A friend recently asked me if I would write a blog post about what to do when we are constantly thinking “ugly thoughts.” You know – the kind of sarcastic and rude things that you have enough sense not to say to the person right as you’re thinking them (but probably something that you’ll vent to someone else later on).
Well, goodness knows that I’m really good at over-thinking and just plain dwelling on the wrong things all too often. It’s part of why I was thrilled to have the opportunity to participate a few years ago in the Bible study Who Switched Off My Brain? by Dr. Caroline Leaf. It’s a book (and DVD series) all about the science behind how the brain works. Dr. Leaf takes a topic full of science and teams it up with God’s Word. It’s really an incredibly eye-opening book! She says in her book that, “Controlling your thought life is not about a destination, it is about a journey. The first step on that journey is to understand what a thought actually is, how it grows in your brain, stores memories and ultimately how it affects your health, whether positively or negatively.”
More on that in a minute.
But first, we all probably know this Bible verse that speaks directly to our thought life:
2 Corinthians 10:5 ~ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
And then there’s also this one, which tells us just what we should spend our time thinking about:
Philippians 4:8 ~ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Yes. God’s Word has a LOT to say about our thought life. The truth is: the only way for our thought life to be glorifying to God, is for us to take regular snapshots of what we’re thinking and hold those thoughts up to see how they reflect God’s will. Are they true? Are they noble? Are they right and pure? Are they lovely and admirable? If not, then we need to do some cleaning up.
God’s Word calls this act of cleaning up our thought life: renewing our minds.
Check out this verse: Romans 12:2 ~ Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
That’s kind of where Caroline Leaf’s book comes in. She actually teaches us how to stop thinking negative thoughts, and how to start thinking positive ones. Listen to this excerpt from the first chapter of her book:
“What’s in a thought? More than you probably know. Every thought has a corresponding electrochemical reaction in your brain. When you think, chemicals course through your body in magnificently complex electrochemical feedback loops. These chemicals produce electromagnetic waves which, if you could hear them, would sound like the most exquisite orchestral symphony.”
Wow! Had you ever even given that aspect of your thought life any thought (no pun intended)? It’s really quite astounding. Well, she goes on in her explanation of our brains to explain that each individual thought we’ve ever had becomes a little “thought tree” in our brain. Each of those thought trees (or “magic trees”) is made up of neurons. The more intelligent and accessible the thought is, the more branches the thought tree has. And you want to know the most alarming thing her book taught me? Negative thought trees look like thorny bushes. While positive thought trees look like lush and healthy trees. Big wow again, huh?! I sure don’t want my brain scan to be full of thorny bushes. I want it to be full of healthy trees!
Well, here’s the part of her book that might be the most helpful “nugget” for my friend’s ugly thought question. Dr. Leaf talks about how we constantly have thoughts coming into our mind. But, the only ones that stick around and become “magic thought trees” (negative or positive), are the ones that we choose to dwell on. If I remember correctly, we have about 60 seconds from when a thought first comes into our minds to either believe it as true and keep it in our brains, or to call it false and kick it out of our thought life. Sixty seconds. That’s how long you have to determine whether each thought is worthy of hanging around. Whether it’s going to take root and become a little thought tree.
So, when that ugly thought comes into your mind, just choose to recognize it as false and kick it out. If you are struggling with actually feeling those “ugly thoughts” about the person, then that means you need to pray and ask God to change your heart where that person is concerned. But maybe you’re just thinking something ugly that you heard someone else say. Maybe you haven’t really claimed it as truly something you believe just yet. Well, just because it pops into your head doesn’t mean you have to accept it as true and invite it to set up camp.
And how is it if we know if something is true? If it’s worth having its own piece of magic tree property in our brain? By filtering it through God’s Word, and asking God to speak to us about the quality of our thought life.
Remember: if our thoughts aren’t true and noble and right and pure and lovely and admirable and excellent and praiseworthy…then they need to be kicked out of the magic tree orchard. (You won’t find that term in Dr. Leaf’s book, just so you know.)
As her book states – controlling our thought life is NOT a destination. It’s a journey. The more we bring our thoughts before the filter of God’s Word, the more glorifying our thoughts will become. Don’t lose heart. If this is your struggle too, I’m here to tell you this journey of controlling our thought life does indeed get a little easier as we grow in our spiritual walk. But if you want to really get into the nitty gritty of all this brain chemistry stuff, I hope you’ll pick up Dr. Leaf’s book. It’s…thought-changing!
Well, goodness knows that I’m really good at over-thinking and just plain dwelling on the wrong things all too often. It’s part of why I was thrilled to have the opportunity to participate a few years ago in the Bible study Who Switched Off My Brain? by Dr. Caroline Leaf. It’s a book (and DVD series) all about the science behind how the brain works. Dr. Leaf takes a topic full of science and teams it up with God’s Word. It’s really an incredibly eye-opening book! She says in her book that, “Controlling your thought life is not about a destination, it is about a journey. The first step on that journey is to understand what a thought actually is, how it grows in your brain, stores memories and ultimately how it affects your health, whether positively or negatively.”
More on that in a minute.
But first, we all probably know this Bible verse that speaks directly to our thought life:
2 Corinthians 10:5 ~ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
And then there’s also this one, which tells us just what we should spend our time thinking about:
Philippians 4:8 ~ Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Yes. God’s Word has a LOT to say about our thought life. The truth is: the only way for our thought life to be glorifying to God, is for us to take regular snapshots of what we’re thinking and hold those thoughts up to see how they reflect God’s will. Are they true? Are they noble? Are they right and pure? Are they lovely and admirable? If not, then we need to do some cleaning up.
God’s Word calls this act of cleaning up our thought life: renewing our minds.
Check out this verse: Romans 12:2 ~ Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
That’s kind of where Caroline Leaf’s book comes in. She actually teaches us how to stop thinking negative thoughts, and how to start thinking positive ones. Listen to this excerpt from the first chapter of her book:
“What’s in a thought? More than you probably know. Every thought has a corresponding electrochemical reaction in your brain. When you think, chemicals course through your body in magnificently complex electrochemical feedback loops. These chemicals produce electromagnetic waves which, if you could hear them, would sound like the most exquisite orchestral symphony.”
Wow! Had you ever even given that aspect of your thought life any thought (no pun intended)? It’s really quite astounding. Well, she goes on in her explanation of our brains to explain that each individual thought we’ve ever had becomes a little “thought tree” in our brain. Each of those thought trees (or “magic trees”) is made up of neurons. The more intelligent and accessible the thought is, the more branches the thought tree has. And you want to know the most alarming thing her book taught me? Negative thought trees look like thorny bushes. While positive thought trees look like lush and healthy trees. Big wow again, huh?! I sure don’t want my brain scan to be full of thorny bushes. I want it to be full of healthy trees!
Well, here’s the part of her book that might be the most helpful “nugget” for my friend’s ugly thought question. Dr. Leaf talks about how we constantly have thoughts coming into our mind. But, the only ones that stick around and become “magic thought trees” (negative or positive), are the ones that we choose to dwell on. If I remember correctly, we have about 60 seconds from when a thought first comes into our minds to either believe it as true and keep it in our brains, or to call it false and kick it out of our thought life. Sixty seconds. That’s how long you have to determine whether each thought is worthy of hanging around. Whether it’s going to take root and become a little thought tree.
So, when that ugly thought comes into your mind, just choose to recognize it as false and kick it out. If you are struggling with actually feeling those “ugly thoughts” about the person, then that means you need to pray and ask God to change your heart where that person is concerned. But maybe you’re just thinking something ugly that you heard someone else say. Maybe you haven’t really claimed it as truly something you believe just yet. Well, just because it pops into your head doesn’t mean you have to accept it as true and invite it to set up camp.
And how is it if we know if something is true? If it’s worth having its own piece of magic tree property in our brain? By filtering it through God’s Word, and asking God to speak to us about the quality of our thought life.
Remember: if our thoughts aren’t true and noble and right and pure and lovely and admirable and excellent and praiseworthy…then they need to be kicked out of the magic tree orchard. (You won’t find that term in Dr. Leaf’s book, just so you know.)
As her book states – controlling our thought life is NOT a destination. It’s a journey. The more we bring our thoughts before the filter of God’s Word, the more glorifying our thoughts will become. Don’t lose heart. If this is your struggle too, I’m here to tell you this journey of controlling our thought life does indeed get a little easier as we grow in our spiritual walk. But if you want to really get into the nitty gritty of all this brain chemistry stuff, I hope you’ll pick up Dr. Leaf’s book. It’s…thought-changing!
Wow, great post, Jen! I've never heard of that book; I'll have to pick it up.
ReplyDeleteP.S. It would be interesting to know if anyone has ever tried to put those electromagnetic waves into musical form. Hmmm... new YouTube search!?!