Can You Really Change Your Brain by Changing Your Thoughts?

Neurosurgeon, Iraq War vet, and author Dr. Lee Warren shows Curtis Chang how to perform "self brain surgery"—no scalpel, just the brutal truth: your automatic thoughts are rewiring your brain every day, and a lot of them are lying to you. Curtis and Lee dig into neuroplasticity, why you keep looping the same stress scripts, how gratitude can hijack anxiety, and they connect the dots between brain science and faith as represented in Philippians 4 and Romans 12. If you're stuck in anxiety, trauma, or toxic patterns, this episode could be a wake-up call—and a way forward.

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02:38 - How Do Thoughts Reshape the Brain?

07:39 - Personal Story: Grieving and Neuroplasticity

11:08 - Philippians 4 and Neuroscience

18:01 - Gratitude as a Brain Switch

21:51 - Neuroscience vs. Classic Therapy

31:03 - Building New Habits and Synaptic Pruning

32:28 - The "Self" in Self Brain Surgery and the Holy Spirit

44:07) - Wisdom to Know What Can and Cannot Change

52:34 - Epigenetics and Generational Influence

56:49 - Final Word: Hope and Agency

Mentioned In This Episode:

Dr. Lee Warren's The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery
Philippians 4:6–8 (ESV)
Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)
2 Corinthians 10:5 (ESV)
Romans 5:3–5 (ESV)
Deuteronomy 5:9-10 (ESV)
Summary: Study finds epigenetic changes in children of Holocaust survivors
Chris Voss's Never Split the Difference
The Original Serenity Prayer

Dr. Lee Warren on Self-Brain Surgery: Renewing the Mind with Faith and Neuroscience