Upgrade Your Brain

0:01 This program is designed to provide general information with regards to the subject matters covered. This information is given with the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial, legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek the services. Of competent professionals before applying or trying any suggested ideas. At the end of the day, it's not about what you have or even what you've accomplished. It's about what you've done with those accomplishments. It's about who you've lifted up, who you've made better. It's about what you've given back.

0:44 Denzel Washington, welcome to Inspire Vision. Our sole purpose is to elevate the lives of others and to inspire you to do the same. Arnold, welcome to the show. Thank you very much. Dark Hey, it's really great to have you. I'm laughing because you know, people ask me who are you interviewing, and I say, you know, they're from all over and in this case, we happen to be out of the US on both counts. So where are you located. I'm currently located in Romania, but my Possport says, I'm. Dutch, You're Dutch, but you're in Romania. Yeah, correct, Okay, that sounds great. Well listen, you know what I'd love for you to do is to share the audience your story, kind of your background and what brought you to the point of what you're doing now, which seems to be so important.

1:40 Yeh. What I'm doing now is I call myself to bring fitness trainer. So for me, it's very applicable. The quote of the Danish philosopher's strud And Girga Gard who says life is understood backwards, believed forwards. So I can give you now a nice story, but the moment I was living out no clue. I grew up in a family in the Netherlands which, in hindsight, if he would with today's knowledge, a lot of the members were having mental illness MHM in some form or another, but it was never diagnosed like that. So I had to deal with that myself. That was very challenging for I would say everyone. Fast forward a couple of years, but that was my first encounter with real mental illness. Fast forward I well, I went to university, I went into the corporate world, had leadership positions where I was responsible for for well. My first job was for ten marketing people, and at some point in time I was responsible for six thousand people and one point two billion dollar business,

3:11 which showed me that if you treat people as unique human beings there is you can accomplish with your team so much and much much more than people in disipate. And instead of using people as mechanics, as cox in a machine, but as individual humans who can contribute and work together, you can really upgrade your brain. As I see it now. Then a couple of years later, I ended up living in Budapest in Hungary, and I worked a lot with well at the end, teenagers like seventeen eighteen up to people in the twenties beginning, And that was the first time that I encountered with young people where so many of these young people were really really having had experiences with mental illness. They had, well most of them, they already had experience with being stressed out or burnout. And what touched me the most, dug was that the everyone I spoke with is that they said, we know someone who killed him or herself. And this was nine years ago. Yeah, so that was that experience

4:42 again with mental illness. The last eight years I took care of my mother and well she was the end of her eighties and later on, well a year and a half ago she died, but my mother had dimentia and Parkinson. So I had this experience throughout my life with mental illness but also with mental fitness because my experience is that also in my coaching. I'm coaching people next year for fifty years. It's my experience that basically any human being can be and do much more than what they're basically told or pulled themselves.

5:28 Okay, And you know it's fascinating. As I mentioned to you before we actually came on the air, there's a number of things that have been in your bio that I'd like to read for the audience because I think it will really give them a sense of where we're going to go with this discussion, if that's all right with you, yes, And you know you talk about the art of um conditioning and it says you don't know that you're being conditioned to conform to live someone else's life. And I call that the impostor syndrome. You don't know how how your physical, mental emotional and spiritual capabilities are intentionally being suppressed. You don't know why, you're not taught how to live life. You feel stressed, powerless, and not good enough in a world where others are pulling the strings. And your brain is hijacked by parents, teachers, clergy bosses, media and entertainment, and your body is hijacked by food, fashion, pharmaceutical industry, and it goes on and on.

6:30 So really, what you're talking about here is the fact that we really, many of us, really aren't able to actually be ourselves. We can't really be who we are, and we end up becoming or we end up being what someone else tells us we need to be, and ultimately we find that that creates as you have talked about, it can be some very emotional issues, it can be some mental issues. It can lead to all sorts of catastrophic situations, and in many cases where it's not that catastrophic, you still have our young people and middle aged people and just people in general growing up and aging and never experiencing life as they could.

7:22 Your thoughts, Yes, and that is very unfortunate. That creates along these dis eases in people mentally, emotional, spiritual, physical this ease, this ease, you're uncomfortable in your skin, and what they say the main reason is, yeah, that's logical because you're not living your own life. You're living someone else's life. So what you know, you talk about mental illness, and you've talked about that quite a bit initially, and obviously I'm not. A side chiatrist. I know you're not a psychiatrist.

8:03 But as we look at people who are experiencing that emotional issue that it's really affecting their brains to a high degree, what do you feel the causes of that are As you've researched this out over time, what do you feel the causes of mental illness really are? Well, the main cause is is that you're not living in your own life. You're living the life that other people expect you to do. So it like it's from the moment you're born. When are you a good kid? When you do exactly what your parents tell you to do? Then you go to school, When are you a good student when you do what your teacher those you do.

8:47 Maybe you go to some kind of education or university, doesn't matter of the same story is when are you a good student? When you do what the teacher those you do, then most likely you do start work. Are you good to I pre when you do exactly what your boss tells you to do. So by the time we're twenty five, the only thing what we have learned is to meet expectations of other people. The only thing what we have learned is to live that life is what do they expect from me? And if I do that correctly, then I'm okay. Okay, So I want to change the wording a little bit, if you're okay with that, because as I have chatted and interviewed psychiatrists and you know, very well known psychologists, there certainly is a mental illness that is caused by biochemical disruptions in the brain, and it is something that absolutely exists that has nothing to do with what you're talking about right now. But when you're talking, what I kind of gather is you're really talking about emotional illness.

10:03 You're talking about people living in an emotional state where they can't truly be happy, they can't be themselves. And to me, that that is really what you're suggesting. Am I Am I a little bit off the record here on that. Yeah, mental and emotional, but mental and emotional is is not separate from physical is not separate from it. It's like we are integrated being. So you have emotional problems, they can manifest in a physical way and the other way around. You are in a little pain that can create mental and emotional problems. Yes, and I and I and I have met and now a few people who literally have experienced mental illness and it is as a physiological biochemical issue. Something is happening within their brain that is literally causing them.

11:01 To go that way. So I want to focus if it's okay with you, let's focus mainly on the emotional issues here about you know how people are being affected with emotional issues that, yes, ultimately it can create some mental issues. But when we talk about emotion, that does affect the brain, there's no question about that. And as we talk about that, what do you feel that brain fitness is? As we get into that, what is it to have a fit brain? For me? Brain fitness is a state of physical and psychological well being where individuals use error or his uniqueness, deals with the challenges in life, learns continuously and contributes to people and planets.

12:01 Well. And as people are struggling emotionally to the point where you know it can be considered a high level of emotional illness, and even to the point of a little bit of mental illness. How how do we change and why is it so hard to change from that? In your opinion, because it is embedded in ourselves and in our society. Not to change. So I said earlier, is like we are most of us very conditioned until we at least twenty five years old. There are exceptions, but at least twenty five years. That is a lot of time. So if you want to change something which is embedded in yourself for twenty five years, then people are in the forties, forty years or people in the et cetera, et cetera.

12:58 So that is a long lost thing habit to change that takes quite some work. That is the reason why people are not doing that, and in our society, isn't it strange duc that if at school and doesn't matter whether it's primary school, high school, university, with personal change is not taught. Yes, that is so true. In fact, in many cases, I know, at least in the US, they kind of tell you who you. Are oh well, yeah, yeah, which. Is really unfortunate. So it's you know, and I think as we talk about this, I think one of the important things for people to understand is that change can occur.

13:49 And as we're talking about the brain, we're really talking about the fact that the brain can change and through neuroplasticity. Can you kind of explain to the audience what is neuroplasticity and how does it allow us to literally if we choose to make changes in our life and start to remove some of that highly emotional discomfort and start to be more focused on who we really are. Yes, that is actually opposed to what up until ninety eight ninety ninety eight, where people thought is like, well, you know a lot of people say, that's just the way I am. Yeah, that's just my personality, that's just the way I am. Yeah, And even parents and people whatever they thought until well, basically the two thousands is that they couldn't change. So it was a given the finding which was much earlier, but until people get get to notice, neuroplasticity is your capacity to rewire your brain to make new connections. The neurals that the rewiring is what we go learning, so we can we can basically in our brain make new connections until we're in our nineties.

15:13 So our brain has this capacity to learn and grow and make new connections. And that is fantastic because it means that at any age we can grow and change if we want to. Well. And so as we talk about that, let's talk about the you know, the neural pathways within an individual's brain. What initially affects that, So that as we're growing up and we're being affected, as you say, by teachers and by religion and by society and by social media and all of those things, what happens to those brain pathways that cause us to ultimately act, think, and behave in a way that really isn't to our advantage?

16:04 Well they well you called it pathway. Little use that word. Is those passways become deeper and deeper embedded in yourself. It's it's like I used the metaphor of like a groove in in a in an LP in in the in in a in a record. Yeah, weird red music. Yeah. Sometimes, Yet when when you when you always play the same song, the groove becomes deeper and deeper. At some point in time, it doesn't go over to the next song. It's stays stuck in that old song that happens in our brain in the same way. Ah okay, And so so when that happens, and and as you say, as we continue to reinforce that, and I think people it's important for people to understand that we literally have the ability to change those neuropaths ways, and we have potentially unconsciously and being unaware of creating those neural pathways based on our environment and all those type of things that we've talked about. So what are the components that you have found. How does an individual that recognizes, all right, I'm not where I want to be, I'm not experiencing life the way I want to experience it, how do they change those neural pathways in a way to start developing different habits, different attitudes, and thus different

17:38 experiences in life. Yes, So the main thing is is what I say is that you be curious, that you're open to learning, that you're open to gaining those new experiences that you are Well, there's an old Chinese Japanese saying whereas that you're invited to have a beginner spirit where it's like yeah, you start all over again, and like hey, issue might do nothing or not too much it's like hey. Now it's like, hey, I want to learn this, I want to do this. Yeah. As an example, I really was at the beginning of my forties when my first coach asked me, and I can still vividly remember, and I was explaining I was just out of a corporate job, and I was explaining to a moment, yeah, what I want, And basically I was not saying what I want. I was saying what I don't want. I don't want a boss, I don't want this. I want to be a general manager or whatever. I don't want this. I don't want that.

18:51 And then he said, oh, I understand, but can you please tell me what do you want? And I'm like, mm, I don't know. This was yeah, the only thing was general many things, but the rest for the other one, I have such a list, and he was like, Arnold, what do you want? I had no clue. This was the first time in my life that anyone had asked me, Arnold, what do I want? The other things? We're constantly reacting to what other people want from me, and since then I've applied it to many many of my clients same response. They're all like, I don't know, so all the change starts there where you say, like who am I? What do I want in my life, in my work, in my relationships, in my hobies, in everything, start defining those things for yourself. And that is the whole process, because, like I said, like I'm in my fourties when those first questions appear. Most people never get that question until they are It is not an easy question because for so long it's not being also and you're you're very used to what other people expect from you, what other people want from me.

20:20 So how do you how do you sit back and how did you sit back with that coach working with you, helping you. How did you get to the point where you started to really understand what you wanted? Because so many times we have, as you say, so much of that peripheral environmental stuff coming in telling us what they want us to be and who we should be. How did you get to the point where you started to truly identify what you wanted and who you wanted to be. Well, that is a process. That is not a moment. But I really felt like, well I can really easily express and talk myself. I'm not a shy person, but I was like, no, clue. So that had a huge impact on me that itself. That moment which was like I really don't know anything to say, said I realized that like, oh wow, that means I gotta define it.

21:22 They got to think about it, they got to feel about it, they gotta Yeah, I gotta read books or whatever. Things like well, we're you talking now about emotional wellbeing, spiritual wellbeing, all this stuff. I had no clue. I'd no clue. Yeah, I was really successful in the business corporate world, said the mental site, and let's call it like the other things and all of these others in I barely know it existed. All right. So you know, you talk about how it may be different for individual people, but for you, what was the process step by step if you don't mind sharing with the audience, what was the process step by step that you went through that you can share with the audience in order for you to finally get to the point where you knew what you wanted in life truly and who you were.

22:17 Yeah, well, that that that that that process is driven by curiosity. I wanted to find out. I wanted to find out about these things, which what is spirituality? What does it do for me, how does it help me? So I read books, articles, I joined a spiritual organization where I became a teacher. So it's it's it's that process. But the process around all of these topics you can people can find it is like you can split up your your life. Let's let's call it in different categories.

22:58 It's not just one big look's like, what do you want to do for career? What are you doing for your career? What do you want to do for help? What do you want to do for relationships? What do you want to do or your spirituality? Yes, what do you want to do for your hobbies? You see, you can split things up in categories. So Egypt is getting I started to explore. It's like, oh, yeah, I can define that or I can do that. I'm like, let's find that out. Listen to podcasts. I love listening to podcasts. I'm listening to podcasts ten fifteen years and yes, it's like this is what I do every day. You like, I'm like, that's how I'm learning. That's how I was like, Oh, this is an interesting guest. Oh he's written a book, Well let's buy that book. That's the whole process.

23:49 All right. So curiosity and I and I totally agree with you by the way, that curiosity is the key. But here's the question that came to my mind. This is why it starts smiling. You know, we talk about the environment, affectiveness and telling us who we should be. Now we get curious and we listen to the podcasts we you know, we maybe hire coach, we read books about and as you say, there's so many elements to our lives, whether it's spiritual, physical, health wise, mental, all of those type of things. How do we ultimately or how did you ultimately as you started reading books and listening to books on audible and so forth, how did you decide what that was that you wanted to become versus them telling you just another source telling you who you should be.

24:41 Well, that is why I am basically a lot of things. Is you get to experiment, you get to try. H So it like I often say to do my clients. Let's say that clients have an idea. It was like I'm on to own horse and then uh yeah, and I put it somewhere in the stable and then each day after work I can go to my horse and take care of it and ride on my horse with it. And then I asked people, I say, oh, some nights, it's really cool. I did, have you ever rode a horse? More than half people never had. I said, well, before you execute on that idea, Yeah, why don't you try riding? Yeah? Mh.

25:35 By the way, I learned riding on the horses only when in my thirties, and it's not easy, and it can be frightening and whatever is it and it can be very uncomfortable with Like that's why I say to all people, just experiment and try. And it's like I want to be that. I want to do that, go and try. Yeah, that is what I did say, I said. One of the main thing is, yeah, I felt was on startups. I did some startups, most of them they still fail. Is it? Like? Okay, it's nice. I like that. But I continued with my coaching, which I started years ago, but like more on the personal side, which I did first new sports and coaching, and well that works, that's that, that's including.

26:19 You so well. And in the end they're like, why am I now focused on brain fitness? Is basically when I had those experiences which I said at the beginning, those phases in my life and everything where I'm like, well, what's happening inside of us? It is not only what's happening inside of is Yes, what I say, my quest is how the invisible drives the visible. So so as you went through that, and if I'm hearing you correctly, it's kind of you know, we experiment with different things, all right, this is what I want to do, And so you try it, and you try it before you spend money on it, necessarily maybe a little bit if you're renting or whatever, and if it feels good, then you continue on.

27:06 If it doesn't feel good, then. You recognize that, you know what, that's not really who you are, that's not really what you want. And as you go through that process. So this doesn't happen overnight. I take it. I take it, but this takes years of concentrated effort and mindfulness to really ultimately achieve that goal of understanding who you are and achieving the life that you really want. I even would like I agree with you, but I would like to add to that is like it's an onglobing process. I think in never rents, yes. All right, And I know one of the things which really makes me curious because you talk a little bit about slowing down aging, and you know, as you get past your thirties and forties and you're into your fifties and sixties and so forth, how does this process or what is the process that you have discovered that slows down aging and how does how does the brain affect that?

28:10 Well that there is research around it is that the shared giant doctors, that's husband and wife who were among them neuroscientists, and they found out is that if you give your brain what I call a why, a complexity and challenge, so you keep your brain very very active, that is crucial to healthy aging, and that can prevent sixty to ninety percent of all the elderly diseases like Parkinson, Alzheimer dimension to I also use this similarity to physical aging.

29:03 Is like after your age of thirty, it's a given your your your physical health, your your strengths, everything like that starts to decline in the beginning is very very slow, but you don't notice it. But when you get into your sixties and seventies, whatever, your strength declines if you do nothing and if you have not done anything. The same is true for your cognitive decline after your age thirty, your memory everything slowly and you don't notice it, but it starts to decline. And again when you get older and older, it goes faster and faster. Both things combined are not necessary if you keep on training and using it.

29:48 If you don't use it, you lose it. So that's true for your brain but also for your Yeah, so you're talking about training the brain training the body, and obviously cresosity helps to train the brain, and physical activity helps to train the body. Absolutely, you know. And I'm reminded, and I can't remember the exact study, but I remember a study that was done that was shared with me where they took a number of men that were in their sixties and they put them in an environment and had them start to speak, listen to music, do all those things that were in their fifties when they were in their early fifties. And after a period of time, they discovered that those people really started to become more youthful, they started to get back to their fifties.

30:42 And to me, that is phenomenal. And yet, as you say, with the brain and neuroplasticity, we can literally create that to a. Certain degree by ourselves. Now, how important is meditation or do you even get into the aspect of medication as you talk about these things. By the way, I'm very well aware of that study. Yeah, it's incredible and it shows that that even a change in your environment has a huge impact. Yes, the meditation part, like like I said earlier, is that I was curious into spirituality and that encompasses meditation. So I meditated is something like fifteen years or twenty years something like that.

31:37 I had two types of meditation, so I had that experience. The reason why I started meditation in the first place is that it drove me mad that I get constantly thoughts going on in el mind's like all the time, and it looked like it never stopped. And that's when I read something like a flyer rooms and we were like, oh it helps with you'd be slowing down you look, look, that's what I want is It was like, yeah, so I tried meditation, but at some point in time I realized, like, how do you call it? It's curved off. Yeah, it's like there's no more benefit. It's like it starts to irritate me a bit. Whatever it is, Like, Okay, I stopped, and and stop means it's like, okay, do I feel lousy now I stop? Or do I feel okay or whatever. Yes, the stops with something is also an experimental process. It's like, yeah, maybe I should continue or maybe not. But for me, like I stopped with it and I'm perfectly fine and whatever.

32:47 So for me, it's part of a different face. Yeah. Yeah, I'm telling to people you must meditate, you must do it it. Try it, try it and see and you know what, what I have. And it's fascinating because I've interviewed hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of individuals that talk about different pathways like we're talking about today, of reaching that level of you know, of the mindfulness and of the happiness and truly being ourselves. And what I find and the reason I love to do this is because each one has a slightly different approach. And what I love about that is that there will be someone that's listening today that goes, you know what, I've been trying to meditate and it's not working for me. And yet here I'm listening to someone who said the same thing. Whereas there are other people who are you know, we're talking about meditation and they're going, yeah, it really works for me, It really works.

33:50 I try to meditate every day, and as I've studied it and learned it, I recognize that as I add to that some verbal affirmations that I speak out loud as I'm meditating. It literally is creating the things that I want. It's creating, it's during the neuroplasticity, is changing the neural pathways because I'm doing that. But that's not for everybody. And that's what I appreciate you talking about here is the fact that you know what, you have a specific way in which you have been able to achieve it, and that's what you're teaching your clients and the people that you're with. And to me, that's what's important is people listen, they recognize, oh wow, this one makes sense to me. And that's where it really gets to be so wonderful is that everyone has a slightly different story, a slightly different pathway, but each pathway there's someone else in the world hopefully listening that is going to hear that and go, you know what, that makes sense for.

34:52 Me, absolutely absolutely, And then that is what I promote sense, is that we're all unique beings and it doesn't mean that it's just one prescription which works for everybody, and it's like you got to find out and tune to what works for you. Yes, And so as we as we close a little bit here, what would be that message that you'd like to share with the audience that would make a difference as they're listening here. My message would be is that you can upgrade your brain at any age. And how do you do that by unleashing and using your uniqueness?

35:40 Wonderful? And let me ask you this, as people are listening, if they want to be able to reach you, how do they do that? I would invite them to have a look at my website. It's called brain Jim dot fitness, brain Gym dot fitness. They can find about my videage, they can find about my train and they even can connect with me. If do you still have questions or in clarities, whatever, you can book an appointment with me and we'll have a conversation. Oh right, wonderful, Well, Arnold, thank you so much. This has been fascinating and as fascinating you know, as you have really focused on really making a difference by upgrading our brains. I think I love that. I love the combination of those words upgrade your brain, and I think a lot of people never think of it that way.

36:32 So I love what you've talked about there, and I appreciate you being on the show. Thank you very much, Doc Well, thank you, and folks. I hope this has made a difference. I hope there's some of you out there that are listening to this and going Okay, I got to reach Arnold because this is making sense to me where everything else I've heard hasn't made sense. So please reach out to Arnold if it makes sense to you. Meanwhile, please feel free to continue listening to our shows. And this is doctor Doug saying nomisty And fled with sir,