The Morning Mind: Use Your Brain to Master Your Day and Supercharge Your Life

Preface

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

—MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

A new day is dawning. As the sun rises, so do new opportunities to grow, develop, and improve. Are you raring to go in the morning, eager to jump out of bed and welcome a new day? Or are you hitting the snooze button, resentful of getting up to another day of tedium? Either way, how you start your morning is a decision you make every single day.

What if you could become the master of your mornings and establish a routine that supports you not just in waking up but also in defining and creating the life you want?

This book was written to help you make better choices about your mornings, wake up early and happy, and create the most fulfilling and empowering start to your day. Building a solid foundation for beginning your day will help you achieve success in every area of your life.

The hours of the morning are the most critical time of the day, and to optimize them we first must be aware of our internal 24-hour clock (circadian rhythm) and its role in our brain function. In fact, there is an ongoing biological battle between regions of our brain, senses, and nervous system that plays a vital role in determining whether we can successfully establish new and empowering morning routines. Our objective is to learn to master our morning and the rest of the day efficiently. Each brain region is vital to overall performance in life, and they are all interconnected and so are dependent on one another. Much of humanity is entirely unaware of the shortcomings of the structure and function of this most vital organ. Learning to master your psychology through a better understanding of neuroscience will empower you in more ways than you could ever imagine.

To begin, you must become aware of the conflict between two internal forces in your brain. These two forces are the Lizard and the Wizard, and both of them live inside your head.

Acknowledgments

The Morning Mind represents an integration of our collective experiences, research, life, volunteerism, and professional training in science and medicine. We have learned from and are inspired by many scholars, teachers, colleagues, family members, and friends. Each has played an essential role in our collective development as husband and wife and individually as professionals. We decided to work on this book to translate scientific research and culture into a collection of real-world solutions to help people understand how to use their brain to feel better and enjoy a more fulfilling life.

First and foremost, we are grateful to Dr. Michael Smith. In 2010, we met in Dr. Smith’s integrative physiology laboratory. He was not only our professor, he shaped our understanding of physiology, the scientific study of standard mechanisms, and the interactions at work within a living system.

As an inaugural Gates Millennium Scholar, I (Rob) would like to thank Bill and Melinda Gates for funding my education and taking on the really tough problems. Thanks to the American Physiological Society for your support of my (Rob’s) education and working to solve the major problems affecting life and health.

While the ideas and presentation of thoughts are ours, the scientific evidence and concepts presented are the work of many astute scientists, clinicians, and academic scholars who have greatly influenced our foundational ideas on human performance. We extend our gratitude to the many people who saw us through this book—those who provided support, talked things over, read, wrote, offered comments, allowed us to quote their remarks, and assisted in the editing, proofreading, and design. We are also thankful to our literary agent, Giles Anderson, who guided and advised us throughout the process.

We are grateful to the International Association for Human Values for allowing us to serve as volunteers and to assist veterans and trauma victims affected by stress and the perils of life. Special thanks go to our spiritual teacher, His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, for his wisdom and guidance in our lives.

We are tremendously thankful for our family for their encouragement and unstinting support during the preparation of this book: Camilla (Dear), Mary, Robert, Ashley, Shashikala, Pradnya, Prashant, Manoj, and Jagruti. We are grateful to our daughter, Rajshri, who supported us in spite of the time it took us away from her playtime. It was a long and demanding journey for our family.

Brief Summary of Parts

PART I: THE HUMAN BODY CLOCK covers the physical and biological aspects of mornings. We discuss the circadian rhythms of the body and look at what happens in your body as you’re sleeping and awake. It examines how different bodily changes affect you practically and proposes the best times to do various activities like exercising, eating, going to sleep, and waking to maximize your performance in these areas.

PART II: THE MIND AND BODY IN THE MORNING covers the mental aspects of mornings. We look at some captivating spiritual tools to help you get the best out of mornings, including developing self-discipline, forming new habits that assist you, and creativity through writing in the morning.

PART III: OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE REST OF THE DAY ties together the physical and mental aspects of mornings. We will look at how to make the most out of your mornings and other times of the day, preparing you for a good night’s sleep and a triumphant rise the following day. We cover exercise, food, sleep, hydration, relaxation, and meditation. Finally, we look at how some of the world’s most successful individuals start their day and offer you even more ideas and tools on how to master your mornings.

Introduction

The Lizard and the Wizard

The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts working the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get into the office.

—ROBERT FROST

OUR BRAIN CAN be divided into three distinct regions: reptilian brain, mammalian brain, and the human brain from both an anatomical and evolutionary perspective. We will explore how each of these areas plays a vital role in anything we do in life. Through a better understanding of our brain anatomy, the physiology of our senses, and the function of the human body, we can better optimize our brain and body performance.

The Reptilian Brain (the Lizard)

Located at the top of the spine, the reptilian brain, or R-complex, consists of the brain stem, cerebellum, and basal ganglia. This portion of the brain is thought to exist from the time in our evolutionary history when we were lizards, hence its name. It controls vital functions like breathing and heart rate and is also responsible for survival and basic emotions like fear. This primitive part of our mind oversees keeping us alive; however, it also accounts for sabotaging our plans and goals and frequently holds us back. (See figure, next page.)

Whenever we convince ourselves not to do something because it’s too risky, or we fear what other people will think, that we will lose something, end up bankrupt, alone, or dead, this is the Lizard speaking. The Lizard does not learn from mistakes and immediately reacts instead of calmly thinking and responding. Like a reptile, it is continuously scanning its environment to detect possible danger, and if it feels threatened, it rapidly becomes dominant, overriding more sophisticated patterns of thought and behavior. We experience this as panic and fear.

THE REPTILIAN BRAIN

The concerns of the Lizard revolve around supporting life: having enough food, being able to reproduce, reacting to sensory input and new situations, and establishing its place within social hierarchies. To manage this, it uses the fight-or-flight response. Its behaviors are automatic and instinctive, including aggression, domination, racism, deception, being cold-blooded, rigidity, ritual, and defending territory.¹ Operating from the Lizard can cause problems, from simple things such as unwarranted arguments with coworkers, friends, and family members to more complex issues such as world wars.

The Mammalian Brain (the Limbic System)

Journeying a few steps up the evolutionary ladder, we developed the mammalian brain when we became mammals.

The limbic system derives its name from the hind legs (limbs) of dogs to which it looks similar. It consists of the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the hypothalamus. When this part of the brain evolved, it allowed us to behave with broader awareness, for example, caring for offspring, making value judgments, developing long-term memory, and feeling in response to situations, rather than reacting only instinctively or automatically. This mammalian brain is responsible for emotions where a greater depth of feeling is experienced, such as love, empathy, hope, and other profound feelings.

The Human Brain (the Wizard)

Currently, we find ourselves at a point in nature’s grand evolutionary process in which we came from reptiles to mammals to the upright species we call Homo sapiens, the scientific term that is Latin for wise man, introduced in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, the father of modern taxonomy.² This epic process is mirrored during the development of the brain in a human embryo. The structure of the three brain regions develop in order—the reptilian brain forms first, then the mammalian brain matures around it, after which the human brain, the Wizard, forms the outermost layer of this complex and fascinating organ.

HUMAN AND MAMMALIAN BRAIN

The human brain is made up of the left and right hemispheres and the neocortex, the new brain. It is the most significant region of the brain, making up 76 percent of the brain’s overall mass in humans. This cerebral evolution opened the capacity for thought, language, sensory perception, and imagination, significantly expanding awareness, cumulative social harmony, and signaling the dawn of new human culture, a magical development worthy of the name Wizard.³ (See figure, above.)

Why Should We Manage the Lizard?

If you had to escape from a burning building, then you would certainly want your Lizard to be in charge, but if you were a firefighter who had to go into the same building to rescue someone, you would be far more efficient with the Wizard in command. Apparently, this takes training. Both the Lizard and the Wizard have their fair places in helping you think and make informed decisions. One of the remarkable secrets to creating productive and fulfilling mornings (and by extension creating a productive and fulfilling life) is in identifying the Lizard and the Wizard, being aware which is in charge, and learning how to modulate this at will.

Survival is the number one job of our brain, notably the Lizard. The ability to cope with life requires us to both protect ourselves from outside threats and adjust or adapt to life’s fluctuations and trials. Because reptilian brain coping functions help keep us alive, we are all born with instinctive and automatic survival behaviors. Because these are automatic responses, we do not even need to think before we act to protect ourselves when we feel threatened or wounded (mentally or physically).

Humans and all other vertebrates have intuitive ways to defend themselves when threatened or injured. The reptilian coping brain’s instincts are to either hide or attack to protect one’s life. One type of reptilian coping behavior is trying to show that you are stronger or more robust than others by using aggression, such as the threat of violence, whether physical or psychological. This could include, for example, asserting your dominance in a group of people or laughing at the misfortune of others. This Lizard behavior can be seen in students starting fights on the playground or bullies who threaten and hurt others.

Anger is another automatic reptilian brain response that is used to frighten others to prevent them from destroying or controlling us. When we display anger, we are not only intimidating others, we are also preparing ourselves for battle. In humans, aggressive behaviors and feelings such as anger increase blood pressure and heart rate by releasing stress hormones (to qualify for either a fight or to run away, also called flight).

Reptiles and all mammals, including humans, have reptilian brains that trigger anger to protect themselves and keep others from harming them or their offspring. Humans often get angry when their feelings are hurt, without knowing why. A good way to remember this part of our coping brain is to add D in front of anger. This is how the Lizard survival brain causes us to show anger when we fear we’re in D-ANGER.

Fear is an instinctive, primitive response to help us avoid threats, injuries, or death. We would all fear for our lives if we were hiking and came upon a wild bear or mountain lion. But we also dread things that we have learned through experience are capable of hurting us. One automatic fear we quickly learn is touching a hot stove. Another common concern is fear of spiders and other insects that hide and bite, as well as snakes and wild animals. When we become consistently fearful of specific things, we call it a phobia.

Revenge or retaliation is the Lizard brain’s urge to avenge or get even with others when we perceive we have been injured, threatened, or something is taken from us that we value. Revenge almost always leads to even more violence between humans since both sides in conflict use Lizard responses to increase their threat to each other. The Lizard’s urge for revenge leads humans to punish people or groups because we are hurt by their actions or words.

We know that a Lizard attack can quickly turn into violent conflicts or start wars between groups or countries. Revenge stems from primitive Lizard coping brain instincts, and if we do not learn to control those instincts, they can cause us to hate or attack particular types or groups or even whole cultures. In its extreme form, the Lizard brain in control can create genocide.

One of the most primitive ways the Lizard coping brain seeks to protect us is by joining forces with others. Among teenagers or adults, it might mean participating in a gang or competing to win or dominate another team in sports or other competitions. College or professional sports teams are examples of how the reptilian brain urges us toward tribalism. Most professional sports teams are named after and have fans from certain cities. When teams from different cities play against one another, they develop fierce rivalries, and the Lizards of these rival teams are in full effect when it comes to supporting and defending their tribe.

Being territorial, our Lizard instincts also cause us to protect ourselves and increase our sense of safety by securing a space where we live. This is why humans and other animals often fight to protect their family, home, or land. Lizard tribalism also strengthens our social identity by being part of a social group, nation, religion, or political party. Another type of territorial behavior is excluding and criticizing others who are different from us and outside of our group.

Lizard brain instincts go beyond what are needed for our survival. They include durability and protection of our own kind and species by causing us to select mates and produce offspring like our self. All vertebrates, including humans, tend to mate with their own kind. We have an instinctive urge that drives us to duplicate ourselves. We are often attracted to possible partners with whom we have shared qualities or desirable characteristics we admire. Hence, we have children like us when we create our own family.

The Lizard brain will be quick to categorize people we meet as friend, foe, food, or for fornication. While it can be useful to make these distinctions, the Lizard lacks a depth of understanding that is only available to the higher-thinking centers of the brain. Left alone to rule, the Lizard in control is often counterproductive and can result in adverse health, lack of control in achieving ones’ goals, and consistently lousy morning experiences. Humans would always act like lizards or alligators when threatened or wounded if we didn’t have other coping brain functions to help control the Lizard’s instinctive impulses.

Now that you understand how, and why, the Lizard operates the way it does, you can begin to imagine how accessing the Wizard could be incredibly powerful. Before we uncover precisely how to manage your Lizard, we need to look in detail at what is occurring in our bodies and minds first thing in the morning. Developing this insightful self-knowledge will put you in a commanding position to access your Wizard and reduce the influence of the Lizard.

We will teach you how to hack