SHAWN STEVENSON: Welcome to the Model Health Show. This is fitness and nutrition expert Shawn Stevenson. And I'm so grateful for you tuning in with me today. We recently crossed the 10-year anniversary of the Model Health Show, and I wanted to do something to help celebrate this moment. And really just looking back on this time, and I want to put together 10 of my favorite moments from the past 10 years. This was hard. This was hard because there's so many moments that I'm thinking back on, and I'm so grateful for all of these moments and all these experiences. And specifically, I want to look at 10 guests. All right? Again, super hard. And I'm not talking about favorite guests, I'm just talking about memorable moments. So this could be in the context of even where it was recorded. This could be something from the conversation. This could be a special behind the scenes story.

But I put this together for you, and I think it's going to blow your mind. These 10 segments I'm going to share with you is going to add so much fuel and power to your day, but not just that moving forward. All right? What can really change your thinking and your perception of yourself and the world around you and be more empowered right now when we need that more than ever. And right now, I want to speak to you about the power of your thoughts and your words. Your thoughts are literally a creation. This isn't something external or something "imaginary." It is a physical manifestation. There's a physical change happening in your brain, and thus the entire universe is being changed just within the power of your thoughts. And with that said, an outward or external manifestation of your thoughts is your words. And they both have immense power.

How many times have you thought about something or thought about a person, for example, and suddenly you bump into that person or that person phoned you from out of the blue? Or how many times have you ever noticed that you spoke something into existence, right? Spelling something out or casting a spell that is influencing what's happening in the world around you. We take these things for granted, but it's happening all the time. We are creators. If you look at this incredible field now, it's just grown so much. And understanding quantum dynamics, right? Quantum physics and the fact that humans and really other species as well, but we just know from ourselves. 'Cause we could talk to us, you might talk to your dog, but your dog really can't talk back. All right? My grandma had a cat, and the cat could say, sounds like it's saying Mama, but not really.

All right? But with humans, we can have these conversations, and we know that we are affecting the world around us. It's called the Observer Effect. Just with you focusing on a thing or being aware of a thing or witnessing a thing, you are affecting what that thing is doing. All right? This is real talk; this is what's happening in the world around us. This is how our reality is really constructed. Now, we take this stuff for granted, we're just living in it, stuff is happening, but we don't sometimes realize that we have agency to be able to influence what's happening in the world around us. And I'm telling you that we do, and this is part of this episode today, is some of these people that are in my life today that I've brought forth for you here on the Model Health Show. These were things that I would've never thought to be possible.

You know, for example, Michael Beckwith. I remember sitting on my couch in Ferguson, Missouri, just trying to get by. All right? My mattress was on the floor, all right? And got this DVD passed around. It's a secret, it's a secret, it's a secret. That was the name of the DVD. It's called The Secret. And I had an instant connection. I don't know if it was what he said, how he said it, the person that was presenting the information, but it resonated with me. And instantly, there was a shift in my thinking. And from that point on, I began to study his work. You know, read his books, listen to his audio program, and just get more into his universe. And so, he became a teacher for me from afar, somebody that I focused on. And through a sequence of what might seem to be absolutely astonishing, and totally I couldn't have painted this in the way that it unfolded, but we ended up meeting each other and connecting in Portugal of all places.

All right? I went from Ferguson, Missouri to speaking at one of the premier events like international events with Mindvalley in Portugal, and he was speaking there as well. And that's where we connected. What? How? And not just that, when he met me... Please understand folks like Michael Beckwith, there are a lot of people vying for his time and attention, and rightfully so. And so, with that being said, to kind of cut through all that into where we have this friendship where he texts me all the time and sends me things, and we hang out together, we have meals together, we create content together, we've done so many events together, it's just like, how is that even possible? And I'm telling you, it's the power of our thoughts and the power of our words. And what you focus on expands. What you focus on, there's creation that is happening and how it shows up, we can't really imagine sometimes, right?

And that's the part that even is in his teachings, for us to let go of that part a little bit more. Let go of the reins of how, how's it going to happen? Just get more clear on what we want and who we want to be, and how we want to show up in the world. Now, it wasn't just this situation magically happened, I was doing things in the world to become qualified to be in that position, to qualify myself. And each day getting up and looking at ways that I can get better, that was really my modus operandi every day, just wanting to improve, just to get a little bit better, become a little bit better father, a little bit better husband, a little bit better teacher, a little bit better student, right? And just every day, waking up with growth on my mind and service on my mind.

And it helped to manifest this incredible relationship. Now, this is just one example of the, probably at this point, thousands. These things happen on a daily basis if you're paying attention. And most recently, this happened just like yesterday, at least once a week. There's a certain phrase that I say, all right? And it's from the movie, the Love Guru, all right? Starring Michael Myers. Now, the Love Guru, when I first watched it, it's kind of like a movie that is a parody of this movement. Like with Deepak Chopra, like he modeled his character after Deepak Chopra significantly, but he's like this love guru, right? When I first watched it years ago, I was just like, what is this? This is just so strange. It wasn't really that funny, then I re-watched it a couple years later, and it was hilarious, all right?

And whenever he would greet people, because a lot of these kind of aspirational spiritual movements have their own saying, right? It might be Aloha, which Aloha actually has a lot to do with breath and with presence, it might be namaste, right? But in this movie, the Love Guru, Mike Meyers's character, he would say Mariska Hargitay, whenever he would meet somebody, Mariska Hargitay, right? It's kind of like his greeting his I see you, the light in me sees the light in you, Mariska Hargitay. Mariska Hargitay is an actress, right? Well known for her appearance on law and order for many years as a star of that show. Mariska Hargitay, right? So, it's somebody's name. At least once a week, I say that just in the context of, be hanging out with Anne, my wife, and she might say something to me, and I instead of saying thank you, I say, Mariska Hargitay. Why did Mariska Hargitay hit me up on Instagram? Right?

Just like I couldn't believe Mariska, it said, Mariska Hargitay has liked your post. I don't even be like looking at my stuff like that and just so happened to see it come in. And it's just like, that's crazy. Like, that's just how, right? Of all the people in the... But it's something that I'm speaking, I'm literally speaking her name out loud, right? So again, I just want to remind you of the power of your thoughts, the power of your words, and to be more intentional and to start to think about your thinking and to really start to check yourself before you wreck yourself. Check yourself on these, what Dr. Daniel Amen calls automatic negative thoughts, right? And so, when those thoughts come up that are self-deprecating, that are self-diminishing, that are disempowering, that are fear-based, that we start to catch it, we start to pay attention.

Just the awareness starts the process of change. This is not about being perfect. This is not about not having a negative thought ever. Negativity, what we put in that category of negativity, it's a part of reality, and it is good for us. Like negative things can help to direct our activities, our actions, our awareness, our decision making, right? It's not that "negativity" is all bad, but when we're habitually thinking thoughts that diminish us, that push us away from joy and happiness and empowerment and health, that's where we got to step in and scratch that CD up a little bit and put on a new record, right? So those automatic negative thoughts and replace them with a PAT, a Positive Automatic Thought. But it takes time, it takes work. And first and foremost, again, it takes our awareness. And so, again, I just wanted to direct you to that as we get into this very, very special episode again, Celebration.

It's a celebration, 10 years of the Model Health Show. I'm so very grateful to be on this journey with you. And thank you so much for being a part of this mission. We have so much in store for you as well. We're just getting started. I'm just, just getting warmed up. And without further ado, this first guest, and now these are the 10 most memorable moments from the past 10 years. This was so hard to put this together, so hard to choose. But I'm going to kick this off with somebody who's been the most frequent guest on the Model Health Show. Number one, and for good reason. Possibly the Model Health Show would not be in existence, or especially in this version of it, it's possibilities had it not been for this individual. And him and I speaking at this TED event back in like 2011, and an introduction from him to somebody else who got me into the world of podcasting, all right?

And I'm talking about accelerated learning expert, Jim Kwik, New York Times bestselling author. If we're talking about some of the highest achieving people in our culture, CEOs, movie stars, athletes wanting to learn faster, read faster, and just everyday folks being able to access their own superpowers. That's what Jim Kwik is all about. And he's coming from a place where he had learning disabilities and to be the go-to person for actors to learn their scripts faster, for CEOs to stay on top of information, and to be a world-leading teacher in speed reading, and in many other subjects with learning, like it's something really, really special, and he knows his stuff. But this particular moment and why this stands out for me in the 10-year history of the Model Health Show, this was actually recorded in New York City. All right? So, being from Missouri and having Model Health Show studios now here in LA, I was in New York doing some media, all right?

I think I was maybe doing the Dr. Oz show or something like that. And I was like, I'm going to be out here in NYC. Let me connect with my guy, Jim Kwik, who's living out there at that point. And also, I did a show there with Dr. Lisa Mosconi from NYU on the same day, and we booked this recording studio where a lot of bars get laid down, all right? Where a lot of historic rap songs have been recorded. We're talking Biggie Smalls has been in that space. Biggie, all right? And the walls still whether or not anybody smoking at that time, there's so much smoke from the gears of the Marita, Wanda, it was just in the walls. And I know there's probably a little contact. Lisa Mosconi, she was being extra rambunctious, all right? For being a very subdued neuroscientist. But my guy, Jim Kwik, under any conditions contact high or not, he's going to be deliver, he's going to be at another level. And so, to kick things off, this is one of my most memorable moments here in 10 years of the Model Health Show. And this is conversation with my good friend, truly my truly good friend, accelerated learning expert, Jim Kwik. In this segment, he's going to be sharing with you how the power of a single idea or a single shift in thinking can change your life.

JIM KWIK: Our life right now is reflection of our thinking, because how we think determines what we focus on. It determines how we feel. It determines what we do. And so, really, the sum of our thinking really reflects our day-to-day life, in our relationships, in our health, in our habits, in our career. You know, I always thought it was interesting back in school, they teach you more what to think, but not how to think. And I think that's one of the big challenges in a world where everything is being outsourced overseas jobs, right? Or it's being automated. There's software that could do a lot of left-brain jobs or there's something like an artificial intelligence. You know, what do we have as human beings? What makes us human and makes us valuable in life, in the workplace?

And I think it's our ability to think, our ability to solve problems, our ability to make really good decisions, right? But I think, but I think it's one of those things people take for granted because we're not just conscious of our thinking. They say we have an average of what, 60,000 thoughts a day. The challenge is 95% of those thoughts are the same thoughts we had yesterday and the day before that. So how do we create growth? How do we stretch ourself to new levels? And so, I love this because I feel like you make one little distinction in the way you think differently. And there's a Oliver Wendell Holmes quote that says, A man's, a mind once stretched by new idea, never regains its original dimensions. And so, I want people to be able to think in a way that makes them more productive, allows them to perform better, allows them also greater peace of mind. Because in this world of, we've had this conversation in past episodes about digital distraction and digital depression, and digital overload, it's really, it's weighing on people's health. This world where people are comparing themselves to other people on social media world, where they're comparing themselves to this highly filtered life of every, highlight reel of everyone else's life. But that all comes down to our ability to think, right? The ability to think for ourselves to produce new results.

SHAWN STEVENSON: That's so powerful, man, because thinking is everything really. You know, it's our, and I've said this before, our perception is our reality. And that all has to do with what we're thinking and how we're thinking about ourself and in relation to our environment, ourself in relation to ourself. And so, I think it's of the utmost importance for us to really understand our thinking a little bit more. And that's why I'm really happy to have you on today. But also, how can we optimize our thinking? You know? So, one of the first things I want to ask you about has to do with decision making, because that's a big component of our thinking that has a huge impact on the results we get in our lives. So, what are some of the new insights, some of the things you've been coming across lately in teaching in regard to decision making?

JIM KWIK: Yeah. I can't think exactly that our life is a reflection of all the decisions, that the sum total of all the decisions we made to this point. You know, where we're going to live, what we're going to do, who are we going to be with and such. And so, these daily decisions, a lot of people are suffering from decision fatigue. You know this. And it's a big health concern. It's just people are wasting their mental energy on decisions that really don't matter in their life. And really, I think it comes down to, I tweeted this a few years ago, I said, the most important thing is to keep the most important thing, the most important thing. The most important thing is to keep the most important thing, the most important thing. Because people are getting really good at things that don't really matter, or they're using their decisions on things that really don't matter.

We've had this conversation in the past about some leaders who are wearing the same outfit pretty much every day because they don't want to waste one of their good decisions. You know, they buy 10 of those shirts so they don't have to think about or meal prep, and they don't want to be able to waste that. But I did a podcast recently, and I called it How to Work Smart versus Working Hard. And everyone always says, yes, of course, I want to work smarter and not harder. I filmed it actually in a power plant, an actual power plant. And I opened ended with this story that basically said this, one day, this really busy power plant just shuts down out of nowhere, and it's dead silent. And the employees are running around with their head cut off not knowing what to do.

The operations manager after hours, doesn't know what to do, nobody can solve the problem. So, the operations manager picks up the phone, calls a local technician, and luckily the technician was in the area, and he says, "You got to help me, we're losing all this business, you know, time is money, we're going to shut down, please save us." He is like, technician's like, "You're lucky, I'm right around the corner." He shows up and he walks around the power plant, and he goes to one beam. Now this power plant is full of different beams, right? And on those beams have all these different electrical boxes. And he goes to one specific electrical box, and he takes out a marker and he puts a big X on it, and he opens up the box and inside, as you would expect, there are bolts, there are wires, there are screws. Out of all of that, he goes to one specific screw, he turns it not a quarter of an inch, and then bam, the entire power plant lights up.

And the technician's like, "Thank you so much, you saved the day, you saved our business. How much do I owe you?" And the technician looks at him and he says, "That will be $10,000." And then the operations manager was like, "You must be crazy, you were here for five minutes. All you did was turn one screw, any of us could have turned that screw." He's like, "Give me an itemized bill." And he's like, "No problem." Technician reaches in his back pocket, takes out his notebook, scribbles on it for a second, tears out the page, gives it to the operations manager. The operations manager looks at it and says, I understand. He goes to his desk, takes out his checkbook, writes a check for $10,000, hands it to the man. And you zoom in on that bill, and it says this, "Turning screw $1, knowing what screw to turn, $9,999."

And my message to everybody who's listening is not that you have a screw loose, it's really, it's two things. Number one, we live in the knowledge economy where it's knowledge is not only power, it's profit, right? Specialized knowledge. That's why I love your show, and I learned so much because it's not just the have and have nots, it's those who know and those who don't know, right? And those who know wellness and optimization and human performance, and those who just don't know better. And so, there's that gap, and that's why I dedicate my life to accelerated learning. But the other reason I tell this story is not only so you could be an expert at what you do, is that there are usually one or two screws. You know, there's one beam, there's one box, one or two screws that really are what I call a focal point.

A focal point. It's one or two things, they call it. Other people have called it a lead domino, right? One of the first early dominoes you hit, and it knocks down other things. In military, they call it a forced multiplier, meaning that for the same amount of input, you get multiple outputs or multiple rewards. So, my life based on you know, my learning difficulties that I had growing up for my head injury my sleep issues, which you've helped me a lot with, those deficits, has created a really, a big drive in me wanting to get the most out of the energy that I have. We're talking about resources, like going back to MacGyver, he has very little resources, but he has a lot of internal resourcefulness. And I feel like every single person listening to this has a lot of internal resourcefulness.

It's things that might not be on an asset sheet, but there are things like your creativity, your decision making, your ability to solve problems, your ability to meta think, think about your thinking, your self-awareness. And that's really the owner's manual. And so, when it comes to decision making, I'm really excited about this because again, if you could just think about some of the bad decisions we've made in our life and the cost that it's had for us, I'm a big proponent on, we've had this conversation about mistakes. And a lot of people, as we grow older, we're afraid of making mistakes and we're not making decisions. And even, I would say, not like failing to make a decision is also a decision. You know what I mean?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, for sure.

JIM KWIK: Decision like, when people have a decision about what to eat or not, they go into default mode, they're still making a decision. So, I feel like part of it is decision is, it's a fitness. So, you want to build your decision-making muscles.

SHAWN STEVENSON: All right. I hope that you enjoyed that first segment. Again, these are the 10 most memorable moments from the past 10 years of the Model Health Show. A decade, a decade, decade, decade, decade. Decade sounds longer than 10 years. And this was very, very difficult to choose from, but there was a couple people was automatic. And one of them I already mentioned in the intro to the show is Dr. Michael Beckwith, bestselling author, and founder of Agape Spiritual Center here in Los Angeles. And one of the most memorable moments with Michael Beckwith was him being here. And my very first guest at Model Health Studios here in LA, it's part of the reason that I moved here, is to create epic moments like this and to hear his insights. And just telling you again, knowing somebody who, firsthand, he's about that life. All right? Michael Beckwith, through and through is a incredible human being willing to stand up for what is just, and he's just so insightful and a wealth of knowledge. And so, without further ado, enjoy this powerful wisdom from Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: So oftentimes, people are just casual with their conversations, not understanding that they're actually setting something in motion. Oh, my poor back, oh, I don't like this person. Gossiping, talking bad about themselves even. They're setting things in motion, So I like to say, I don't want to say what I don't want to experience. I want to say what I want to experience, so I'll say it's a magnificent day, life is good. There's a way out of this, there's an answer to this issue. There's a solution somewhere. I'm going to stay there until that becomes flesh. But it's practice because individuals, particularly now, people have normalized negativity. They've made fear popular; you know what I mean? And that's become, you're an oddball if in fact, you're operating at a different level, they think you're just weird. And so, you'd rather be an oddball in a crazy world than to be normal in a crazy world. Yeah, but I always caution people and I'll check people. We'd go and I'll say, whoa, wait a minute.

No, there's unlimited good here. Just because you can't see, it doesn't mean it's not here. There's unlimited possibilities, don't block yourself in to what your mind thinks is possible. This is the only way that some good is going to come into your life. It becomes, that's blocked. No good's going to come in infinite ways. Infinite ways can, miracles can happen. Your mind will call 'em miracles, but they're just demonstrations of truth. So why block yourself in? Just stop it. Just say you don't know how it's going to happen right now, you're available to it. Let's see what happens. Let the universal presence through its laws shock and surprise you.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Normalize that.

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Right. Normalize that.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh, yeah. I'm literally just still ruminating on normalizing fear. That's, it's a system within us that, of course has provided us value over our evolution, for sure. But today, to live in that state habitually we're not wired up to live that way. We're not designed to be that way. And so, even with so many folks having their aspirations, goals, everybody listening right now has incredible potential to achieve things beyond our wildest imagination. But I think so often in fear being a big driving force of this, we get caught up in what if, instead of what is. So how do we go from what if to what is?

DR. MICHAEL BECKWITH: Yeah. Well, what if can also be used positively. What if everything works out? What if I have more than enough money? You can go there, and you'll get to what is, because what is, is that right here and right now, all of the power, all of the presence, all of the intelligence, all of the love, all that is, is already here. It's already here. It may be latent within us, but it is here. And as we begin to think like that and contemplate that truth, our frequency rises. We begin to hang in that awareness. Now what has happened is that individuals have normalized fear, which means their attention is more on what they don't want than on what they do want. So, what people don't understand is that anything you don't want, you're having a relationship with it.

It's existing and you're not wanting it. And so, people walk out, I don't want to be broke, I don't want to get sick, I don't want to collet Corona, I don't want to catch the coronavirus. I don't want to, I don't want to. So, in that moment, if I don't want to, the law doesn't distinguish between what you want and don't want. It only knows what you're interested in. And so, if you're interested in not getting robbed, not getting poor, not catching a disease, you're in a relationship with that. And then that's what you manifest. Now, you may not manifest that exactly, but your body temple doesn't know the difference. You'll still produce toxic chemicals, immediate toxic chemicals, immediate create the condition for a disease. So, I teach people, you get what you want or don't want. The law doesn't differentiate.

So, stop placing all of your attention on what you don't want to happen and begin to place your attention on what you like to see unfold in your life. Begin to describe it. The law says you don't describe what you see, you see what you describe. So, if you are living in an accurate description of possibility, then the law starts to bring that into manifestation. You, see? And now most people, people should be taught this in elementary school. But instead, we have the nefarious forces that keep people in fear and keeping them, all pumped up about what to be afraid of next. Oh, the Russians, oh, Corona, oh, aliens, oh, whatever it is, people are nervous. We're not meant to be like that. We are an absolute reflection of the entire cosmos. What do we have to be afraid of? There's no such thing as death. You, see? So, there's no loss in the cosmic scheme, but everybody is... They've allowed themselves to shrink into being a little, oh, something. And then they normalize their fear.

Shakespeare said a coward dies a thousand deaths constantly even before anything even happens. They've rehearsed all the negative stuff.  It's not funny, but it is kind of a comedy, what human beings do to themselves. What I see is that we're in the middle of a great awakening and you're seeing the crumbling of the old paradigm, and you're seeing the emergence of what's happening new, both in the same space in the same time. Newtonian physics that can't exist, you can't have two objects in the same space at the same time. But in a quantum reality, you can have everything in the same space at the same time, but they're vibrating at different levels. So, you have the old paradigm, fear, fear, fear, fear, worry, worry, worry, worry, lack limitations, scarcity, not enough, not enough jobs, not enough this, not enough that, that's not real, that's made up. And so, what's happening is there's a crumbling of the old where people are going to be forced to really get a sense of who they are and stop leaning on external things like governments and politicians and things of that particular nature.

SHAWN STEVENSON: All right, I hope that you enjoyed that segment. We've got so much more to come. And what's been so cool is that for this 10-year celebration, I've had some of my colleagues chiming in and sharing special gifts to help celebrate this 10-year mark. And one of the organizations that has been supporting the Model Health Show for the longest is the good folks at Organifi. And to help celebrate the 10-year anniversary, not only are they giving you 20% off their daily energizing stack of red juice and green juice, but they're also going to cover your shipping costs and give you free shipping but this is for a limited time. But this is for a limited time. Now, the green juice formula, one of the highlighted ingredients is spirulina, which is one of the richest sources of something called Phycocyanin. Phycocyanin is one of the few nutrients ever discovered that's capable of stimulating the production and release of stem cells. It's called stem cell genesis. And it's also one of the most chlorophyll rich foods ever discovered.

And also, its cousin, Chlorella is in the green juice formula as well. And both of these, looking at the chlorophyll content, is one of the most well noted and peer reviewed data to be effective in helping to reduce the incidence of hypertension. All right? So, so many great benefits there. And what do stem cells become, by the way, with this phycocyanin, stem cells become whatever your body needs. All right? So, if we need regeneration of our muscle tissue, of our bones, of our meniscus, stem cells have to be there to help to regenerate those tissues, our hard cells that get damaged. That's how remarkable this is. And the red juice formula, oh my goodness, come on. We're talking about the most antioxidant rich superfood ever discovered, right? So, we've got acai in there, we've got reishi in there. We've got blueberry in there; we've got beets in there.

A study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology that showed that drinking beet juice boosts our stamina up to 16% during exercise and even helping to decrease our fatigue and accelerate our recovery after exercise. Pretty profound stuff. So again, one of the most ORAC dense superfood combinations that we're going to find all organic low temperature process, that's what you're getting from this incredible daily energizing stack from Organifi. Go to organifi.com/model, that's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com/model. Going to get, again, not just 20% off their daily energizing stack, but you're getting free shipping again for a limited time. So, take action on this.

Now, next up in my 10 favorite moments from the past 10 years of the Model Health Show, this was a conversation that I had with one of my favorite human beings and also one of my greatest teachers, Dr. Daniel Amen. And this was actually recorded at his clinic, Amen Clinics, down in the southern California area. And this was after doing his show called Scan Your Brain. So, I did a brain scan, I had a SPECT imaging scan done looking inside, taking a look at my brain and getting this incredible information and feedback of what's happening upstairs for me. And also, being able to optimize my brain and my health, which is something he's done for. He has literally hundreds of thousands of brain scans. He has the largest database in the world. And so, he knows a thing or 20 about the human brain. And he's also just, again, been such an inspiration. One of the people that I was learning from, from afar on my journey in this field. I've worked in the field of health and fitness for 20 years. And prior to even knowing that podcasts existed, I caught a glimpse of him on a PBS special.

It was one of the few stations that we could actually get at this rinky-dink hotel that we were staying at, and it just caught my attention. And I was just like blown away that there was this classically trained physician psychiatrist, double board certified who's saying, you know what? In our field of psychiatry, we are doing a disservice because we're not actually looking at the organ that we're treating for our patients. We're basing our diagnosis and our treatments off of a conversation. When we're saying that somebody has a chemical imbalance, we're not actually testing their hormones, we're not doing a hormone panel, we're not looking at what's happening with their neurotransmitters. This is simply using "standard of care" and throwing out catchphrases without much scientific backing to affirm why we're treating people the way that we're treating people.

And as we know, and this is from research coming from, we're talking about professor of psychiatry at Harvard University, Dr. Chris Palmer and his work sharing that, looking at this analysis of folks who are diagnosed with clinical depression, that over time, utilizing conventional treatments of drugs and psychotherapy long-term, nine out of 10 patients seeking help for their depression do not actually have a resolution of their symptoms. Nine out of 10 people, and about four out of 10 of those people do have some improvement of symptoms, but they're not able to actually make a recovery and have consistency in how they feel, how they feel about themselves, how they feel about the world around them. And the majority of people don't get well at all. And that's not talked about. Part of the problem is, not actually paying attention to what's going on internally, looking at the organ that they're treating, right? Look at the brain and see what's going on with blood flow, what's going on with functionality, and what are some science backed things that we can do to help to heal the brain, to help to bring a resolution, a true resolution in improving brain function because our brain is governing so much of our behavior.

And so, this is why I automatically connected with him and was so grateful to have the opportunity to spend time with him, many conversations over the years. But again, this was a favorite moment, a memorable moment because I was there at his clinic and having him interview me, which was amazing. And just to be able to share these conversations with everyone is such a gift. And so, in this segment, he's going to be sharing, as he always does, some powerful insights on the organ that has the greatest influence on our health. The amazing human brain with Dr. Daniel Amen.

DR. DANIEL AMEN: So, before the pandemic, we were at epidemic levels of anxiety, depression, ADHD, addictions, the opioid epidemic, for example, depression was at eight and a half percent of the population. And then the pandemic hit. And by August of 2020, it was at 28% of the population. It had more than tripled. So not since the great depression has there been this level of unhappiness. And as I saw that, I'm like, but you can learn to be happy whatever situation you are in, you just have to know the neuroscience of it 'cause happiness is ultimately a brain function. And as I was tackling this, I came across a video that I just love by Dennis Prager called, Why Be Happy? And in it he says, happiness is a moral obligation. And I'm like, what? So, I grew up Roman Catholic and I went to Catholic school and Catholic high school, and I guarantee you that idea that happiness is a moral obligation was nowhere to be found.

That it was about guilt and control and shame. And then it's like, so why is it a moral obligation? Because of how you impact other people? I guarantee you, and you know about this, if you're raised by an unhappy parent or married to an unhappy spouse, and you ask somebody, is happiness an ethical issue? And I guarantee you they're going to say, yes. And so, what we're talking about is not fluff. It's critical and central and ultimately, it's what everybody wants, but they don't know how to do it. And in the book, in the opening, I started with the lies of happiness, like more of something will make you happier. And I have a number one New York Times bestselling book. Another one's not going to make me happier that ultimately, happiness is in the little things that happen day in and day out. That hedonism is the enemy of happiness because it wears out your pleasure centers.

SHAWN STEVENSON: So that's hedonic adaptation. So, the brain is, like you just said, you already hit number one, New York Times, there isn't like a number above one unless you're just like, I want all of them, I want all the spots. And some people think like that, and you've seen this, and I know that I've seen this as well, when folks, they win the championship or they achieve that highest level in whatever it is that they're doing, and then they sink, they kind of lose themselves. And it's because the brain gets acclimated to that high. Even the things that, the pleasure things that we seek today, I would imagine like if we're whether people are utilizing technology or porn or whatever the case might be, you constantly need more and more and more to have that same level of normalcy in a sense. Is that accurate?

DR. DANIEL AMEN: There's a neuroscience in happiness, and the area in your brain that feels pleasure is called the nucleus accumbens. And it responds to a number of neurotransmitters, but primarily dopamine. And when dopamine hits it, you go, oh, I like that. But if it hits it too strong, cocaine or too often, addiction, it wears it out. And then you need to engage in that behavior, not to feel high, but to feel okay. And this is why fame is a disaster for the brain. And I've been blessed. I'm in Justin Bieber's docu-series, seasons to be his doctor and Miley Cyrus and I adore these kids. But what happened to them is just a disaster for brain function that they get so much cool stuff, right from money and drugs and...

SHAWN STEVENSON: Notoriety.

DR. DANIEL AMEN: Fame and notoriety and anything they want, but it doesn't make 'em happy. In fact, it makes 'em sad and they don't know that we have to protect them rather than, like, Justin was on tour, and he had to end it early because everything around the fame was then making it worse. So, not sleeping, overworking, video games, bad food, drugs, all the girl... It's like everything to wear out that part of your brain and you just end up feeling awful and people go, but you have everything but not a healthy brain.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah, that's powerful. So, the neuroscience, so what would a healthy brain look like from a neuroscience perspective?

DR. DANIEL AMEN: So, I did a study for this book where I gave 500 consecutive patients, The Amen Clinics, the Oxford Happiness questionnaire, and then I scanned them because that's what we do at The Amen Clinics. I now have 10 clinics around the country. And we looked at people at high happiness scores versus low happiness scores. And you had better frontal lobe function if you were in the high happiness group. And you had low frontal lobe function in the low happiness group, which means don't let children hit soccer balls with their foreheads. That's a really bad idea. Marijuana's not a health food because it drops blood flow to the brain. Alcohol's not a health food because it drops blood flow. And if you have low blood flow to your front part of your brain, you end up making impulsive decisions. They damage your relationship, less happiness.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh man. So, these exposures, so the prefrontal cortex is going to be more correlated with happiness, is that what I'm hearing?

DR. DANIEL AMEN: A good activity...

SHAWN STEVENSON: Good activity.

DR. DANIEL AMEN: In the prefrontal cortex is associated with happiness and low activity is associated with depression.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Is there such thing as a cohesive brain versus a brain that's going to be, have a tendency towards lack of focus or unhappiness or can you see these states when you look at somebody's brain?

DR. DANIEL AMEN: Well, you can clearly see the state of the brain. You can clearly see how healthy or not it is. So, when I first started doing imaging, I scanned everybody I knew, and I scanned my mom when she was 60 and she had a stunningly beautiful brain, full, even, symmetrical. And it reflected her life. She has seven children, 54 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She knows everybody's birthday, she's everybody's best friend, she knows about their lives. And she's 90 now. It's just stunning. And then I scanned myself and it wasn't healthy because I played football like you, I played football in high school, and I had a lot of bad habits. I was overweight, I was eating a lot of fast food, I wasn't sleeping. And here I am, a double board-certified psychiatrist. This is 1991, I'm board-certified general psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry. I don't care about my own brain at all because I'd never seen it.

And when I looked at it, I became horrified, and I developed a concept I call brain envy. Freud was wrong, penis envy is not the cause of anybody's problem. Not seen it once. What you really... I wanted her brain, her brain envy. And we have a foundation, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life Foundation, and it makes t-shirts. And on the back, it says Freud was wrong, and the front says it's the brain. We love that. And when you see it and then you correlate happiness to brain function, it's you want a better brain. And if you want to be happy, the foundational secret, 'cause there's a lot of books on happiness, but none of 'em talk about the foundational secret to happiness is your brain. With a healthy brain, you are much more likely to be happy.

SHAWN STEVENSON: All right, next up in our compilation of 10 favorite moments from 10 years of the Model Health Show, we've got New York Times bestselling author and we're talking about elite speaker, teacher and trainer, Lisa Nichols. Now the reason that this moment was so special to me is because Lisa showed a level of dedication and being about her word that I had not seen before in this space, right? And at the time, I was recording out of my studio in St. Louis, Missouri, and not a lot of people come through St. Louis, all right? As the show grew and became bigger and bigger, a few folks would fly in. All right? But St. Louis started to become more of a flyover state. It used to be a hub, right? We had Lambert Airport popping off, but it's always like a scheduling thing and this and that. But Lisa was scheduled, as most of my shows were at the time, to do a remote interview. And something came up last, last minute, which has rarely ever even happened.

And rather than her saying, "You know what, I'm sorry about this. Let's reschedule", She said, "If you can make this adjustment for me, I'm going to fly in and see you. I'm not just going to reschedule, let's do this remote. I'm going to come see you because I understand how valuable your time is. I understand how valuable this show is, and I want to show up for you." And she didn't have to, because for me, Lisa Nichols, again, this was probably about five years ago, superstar, outrageous. All right? And so, for her to come in and for me to have a couple of family members that were also very inspired by her to be able to sit in and experience what happened in that studio, oh, so incredible, so incredible. And so, this is why I made this list of my 10 favorite moments from the past 10 years of the Model Health Show. And with that being said, let's check out this life-changing inspiration from New York Times bestselling author, Lisa Nichols.

LISA NICHOLS: My job, your job is to get up and like you and every other like on Facebook is bonus, but you liked you first. And I think the journey to liking you, the journey to getting to that place, that's where everyone's seeking, that's what people seek when they step on my campus. That's what people seek, and ideally, we watch people get to that point when they've studied with us for a while. And what that looks like is, if you want to know my opinion, the first thing to do is to become whole and complete with every decision you've ever made. Because we're holding ourselves hostage to our past decisions, actions, behaviors, the things we did that we felt we shouldn't do, and the things that we felt we should have taken a leap on that we didn't take a leap on.

So, one, become whole and complete with all of your past decisions. Because when you know more, you do more. And you made all your decisions based on what you knew at the time. And you can't measure the man or woman you are based on the decision you made back then, based on what you know now. You didn't know then what you know now. If I knew then at 29, what I know now at 51, excitedly my 51, I wouldn't have made those decisions. But I knew what I knew. And so, I did what I did based on what I knew. So, one, become whole and complete with all your decisions. Two, recognize that forgiveness is not about patterning anyone else in your life. Decision is about opening up more internal real estate for love and possibility in yourself. So, I think forgiveness of yourself and forgiveness of others.

So, if you ask me the two things, one is to become whole and complete with your decisions and your actions from 20 years ago. Become whole and complete with those because you knew what you knew, that's why you did what you did. And two, recognize that forgiveness is not about patterning a behavior, it's not about giving. It's not about giving acceptance to what occurred. It's about opening up more real estate in your body, in your heart, and in your soul for what's possible in the future because two things can't occupy the same space. So, where there's hate, anger, shame, blame, there cannot be love and possibility.

Those two things, if you just focus on those two things, yeah, I can give you a list of 12 things, but those two can keep you busy. So, laser focus, we often operate like a floodlight trying to cover a whole lot of ground when we should operate like a laser. Let me penetrate this, let me master this, let me heal this, let me go back... When I decided to heal my... To forgive my son's father, that's all I worked on for a year. That's every exercise I did was about him because I didn't want to keep touching it for the next 10 years. Now I have a beautiful relationship with him. I spotlighted him at my conference, he calls me on the phone. I tell him... From prison, he calls me on the phone.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Oh, my goodness.

LISA NICHOLS: I put him on the mic system. I spotlight him. He's written 14 books in prison. Like now, I use him as the model example for getting it down, no matter where you are. Because I did the work. I forgave myself. I was in an abusive relationship where my fiancé at the time picked me up and threw me three feet across the room. And then he choked me until I passed out. 13 years later, I ran into him at a conference, I used to, couldn't go to his state. I was so afraid that I would run into him. And he's 6' 9, 310 pounds, he was huge, so he was physically.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Imposing.

LISA NICHOLS: Imposing as well as physically imposing in my life. And I did the work on him. I did the work on him for nine straight years, nine straight years. So, when I ran into him, not ran into him, he came to my conference so it was very intentional, he came to ask for my forgiveness. And I said I needed to give myself life, so I forgave you a long time ago. For me, so you just need to forgive you 'cause I already did the work. I had no angst energy or anger around him. I felt a little uncomfortable, but I had no, there was no residual anger because I love, I had to fall madly in love with Lisa.

The woman you see sitting here is simply the result of saying, what does it look like to fall madly in love with me? And not in a bragging way, not in a way that spews onto other people in a way that I say every day, I'm going to give myself a chance. Every day, every day I get to press reset. I get to press reset a thousand times. And when I get to 999, I get to press reset on the reset button. And what happens if I did that? And so, you're right, valuing who I show up to be means pardoning myself from all my choices that I've been judging, and I've had shame around. And then it also means forgiving myself and others for the times in which their actions didn't align with their heart. I think it's those two things. Accepting and forgiving. And those have been the two biggest things in my life.

SHAWN STEVENSON: All right. Now, I cannot have a compilation of my favorite moments without having the person who's probably been the most influential person on my thinking as a scientist. And the person I'm talking about is cell biologist and pioneer of epigenetics, Dr. Bruce Lipton. I've been studying Bruce's work for many years and to be able to feature him, it was one of my goals when I started the Model Health Show, was to be able to share his knowledge with as many people as possible. And with epigenetics, really shifting the way that our culture is looking at human health. Because for a time there, science was so focused on uncovering genes that are causative of certain diseases. And if we can edit these genes, if we can eliminate and target these genes and have gene therapies, then we can eliminate all disease. How has it worked out for us?

Because the technology is there. But what Bruce has been bringing forth is that we don't have genes that are causative of diseases. Epigenetics shows that our genes have a huge variation in the way that they can be expressed, that they can be read based on environmental inputs and based on most importantly, the most influential input is the way that we're thinking. Because your thoughts literally create correlating chemistry in our bodies. Your thoughts change everything about what your cells are doing instantaneously. It is not some small thing. And so, we started this episode off talking a little bit about that and how powerful our thoughts are, but we don't think about that. The most powerful pharmacy in the universe is the human brain because it's creating not just drugs on tap or chemistry on tap, it's not just bioidentical, it is designed for you, in you based on what you're thinking.

And so, his epic, I mean mega hit bestselling book, The Biology of Belief, he really unpacked and broke down how important it is to be aware of our thoughts and our beliefs because our beliefs do in fact create our reality. Not just that, the reality that we're experiencing within our bodies and our physical health, right? So, we might have genes that are associated with certain diseases, but not causative. If we're talking about true genetic defects, we're talking about less than half of a percent of health outcomes are from true genetic defects. Yes, it is a thing, but it is an incredible minority, when looking at the epidemics of health issues that we're experiencing today as a culture. Many of these conditions were not things that we were born with. These were things that were on set or turned on later in life based on our choices, based on our lifestyle, and based on, again, our beliefs because our beliefs guide our behaviors.

And so, during the pandemic craziness, Bruce Lipton, Dr. Bruce Lipton cell biologist, was one of the primary people that I reached out to that I sought counsel from in the context of this very strange phenomenon that our society was experiencing. And so, he was really a great balanced voice of reason during this time, sharing science backed evidence about how pervasive fear and manipulation factually contributes to worse health outcomes. And he was sharing the science behind why we need to really get our thoughts in check, why we really need to get fear in check, have rational fear. Yes, caution yes. But to be inundated with fear and manipulation is a whole other story. And how does this show up? A study that was published in the Peer-reviewed journal, Brain Behavior and Immunity investigated the dynamics of psycho neuroimmunology and Covid 19. They found that psychological stress was found to increase severe reactions to Covid 19.

And of course, on the other side, Covid 19 infections appear to exacerbate psychological distress, right? And so, this is not a chicken or the egg scenario. We know that psychological stress, in particular this entire field of psycho neuro immunology, how our thoughts alter our chemistry and alter our immune system. It's happening every day, every second. All right? Our thoughts are dramatically shifting what's happening with our immune system from moment to moment. And so, being inundated with fear and psychological stress, what do you think that's going to do? They found that the stress elicits an inflammatory response, just that in of itself, which if left unchecked for more than a day, which we talked, this was years of this, severely damages and deranges our immune system function. So how did this play out? How did Dr. Lipton's information in science play out in the real world when he was saying, "Hey, if we are not getting this in check and being more rational about our approach to these things, we're going to have worse health outcomes. People are going to get sicker."

How did this play out? Well, a study that was published by the CDC on July 1st, 2021, looked at the data from over 800 United States hospitals and over 540,000 Covid 19 patients. This was published again by the CDC, but it's as if no one in the know actually looked at this data because it was so shocking and it spoke right too what the real problem is. The researchers found that, again, huge dataset of people. The number one risk factor for death from Covid 19 was obesity. Yes, that is something that we knew, but it was not addressed, it was not posed or positioned as something that we can do something about. It's just victim, right? Obesity, yes, we found out, okay, yes, yes, it is a huge risk factor for death, yes. We know that one, but the second leading risk factor for death from Covid 19 was anxiety and fear related disorders.

That is the exact phrasing from the CDC. The number two risk factor from dying from Covid 19 was anxiety and fear related disorders. Fear can literally kill us and there's a reason why. So, this is why this moment was so special and such a memorable experience. And this, some of this stuff is not going to be all sunshine and roses, but it's creating a fertile ground for growth. And for what do we do now moving forward? What kind of fruits are going to start to grow now as a result of what we've been through? Are we going to learn from this past experience? Are we going to start to reorient ourselves and our position in nature and in reality, are we going to start to change the way that we're seeing ourselves and the world around us? Are we going to stop letting the media influence with their idiocy, what's going on within our own bodies and our own minds and our perceptions? Are we going to be more rational and logical and not just superficially kind and thoughtful and checking our biases, but proactively, even with people that we don't agree with, right? And so, again, this is why this is one of my favorite moments is having this conversation with Dr. Lipton in the height of the craziness. And in this segment, he's going to share the truth about stress, disease and how your perception controls your health outcomes.

DR. BRUCE LIPTON: Let's come down to a fact of science so we get this clear. Less than 1%, less than 1% of diseases are connected to genes. So, I say, where the hell is all the disease coming from? And it goes, it's coming from stress. And I say, what stress? Now this is really important because stress is anything that gets in the way of your destination. I want to have this, I want to go there, whatever. And then something gets in the way that provokes stress. And I go, so why is it relevant? Because stress is the cause of disease of 90% of the people. And I say, why is that relevant? Again, that's not genetic, that's a perception. I am stressed because I believe I'm stressed and therefore my cells are going to respond to my stress. Whether it's real or not, the cells can't see it, they only are based on what I believe.

So, stress interferes with the immune system. Let's do stress right now because the whole worlds in a stress situation. So let me give you the three fundamental things that happen when you're in stress. Why do we recognize stress for? And I go because we're being threatened. That's what stress means, something's threatening you. Let's go back thousands of years. And I say, what was the stress? I say, saber-toothed tiger. I go, oh, okay. I say, well, what happens when the saber-toothed tiger is chasing you? I say, you got to run like hell. I say, well, what organs in your body do you use to deal with stress? I go, arms and legs, escape. So, I say, now, here comes the next point. If I'm going to need those organs to escape from the tiger, then here's the most important thing, I need to give them energy. Because without energy, the muscles aren't going to work.

So, I say, what provides energy? I say blood. So I go, oh, why is it relevant? Now, here it comes. When I perceive a stress, stress hormones function is to provide as much blood to my arms and legs as I can get 'cause I need all of that energy to run away from the tiger. So, I said, well, where's it getting the blood from? I said, well, the heart's pumping the blood. Yeah, but it's pumping it all over the body. So, I say, well, when the blood is in my gut, what are the function of the organs, lungs, gut all those organs in there. I say, maintenance of the body, health of the body, fixing the body and all that. And I say, well, if you're running away from a saber-toothed tiger, do you think it's good to invest in taking care of your body at this point? I go, what a waste of time, if the tiger catches you the hell with a body, it's not going to exist anyway.

So, here's number one, when stress is perceived, stress hormones released into the body cause the blood vessels in the gut to squeeze shut. I go, why? Because when they squeeze shut, the blood is pushed to the outside, arms and legs. Okay? So, I say, yeah, but net consequence, you shut down the blood vessels in the gut and you shut down the maintenance and health of the body. I say, yeah, but for how long? How long does it take to get away from that tiger? 10 minutes, 15 minutes, you're away from the tiger, stress is gone, everything's back in condition again. People can experience this. When you get that stress moment, it's like, they call it butterflies in the stomach. They feel it like a queasy.

I say, what's the queasy? It's the blood vessel squeezing shut. You can feel 'em, it's like fluttering. Okay? So, number one, stress shuts down blood flow to the gut because it's going to make sure the blood goes preferentially to the arms and legs. Number two, and this is critical, now, the immune system uses tremendous amount of energy. Most people when they get really sick don't even have the energy to get out of bed. So, I say, well let's say I have a bacterial infection and a saber-toothed tiger is chasing me, how should I split my energy? Again, the hell with a bacterial infection, if the tiger, the saber-toothed tiger catches you, the infection doesn't mean anything anymore. It's the tiger's problem. So I go, okay, so what does it mean? Fact, stress hormones shut off the immune system to conserve energy to run away from the tiger. Okay?

And I go, wow. So, stress hormones shut it down. And I go so much, so listen, medical doctors use stress hormones therapeutically. Meaning, if they want to transplant an organ from person A into person B, and you put that organ in the foreign organ into the recipient, the immune system of the recipient's going to say, that's foreign and try and destroy it. And I say, well, what good is the operation if I just take the organ and put it into somebody else and the immune system messes with it? And I go, this is why medical doctors give patients that are going to receive a transplant, they give them stress hormones because when they give them the stress hormones and then do the transplant, the recipient's immune system is not going to be working and it'll sustain the transplant. How effective of shutting off the immune system, it's used therapeutically to shut off the immune system, okay?

So that's number two. We compromise growth in health, we shut down the immune system. I call the third consequence, adding insult to injury. And I go, what do you mean? Well, the brain has in the forebrain, this is conscious part of the brain. And in the conscious part of the brain that's creative, okay? And I go, that's great. And I say, what about the hind brain? I go, oh, the hind brain is reflex reaction. And I go, if you're being chased by a saber-toothed tiger, do you want to have consciousness running the show or do you want to just have reflex reaction carry you away? And the answer is, consciousness is too slow. I always say, oh, you're in a car speeding, it just starts to get out of control. I say, if you stay in the conscious mind when that car's going out of control, here's my model. Oh. All you're going to do is get, you're going to just get lost.

And I say, the moment the car goes out of control, guess what? Stress hormone shut off that immune system. Push it, the blood. When I squeeze the blood vessels in the fore brain, it pushes the blood to the hind brain where reflexes are going to work. And I say, what? I go, we become less intelligent when we're under stress because consciousness is too slow and when you're running, so I go, so what's the issue? Historically, the stress response was to be used for a short period of time. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, you escaped the tiger, no more stress. And I go, and what about today? And I go, oh, I've got a little problem here, 24/7, 365 stress. The system was not designed for that. And this excess stress is responsible for up to 90% of disease on this planet, not genes. Genes, less than 1%. And all of a sudden, I say, why is this important? Because if you tell somebody genes caused that, then that gives them, oh, I'm not responsible, the genes did it. I go, no, because if you feel you're not responsible, you shut off your control and that's the point. I am in control.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Man, this is so powerful. What really struck me the most was when you said we become less intelligent when we're under stress. And I think this is one of the most well-seen things right now with people in fighting. There's a big lack of intelligence and even empathy and compassion and these higher order things are going to get put on the back burner.

DR. BRUCE LIPTON: Yeah, let me give you an example about the difference between growth and protection 'cause that's what it comes down to. A stimulus provokes us to do something. If it's a good stimulus, you move to it like love, food, something you want, that's a stimulus, we move to that stimulus. And then I say, but when you move to it, you go open-armed. Why? I want to take it in. If it's love, I don't want to close myself down, I want to assimilate it. If it's food, I got to open myself up, take it in. So, growth means you go to the stimulus open, okay? But what if the stimulus is negative, a threat of any kind? I go, oh, I don't go to the stimulus, I go away from the stimulus. Do I go away with my arms open? I go, no, you close yourself down because of protection.

So, I say, so what's the difference? Growth, go to a stimulus arm open, protection go away from the stimulus arms closed. And I say, why is it relevant? And here's a simple conclusion. You can't move forwards and backwards at the same time. You can't be open and closed at the same time. So basically, it says, if you're in a stress mode, you've shut your system down and growth shut down and that's okay for a very short period. But if it's chronic, you've killed yourself essentially. And I say, so why is it relevant and I go, look at today's world. Every time you turn on TV, be afraid, be very afraid, go hide in your house. And I go, wow, that's as scary as hell. And I say, why is it relevant? I am getting stress hormones dripping into my system every time I watch that damn TV.

I'm getting stress hormones when I read a paper, go and surf the internet. And I go, and what is that doing for you? And I say, it is compromising your health. I go, oh. I say that's where disease comes from, not from the genes, but you shut yourself down. And then as I say, you become less intelligent, then what do you do? Defer to the boss. Who's the one that's going to protect me? Whatever they say, I'm going to do. Why? I'm not thinking. I'm just going to do what they say 'cause they know I don't know. And I go, oh my God, have we just screwed the world big time? And I go, why? Because the planet is on 24/7 stress. Any compromises to your health have compromised your immune system. Okay?

And I go, so what does that mean? Now, listen to this. In America, 40% of US citizens have two or more, actually 2.7 chronic diseases. 2.7. One chronic disease, 60% of Americans have. But 40% of Americans have 2.7. I go, so why is it relevant? They're compromised before the damn virus even showed up. And I go, well, why is that relevant? Because when the virus shows up, are they weakened because the viruses are strong or are they weakened because their immune system is under stress? And I go, that's the one. I say, but you blame the virus, and then everybody is now afraid. Healthy people are afraid. And I say, so what's the relevant? Well, you've got them scared to death. I said, oh, you scared them. I say, what's the result of that?

You've messed with their immune system. You've already compromised their immune system, because the stress hormone’s function shut off the immune system. The more you scare them, the worse the consequence of the Covid is. Quantum physics is the most valid science on this planet. It's the one that's been tested the most and verified to be more truthful than any other science. I go, so what? Because what's the first principle of quantum physics. The mind is the creator of our life experiences. And it says, your consciousness is creating your life. I go, why is that relevant? Because if you change your consciousness, you can change your life. It's like you don't have to wait for life to change from the outside, it's you on the inside. And so, we have been systematically disempowered. You have been manipulated by a belief system, and then belief controls genetics, and belief controls your biology, and if you start with a negative belief, you only end up with a negative biology. It's the only way it happens.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Next up in our compilation of my 10 favorite moments from 10 years of the Model Health Show is another one of my great teachers for many, many years. He began prior to knowing that podcasting existed, when I was living in Ferguson, Missouri, and just struggling to get by and trying to find a way to supersede my circumstances to achieve a level of health and happiness, to help to cultivate a great relationship when I really hadn't seen very many examples of that in my reality. One of my great teachers was Tony Robbins. New York Times bestselling author and world-renowned coach. He's worked with everybody, from Serena Williams to presidents of countries and companies, and the list goes on and on, and is just truly a force of nature. And one of his programs, Love is for Life, really, my wife and I did this together, we were... It was a weird dynamic going on, just again, we don't really know how to relate to each other, how to communicate effectively. And we love each other to pieces. I love... I love her. And his program transformed everything. I started to really understand, like what is her motivation, what is her primary driving forces? Because mine are different. And so, us having conflicts about my proclivity towards growth and pushing the envelope, where her driving force, her place that she lives, like her state, is most comfortable in certainty.

And so, if you've got somebody who's pushing the envelope, is dedicated to growth, and somebody who is valuing as a top priority certainty, guess what? You're going to have some turbulence. But here's the thing. Once I become aware of that, and I start to address her certainty needs, she starts to be the person pushing us towards growth. It's like some kind of superpower was unlocked that was dormant because we were demonstrating what Einstein would call insanity, doing the same thing again and again, expecting a different result. And so, he even came in and helped with transformational information in that context, and then to feature him here on the Model Health Show was just amazing. Such an amazing experience. And again, how could this not be one of my top 10 favorite moments from 10 years of the Model Health Show? Without further ado, check out this powerful segment from the one and only Tony Robbins.

SHAWN STEVENSON: So, you already had this book in the works for quite some time, it just happened to come out...

TONY ROBBINS: I worked on it for three years, yeah.

SHAWN STEVENSON: During this... Probably the health crisis of our time. And we were just talking before we got started about one of the pieces of data that you actually took that I shared, and I was so grateful for that. Looking at the CDC's report, you had this big database of people, 800 US hospitals, over 540,000 Covid-19 patients, obesity is the number one risk factor for death. Which we know...

TONY ROBBINS: 80%.

SHAWN STEVENSON: We're not doing... About it, but we know it. The second leading risk factor for death was anxiety and fear-related disorders. The second leading risk factor for death from this condition.

TONY ROBBINS: That's right.

SHAWN STEVENSON: And so, you even addressed that too, because our mindset, our mind plays such a huge role in our outcomes for our health.

TONY ROBBINS: To have the CDC... I hadn't seen the study, so I thanked you for that before we got on the show, I thank you again, 'cause I put it in my book. To show them show that that is the second leading cause of death from Covid was amazing. But let's just talk for a second about the mind. Everybody knows about placebos. But they may not know that placebos only came about since World War II, that we're aware of consciously. It happened because a surgeon there was working on guys and if you don't give them morphine, they're going to go into shock and they're going to die, not to mention the pain. Right? And they ran out of morphine. So, a nurse actually, in desperation, took a saline solution and said, I got the morphine for you, and injected it into these people. And none of them went into shock and most of them got out of pain. So, he was so blown away about this, after the war he went back to Harvard, and he created the initial studies that now are used when you're doing double-blind, you compare it to a placebo. But most people are unaware of the fact that placebos sometimes work better than the drugs themselves, 'cause there's no money in telling people that, right?

You don't make a lot of billions of dollars of profit in that situation. So, what's interesting is the greater the intervention, the more convinced the mind is, the greater result in your body. So, a small pill versus a big pill, they see a big difference. An injection versus a pill, the injection gets a better result. The VA did a study on arthroscopic knee surgery, and they decided to do fake surgeries on a third of the people. So, they cut them open and did nothing, sewed them back up, the nurses didn't even know the difference between the people. And two years later, the people that had been through the fake surgery, meaning no surgery whatever, were doing sizably better. So, the VA doesn't even cover anymore. I mean literally. And then you can give somebody a barbiturate, which they do at Harvard, they've done this, say this pill is an amphetamine, it's going to speed you up. So, you're not giving a placebo, you're giving a real drug that will make your biochemistry slow down and their body speed up. So, placebos should give us some sense of the power of what the mind and the body can do together when they're really managed.

And when they're not, when we let our minds run wild and we don't learn to run our minds, the last two chapters of the book were all about this as you know, then you find yourself in a place where you're at the mercy of whatever comes to your phone or on your television or CNN, and again, these are good people, they're not bad people, but they're doing their job, their job is to make money for shareholders. That means they need more attention. And what gets your attention better than anything else unfortunately is fear. And so today, the news is not designed to inform you, it's designed to startle you. Right? Your title could die from drinking water, film at 11. It's anything to get you to watch. So, they're not bad people, but if you don't take control of your own mind, you can do all these other good things for yourself physiologically and this can change at all like that.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Being able to fuel my brain and my body for this work, I've put in well over 10,000 hours in research and recording and the post-production process into the Model Health Show, and it's been a lot. It's been a lot. A lot of heavy lifting over the years, but you become more resilient. But, of course, really taking the time to identify what are the things that work best for me. And as far as the field of nootropics, so these nutrient sources that really have exceptional benefits for our cognitive performance, one thing stood out, and it was Brain Fuel from Beekeeper's Naturals. Now, right now, as of this recording for a limited time, this is in alignment with our 10-year celebration, they've got a Memorial Day sale where they have 30% off, 30% off store-wide. This is a great opportunity to get your hands on their Brain Fuel, the primary ingredient being royal jelly. Now, a study that was published in the journal, Advanced Biomedical Research, found that royal jelly has the potential to improve spatial learning, improve our attention span, and improve our memory. Right? In addition, its anti-microbial, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, just so much good stuff.

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Alright, now moving on, again we're covering my 10 favorite moments from 10 years of the Model Health Show. Next up, we've got an undefeated, undisputed boxing champion, bestselling cookbook author. She won the cooking show Chopped twice. Not just once, twice. She was the runner-up in Dancing with The Stars. Alright. Now that's up to debate, you got the judges, alright? Dancing with the Stars. Television host for a ton of different shows. The list goes on and on. Who can do all of that? Laila Ali can. Laila Ali, again, undisputed, undefeated boxing champion. And the reason that this is in my top 10 most memorable moments is that she is a good friend of mine, and her family, her husband, Curtis Conway, he spent some time dominating in the NFL, and man, these are just two of the realest, coolest people, we just... It's family, we click immediately.

And knowing Laila's story and seeing her performance from afar, and then to see this integration of our families and our lives and being able to have this deeper connection. I've been at Laila's house eating that good-ass food that she cooks. It's so good. And by the way, we use her spice blends all the time. Laila Ali spice blends. And if you haven't checked out her spice blends, come on. I'm telling you, they are fire, so good. As a matter of fact, there's a 20% off discount if you go to lailaali.com/model, by the way. So that's Laila, it's spelled L-A-I-L-A-A-L-I.com/model, 20% off over there, by the way. And that's exclusive with us, just because of our friendship. But anyways, having this opportunity to have this incredible relationship, and to just... Certain people, you just feel like if it comes down to it, they got your back. And Laila is about that life. You don't want to mess with her, she is trained in destruction, but she's also so gifted in bringing life and empowerment and leading, and that's just one of the incredible experiences that I've had just being able to know Laila.

And so again, if we're talking about my most memorable moments, it's Laila coming through to my house to do a special episode of the Model Health Show when the world was kind of shut down at the time. And for us to be grounded in empowerment and peace and connection was something really special. So, without further ado, you're going to hear from Laila Ali, undefeated, undisputed champion, on why it's essential to let go of the fear of failure.

LAILA ALI: I've failed so many times. And everyone has a different idea of what failure is. People don't even like that word. So, if you're not reaching your goal in the way that you want to, okay, then we see that as a failure. But people say, grow from it, learn from it. Right? And for me, I have this belief in myself that if it's up to me, I'm not going to fail, because I'm going to do the work that it takes. If it's something that is within my power. But depending on what your goal is, if it involves other people, if it involves other people doing things for you, saying yes to you, you may not have control of that situation. So certain things I don't put my heart into. For example, when I did Dancing with the Stars, that was a competition, I wanted to win. I was like, I'm in this to win it. But I knew there was judges and an audience, I'm not going to at the end feel like a failure if I don't win, but I'm going to go hard, I'm going to do my absolute best, and I'm going to pray and I'm going to say whatever is meant to come out of this, I want it to come out of it.

I went to the finals, and even though I didn't win the show, I felt like I won because that was right when I decided to stop boxing, and I needed to show a different side of myself. And I had 40 million viewers every week, and I made it to the last week, and then I went on to do show hosting and all these other things that I was able to do off of that platform. So sometimes you have to just say, I'm going to put my all into this, and I'm going to let God, okay, and whatever is supposed to come out of this, come out of it. I'm not going to see it as a failure because I didn't win. 'Cause I can really look around and have gratitude and say, wow, look how this has changed my life as planned, but I did what I need to do, I earned it, and I got what I need to get, and people have got the opportunity to get to know me in a different way outside of the ring.

So, for me, like I said, again, it's perspective and understanding that not everything is going to go exactly the way that you want it to. Boxing is very different, because I get in that ring, you're either going to win or you're going to lose, there's only two people. And I'll be damned if I don't win, okay, 'cause she has two hands, I have two hands. That's it. Nobody's going to hit me from behind, there's no army, it's on. That's a different situation, but so you really have to go into every situation with the right mindset, I think is really important. But absolutely, I've been told no more than I've been told yes. When you talk about just ideas and things that I want to do, ambitions that I have. There's so much more that I want to do. I have, my bio, and people go, oh my God, you've done so much, you've accomplished so much, but I want more for myself. I want more, I have more that I want to do that I haven't done yet, and that's what my passion keeps me going. I don't sit and go, oh yeah, I did, been there, done that. It's like, what more can I do? I wake up excited, how many more people can I help, how many more lives can I touch? It's wonderful to be seen as successful and for people to look up to you and to be a role model, but that's not what I think about every day. I think about living my life, accomplishing my goals, and having integrity along the way, and then we can talk about the bio and the legacy later. You know what I mean?

SHAWN STEVENSON: Next up in my 10 favorite moments from 10 years of the Model Health Show, ooh, it's a good one. This is my guy, this is family. And I actually just got back from an event, an annual event that we do at different locations, and this one was in Riviera Maya, Mexico, and I'm talking about the New York Times bestselling author. I'm talking about the number one motivational speaker in the world. I'm talking about one of the greatest human beings that I've ever met. Dr. Eric Thomas. Now, the reason that this makes my top 10 memorable moments is we've done shows in different places. I did a show at his house before, we did a show at a studio that was kind of like an interim studio here in LA a while back. We did some remote stuff. But to have him here at my home studio, but not just that, my guy left from our interview, then he had to go speak to the world champion, Los Angeles Rams. No big deal. No big deal.

And he also had some stuff that he was doing virtually that he had committed to, and he actually needed a studio to film at, and so I was able to, along with my team, provide a space for my guy to handle his business, to use my studio, which is, come on, that's so powerful. You want to be able to serve and to support the people that are your friends, your family, your heroes, and I am telling you right now, being able to be in this field and to be able to have such a diversity of experiences and interactions with people, Eric Thomas is one of the best human beings, that not just that I've met, I think that's ever existed. He's through and through he is that guy. He is really about that life. The things that people don't see, like when we did the first Phenomenal Life event, it was on a cruise ship. Alright? The cruise ship was dope, but you're not going to catch me out there again. Alright. It's just not for me. Okay, just be, you're just out there. There was a basketball court on the cruise ship, there was a little putting place for the golf, there was a gym, there was a huge movie screen out on the deck, there's a pool, there's pools, multiple pools on the cruise ship on the ocean.

Alright? But just that rocking the boat, that whole Aaliyah vibe, it's not for me. Okay? It's just, it wasn't for me. But we did it, we did it big, and here's the thing. Being on that cruise ship, we went to different places. We went to different islands. And several of the places that we would dock, and while everybody's going on some exploration and adventures, ET, Eric Thomas, will find a school to go and speak at, for kids who are in a position where they would appear to be under-privileged, he would find a place and go and connect and serve for free. Nobody talks about that stuff, nobody knows that stuff, but that's just what he does. And so this is why it makes my top 10 favorite moments here from the past 10 years of the Model Health Show, having ET, the hip hop preacher Dr. Eric Thomas here on the show, and in this segment he's going to talk about moving past victim mentality and acknowledging the agency and power for change that we all have in our lives.

SHAWN STEVENSON: You said, number one, you have to take ownership of yourself. Again, very practical. Can you expand upon that a little bit?

DR. ERIC THOMAS: Yeah, so I'm just saying like, okay, yes, you didn't get good grades. Why? Well, my teacher don't like me. My mom used to be like, Yo, you ain't got no teacher that like you? She was like, what are you doing? Like, don't know, like every teachers against you, that don't even sound right. But when you're a victim, it's always ba, ba, ba. And so, I had to ask myself, Okay, E, let's say teachers don't like you, and then, bro, it got real bad when I started studying history, especially black history, and I'm looking at the Little Rock Nine. You got nine kids going to a predominantly white institution with the national guards. Like they got to get escorted every day with the military and dogs, so they're literally going into a school where these teachers don't particularly care for them. You got other grown people outside spitting at them, calling them all kind of stuff, and bro, they managed to go in there and graduate and go to college and do... It's like, E, you mean to tell me, you ain't got... They got dogs, they got police. They got a real problem. All your teachers is in the urban community like you, they black like you.

Like, what, what? Tell me again what the problem is. Your teachers aren't against you, like for real. So, I was like, Yo, E, bro, fess up, you're not studying, you do have some type of learning disability, whatever that is, but not to the point that you can't learn, it just means that you may have to read the book five times when somebody read it one time and they get it. And I used to be like, well, he could read it and get it, why can't I? And it's like, no, if it takes five times, just read it five times. So, I had to take responsibility for, you're not going to class, you're not paying attention. When you are in class, you're daydreaming, you're not time on task, you're not meeting with the teacher afterwards or before, you're not meeting with other friends that know how to study and asking them what to do. Bro, you're giving 50-60%, what are you expecting? So, here's what I want you to do. I want you to give 120, and then if you fail that 120...

And Shawn, let me tell you something, bro, I tell students this all the time, when you go to every class where you read... When you take every test, when you do every assignment, I don't even care if you fail, a teacher's going to give you... I do this in schools. I ask teachers to stay, and I say, look, I come to every class, I raise my hand, I'm not disrespectful, tell me what grade I'm going to get. They're like, Yo, I'm just going to be real with you, at least a C-Plus, B-Minus. At least, like without even getting hundreds on tests. And so, for me it just meant, Eric, what part do you play in your own destruction? Own that, own that part. Don't put it on your wife, your kids, the country. Bro, I got some stuff I can say about every entity, but I'm telling you, bro, when I start taking full ownership, full responsibility, I literally got my control. And I woke up one day, bro, was like, Yo, I can't even believe I'm here. Like, I can't believe I went from that to this.

But it's all because when you take responsibility, as you said from the book, at that point you get a power that is lended to you. There's a source, you know what I'm saying, that's like, yo bro, I got you, I'll back you up. It's like when I used to be, Yo, I'm going to play Ms. Pac-Man, and I get the banana, the strawberry, the pear. So, you start eating them jokers and you're hitting the pop Boom. They running from me. It was like when I took responsibility, everything that once was attacking me is now running from me. And everything that I once feared, I'm chasing it. I'm going after it now. And it was all the power appeal, I didn't realize, was ownership, was taking responsibility.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Prior to graduating from college and working as a nutritionist and an author and speaker and all the things, I was working in the university gym that I was attending, at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. And this is where I actually met my wife, right? We met at the university gym, and she saw this dedication in me that I don't think a lot of people, I was very secluded and just dedicated to the people that I was helping, but so much of my environment previously had been destructive, right? So, I just really closed myself off in a strange way. Dove my awareness and my attention into books, into research and into service. And my then girlfriend, now wife, she saw this in me. And just from her words, she saw something that was exceptional that she hadn't seen before in another person. Thus, she marry me. I'm sorry, sorry. So, here's the thing, one of the reasons why we connected at a whole other level and why she's my best friend and really my universe revolves around her, when I was going through this process and trying to find a way to overcome my environment and my obstacles.

And she saw how passionate I was about teaching and learning and helping people through the lane of fitness at the time and nutrition. And so, for a gift, all right, this was, I believe it was for Christmas, it might have been for my birthday, but as a gift, she gave me a book from the foremost personal trainer in the world, all right? At the time. And he would tell you today because low key, he's still, he's about that life. But this being about 15 years ago now? Somewhere along that, maybe 16 years ago. And this book was from superstar celebrity trainer, Gunnar Peterson. Now, within the pages of that book, I read it cover to cover. And I picked up so many different insights and cues and new tools and creative ways of thinking about fitness from this book. And it influenced the way that I was working for years to come.

And then years later to have the Model Health show and have Gunnar Peterson here in the studio with me was just such a special moment. And he didn't know because he kind of found me first in a sense. And we kind of connected just on social media, which that's the good thing about social media, right? And I didn't reveal, I didn't let the cat out of the bag and who's putting cats in bags, by the way, I didn't let the cat out of the bag, that I was such a huge fan of his work and had been following him for years until he got here. And we got the show going, and then I whipped that book out, all right? He was just like; he had no idea that that was going to happen. And so, but also this speaks to there's this new term that we put on this, giving people their flowers, but it's deeper than that. It's just simple acknowledgement.

This is a requirement for health and for connection. Every human being wants to be acknowledged. They want to be seen as having value and sometimes we become in... We're in fear about sharing that sometimes, we're being strangely selfish, and we don't share that with people. But I really make it a point of emphasis to share and to acknowledge and extend gratitude to the people who've had an impact on my life. And one of those people is definitely Gunnar Peterson. So top 10 moments, he's got to be in it. Check out this segment from the amazing Gunnar Peterson.

GUNNAR PETERSON: The gym is probably the most fair place in the world to me. Meaning whatever you put in, it's equitable in terms of what you get back. And I don't think... I think people go in or I've seen people go in and they give 40% and they want a hundred back. And I'm like, you're going to get 40 back. And when you leave, if you start... Around with your diet or your sleep or your recovery protocols or your stress levels, that's going to come out of that 40. So, you have to... To me, you go in and you give a hundred, which doesn't mean every workout is looks like a rocky montage, but it means every workout, you got to give a hundred percent of whatever you have that day. And we don't all come in at a hundred percent every day that goes from pro-athletes to academy award winners. You just don't...

So, you have to give a hundred percent of whatever your a hundred is that day. And you will get that back every single time. And if you're doing resistance training versus just cardio, that's a physiology thing. You speak to that there's a return on that investment, right? The epoch post-training that you're going to get. So, if you put in that work, it's going to keep paying you, it's going to pay dividends well beyond what you thought you were doing in the gym. So, people go, I don't, I really didn't do much today. Don't do that. Don't beat yourself off over what you didn't do. Give yourself credit for what you did do 'cause there are going to be days when you can give 200% and there're going to be days when you can give 50, but that 50 better be a hundred percent of what you brought in.

We have something written in the gym that says, everything you do inside the gym makes everything you do outside the gym better. And I see that every day in my own life and in other people's lives. So, the take home from that is obviously whatever your physical tasks are in life will be easier because you're training above and beyond that, right? Whatever you're carrying, lifting, pushing, pulling, hinging, lunging, whatever in the gym, whatever you have to do in real life, easy, because you've already done it and you've done it heavier. It improves your patience; it improves your quality of sleep. You're a better spouse, you're a better parent, you're a better friend. You're more resistant to injury. You're more resistant to disease, illness. Your rate of absenteeism goes down at work. You become a better employee or a better boss. You earn more that's rewarded, that reward, whether it's financial, whatever. People look at you and go, wow, this guy is always healthy, always upbeat, your moods are better, improved moods. And this is all science. I'm not telling you anything like people go, I don't really feel that way. Yeah, scientifically you do. Those are all things that happen at a physiological level. And then your self-confidence goes up because of all those other things that have happened because of what you did in the gym. And then that just to me opens up so many other doors.

SHAWN STEVENSON: All right. Now we're at number 10 on my list of 10 favorite moments from 10 years of the Model Health show. And I got a little bonus alert for you. I got to let the cat out of the bag, again who's putting cats in bags? Let the cat out. I couldn't just do 10. I've got a bonus for you after this one and these two mm, come on. Power houses. All right? My goodness. Up next, I've got for you, bestselling author. If we're talking about motivation, if we're talking about empowerment, if we're talking about outward success, my guy has a jet, no big deal, right? He's got all that stuff, but to have all the worldly accolades and accomplishments, but to be so spiritually grounded and to be so dedicated to service and to be such a good person, that's what you get packaged up in the one and only Ed Mylett.

The reason this makes my list of top 11, not 10, I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it. My list here is because this episode was actually recorded, this was about maybe five years ago at his house overlooking the ocean. All right? It's like on a cliff, it just is crazy. I hadn't seen stuff like that. All right? I was living in Missouri at the time I come out here, I think I was speaking at an event and stuff just kind of lined up for us to get together. And I want to give a special shout out to the person who introduced us because Ed was... He had an eye on me, he had an eye on you boy. And he had reached out through Bedros Keuilian, my guy, Bedros, oh my goodness.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Another great human being. And so, when we connected, I mean, man, we did an episode for his show as well where he interviewed me and we also did an epic classic episode of the Model Health Show. And I'm telling you, there are certain people that when they speak, it is with intention, and it is with purpose. Ed is somebody that I've seen, he doesn't waste words. When he speaks, you listen, when he speaks, something remarkable is going to come out. And so, without further ado, let's check out this incredible segment from the one and only Ed Mylet.

ED MYLETT: Two musts. I'll give you the two huge musts for me. One was my self-confidence. I grew up not a very self-confident person. And so, you have to have high self-confidence. Any world-class athlete, you and I both know their self-confidence level is through the roof. And when they go on a slump, when they're not performing well, what's going on? They've lost their confidence. They haven't lost their ability to shoot or hit a ball or hit a golf ball, they've lost their confidence. They've lost their swag. So, where's confidence come from? Like I knew I had to become more confident. Confidence comes from this because the disease of lack of confidence is you're obsessed with everybody else thinks about you. What are they going to think? What are they going to think? What are they going to think? That's the symptom. The disease is you're worried about what your reputation with everybody else 'cause you don't have a good one with you.

If your reputation with self is exemplary, you're not concerned about your reputation with others. So, self-confidence comes from one simple thing. It comes from keeping the promises you make to yourself. That's it. If you begin to consistently keep the promises you make to you, you will begin to stack upon that self-confidence. And so, I set up my life where I started to keep promises I made to me, whether that was what time I got up in the morning, what I put in my mouth to eat, when I trained and worked out. I can't control outcomes, but I can control activity. So, in my business life, I'm going to make 15 phone calls today I'd make my 15 and I'd be conscious of saying I did what I said I was going to do. I did what I said I was going to do. And through that process, over a period of time, every day, every hour that went by, I kept keeping more and more promises to me. I began to trust me. My self-confidence level transformed. That was number one.

Second thing was my identity. You'll never exceed in your life what you think you're worth. Everyone talks about this, but you'll never exceed your identity any time in your life. And your identity is yourself worth, what you believe you deserve. Okay? Now self-worth and identity is like a thermostat, it sits on the wall of your life. It sets the entire temperature for your life. So, in every area, you have a spiritual thermostat, a financial, a business, a physical one, a wellness one. So, if that thermostat set it, let's say financially at 80 degrees, it's set at 80 degrees. No matter what you do, you've already experienced it.

If you start to heat your life up, you start having abundance come into it and you're doing... You're doing activities that are better, but you haven't changed your identity, you will find a way to cool your life right back down to where your identity is eventually. You'll make a bad investment decision; a car will break down. It'll all seem unconscious, but you will get back to 80 degrees of money, right? Okay.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yes.

ED MYLETT: The reverse is also true. You start to go broke; your car gets repoed, the water gets turned off, you find a way to heat it back up and get it back to 80 degrees again. So, the key in life is to have self-confidence and change that thermostat level of what you think you're worth. You could be in the best business model with the best opportunity, the best products, the best everything, and you will not exceed 80 degrees of identity if that's your identity in your life. Happiness has an identity. Faith has an identity. And so, the key thing is how do you shift that identity, right? And that identity then is shifted through a couple things. But the biggest one is associations. Biggest way we change your identity, if let's say you hung around a guy worth a couple hundred million dollars, if I'm 150 degree or financially and you're an 80 degree or through proximity over time, I will heat you up somewhere in between the two of us.

And if your faith, if you have no... You struggle with your faith or your relationships, but you surround yourself with people that have great faith or great marriages through association, yours improve. So, the biggest way I change my identity is through who I hung around. Hanging around, lastly is also, I don't have too physically be around you. I can read your book, I can read a book from you on Health, on Sleep, and when I read that book, you're not just reading pages, and pretending as if I'm with you, I'm associating with you. And so, a lot of my identity shifts came from books I read and things I listened to and people that were live in my life at the same time. That's how I changed it.

SHAWN STEVENSON: All right? Now here we are at the final segment from my top 11. All right? I couldn't just do 10 my top 11 moments from 10 years of the Model Health show and I wanted to close it out with one of the most special people that have had the opportunity to talk to. He's a pioneer in the field of personal development. And he said things to me that I think about not every day, but at least every couple of days that had just stuck with me. And something he saw in me because during the recording of one of our conversations, he has shared, it was during the show and it's in the show itself. And by the way, every one of these full episodes you'll have access to in the show notes if you want the full meal and not just the appetizer, right?

But he shared that he saw something in me and what I was doing with the Model Health Show that he wanted to get behind it in a way that he doesn't really, again, with somebody who so many people are vying for your time and attention to do something so exceptional to support me was really special. Especially at that time where things were... We'd been number one a few times here or there, but the trajectory I didn't really see, or I didn't understand how much things would grow and how many lives would be able to impact. And so like, it was like rocket fuel to hear that from him. Come on now, and I'm talking about the legendary Bob Proctor. Bob, and why I want to close a show with him is that he has recently passed away and his energy, his knowledge lives on with us and through us. And to close this out and my favorite moments from 10 years of the Model Health Show, I thought it would be very appropriate to share a segment and a conversation with Bob Proctor. And in this he's going to share why your self-image is the key controller of your life and how to begin to make small changes that lead to big results. Let's listen to the incredible legendary Bob Proctor.

BOB PROCTOR: Well, do you know that Shawn is without question one of the most important subjects? Dr. Maxwell Maltz wrote a phenomenal book on it, Psycho-Cybernetics way back around 1960. And it was considered one of the greatest psychological breakthroughs of his generation. Self-image, unfortunately, is developed before the person can even walk or talk. Our self-image is formed in our little life when our subject of mind is wide open. It's, part of its genetic, and the other parts environmental. Our mind is wide open, our subconscious mind and whatever's going on around us goes right into our subconscious mind. Like almost all welfare recipients are third, fourth, fifth generation welfare recipients.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

BOB PROCTOR: Now, do you know there's geniuses locked up in those welfare areas.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Yeah.

BOB PROCTOR: Every one of them has genius within them. They have perfection within them, but it'll never come to the surface because they're not... They don't wake up. I had an absolutely horrible self-image. That's why I wouldn't learn, that's why I wouldn't go to school. I never thought anything of me, I wouldn't try to get a good job. And when I started to rethink and grow rich and I started to listen to a man by the name of Rain Stanford, he got me looking at myself. He said, Bob, you're telling me reasons why you can't win, why you're broke, let's go to the other side and talk about how you can. And he got me thinking of all this. And then I got into really studying self-image. And I found that we do have a cybernetic mechanism in our mind. It's like a thermostat, it's a science of control and communication in the animal and some machines. And in this cybernetic mechanism, this self-image, it controls what we're doing. And if we wander off course, it'll bring us right back.

If a person's overweight, it's how they see themself and they say, I'm going to lose weight. They've got to change the image or they're never going to lose weight. And they shouldn't lose it anyway, they should release it. When you lose anything, you're programmed to look for it, and you always find it. So, we've got to understand that we have an imager in ourself in our subconscious mind, but we have the God-like ability to change it. I worked at changing my self-image. I changed the way I talk; I change the way I walk, I change the way I dress. I changed the way I work; I changed the way I study. I changed everything about me a little bit at a time. So, the image or the person you're looking at now is not the person that picked up this book 55 years ago.

And I modeled it, I built the image and then I caused myself to live that way. And it caused a lot of discomfort. William James gave us the idea. He said, act like the person you want to become. I encourage people in our programs to get Stella Adler's book, the Art of Acting. The Art of Acting is a great book. Stella Adler, never actually wrote the book, a man named Kissel took all her lessons after she died and turned it into a book. So, when you read the book, you're going to her acting classes. Stella Adler was a phenomenal acting teacher. She studied, understands Lavski, the Russian who perfected method acting. Marlon Brando wrote the forward in the book, and he was the first method actor to hit star status. But we have to, when we're changing this self-image, we have to change the way we act. And other people have difficulty with it. They know you the way they are. They don't want you to change because if you change, they have to adapt to the change in you. See people don't resist change, people resist being changed.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Mm-hmm. Yes. That's right.

BOB PROCTOR: We've got to change ourself. We've got to build a new image, a picture in our mind, we've got to see ourself the way we want to be and then we have to live with it. That's, you go to the gym workout, that's what you do. You build a picture of how you want to see this arm; this arm and you build that picture and then you build the body. Well, you build the life in your mind. Take your pen and write out how you want to live and always start by writing, I'm so happy and grateful now that and the second you write it, you've got it intellectually. The moment you impress it upon your emotional mind, you've got it emotionally. And it's only a period of time till it manifests on the physical plane.

SHAWN STEVENSON: Thank you so very much for tuning into this very special 10 year anniversary episode of the Model Health Show where we recovered, not 10, but 11 of my favorite moments. And I hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did. And if you did, please give me a shout out. Come and holler at me on Instagram, take a screenshot of the episode and share it out. I'm @ShawnModel on Instagram and it will be such a great gift to help to celebrate this 10-year anniversary would be if you pop over to Apple Podcast and leave a review for the Model Health Show. All right. If you've been meaning to do it, this is the time to do it. All right. And that would be a great anniversary gift. And again, or whatever platform you're listening on, if you can leave a review for the show, if it's on Spotify, whatever the case might be, truly, that would mean a lot. And listen, we are just getting started. We've got some incredible, incredible masterclasses and a game changing, life changing world leading guests coming your way very, very soon. So, make sure to stay tuned. Take care, have an amazing day and I'll talk with you soon.

And for more after the show, make sure to head over to themodelhealthshow.com. That's where you can find all of the show notes, you can find transcriptions, videos for each episode, and if you got a comment, you can need me a comment there as well. And please make sure to head over to iTunes and leave us a rating to let everybody know that the show is awesome. And I appreciate that so much and take care, I promise to keep giving you more powerful, empowering, great content to help you transform your life. Thanks for tuning in.