Episode 353: Helping Your Kids Move From Feeling to Fact with Dr. Lee Warren

Feb 26, 2026

Dr. Lee Warren, a neurosurgeon, Iraq War veteran, and author, blends neuroscience, faith, and hard-earned resilience in this conversation. He explores neuroplasticity, how thoughts reshape the brain, teaching kids to separate feelings from facts, a three-second pause and thought biopsy, and how manageable hardship builds real capability and hope.

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INSIGHT

Thoughts Literally Reshape Your Brain

Your brain rewires moment-to-moment in response to what you think.
Functional MRI shows thoughts shift blood flow and neurochemistry within seconds, changing body responses like heart rate and blood pressure.

INSIGHT

Gratitude Redirects Brain Activity

Gratitude practice can re-route anxious brain activity to calm decision-making centers.
Lee Warren links Philippians 4's instruction to think about different things with MRI evidence of shifted brain activation.

INSIGHT

Feeling Is Not The Same As Truth

Modern culture often equates feeling with truth, but neuroscience and scripture both warn against that.
Recognizing the mind (you) can instruct the brain flips children from victims to agents of change.

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This episode features a powerful conversation with neurosurgeon Dr. Lee Warren about trauma, faith, and the science of hope. Drawing from his experience serving in Iraq, battling PTSD, and losing his teenage son, Dr. Warren shares how we can’t always control what happens to us—but we can influence how we experience it. Through the lens of his book, The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery, he explains the neuroscience of neuroplasticity and how changing our thoughts can literally reshape our brains. Together, they explore how parents can help kids build agency, resilience, and real capability by teaching them to challenge their thoughts, pause before reacting, and grow stronger through hardship.

Resources mentioned:

The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery by Dr. Lee Warren
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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