The Secrets of a 102-Year-Old Doctor for Keeping A Sharp Mind | Dr. Gladys McGarey

So we have the inner physician, which can be contacted only as we contact that inner aspect. And that's what motivates and juices up and actually activates our brain, our will, our sense of who we are, what we are, what we're doing. No matter what it is that you're doing, if it's being done in a loving attitude, It'll mean a lot more than if it's, oh man, I've got to do this thing. You know, a grudging attitude doesn't help a bit. But if you're doing it and you're saying, wow, you know, let's do this, it's a whole juice of light of life.

Welcome back to the Kwik Brain Podcast. I am your host and your brain coach, Jim Kwik of Kwik Learning, and we help people to learn quickly with our Kwik Reading, our Kwik Recall, Kwik Focus, Kwik Productivity, Kwik Confidence programs. We know your time is extremely valuable. That's why we provide this show with no sponsors and also their advice where you could learn something in 10 or 15, 20 minutes max where you could use it that are very practical and proven and powerful things that you could do to upgrade the most magnificent gift that we have, which is the human mind. And, the topic for today is how do you have a healthy and a sharp resilient mind at This is something, you know, as, as we grow older, you know, we want to be able to not be absent-minded. We maintain our focus, our— the vibrancy of our learning and our life. And in this conversation, we have a very special guest. Her name is Gladys McGarry, MD. She is a 102-year-old still practicing doctor and the mother of holistic medicine. She's— she founded the American Holistic Medical Association. And the author of the brand new book, The Well-Lived Life. If you're watching this on YouTube and you're one of our million-plus subscribers, you could see a copy of it on the screen right now. This is a 102-year-old doctor's 6 secrets to health and happiness at every age. Dr. Gladys, thank you so much for being on the Kwik Brain Podcast.

Thank you for having me.

So wonderful to have you. Can you start by Maybe let's share some insights with our audience on maybe the connection between brain health and mental well-being and longevity. What's your perspective on these, how these 3 things come together, your brain health, your mental well-being, and your longevity?

I think the start of it is having a purpose for living. You have, if you don't have any purpose for living, you don't know why you're living. And it gets very complicated and ultimately can, you can lose your juice. But what I call the juice is that inner life drive force, which I call the physician within each patient that I work with. Incidentally, I'm not in active practice right now, but I'm doing consulting. So it's—

Okay.

So we have the inner physician, which can be contacted only as we contact that inner aspect. And that's what motivates and juices up and actually activates our brain, our will, our sense of who we are, what we are, what we're doing, and if we're doing it right, or what we're— what's going on in our Our world, our own personal world. And that's what we're in charge of. And the sad thing is that for me, the whole field of medicine has forgotten that. And we think that we have to have a doctor do something to us and for us. Well, they have things that they can do that are very helpful and really important and really good. But in the long run, we, the patient, has to figure out how we're going to do that and work it within ourselves. It's like my oldest son is a retired orthopedic surgeon. And when he came through Phoenix, ready to start his practice in Del Rio, he said to me, Mom, I'm really scared. He said, I'm going into this world. I'm going to have people's lives in my hands.

Yeah.

I don't know if I can handle that. And I said, well, Carla, if you think you're the one that's doing the healing, you have a right to be scared. But if you can do your job the way you've been taught to do it, which is amazing— orthopedic surgery is amazing— if you can do your job the way you've been taught to do it and then support the patient as they do their own healing, You have nothing to be afraid of. That reality of how life moves through each one of us and how we have not just the responsibility, but the privilege of living this life and living it the way we choose to do it.

And when I was reading your book, it talked a lot about holistic medicine and you being an expert. I was wondering, how do you approach the concept of lifelong learning? And what role do you think it plays in promoting a healthy and vibrant mind as we age?

Well, I'd like to take you back to the womb. I think the fetus, the baby, is learning as the mother is learning. I think that learning doesn't just start— it is activated when you take your first breath, but it's been going on As you and your mother have shared this 9 months, or however long the time is, living together and being one unit. And in that unit, there is this living process of learning which goes on all the time. And when you take your first breath, you take responsibility for it. Until then, it's been going on, but you've been— benefiting from what your mother's been doing. But at this point, you take your own responsibility and with each breath you do something new.

It's amazing, you know, and so learning doesn't have to stop when we finish school. It doesn't have to stop when someone retires. So in your experience, what are some of the— what are your favorite, most effective lifestyle changes that people who are listening can make to enhance more of their cognitive abilities, their overall mental health throughout their lives?

Well, one of the really important things is to realize that there are times when life gets so tough and you can get stuck. And if you get stuck, you're stuck because life has to move. Life is a moving process, and if we don't keep it moving, then it dies. So In the process of moving, moving your body, you have— your body's moving all the time anyway. Your blood's flowing, the cells are doing what they're doing. In fact, I've just had a whole influx of stem cells that have been given to me, which I'm paying for, but, you know, I'm getting because I think that these stem cells, which are the very essence of the cells within our own bodies, that are active and working all the time. Some of us can have an opportunity to receive sort of an influx of those. However, without that, the whole process is to realize that the thing, the things that we think about, the things that we want to do, the things that activate us, that make us feel like we are alive, Are the things that make us alive. If we think that we're not alive, then, and that everything is dead, then our whole being folds into itself and it dies. So it's always the process of looking towards the light, looking towards what leads you on. And I like to think of it as sort of like having a little flashlight and you're walking down your own special path. And that flashlight, you can just go as far as that light takes you because then you can't see any further.

Right.

But as long as you keep that life moving and the light process going on, you're going to be taking steps to fill in that process. So it's, it's a active realization of who and what we are and what we can do, no matter how stuck we are. We can find that little bit of light and move towards it.

And we want to keep that light very bright, right? So many times people shrink sometimes or dim their light. But, you know, you talk a lot in your TEDx talk, which we'll put a link in the show notes at jimkwik.com/notes. When you add love to it, and purpose, you know, to life, to learning, to labor, to laughter, then it really expands.

Love is the greatest healer of all. It's the essence of healing. It's what allows a person to really connect with another person. It's that love aspect that activates the life within another person. Because life itself is sort of like a little seed. It has a shell around it. And you can find one of these cells in the pyramids. You know, they've been there forever. But you have within that shell whole universe energy. The universe energy is within that shell, but it can't do anything until that shell is broken. And the only way that happens Is when love activates and cracks that shell. And so it's that whole love-life process that is our life process. It's what keeps us going. It's what keeps us alive. It's what makes us choose to do what it is that we need to choose. You know, it's that inner urge that latches onto something and says, yeah, that's good for now. And then, you know, that can change. We can find something else if we need to. But if we don't, we make do with— my mother's first state— one of her important statements was, well, just make do. You know, if you do, you take what you've got on hand and you, and you make it work. You move it. You have some activity going within it.

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I like to eat what I like to eat. And it's not always, you know, I like cake sometimes. I like chocolate. And it makes me happy to do that. You know, we each have our own. I can't tell everybody that they should stop eating chocolate or that they should stop doing this or start doing that. I think that there are certain principles That are really basic to the inner health of our body. And they're available to us. If you're not looking for them, or if you're all— if all you want is a really good hamburger every day, well, go for it. But, you know, it's going to be a little bit tough on your body. You know, these principles are there. Nutrition has been studied and restudied and studied again. But only if we take in the information that's there and make it personal will it be real to us. I like to say a good balanced diet is plenty of water, plenty of live foods, and foods that make you really know that this is good for me. But pay attention to that because some foods that are good for one person are not good for another person. So just to say that everybody should eat this, that, or the other thing, I think is maybe stretching it a little bit. But, you know, if you find that there's something that works for you, well, maybe it won't work for your brother.

Everyone's a little bit bio-individual. In your book, you address stress, and we know that chronic stress could potentially shrink the human brain. So as stress and anxiety have become increasingly more prevalent in today's fast-paced world, right, how do these factors affect our brain health and our mental health? And are there strategies that you go to to help manage or cope with stress?

Well, you know, life has points of stress that are really terrible sometimes, you know, and really can put you on the edge of just saying, oh, it's not worth it. If you get to that point, if it gets so heavy that you know you can't carry this, I pray that you have a community that is helpful to you. I pray that it's part of your own juice being activated to have someone, something that you can, some person that you can talk to, some way that you can share your love because love is the greatest healer. It's the greatest healer. You know, you can take an ordinary process in the medical field and do it without love and it may not heal. But if you have activated that process, whatever it is, and you really love what you're doing and you love the patient that you're working with, or you love the process that you're doing, that'll change it. It activates it. It's like that little seed. It takes the shell off and the life force of the universe is there.

Yeah. You talk about that in your other book, which I also enjoyed as well. And part of love is self-love. It's not just love from others. My experience that no love from another person is enough to fulfill that need that our spirit has to love ourselves. The book has a foreword from our mutual friend, Dr. Mark Hyman, who I believe you mentored also. He's been on the show. He talks about this, yes, your biological networks and certainly your neurological networks, but it's also your social networks.

Yeah.

The benefits that come from fostering strong relationships and how they contribute to a healthier, more well mind.

Yes. And I think it's so important that you, if you're at a point where you're stuck, look within yourself for who it is or what it is outside of yourself that you want to reach for. You have to look within yourself. To see what I call that the physician within you. And that's the one I like to contact when I'm working with a patient, is that active healing love process that activates anything that I might want to do with and for and about this patient, whatever that is. So it's taking what is available. Having the physician within me say, yeah, that's a good thing to do. And then take it on and do it, whatever that is. And no one else can tell you that.

And even when you're going back to labor and adding love to your labor, I feel like that if we could do what we love or find the love in what we do, we could add 5 days, you know, to our, to every week. 'Cause most people look forward to only, only the weekends.

Yeah, really.

So, Dr. Gladys, what would you say, um, as we, as we, as we wrap? And I have a couple more questions. What would be maybe 3 things, pieces of advice for our listeners who want to maintain a healthy, a sharp, a more resilient mind throughout their lives that maybe we haven't discussed yet?

Yes, I do. Um, the first one is Understanding that you're the one that has to look for this.

Mm-hmm.

Because if you're not looking for it, you're not going to see it. So it's the inner aspect of yourself that has to look for what it is that you want to do, where you want to take your life, even if it's the slightest thing, even if it's just like getting up and, and walking out through into the neighborhood. But that's that Active process of keeping life moving is essential. The second one is to have a community. We need other people. We are social beings. There are a few people that are hermits and like to live by themselves up someplace. That's in the Himalayas or something. That's fine. That's their choice. The rest of us need other people. That's why the COVID thing was so hard for so many of us. Because we couldn't do our normal stuff, which is hugging people and being aware that the world is there. And then not the last, but the third one is the whole understanding that love itself is the greatest healer. No matter what it is that you're doing, if it's being done in a loving attitude, it'll mean a lot more than if it's, oh man, I've got to do this thing. You know, a grudging attitude doesn't help a bit. But if you're doing it and you're saying, wow, you know, let's do this, it's a whole juice of light, of life.

I like that word juice because you use it a lot in the book also, people finding their and discovering and developing that juice. And one of the questions I asked, Dr. Gladys, of a lot of our guests is I'm a memory coach. So memory is very fascinating to me. And it's not just remembering facts and figures and formulas and foreign languages. It's remembering the things that are important, the things that make us laugh, our loved ones, the things that make life worth living. Talking about remembering, how would you like to be remembered? I ask this question of a lot of people, but how would you like people to remember you and your work and your life?

Well, I'd like them to be going down memory lane with me.

Okay.

You know, if you're up at night and you think, jeepers, I should— I have to sleep, I have to sleep, you're not going to go to sleep by saying you have to sleep. But if you realize that you need to sleep and you got to go to sleep, take a trip down memory lane. Cherish those moments. And quite often in my midnight or whatever memory lane trips, I discovered that there were times when I was doing things that, ooh, now that was really, really amazing. And whatever it was, you know, it was great. So as we actually look for the things that are great within our lives, other people will see them too. Because, you know, you're shining the light. And when you're shining the light, it doesn't just shine on you. It shines on everybody around you. It's like my 6 kids. I mean, you know, that ain't easy raising these. Because each one of them had their own opinion of what they were going to be doing and so on. And they were, but I, actually was so inspired by them. It's like my 4-year-old Bob, who came in and said to me, Mama, I know something. If I make a friend and he makes a friend and he makes a friend, it's going to go all around the world and come back to me. So of course, he's a psychologist, you know. And then my 7-year-old son, who came in one day and he says to me, I wish Jesus was here. And I says, well, I do too, but why do you want him? And he says, because I've got questions. And I said, well, uh, I'm here, maybe I can help. He says, you don't have the answers. And I said, well, try me. So he says, okay, how could God be if he never got started? And I says, oh, well, Maybe it's sort of like a circle. It doesn't have a beginning or an end. He says, "I knew you didn't have the answers," and he ran off. But he's a Presbyterian minister retired, you know. So young ones allow you to see what it is that they what they're reaching for. It's huge. But it's not just your kids; it's your friends. It's the people around you. What are they doing? What What's activating them? What's making them happy and laugh? When you can find yourself laughing at almost nothing, it's huge.

Yeah, that's it. That's everything. A Well-Lived Life. This book is full of encounters with Mahatma Gandhi, you know, to overcoming biases against women physicians. And as you mentioned, raising 6 children. Dr. Gladys has amazing stories to share and her 6 profound principles for living. If you want to find out more, check out The Well-Lived Life: A 102-Year-Old Doctor's 6 Secrets to Health and Happiness at Every Age. And so, we'll definitely put that all in the shownotes at jimkwik.com/notes as well as link to your website, to social media, to your book, to your TEDx talk. And so, Much more. I really do believe the life we live are the lessons we teach others. And so I want to thank you so much for, uh, your inspiration and your example. And, um, and thank you so much for being on the show.

You young ones, if all that I've done wouldn't amount to a hill of beans, young ones didn't take it up and run with it.

Well, I know a lot of our community is going to Go deeper with you and connect with you. And so I really wish everybody who's listening, I want to thank you. I want to make sure you subscribe if you're one of our 1 million YouTube subscribers there, or subscribe to the podcast and let us know what you thought about this episode. The 6 lessons, these are like the first principles for learning, for living, and really for loving. And so I wish everybody their days be full of that. Full of laughter, full of light, full of learning, love, and obviously lots of— lots of— yeah, lots of joy. Dr. Gladys, thank you so much.

Thank you.