- Do you continually ask yourself, “why do I do what I do”?
- Wonder why you react the same way when you really want to change?
If so, this article is for you!
Objective:
The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of how our thoughts affect our actions.
Introduction:
We really are the sum of our thinking.
Every thought on which you meditate or think about equals a physical reaction through the hormones in your body.
Dr. Caroline Leaf says that “87% of all disease is the result of what goes on in our thought life.” (Source)
Biblically, if you practice 2 Corinthians 10:5 and apply Philippians 4:8 then you get 3 John 2.
- 2 Corinthians 10:5 = Take every thought captive
- Philippians 4:8 = Think on good things
- 3 John 2 = You prosper in all things even as your soul prospers.
Keep reading to see how powerfully our thoughts impact our bodies and our actions.
Our thoughts may seem harmless but if the thoughts become toxic or negative, it can become spiritually, emotionally, and physically dangerous.
Here are a few examples of toxic thoughts that lead to chemical secretions that destroy the body & mind. (An in-depth look at hormones is out of the scope of this study but if you would like more information, please contact me).
- Anxiety
- Fear
- Self-Hatred/Self-Harm
- Self-Condemnation
- Anger
- Self-Rejection
- Rage
- Bitterness
- Unforgiveness
- Jealousy
- Envy
Satan knows the mind-body connection is real. While he does not know your thoughts (1 Corinthians 2:11), he can manage your thought life. Your thoughts control your body chemistry.
Overview of the Physical Brain
We learn through 2 pathways:
- From Within (Our Thoughts)
- From Without (5 Senses)
The soul is the bridge between the spirit and the body.
The spirit realm communicates with us using Theta brain waves. Thoughts come via Theta waves to our human spirit before going to our soul. These thoughts are from both the Holy Spirit or evil spirits.
Our 5 senses transmit information to us via Beta brain waves. For instance, “I am cold”, “The water is hot” or “Ouch, that hurt”.
The alpha brain waves combine both the theta and beta brain waves. From the combination, our personality emerges. So we are indeed what we think.
The true battle is between our ears because our bodies are simply responders to thought.
Facts about our Brains
- Right side of the brain controls the left side of the body.
- Left side of the brain controls the right side of the body.
- Size of brain is approximately 2 fists put together.
- Our brain doesn’t age. Science has shown that it matures and becomes more efficient as we age.
- Intelligence is NOT fixed.
- Your brain’s performance will improve 35 – 75% if you learn to think correctly.
- Your brain performs about 400 billion actions per second and we are aware of about 2000 of them.
(Source)
What Exactly Is Memory?
- Your brain is made up of nerves.
- Each nerve looks like a tree.
- The trunk of each nerve is an axon.
- Nerve branches are dendrites.
- A new branch is made for every new piece of information.
- Proteins are made and used to grow new branches to hold information from our thoughts (protein synthesis)
- The brain is made up of 100 billion nerves which can grow 15,000 – 20,000 branches.
- Our brains have 3 million years of storage space.
As you continue to meditate on a particular thought, more branches grow and the connections between those branches and the nerve get stronger. As the connections gain strength the memory becomes permanent. Thus, the more you meditate on a thought, the more you reinforce it.
The quality of the information or memories stored in your brain depends on the quality of your thought life. So it is very important to have control of your thought.
A strong memory can be a good or bad memory. Toxic thoughts = toxic memories.
Below is a CT Scan of a portion of the brain which shows the differences between toxic thinking and positive thinking. The toxic thoughts are much darker and they produce chemicals that affect our bodies adversely over time.
The positive thoughts yield a tree-like formation in the brain. (Looks like a Tree of Life to me!)
Important Areas of Our Brain
- Corpus Callosum
- Used for thinking processes
- Directly under our control
- Front portion is the location of Free Wil
- Prefrontal Cortex
- Responsible for rational decision making
- Brain Cortex
- The ‘trees of the mind’ are located here.
- All memories from birth to death are stored here.
- Hypothalmus
- Secretes hormones and other chemicals
- The area of the brain that converts everything in your thought life to a physical reality
- Determines the type of amount of chemical released into your bloodstream
- Ex: Fear = racing heart, sweating, etc.
How Our Thoughts Form
How Do We Form Thoughts?
- Enters through either the Theta or Beta brain waves (see pic above)
- Beta brain waves take in info from our 5 senses
- Sight
- Hearing
- Smell
- Taste
- Touch
- Theta brain waves take in info from the spirit realm
- Both inputs enter the brain in the form of an electrical current that travels along nerves through various areas until it reaches the Free Will area in the Corpus Callosum.
- This is the point where we either accept or reject the thought (2 Corinthians 10:5)
- Reject the thought
- The thought becomes like ‘hot air’ and does not penetrate the brain. It is gone.
- Accept the thought
- A memory is either added to an existing memory deepening the connection between thought and memory OR a new memory begins.
- Reject the thought
- The more you meditate on a thought (good OR bad), the more the nerve branches will grow. (Philippians 4:8)
When you are building a memory, you are also experiencing an emotion. The chemicals that carry the information from your thoughts also carry the emotion experienced. This is why you can physically feel a memory.
A ‘gut feeling’ occurs because our digestive system is connected to our brain via nerves. Small and large intestines are densely lined with nerves and chemical receptors that are busy exchanging emotional content.
When a bad memory is re-activated or triggered the thorns on the tree (dendrites) secrete chemicals associated with that memory such as fear, anger, or anxiety. When a good memory is reactive or triggered it releases endorphins such as serotonin and dopamine which make you feel good.
It is very important to think about what you are thinking about!
In just 4 days of thinking correctly you can remove the thorns from the toxic memory trees and create new healthy memories over them, It takes about 21 days to erase the toxic thought completely and replace them with healthy memories.
You can literally detoxify your brain and change its whole neurochemical structure through your thought life.
Decide to be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Romans 12:2)
More reading:
- What is Hope?
- You are NOT your disease?
- How to choose life when you don’t feel like living.
- Finding Hope In a Valley
