Magnificent Mind at Any Age: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential

Magnificent Mind at Any Age: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential

by Daniel G. Amen
Magnificent Mind at Any Age: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential

Magnificent Mind at Any Age: Natural Ways to Unleash Your Brain's Maximum Potential

by Daniel G. Amen

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Overview

It all starts with your brain: how you think, how you feel, how you interact with others, and how well you succeed in realizing your goals and dreams. When your brain works right, so do you. When it’s out of balance, you feel frustrated, or worse. Yet amid all the advice that bombards us daily about how to keep the rest of our body strong and healthy, we hear very little about how to keep the most complex and magnificent organ of all—the human brain—in top working order.

Based on the most up-to-date research, as well as on Dr. Daniel Amen’s more than twenty years of treating patients at the Amen Clinics, where he and his associates pioneered the use of brain imaging in clinical practice, Magnificent Mind at Any Age does exactly that. Dr. Amen shows how many of the traditional approaches to overcoming the mind-centered challenges that hold us back—try harder, work longer, find the sheer willpower—either do not work or may make our problems worse. The true key to satisfaction and success at any age is a healthy brain. By optimizing our brain function we can all develop these qualities of a magnificent mind enjoyed by the world’s most successful and happiest people:

• Increased memory and concentration
• The ability to maintain warm and satisfying relationships
• Undiminished sexual desire and performance
• Goal-oriented perseverance
• Better impulse control and mastery over potential addictions
• Free-flowing creativity and the ability to relax and enjoy life’s pleasures

To achieve this, as Dr. Amen explains here in clearly accessible language, we have a range of options available, including proper diet, natural supplements and vitamins, exercise, positive thinking habits, and, if needed, medication. In addition to revealing how we can all take advantage of such strategies to enjoy the benefits of a balanced and healthy brain at every stage of our lives, Dr. Amen also pinpoints specific ways to tailor behavior, nutrition, and lifestyle to deal effectively with common mental challenges such as memory problems, anxiety and depression, attention deficit disorder, and insomnia.

Whether you’re in the midst of a demanding career or are looking forward to an active and richly rewarding retirement, Magnificent Mind at Any Age can give you the edge you need to live every day to your fullest potential.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780307451736
Publisher: Harmony/Rodale
Publication date: 12/02/2008
Sold by: Random House
Format: eBook
Pages: 352
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

DANIEL G. AMEN, M.D., is a clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and brain imaging expert who heads the world-renowned Amen Clinics. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and has won several writing and research awards. He is a regular contributor to Men's Health and has published nineteen books, numerous professional and popular articles, and a number of audio and video programs. His books include Preventing Alzheimer's, Healing Anxiety and Depression, Healing the Hardware of the Soul, Healing ADD, Making a Good Brain Great, The Brain in Love, and the New York Times bestseller Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. He is an internationally recognized keynote speaker and the star of the very popular public television special Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.

Read an Excerpt

chapter 1

a scandal for our time

In the early hours of February 22, 2004—a cool, clear, late-winter day —copies of the fat Sunday edition of The Washington Post landed on doorsteps and driveways throughout the nation’s capital and its booming suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. Near the top of the front page, an arresting headline announced a scoop:

a jackpot from indian gaming tribes lobbying, pr firms paid $45 million over 3 years

This was a seductive come-on in a city where making money was in vogue, and the story lived up to the enticement. The Post reported startling details about the exploits of a lobbyist named Jack Abramoff, then forty-six, and a public relations man who collaborated with him, Michael Scanlon, thirty-three. They had persuaded four Indian tribes flush with gambling money to pay huge fees to exploit Abramoff’s connections with conservative Republicans in the White House and Congress to protect the tribes’ interests. At Abramoff’s urging, the tribes also hired Scanlon to do unspecified public relations work.

“The fees are all the more remarkable because there are no major new issues for gaming tribes on the horizon, according to lobbyists and congressional staff,” reported the Post’s Susan Schmidt. Abramoff persuaded the tribes that they needed his help “to block powerful forces both at home and in Washington who have designs on their money,” Schmidt wrote, quoting members of the tribes to this effect. She disclosed that the four tribes had donated millions of dollars to politicians and causes suggested by Abramoff, and had changed their traditional patternsof political contributions by giving less to Democrats and more to Republicans—at his urging. “Some members of the tribes” Abramoff represented “have begun to complain that they are getting little for their money,” wrote Schmidt.

Neither Abramoff nor Scanlon was a household name in Washington. But Tom DeLay was, and DeLay’s name appeared five times in that Post story. DeLay, a successful small businessman who ran an exterminating firm in the suburbs of Houston before he became a politician, was then the most powerful man in Congress. Everyone knew that DeLay had chosen Dennis Hastert of Illinois to become Speaker of the House of Representatives when that job suddenly came open in 1999. DeLay’s title was majority leader, technically second-ranking to the speaker, but their colleagues understood that DeLay was smarter and tougher than Hastert, and more influential among House Republicans.

In the mid-1990s DeLay and his colleagues in the Republican leadership had struck a bargain with Washington’s lobbyists that was both brazen and remarkably successful: if the lobbyists would help raise hundreds of millions of dollars to support Republicans and help preserve their majority in Congress, DeLay would invite them into the legislative process, and allow them to propose entire bills and suggest changes to legislation proposed by others.

Both sides fulfilled this understanding with gusto. The Republican National Committee and the party’s House and Senate campaign committees, which collected $358 million in contributions in the two years prior to the 1994 elections when Republicans won control of Congress for the first time since 1952, reported contributions of $782 million a decade later, in 2003–04—a 220 percent increase. Lobbyists and their clients helped make that possible. And lobbyists for corporate interests won countless legislative provisions from the Republican House and Senate favoring their clients. Under the accepted interpretation of the law on bribery, all of this was entirely legal. The law prohibits a member of Congress from “corruptly” seeking or accepting money in return for “being influenced in his performance of any official act.” That adverb “corruptly” speaks to intent, but it speaks vaguely. “Corruptly” has no clear legal definition. Absent evidence that the political contributions directly purchased the legislative results, quid for quo, both the contributions and the favorable legislative provisions were legal.

The Post story about Abramoff, Scanlon, and their Indian clients mentioned DeLay in three contexts: as a friend of Abramoff’s with whom the lobbyist enjoyed “a close bond”; as Scanlon’s former employer (Scanlon had been Representative DeLay’s press spokesman in the late 1990s); and as one of the congressional leaders Abramoff had persuaded to defeat a proposal to tax Indian gambling earnings in 1995, when he had just begun representing Indian tribes. Abramoff used the argument then that the tribes were “engaged in the same ideological and philosophical efforts that conservatives are— basically saying, ‘Look, we want to be left alone.’ With DeLay so prominently involved in this story, it quickly qualified as a scandal. Because Washingtonians tend to evaluate a scandal by the rank and power of those involved, this one looked juicy. A good scandal makes life richer and more interesting for nearly everyone in town—apart from the involved parties. The Abramoff scandal arrived with impeccable timing, after eight years of Republican control of the House of Representatives that had brought lobbying and money to the forefront of public consciousness and changed the accepted standards of behavior in Washington.

The Post is the house organ of Washington’s political class; virtually all its members read the paper every day. Its stories are grist for one of the world’s most prolific gossip mills. On Monday morning, February 23, the Abramoff story was Topic A on Capitol Hill and across the city. On Tuesday the 24th, a Republican congressman from the Washington suburbs of Virginia, Frank Wolf, released a letter to the attorney general and the director of the FBI asking them to investigate relations between the Indian tribes and Abramoff and Scanlon. On Thursday the 26th, Senator John McCain announced an investigation by the Committee on Indian Affairs, which he chaired. The reported fees paid by Indian tribes to Abramoff and Scanlon were “disgraceful,” McCain said. Now the story had legs.

In a press release on March 3, Abramoff’s law firm, Miami-based Greenberg Traurig, announced that he was leaving the firm. Abramoff had brought riches to his partners in the three years he had worked there, but now a member of its executive committee said Abramoff had “disclosed to the firm for the first time personal transactions and related conduct which are unacceptable.”

What did “unacceptable” mean? Abramoff operated in a world of huge numbers and vague standards. Lobbying in Washington is traditionally done on a retainer basis—clients pay lobbyists fixed monthly fees, regardless of the hours actually worked or the results achieved. Lobbyists are thrilled to get a $40,000-a-month client; $60,000 a month is considered a bonanza. Abramoff was charging each of his four tribes $180,000 a month. McCain and other members of the Indian Affairs Committee thought the lobbyist was committing grand larceny. “He was ripping off Indians,” was the way Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii put it. But Greenberg Traurig hadn’t complained about the size of the fees or looked very closely at Abramoff’s operations until the Post story appeared.

Abramoff had acquired a big reputation among his competitors for his success expanding Greenberg Traurig’s lobbying practice. In 2000, the year before Abramoff brought his large “book of business” from his previous law firm, Greenberg Traurig’s lobbying revenue had been about

$3 million. In 2001, it shot up to $16 million, then to more than $25 million in 2003. Suddenly, Greenberg Traurig ranked fourth among the lobbying powers in town. Everyone in the business knew this was Abramoff’s doing.

In the lobbying fraternity, reactions to the Abramoff revelations were strong. Nearly everyone was surprised by the amounts, huge by any standard. Abramoff’s competitors wondered what he had done for the Indians to justify those fees. Many sensed the odor of malefaction, hardly an unknown aroma in Washington. One man, however, saw an opportunity.

Gerald S. J. Cassidy, then sixty-three years old, had been a Washington lobbyist for three decades when he read that Post story. He had never met Abramoff, who was much younger than he and a product of the conservative Republican movement. Cassidy was a liberal Democrat whose circle of acquaintances did not include many brash young conservatives. But he knew about Abramoff, and envied his success.

Abramoff’s achievements at Greenberg Traurig came at a difficult time for Cassidy and the firm he ran, Cassidy & Associates. The same year- end statistics that recorded Greenberg Traurig’s leap into fourth place in the standings of lobbying firms’ revenues showed that Cassidy & Associates had fallen out of first place in 2003. News of that disquieting change appeared in Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, on February 25—three days after the first Abramoff story appeared in the Post: “Lobbying shop Patton Boggs replaced Cassidy & Associates as king of K Street last year. . . .” A quarter-century earlier, “K Street” was the location of many Washington lobbyists’ offices; the name had become the city’s favorite euphemism for the world of lobbyists. Gerald Cassidy had been in first place for many years, and he did not like being second.

Not that he was in any apparent difficulty. The numbers that described Cassidy’s business were all large. At the end of 1999 he had sold his firm to an international advertising and public relations conglomerate, the Interpublic Group, for a little more than $60 million. He continued to operate as an independent unit of IPG, and his fifty lobbyists continued to earn handsome fees. The “revenue number” for 2003, to use the argot of the profession, was $28 million. That was the total of fees paid to the Cassidy firm that were reportable under a law called the Lobbying Disclosure Act. When the numbers came out, Cassidy’s spokesperson told Roll Call that the firm had received an additional $5 million in fees that weren’t covered by the law, so the firm’s income totaled more than $33 million that year. But there was no avoiding the fact that in the official standings, Cassidy had fallen out of first place.

First place had suited Cassidy, whose life reminded some of his friends of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jay Gatsby. Cassidy was a self- invented man, driven to get rich by haunting memories of a violent, impoverished childhood in Brooklyn and Queens. “I remember evictions, repossessions, things you never forget,” Cassidy once said. “I’m a big fan of financial security.”*

Soon after Abramoff was fired by his firm, he met Cassidy. “Mutual friends” encouraged them to explore the possibility of working together, Cassidy recounted. He declined to name anyone, but others said one who helped bring the men together was Arthur Mason, a vice president of Cassidy & Associates who was also a personal friend of Abramoff’s. Mason acknowledged his role, but said he didn’t think he was the only one who encouraged Cassidy and Abramoff to get together.

In the lobbying world, nothing is more important than relationships. From a lobbyist’s perspective the best business relationships are those that allow you to ask a favor. Scores of Washington lobbyists have such connections to members of the House and Senate who were once their colleagues, or whom they served as staff assistants. Others sustain such relationships with political help, particularly money contributed to the members’ campaigns. But business relationships are not the only ones that matter. Washington is also lubricated by the grease of friendly acquaintanceship. Mason’s relationships with Cassidy and Abramoff are both good examples.

Mason, who was born in 1941, fought in the Vietnam War, winning a Silver Star and other decorations. In 1976 he ran for Congress in his native Massachusetts as the Republican challenger to Father Robert Drinan, a liberal Democrat. Drinan won, but by a smaller margin than usual. Mason then moved to Washington to practice law, where he got into trouble representing a New York ex-con and shady real estate operator named John P. Galanis. In 1987 Mason was indicted in New York State for real estate investment fraud related to Galanis’s activities. Mason pleaded guilty to one charge and spent four and a half months in a New York prison. Later he was disbarred by the D.C. Superior Court, which found “a wealth of evidence of wrongdoing” in a case that cost defrauded investors millions of dollars.

Affable, handsome, funny, and a good golfer, Mason had many friends. One was Sheila Tate, press secretary to Nancy Reagan, and to Vice President George H. W. Bush during the 1988 presidential campaign. Tate worked for Cassidy in a public relations firm he launched as an adjunct to his lobbying operation. She brought Mason into the PR operation in the early 1990s. His charm and ability to make friends quickly impressed Cassidy, a rather shy man. Cassidy decided Mason should become a lobbyist.

Soon Mason was successfully plying that trade as a Republican in a firm dominated by Democrats. As an ex-con and disbarred lawyer whom Cassidy had restored to dignity and prosperity, Mason was grateful and loyal to his boss, and sang his praises. “I have to be very careful about what I ask Gerry for,” he said once, “because he’s such a good human being he’ll do it.”

Mason’s relationship with Abramoff was social, not professional. It reflected the fact that almost no one who works in Washington has roots in Washington. Throughout its history the city has been a magnet for lone adventurers who dreamed of making a mark. Abramoff, who grew up in California, and Mason, a native of the Boston area, were typical of the breed. Like thousands of others, they came to Washington without a long list of friends in the city to provide support, and made their way by building alliances.

Such alliances can have many origins: people who worked for the same politician or in the same administration often remain friends and allies for life; southerners have always tended to band together; old school ties create bonds that endure; so do shared ethnicities. Abramoff and Mason were both Jewish. Abramoff was an observant Orthodox Jew; Mason was more relaxed about his religion. But when his daughter married an Orthodox Jew, according to several friends, Mason turned to Abramoff for advice on how to deal with his new son-in-law.

This led to their relationship, a Washington kind of friendship.

“Arthur was snowed by Jack,” according to one former colleague—the more so after Abramoff treated him to a half-day golf lesson from Mitchell Spearman, known as America’s most expensive golf instructor (fee: $600 an hour). Another colleague recalled Mason arriving at work at Cassidy & Associates one Monday morning in autumn, “bragging that he had been in Jack Abramoff’s box at FedEx Field” for a Washington Redskins football game the day before. The colleague remembered Mason’s enthusiasm: “There were senators there!” Mason liked Signatures, the restaurant on Pennsylvania Avenue that Abramoff owned and used to court the powerful and reward his friends.


Table of Contents

Part 1 A Magnificent Mind Starts with a Healthy Brain

1 Are You Wired For Success Or Failure? The Secret Behind Why Some People Achieve Their Dreams and Others Don't 3

2 A Magnificent Mind Starts with a Healthy Brain: Essential Strategies 11

3 Brain Envy: Eliminate The Daily Habits That Hold You Back 23

4 Hidden Short Circuits May Be Ruining Your Life: Learn How to Identify and Correct Your Vulnerable Areas 44

5 If You Were My Family, How Would I Treat You? The Four Circles Of Health and Healing and Why You Should Consider Natural Treatments 64

6 Natural Ways to Heal: Attention Deficit Disorder 75

7 Natural Ways to Heal: Anxiety and Depression 96

8 Natural Ways to Heal: Memory Disorders, Insomnia, And Pain 109

Part 2 A Magnificent Mind Makes Your Dreams a Reality

9 Ignite Your Passion: Light Up the Brain Circuits That Drive Success 123

10 Make Your Own Miracles: Use Your Brain to Define Your Dreams and Make Them a Reality 140

11 Know when to Apply the Brakes: Strengthen Your Brain's Internal Controls 156

12 Embrace The Truth: Liberate Yourself from the Lies Polluting Your Brain 170

13 Get Unstuck: Enhance Your Brain's Ability to Change and Adapt 183

14 Develop Mental Toughness: Cultivate A Resilient Brain 199

15 Brain Trust: Enhance Your Social Networks 220

16 Be A Maverick Thinker: Stop Anxiety from Allowing Others to Run Your Life 238

17 Create Lasting Trust: Send The Signals That Build Integrity 256

Appendix A When More Help Is Needed 267

Appendix B Why Spect? What Brain Spect Imaging Can Tell Clinicians and Patients 271

Glossary 283

References and Further Reading287

Acknowledgments 319

Index 267

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Learn the secrets of a balanced brain from a physician who has experience examining 50,000 scans of patients. Compare a failing mind to a brilliant brain and learn how to move in the direction you desire.”
—Mehmet C. Oz, M.D., bestselling coauthor of You: The Owner’s Manual

“A must-read . . . Magnificent Mind at Any Age blends scientific innovation with a clear and powerful writing style. Dr. Amen’s SPECT scans are fascinating, his conclusions are life-changing, and he provides practical health strategies you can utilize immediately.”
—Michael Gurian, author of What Could He Be Thinking? and Leadership and the Sexes

“I consider Daniel Amen to be the most innovative psychiatrist in America. His premise is simple: you can’t have a healthy life without a healthy brain. His dietary and lifestyle strategies for maintaining brain health are based on the world’s most comprehensive library of brain imaging technology. If you want a better and more fulfilled life, this book is a must-read.”
—Barry Sears, Ph.D., bestelling author of The Zone

“Dr. Amen is without a doubt our nation’s leader as a top clinician/researcher who has the gift of making the complexities of reaching brain health and potential understandable by everyone. . . . Magnificent Mind at Any Age is a gift for the baby boomer who is now facing how to live the rest of his or her life and for young parents who want to make sure that they are providing the best they can for their children and teens. Everyone will find Magnificent Mind at Any Age a great resource.”
—Earl R. Henslin, Psy.D., author of This Is Your Brain on Joy

“Providing brain basics from cradle to grave, Dr. Amen has written an indispensable handbook for handling emotions, cognition, relationships, and even our spiritual lives. It is comprehensive, inspiring, and user-friendly, explaining the most complex material in a way that’s easy to understand and, better yet, to put into practice.”
—Hyla Cass, M.D., coauthor of Natural Highs

“A user’s manual to care for our precious brain. If you have a brain, buy this book!”
—Mark Hyman, M.D., bestselling author of UltraMetabolism

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