How To Live A Fantastic Life with Dr. Allen Lyca

Break Free to Brilliance Ep. 61: How To Live A Fantastic Life with Dr. Allen Lyca

Tune into this week’s episode of Break Free to Brilliance for wisdom on How To Live A Fantastic Life. 

Dr. Allen Lycka suffered a near-death experience and sought renewal through the wisdom of human virtues that refocused him on a life of richness, appreciation, joy and service. He is now a full-time life-changing speaker, acclaimed author and transformational leader.

 

Seema Giri: [00:00:00] Welcome to the break brilliance podcast, where we have inspiring and insightful conversations about breaking free from life’s biggest challenges to find fulfillment and purpose. I am your host, Seema Giri, an international speaker bestselling and award winning author. Book writing, mentor and publisher.

I bring you real life stories of healing and transformational journeys so that you know that you can create life on your own terms. Our heart centered guests are the everyday heroes that you find in your backyard from mothers to sisters, to friends, to entrepreneurs and authors, join us to hear their positive and powerful stories.

So you too can learn to live with purpose and joy. Welcome to break feature brilliance podcast. I’m so happy to be here with you with another exciting episode. And our guest today is Dr. Allen Leica, Dr. Allen Leco. [00:01:00] Welcome to our show.

Dr. Allen Lycka: Thank you so much for having me. It is truly a pleasure to be here.

Seema Giri: Thank you. So before we get started, we’re going to do a quick grounding meditation, and then get on with the interview. So if you could close your eyes, be comfortable in your seat and take a deep inhale and exhale. And with every exhale I want you to do, let let go of any. Stress anxiety worry that you have, you have appointments after this.

I know. And I promise you they’ll be waiting for you when we’re done here, another inhale and exhale.

And with the next inhale, I would like you to bring your awareness to your heart. Might even wanna put your hand there to have that awareness. And I want you to think of a happy moment. it can be from any [00:02:00] time period in your life, including today. So just read that in and when you have that moment, relive it as if you’re living it for the very first time experience, the joy, the peace that you had at that time, the bliss, think of the people you were with, or maybe it was a time just for.

Just to embody that, breathe that in exhale. Now I’d like you to bring your awareness to the top of your head, which is the crown check and think of a second happy moment. Again, it can be from any time period of your life, including today.

Okay, take that in. When you have that moment, I want you to relive that moment as if you’re living it for the very first [00:03:00] time. Exhale feels the joy and the peace and the bliss. Think of the people that you were with and how that felt

take in a deep inhale. Exhale embody that. Now I would like you to

open your heart and mind now that they’re connected to what the possibilities are of what you will hear today, perhaps it’s for you or perhaps it’s for someone that needs to hear a message that you hear today from you. You’re the messenger. And I’d like to invite Dr. Lycka. And myself to become totally present in the moment and tune into the energy of what our listeners, our audience needs to hear from us today.

And with the next inhale in [00:04:00] and exhale, you open your eyes with a great big smile,

Dr. Lycka how is that little grounding meditation for

Dr. Allen Lycka: you?

You know, I love meditation and I love to be grounded in, the things. You know, I think it is an important part to people’s lives. I think people should spend some time in, in quietness. In times to do that, it doesn’t take long for people. I think people have a misconception that you have to say, OM, for a half an hour and concentrate on things for a long period of time.

It really, you can reset things quite readily by doing things in a very fundamental.

Seema Giri: exactly. Even just, you know, focusing on your breath and feeling your chest go in and in, you know, up and down, , for a minute to two can be tremendous, have, can [00:05:00] have a tremendous effect.

Dr. Allen Lycka: Yes, for sure. And, you know, I, I think this is a great stress reliever.

I, I think people would be able to get rid of a lot of their anxiety if they just spend that time to do that and let that stress go.

Seema Giri: Exactly. Well, Dr. Lycka, I wanna formally introduce you to our audience. So Dr. Allen Lycka suffered a near death experience and sought renewal through the wisdom of han virtues that refocused him on a life of richness, appreciation, joy, and service.

He is now a full-time life changing speaker, acclaimed author, and transformational leader. that is an amazing background, Dr. Allen Lycka. , So what made you decide to go into medicine? I always wonder when people go into a certain profession, what was [00:06:00] that defining moment that made you decide that, you

Dr. Allen Lycka: know, I don’t know if there was any single defining moment, but I was always, I, I was fascinated by helping people.

And helping to cure people. You know, I never had any members in my family that were medical doctors or things like that. I actually grew up in a middle class, , lower income family. I was the first-born son. So I was, and my parents told me you’re going to go to university because, , we don’t want you to work.

Like I did, you know, so I, I decided to go to university and I started to look at things I liked. My first degree was in psychology. And I, I liked that, but, you know, There was something about medicine that I thought this would be good. Now, medicine was extremely competitive. It was an extremely hard field to get into, but I worked hard, you know, instead of [00:07:00] partying on Friday nights, I’d go and crack the books I’d go and work hard at things.

And I was able to get my marks up to a point that I was accepted. And, , I was accepted first at the university of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. Soon after I was accepted at the university of Calgary in the Calgary, Alberta, and I decided to go to the university of Edmonton. So it was, it was a great experience.

I mean, , Medicine is a very tough field, even still to get through. I mean, to go through medical school, you work day and night for many, many years to become a qualified doctor. And once you get through, then there’s a lot of training afterwards. And the training afterwards is also very difficult. And then.

When I went through that training, the thing I found that I liked the most was dermatology or skin disease. So that’s where I went into that. And so again, it was very competitive and very hard to get into. [00:08:00] So I had to apply to a nber of schools and I ended up going to the university of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota to take my degree.

Seema Giri: Amazing. So, , we have that in, in, in common as well. And I think that was my parents’ trick to make sure I did well in school. Because they said you need to go into medicine. I didn’t have any other choice until I got into pre-med and then they said, you know what, it’s gonna take you a really long time go into business.

And I was, you know, I had to switch at the last minute, but , I can understand. You know, the pressures of, of studying. So with all that pressure and hard work, Dr. Lycka, you decided to leave your career in Madison to write your book, how to live a fantastic life. Why could you not have written while you had your career still?

Well, you

Dr. Allen Lycka: know, I was diagnosed. , terminal illness in [00:09:00] 2003, I was told that I had a disease called ALS Lou Gehrig’s disease. And, you know, that was a crippling, crippling thing. I was told I had six months to live. You know, when you go through something like that, you start to wonder and, , you start to look for things.

And fortunately, I was able to pro find the proper diagnosis, but it took a lot of work and a lot of things when you’re told by the world leading neurologist, that you’re going to. In six months, most people would just buckle in and listen to them. Yeah, for me, I said, no, there must be something else. And I went to my wife and she said, I don’t think you have ALS, I don’t think you have Lou Garrett’s disease.

I said, what do I have? She said, I haven’t got the faintest idea. I said, what do I do? I’ve seen every doctor imaginable. She said, you probably haven’t found the right [00:10:00] doctor. You know, so in 2003, something brand new was invented. It was called the internet. you know, back then it was primitive. You had to use dial on connections to get onto it.

Yeah. We didn’t have Dr. Google, then we didn’t have Dr. Yahoo then, but the thing is we had other things that got us on and I had friends that were nerds and they told me. This is we’ll help you. And I found a doctor in Colorado Springs, Colorado that had a disease very similar to mine, except he got worse, much more rapidly.

That doctor’s name was David Martz. And because of here, I’m here today, David was able to, , David. Was so sick. He got so sick so quickly that people from around the world were saying goodbye to David. And the doctor came up from Texas and looked at David and said, David, I don’t think you have ALS. I think you have something [00:11:00] called chronic Lymes disease.

I think you’ve been bitten by a tick and I think it’s mimicking ALS. David said, well, what do I do? The doctor from Texas said, you do need to do nothing. I’ll start you on treatment. And if I’m right, you’ll get better. And a miracle happened like Lazarus. He was a, like a, he arose from the dead within two weeks, he was back to normal.

Oh my goodness. So, so I went to see David in Colorado Springs and he told me some miracle words. He said, I think history is repeating itself. I, I think I can make you better as. So he started me on treatment and that’s how I was able to maintain being a doctor,  at the top of my field. But, you know, I was a dermatologist for 30 years and it was time to go into something else.

And I knew it was time to help people in more ways than just I was doing. So that’s where I decided [00:12:00] to step away. And my book came out in 2020. Just at the start of the pandemic. I was planning on speaking around the world, things like that. But at that time there was no speaking around the world. The world went into hibernation for two years.

Yes. And so, I started a podcast and Mike podcast became so popular. It then was it turned into a syndicated radio show, which is now enjoyed by 3 million people, a.

Seema Giri: It sounds like it was like the perfect timing, like for my books. It was perfect timing for you too, to be able to reach people in different ways where people really needed the hope and inspiration.

Dr. Allen Lycka: Well, and I, I think that was the thing that was going on there. And I still think people even need more hope and inspiration right now. You know, the world is in a funk. [00:13:00] The world is going through a mass grief reaction right now. I, I mean, every day there’s negative news. We have high inflation, we have high gas prices.

We have a war in the Ukraine. That’s so many people, there’s awful images coming up all the time and it is not a pleasant time in the world. And then we have. All this racial violence that’s going on. We have all this hate that’s going on between eight groups. That’s going on out there. So, the world needs help.

They need a positive message. They need a message where people can, get to another level.

Seema Giri: It is so critical. It’s amazing how, you know, I’ve had a misdiagnosis as well as we’ve shared that before, and I’m just like an ordinary [00:14:00] person. Right. I don’t have the,  expertise in medicine. I was really surprised to hear that even though your whole background is in medicine and you have, , you know, good relations with other doctors that you still.

A wrong diagnosis. It just blows

Dr. Allen Lycka: my mind.

 

. Well, you know, I don’t blame the doctor for what he did. It’s giving me that diagnosis. You know, a doctor can only know what he knows. He cannot know what he does not know. Right. And, and, you know, often things are not black and white. They’re often. Great. And, you know, as a dermatologist, I realized that when I looked at disease, I looked at it differently than other people.

I usually would look at a skin rash and say, well, this may be this, or it may be this, or it may be this, or it may be this. And so that’s what we call differential diagnosis. And I think the biggest [00:15:00] problem people have is they don’t realize that when things are. There’s many things, people, things can be.

And you know, the diagnosis of ALS is one where everything else is excluded well, back in 2003, people had not Herm of chronic ly disease. And even now in 2022 there’s doctors that argue that chronic ly disease does not exist.

Seema Giri: Yes. Yes. I I’ve heard about that, this in some areas, there has not been much advancement, but I believe everything happens for a reason and a lesson that we need to learn.

What was your biggest lesson from this incorrect diagnosis of ALS? The

Dr. Allen Lycka: thing I learned is the number one principle that’s in my book. And that is, it’s not what happens to you. It’s what you do with what happens that you have to be a [00:16:00] hundred percent responsible for everything that goes on in your life.

You have to take the responsibility for that. And that’s what I teach my students. That’s what I teach people in my classes. That’s what I teach people in my lectures. That’s what people have to know that you can’t be a victim. You have to be the Victor and you have to put yourself along that path and you have to make yourself do that.

Now, how do you do that? Quite often with baby steps? You can’t do it by giant steps. It’s got to be done a little bit along the way, but let’s suppose you want to change in your life. Well, all you have to do is do a couple of things. First. Choose a good book to read, eat better foods in your life. Don’t eat the, the crap that people eat out there.

Be happy. Choose to be happy. [00:17:00] Not. Look for happy messages, not for sad messages all the time, and your life will start changing and then you should start giving back. You should do something for somebody to today that you wouldn’t normally do. And if you did that each and every day, the world would be a better place, you know?

And I’m going to challenge your listeners out there to do something for somebody else today that they wouldn’t normally do. I’m going to challenge them to actually do something, not just listen to the message, but take it to.

Seema Giri: Take it to heart and take it to action. No, I’m glad you’re challenging my audience for that because you know, that’s what we need to do.

We were talking earlier about it and it’s, it’s the kindness. So if we can just extend one kindness, a small gesture, even a smile can make such a huge difference in someone’s else’s [00:18:00] life. We have no idea what the other person is going through and that smile. I’ve heard Dr. Like it has saved people from committing suicide.

Just a smile, just a hello, just a, how, how are you? It makes a huge difference.

Dr. Allen Lycka: Yeah, exactly. Like, suppose you’re in the grocery store, grocery store line and there’s somebody behind you. Oh, say hi to them. You know, say I’m hoping you’re having a fantastic day. I. You know, it’s surprising how many people will respond to that.

Seema Giri: Yeah. Since there’s been such a shortage in, workers at the grocery store at restaurants and many different places due to the pandemic, I’ve started thanking every person at every place that I go. Thank you for showing up today, because if they didn’t show up that day, it, I wouldn’t be able to do what I used.

Dr. Allen Lycka: And, and you should, you know, you. At a restaurant, you should always talk to your server [00:19:00] and you should always find out a little bit about them, you know, get their name, find out what they do. In addition to being a restaurant worker, find out little things about them. It’s an amazing thing, how the world is when you start paying attention to them.

Seema Giri: And the, and the secret is Dr. Lycka, it not only makes them feel good, but it makes you feel so good. So, if you’re looking for short shots of happiness every day, this is it.

Dr. Allen Lycka: Absolutely. It’s, you know, that little giving is what matters and that’s what makes us human beings that makes it a little bit of difference.

So again, I challenge people to do these little things on a daily basis, and then to increase them a little bit on a daily. Great challenge.

Seema Giri: So you talk a lot about enthusiasm. Why is that so important to living a fantastic,

Dr. Allen Lycka: well, let me tell you a story. Because in my book, there’s a [00:20:00] wonderful little story that, there was a carpenter and his name was Fred.

He had worked in the same job for every day of his life. So, after 45 years, he was tired. He could didn’t have the enthusiasm anymore. And so, he went to his boss and said, boss, I just can’t do this anymore. The boss was taken aback. He said, Fred, you’re my master carpenter. You have helped me build every house that we’ve built together.

And the entire years that you’ve been with me, he said, Fred, can you do one more thing for me before you go? And Fred said, well, of course, boss, I’ve loved it here. I’ll do anything. He said, just build me one more house. You’re the master carpenter. I will, I will do anything if you build me that last house, Fred said, oh, okay.

But he did it begrudgingly. And he. Could hardly get the job done. He dragged ass to work every [00:21:00] day and he didn’t have the enthusiasm there. You know, for the first time in his life, he produced shoddy workmanship at the end, a miracle happened, the house still passed inspection. So, he went to the boss and said, okay, here’s the keys to this last house.

I hope you enjoy it. The boss said, hold it, Fred, we’re going to have a. So, he called everybody into the office and everybody had champagne. They had caviar, they all wish Fred his, his, their best. And you know, the boss said, okay, everybody gathers around everybody. This is Fred’s last day. I’m going to be very sad because he’s been my best worker.

And he said, Fred, I’ve got a gift for you on your last day. Here’s the keys to the last house you ever built? May you live in it in the, all the enthusiasm you’ve given me all the years of your life. Now, the reason I [00:22:00] tell you that story SEMA is enthusiasm’s not a Bundy. It’s not a Tuesday thing. It’s not a Wednesday thing.

It’s something you bring to the game every day of your life. It’s the game changer. It’s the thing that makes everything happen. Just like for Fred, can you picture the magnificent policy would’ve built if he had the enthusiasm to do so? Well, he cheated himself by not doing the enthusiasm that he had there.

And enthusiasm’s a choice. Just like many things in life is a choice you can choose to be miserable or you can choose to be enthusiastic, which should you choose to do?

Seema Giri: That’s , it’s very well said, doctor, like, and the story really brings it into perspective that how choosing enthusiasm is so important every day.

And I never thought of it from that [00:23:00] perspective, from that perspective, before that you can choose enthusiasm, but it really makes sense that you can do that, so. While you were going through this difficult time. , like you said, it was when you were going through the ALS or the chronic Lyme, was it, defined as chronic

Dr. Allen Lycka: Lyme disease?

You know, that’s what we think it is, but the answer is with all these things, you never really know, but the thing is I didn’t die 20 years ago. Thank you. The important thing as I’m. And now is the time to really make a difference in people’s lives. As a result of that, you know, everybody, people should ask themselves.

Did you, do you live, do you love, do you really matter? And if you ask yourself those simple questions, you will decide what’s [00:24:00] important for you in your life.

Seema Giri: Exactly. But what I would like to ask you, Dr. Lycka. When you’re in that extreme pain, in that dire situation where you see there’s no hope how, how do you get out of that?

And, and is that the time also to find enthusiasm?

Dr. Allen Lycka: You know, sometimes pain is a good thing. Believe it or not pain means we’re still alive and you know, a month or two ago, I had developed a sore on my foot. And it was a painful, so that every step that I was taking, it was hurting. Now it came about because we were in Las Vegas and we were doing a lot of walking there and it came about as a result of that.

So I went to see a foot doctor, a podiatrist, and that podiatrist said to me, you know, I am so [00:25:00] glad you have a, so. And I said, why it’s hurting? Like heck she said, because I treat diabetics that can’t feel their toe and they have the world’s worst ulcers on there. And she said that is a terrible situation.

Because many of them are going to lose their toe as a result of that. So, you know, we should be grateful also for the pain we have. We should also be grateful that we have the breath in our bodies every day. We should be grateful that the sunshine comes up every day. We should be grateful that we can go out and smell the roses and the daisies.

We should be grateful for those little moments. You know, it, it. It is hard sometimes to see those things, but, you know, in our greatest despair comes our greatest hope. And I think you found that yourselves, that when you were going through that terrible chronic neurological illness, that [00:26:00] autoimmune disease and you’re, but guess.

That gave birth to the way you are now that gave you the other, you know, we can’t see the mountains of exaltation unless we have the depths of despair and, and those depths of despair are something that’s awful for all of them, but they often lead to bigger and better things.

Seema Giri: I totally agree with you there, Dr.

Lycka. So, to our listeners, I would like to say that if you are in a situation where you feel like, you know, you are in a depression or you’re feeling despair, or just with how things are today in our world, like Dr. Lycka I said, there’s always something to be grateful for. And. Ray of sunshine around us.

You just need to look a little bit, I know at this time it’s hard to see, but know that you’re not alone and know that, [00:27:00] you know, like myself and Dr. Lycka we’ve come out of it so we know how it is and it’s possible to come out of it. And through our books that you can read, you can certainly. You know, get, get some level of inspiration, just

Dr. Allen Lycka: take things and, and, and for goodness sakes, if there is, if you’re having a time, that’s so desperate, you’re committing thinking of committing suicide.

There are people that can help you get in touch with those people. There’s some in your state, there’s some in your city, get in touch with them. They will be able to help you through this desperate.

Seema Giri: And it’s okay to ask for help. I know many people feel that it’s not okay to ask for help. You’re not small and you’re not, you know, bad for asking that you need that help and tomorrow you’ll extend your help to someone else.

Well, we’re almost coming to the end of our program, Dr. Liah, how can people get in touch with you?

Dr. Allen Lycka: You know, the best way to get in touch with me is at [00:28:00] my website. It’s www doctor D. A L L E N Leica, L Y C K a.com. And if anybody would like a free 15 minute session with me where we can go through some discovery of your problems, I offer that as well.

My girl, Tammy will arrange for that 15 minute session. And really I’d love to talk to you. If you have something to talk about, you. Please, you know, I’m here to serve you and help you. And that’s what I’d love to offer for you.

Seema Giri: That is a wonderful offer. Very generous offer. Dr. Ike, thank you so much. So, listeners, please do take him up on that.

That is an amazing offer and it’s okay to reach out for help. That’s what we are both here for. And, you know, it’s we all have to take that first step [00:29:00] and small actions every day lead to bigger results. Dr. Lycka, thank you so much for being on our show today for in honor of our upcoming book, brighter side of the pandemic, I’d like to ask you, and I think you’ve told us, but I’m gonna ask you anyway, what was your brighter side of the pandemic?

Dr. Allen Lycka: You know, I look at these things and I say, geez, I was, you know, it was terrible that we had to spend time in our homes with our families for the first time that we were able to slow things down at our lives. You know, we’ve got. This wonderful thing called the internet where we can communicate around the world now.

And every day I’m talking to people on zoom around the world and it shrunk the world as a result of this. And I think the pandemic has real made us realize that we can do things now that we could have never thought possible [00:30:00] in years gone by. We have this ability now as a result of that, that ability we can use for good, or we can use it for bad.

It’s our choice. I choose to look at it for good. That people should always look at it for. Good,

Seema Giri: amazing. No, I totally agree. Thank goodness for I’m always grateful and being thankful to God for, for being born at a time like today, where with te. Technology advances. We are able to do so much more and not feel a hundred percent abandoned.

Dr. Allen Lycka: Well, look at what we were able to do in this pandemic. We were able to create vaccines that came out rapidly. Mm-hmm that were able to stop this pandemic, without it dangering much of the world. Within two years, we have gotten this reasonably under control. [00:31:00]

Seema Giri: Yes. And I think it’s the fastest probably in history.

Dr. Allen Lycka: Absolutely. So yeah, you know, that is an amazing, and many of these vaccines that have come out now are going to be used for other things. Because we now have the technology that can help us with other diseases that we didn’t even know that we could use now.

Seema Giri: yes. And that’s the best news that now the future diseases that are discovered that come have, that, has the shortened life cycle of, of, you know, discovering and coming up with different solutions for it compared to 10, 20 years, we’ve had to deal with before.

Absolutely amazing, amazing advance. Dr. Lycka. Thank you so much for being here. I’ve learned a lot and I’m sure our audience has as well. And our audience please, you know, look up at our other, our other podcasts and future [00:32:00] podcasts. We’ll have amazing guests on there too, like Dr. Liga. And you can look at our, listen to the past ones on your favorite child.

So until next time, next episode, this is SEMA. I hope you enjoyed our time together. I know I did through this transformational journey. I hope you could see yourself taking similar steps. Breaking free to your brilliance and creating the life that you desire. Please subscribe to our break free to brilliance podcast at your favorite listening place.

Tune into next time for another amazing episode.

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