MM#54--My Very First Nugget of Wisdom

Welcome to the theory to action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately, and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.


Hello, I'm David and welcome back to another Mojo minute. Now some of you have written in or sent me a text message or emailed me about thinking back to the first time that I wanted to share these Mojo minutes, or nuggets of wisdom with the world. And you know what, the more I thought about I thought, That's great idea. So quickly, let's go back in the day. And the first real nugget of wisdom that I can think about happened roughly about 2008 or 2009, some 11 or 12 years ago, I had just pushed play on a Tony Horton, workout video, you know, the Tony Horton of p90x fame. And I had just pushed play on one of his exercise DVDs. In fact, it was a it was a one on one exercise DVD. 

And so I'm warming up in my townhome jumping around loosening up, shaking out the arm shaking out the legs. And the next thing you know, Tony, and his, you know, very excited self is going on and on about this new book coming out from an Harvard MD psychiatrist. Well, if you know, me, and I'm sure some of you are getting to know me over these last 50 Mojo minutes, you will know I'm fascinated about good ideas, and about making progress in the world. 

And so, you know, here's my fitness mentor, Mr. Tony Horton, who helped me lose over 55 pounds back in the day. And he's going online about a book. And I love books. So I stopped everything. And I pick up my primitive smartphone at the time, which I believe was a Palm Pilot trio, maybe. How about that? A palm pilot trio. Yeah. Remember those? Wow, are those things primitive? Think back to your first smartphone. Anyhow, as we getting back to the story, I looked for the audio book audible.com, at the time, had just released an app for the palm TREO. 

And I thought it was a fantastic deal. And I signed up for the membership. And Dr. John ratty had just released a book. And this was the book that Tony Horton was talking about. And the book is called spark the revolutionary new science of exercise in the brain. And I list I download the book I listened with fascination about how Dr. ratty explained the relationship between the body and the brain. It was fascinating. It was mind blowing. In fact, it was revolutionary to me. And so I had begun to merge my two passions, exercise and knowledge. 

So the long story short is that was the beginning of my love affair with with books with audiobooks with learning with finding those nuggets of wisdom within each book, to help lead to help me Elise lead a flourishing life. And then as I grew in my book titles and researching nuggets, then I wanted to share them with the world and with you. And in fact, Dr. ratty in his incredible book, Spark has tons, tons of nuggets of wisdom in it. So be sure to check out the Mojo Academy for that Academy review we have on the site, but let me share just one nugget of wisdom with you. And let me start with a question. Did you know that exercise can help with depression? And as always, let's go to the book for a quote.


Quote, I tell you that going for a run is like taking a little bit To Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin, because like the drugs, exercise elevates these neurotransmitters. It's a handy metaphor to get the point across. But the deeper explanation is that exercise balances, neurotransmitters along with the rest of the newer chemicals in the brain. And as you'll see, keeping your brain imbalance can change your life. Unquote. And again, that's John rattie. MD, Harvard psychologist. Now, how fascinating is that going for a run, or exercise of really any type is like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin. Now, going for a run might be too hard for you. I know it's too hard for me right now. But, and here's the point. But exercising roughly about 70 to 85% of your max heart rate will get you to the point where your brain is engaged, that comes from the book. But in fact, some studies even show that walking 30 minutes elevates the brain enough to get it engaged with these neurotransmitters. 

Now, before you go out and start running down the street, like Forrest Gump, you know, I just started running. I'm gonna have to say be sure to talk to your doctor, even though some of you probably don't trust your doctor anymore. I get it. These, you know, all the trusted relationships are upside down during this COVID time and everything is everything is broken. But that is another conversation for another day. But to be sure, you're ready to start exercising, I would just recommend starting with walking, maybe walk five minutes a day, the next day, walk six minutes a day and so on. 

The point is moving our DNA, just like we talked about in previous Mojo minutes. And the added benefit. And that's the point of today's Mojo minute is because it's like taking a little bit of Prozac and a little bit of Ritalin. 

So in today's Mojo minute, let's remember that exercise is good for the body. And as we learned today, it's great for the brain. And as Dr. rattie explains, exercise balances neurotransmitters, along with the rest of the neuro chemicals in the brain, unquote. So I hope to see you on the sidewalk, not on the sidelines. Let's do this. Our brains will thank us for it. I guarantee it. And so does. Dr. Reddy.


Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at T Mojo academy.com where we have everything we discussed in this podcast as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on