you have to figure out what you want to do. I mean, really, what do you want to do? What makes your heart sing? And you have to put that phone down. I didn't quite phrase it that way. ⁓ Put the phone down and just be with yourself and figure it out. I don't, I mean, he's home all day and you know, he does his thing, I do my thing. And he came up to me last week and he said, you know,

You were right. I'm always right. I'm glad you admit this finally, but no anyways, what I'm saying is he said you were right. I needed to stop and I know what I want to do. And he's pursuing it in this time because he's got so much time on unemployment at the moment. And he's going to take that to really redefine and redevelop where he wants to go with that. I mean, he's doing more on getting his body healed, not drinking as much. mean, just like this whole gambit, just from sitting alone.

with himself for a while. I mean, I'm sitting here going, who is this man? I'm like, I'm glad. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy because I complain a lot because you know us girls do that. We know what's best for our men and they don't and we have to educate them. I mean, it's a girl thing. It's nothing personal. It's strictly a girl thing. We're just messed up in our heads with that because we know better. But anyways, I mean, we can laugh about it. That's the good part. ⁓

But seeing that by just him listening and following what I said, because we even talked about something when I said, you can't bring me in your life if you're still holding onto this, your old girlfriend, because you've got so much anger and resentment and everything else with her. And he said, you know what, you were right about that too. Hey girl. Anyways, but he said, you were right. I couldn't bring anybody else in as long as I was holding anger and resentment towards

this person who is torturing me in my life with my daughter, you know? I said, right. And I think that we don't, and men especially, not to pick on men, but men, I think it's harder for men to stop long enough because you're wired differently than we are. And I think sometimes that's harder to get a man to do it, but it's just, it's like that gentle loving, you know, just try it.

kind of thing, sometimes, you know, those gentle nudges. I, so how, what would you recommend? Because you're a man. I know you, at one point on the show, you said it was your wife's fault that you were having marital problems. And it turned out it was both of you, but mainly you. You know what I mean? So, I mean, what would you suggest for men or how to help women get their men that way that's gentle? Cause I know sometimes women get very frustrated with their spouses.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (36:41)
Right? Exactly right.

Kathleen Flanagan (36:55)
and partners because they don't listen, even though we know. What would you recommend or suggest or do on something like that? Because I know that I want Sal to live longer. I mean, he's younger than I am, but you don't think I don't think he's going to die before me? Of course he probably will. I don't know. I'm supposed to live to a hundred. Okay, Ryan. So I really need your services. But I'm just, you know,

You're the expert and I want to be able to give enough tools for people to reach out to you or how to get people to do something to take control of their life.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (37:33)
Yeah. So again, great, great points, Kathleen, that you've raised. ⁓ And first off, back to the quote unquote head trash, ⁓ just so everybody's aware of this, ⁓ the literature tells us that our brain generates about 70,000 thoughts a day, which is an impressive amount of information that's just constantly, you know, pinging and also competing for our attention. So back to your point about meditating to at least calm some of that down. But at baseline, so literally at baseline, 80 % of those thoughts for all of us are negative.

So if you are somebody who, that's a lot of negative thoughts. So if you're somebody who is plagued by negative thoughts and you think something is wrong with you, first off, you are not your thoughts. ⁓ have thoughts that I would never share with anybody ever that happen regularly. And I know well enough that those aren't me. It's just my brain coming up with something. I don't embrace those thoughts and I embrace thoughts that are in line with my values, my beliefs and my mission.

Kathleen Flanagan (38:04)
That's a lot. That's a lot.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (38:33)
And we all have those. And the good news is that we can train ourselves to, or at least condition ourselves to anticipate more positive thoughts, to have more gratitude, and then to rewire in that direction, which is really fun. So again, that positive self-talk is not just, it's not woo. I mean, really is good science behind this. But how do we start that? How do we overcome that inertia? How do we fix it, as you said, whether it's through a spouse or a loved one? As a fellow male,

and somebody who I think is conditioned by society or maybe even our biology to be the provider and go get the meal or the money or whatever gender role we're supposed to play. ⁓ I would encourage every individual, but in this case, every guy to ask themselves what matters to you and what's really important. And if it is providing for your family.

And if it is being there and being supportive or being the supporter, the provider, then you need to be around and be available and be able to not just financially or physically support your family, but also emotionally and socially. I think for, I'm very thankful that we ⁓ seem to be growing awareness of men being in this kind of hyper-masculine environment.

I mean, again, I was in the Navy for 12 years and I spent most of that time with the Marine Corps and that is about the most hyper-masculine group of people you could ever imagine to be around. you married to a Marine once upon a time? Did I get that right or no?

Kathleen Flanagan (40:03)
Yeah.

You

Yeah, I was married once upon a time, yes.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (40:13)
To a Marine?

Kathleen Flanagan (40:15)
No, I actually dated a marine.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (40:17)
Okay, I knew there was a Marine and we've talked about this. That's why, okay, I remember. Okay, so you know how these young men are. Yeah. And that's unfortunately a part of my job when I had my clinic at Naval Station Camp Lejeune or Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, excuse me, which is a third of the Marine Corps, ⁓ was this increased rate of suicidality. Back to your point earlier,

Kathleen Flanagan (40:22)
Yeah, I know, yeah.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (40:45)
because these young men never feel good enough. And they feel like they've got to achieve this level of, I don't know, this unrealistic outcome of, again, hypermasculinization or strength or bravado or whatever. When in reality, it's all built on this inflated ego and insecurity and just, it's like a house of cards. And just a matter before just, you swipe one card out and the whole thing comes tumbling down.

So to build that foundation and understand how our brains and our bodies work, we really need to be aware and be clear of that purpose, be clear on that purpose. And then once you have the awareness and once you have the drive, it becomes very easy to reverse engineer the process to say, okay, what do I need to do to be a better provider for my family? And to relate that to my story because you mentioned it.

When my wife and I were having marital issues about 2020, around COVID, which was a very stressful time for everybody. I was still in the military. we, I mean, it was the low point of our relationship. And I mean, we were arguing every day and she was crying all the time. And as the egotistical brain doctor that you referenced earlier, very much has been me. I'm guilty as anyone else. I externalized and said this, she's the one that has the symptoms. Clearly something's wrong with her.

come to find out that it was all this internal work that I'd never done and that I, that it was tough to go through. But I'm so thankful I did it because it saved my marriage. It transformed me into a completely different person and has allowed me to go do all the things we're doing now with Transcend Health and the book and helping more people. And so I would just, again, that comes from, again, what do you want? And, you know, at the time I didn't know I wanted to do the book and all of this. I just said, I just...

I just, care about my wife and I want a better relationship for us. And I'm willing to do anything. mean, literally anything. And once I discovered it was actually, I was the one that needed the work. I said, yeah, let's, let's do it. I mean, I was skeptical at first, but once, I once I broke the, broke the concrete barriers, I say in the anthology book, you know, it all came out. It's like, oh my goodness. There was a lot there that I just didn't realize. So anyway, so I'd encourage all of you men out there, get clear on your purpose. If you love your family, it's worth it.

Kathleen Flanagan (42:58)
Yes, and Corey is really a really cool woman. I just love your wife. I think she's so crazy cool. you know, and just, I think you both are. And I know, I know that I've met one of your other team members and you just have this really incredible group of people around you. From what I can see that are very strong and supportive and respectful. And I think that's admirable because I think when you do the work, you bring the right people towards you. Then, ⁓

And you find that because now you're in alignment with yourself and alignment is very key. And I think when we understand this brain, it helps with this also with their whole body, mind, spirit alignment.

Because it's all interconnected and we're all interconnected. The only thing is, is we're all wearing different earth suits as far as I'm concerned because on the inside we're nothing more than light. We've all been through trauma. We all have post-traumatic stress syndrome. I don't care if you say you have or haven't yet, you do. We live in a world that if it's stressful, if you fell off your bed when you're a little kid, that was very traumatic for you as a child and you are still carrying that wound within yourselves.

You'll never get me to never say anything other than that because and then you have a 9-11 event that adds more stress. I mean, we are compounded day after day after day. We watch beat-em-up-kill-em movies. You don't think that's not having stress on us? That's all post-traumatic that we are doing, which is we're feeding negativity and not positivity. And I think when we can change the way we show up in the world,

by owning who we are, by being responsible, by taking control of our thoughts, words, actions, and deeds. And yes, we'll make mistakes and it's okay. But if we're doing okay with us, we're okay with other people, and then we bring really dynamic, powerful people into my life because as much as I am, Ryan, I think 10 years ago, there would be no way we would have ever met and had a connection because of where you were at.

And even though I know where I was at, you were in that egotistical place that I would want nothing to do with because you would think, she needs to go into the funny farm, get the strafe jacket and put her in institutionalizer. You know what I mean? And this is what evolution looks like. People, I have a neuroscience. Okay. I sit here at sometimes and I wrap my head around this weird stuff, right? I have a neurologist on my show. Where does this come from? Because I'm in alignment with myself.

and Ryan's in alignment and somewhere along the line, we connected because that's what we were supposed to do. And that's what I think is so awesome when we are in alignment that we meet some of the most amazing people that we would probably never meet in any other circumstance if we weren't in this alignment. So I know we're coming to close to the end and I'm gonna tell you this on the air.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (45:43)
That's right.

Kathleen Flanagan (46:05)
I want your book. You tell me where I can get it so you can autograph it for me. So if people want an autograph copy, they can buy the book directly because I know on Amazon it doesn't work that way. So you tell me where it is so I can get your book because I do want to read it and I did want to. I have wanted to read it. And I guess what's one bit of advice you would suggest to people and then tell us a little bit more of how we can get a hold of you. So I'm going to let you wind up the show.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (46:32)
Absolutely. Thank you, Kathleen. ⁓ Well, first off, measuring backwards, I think, is another great piece of advice I've been given. ⁓ This was ⁓ the first time I really put this. This was put into words was in the book, The Gap and the Gain, by Benjamin Hardy and Dan Sullivan. ⁓ But the metaphor for the gap is that we're always wanting what's next and looking forward. And that's chronically unfulfilling. But when we look backwards at where have we come in six months, as you referenced, ⁓ from

back to March till now, or two years, or five years, or 10 years, as you just also pointed out. I mean, it's unbelievable. I think we all look at who we were and who we are now, and that's the measuring stick. think measure who can we be, who's our best self, and where is that person compared to where we were? So think that's the ticket there, that and gratitude and being thankful. ⁓

The book, ⁓ Amazon's certainly the easiest place that people can get a hold of it. If they just want to go find it, the incredible brand, you just look that up and my name, Ryan Williamson on Amazon, you'll find it there. ⁓ If you want a signed copy, I suppose we can get you one. just need to get an email and then I've got to order one, sign it and send it to you. So we could probably figure that out. ⁓

Kathleen Flanagan (47:44)
You don't

have any books in your possession?

Dr. Ryan Williamson (47:47)
We, so we've got some at home. Yeah. We, we ordered a bunch for a big book festival last month and sold a bunch, but then we do have, we have a few at the house left, but I don't keep a big storage depot for as much as Tori loves me. I think she would love me less if ⁓ we turned her house into a book depot.

Kathleen Flanagan (47:57)
Okay.

Well,

so then you and I will connect and we'll get it that way. Because I keep books too for people that if they buy them from my website, then I can autograph the book. That's usually what I try to do is always have some with me. And so if somebody comes from there, it's a signed copy.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (48:11)
okay.

fun. Yeah.

that's fun. ⁓ Well, the kind of the neat workaround I've had with that is every time I go travel somewhere, if I go fly, like I'm in Montana right now on a work assignment. But if I go fly out here, I just stick one or two in my bag and end up with someone on the plane. We have this conversation and like, I'd buy it. And then I just get to hand them one and I can sign it. And they're all excited. So that's the other way I've done that. But no, that's maybe we to figure out how to get them out on the website so I can sign them for people. So that's a great idea. All right.

Kathleen Flanagan (48:44)
it's easy. It's easy. And

not for you, no, I know, but it's easy.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (48:50)
And then where can people find us? So transcendhealthgroup.com. That's probably the easiest way that we can spell it out or give it to you in the show notes. So transcendhealthgroup.com. That's the easiest place for people to come where they can, the book links there. Our group coaching membership again, which is currently open. That's where we do this. I do Zoom calls a couple of times a month to help people walk through their purpose and improve their brain health and their focus, their energy, and help them live a longer, healthier, more impactful life, which is my mission.

And ⁓ I think that's it. then, see you, one, sorry, one more thing. You wanted me to wrap up with ⁓ what piece of advice can I give people? ⁓ So in addition to measuring backwards, ⁓ really, I just want everybody to know that you're in control. And even though it may not feel like it sometimes, you know, we look at the medical literature, somewhere between 70 to 90 % of all your health outcomes are based on your lifestyle, which is what you do every single day. And so,

you know, people have these narratives that, you know, this is, it's friends in my family or I'm not good enough or, you know, my, my dad or my brother, my so-and-so had this, therefore I'm going to end up this way. ⁓ barring rare exceptions, that's just simply not true. And I just want to empower everybody that listens to your show to, to know that, that with, with the right work, the right direction and the right guidance that you were, you were in control. And I mean, there's just no limit on what you can do.

Kathleen Flanagan (50:17)
I love that because I have always said that I am not my mother's health issues or my father's or my grandmother's. I don't care if it's hereditary. said, I'm not, I do not have this. And so far to date, I've been very fortunate because I refuse to take on generational stuff, hereditary stuff. So one more thing, do you have, have you started your podcast?

Dr. Ryan Williamson (50:40)
So I did a brief mini series called Rewire and that is available for everyone. So that's about 10 episodes that again, people have loved and I'm so fortunate. Joey is actually one of the interviews. I think I mentioned that, that our interviewees, but I mean, we've got some world-class physicians on there, lifestyle design experts. So that is available. If you go to transienthealthgroup.com again, that links to Rewire. But I've not started an ongoing podcast yet. ⁓ Corey would make me sleep on the porch if I told her that was a...

Kathleen Flanagan (51:00)
Okay.

Dr. Ryan Williamson (51:09)
That was one more thing I wanted to do right now. So maybe in another year or two, I'll have one. That sounds like fun.

Kathleen Flanagan (51:11)
You

Okay, no, that's

good because I just want to make sure that if there's something that you have and I think that could help a lot of people with that 10 mini series would probably be very beneficial to really absorb more detailed of what they can do and take control. So I will definitely be putting that in the show notes as well. So I want to thank you so much, Dr. Ryan, for coming on the show. really do appreciate it. I still want to bring you on more regularly. This is something we can talk about now that

you know, when things settle a little more maybe. But I definitely do because I think this is really important of people taking care, taking control of their health, their minds, their bodies, everything. It's, we do have the power and you have the science behind you to verify and validate this, that this isn't just a woo woo spiritual make crap up stuff. This is really science behind it. And I think that's very important for people to feel that as well.

And if you guys, wanna thank you for joining me on this show. And if you found value or you know somebody who needs this, then please send the link to them. Let them see that. Reach out to Dr. Ryan. I highly recommend reaching out to him if you need any help. You'll be in excellent hands with him. So thank you again, everyone. I will see you all next Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. And from my heart to yours, I hope you have a fabulous week.

Kathleen (52:44)
You've been listening to the journey of an awakening spirit with your host, Kathleen Flanagan. Join us each week as Kathleen invites those who are ready to awaken, heal and rise to live their highest vision anchored in love, joy and truth. Tuesdays, 4 p.m. Eastern.