We all think thoughts that we don’t want, thoughts that are harmful, that actually move us away from the place we want to be. This series is a “what” and a “how-to” for taking negative thoughts captive.
REVIEW
The last blog described the activity of the brain, and stopped at the first line of defense. When data comes from your senses, it flows through the brain circuitry without your conscious awareness. The first time you may be aware of your thoughts is when you feel the emotional response to this data. This moment is your first line of defense. Because the emotional part of your brain (the amygdala) communicates with the thinking part (the frontal lobe), you can choose to accept or reject the negative thought.
But what if you miss these first few minutes?
SECOND LINE OF DEFENSE
If you continue to think/feel these thoughts longer than the first few minutes, they will flow into an organ in the brain called the hippocampus. This part of the brain is what files these thoughts away, making them a permanent part of you. If these new negative thoughts end up being stored, they will become part of the existing thoughts that get stirred up the next time something negative comes through your senses. It kind of snowballs. But time is on your side!
Let’s say your spouse walks out the door in the morning without kissing you good-bye. Your mind takes that data and triggers previously-stored thoughts about similar situations. You feel hurt. Maybe this reaction/feeling has been a pattern for a long time, so it feels normal, and you’re not alerted to the fact that anything is amiss except your spouse! So the data along with the emotion, goes to the hippocampus and begins swirling around there.
The hippocampus works with other parts of the brain, taking 24-48 hours to do its work. During this time you have conscious access to these thoughts and feelings.
Here is your second line of defense. Your thoughts/feelings about your spouse failing to kiss you good-bye are actually unstable and therefore very changeable. They are not set in concrete! Nor are they yet part of you. You have another opportunity to change this negative thought/feeling.
You can reinforce it by dwelling on it and figuratively saying, “Yeah! I have a right to feel this way! My spouse is terrible!”
Or you can choose to change this thought, altering how it will be stored in your brain. You might say to yourself something like, “I know my spouse loves me; he/she was just in a hurry this morning (or whatever).” Or you can acknowledge that the experience wasn’t very pleasant, and then choose to put your mind on something positive that will happen that day.
When you can take your thought captive the first moment you feel hurt (the first line of defense), you prevent it from going to the next step on its journey, freeing up mental and emotional energy to focus on something else.
But if you miss those first few minutes and are still expending energy being hurt about the experience, you have another chance in the next 24-48 hours to change the thought by focusing hard on truth or on something positive.
God’s principle applies here:
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.” (Phil. 4:8)
If you don’t change or get rid of the thought before the hippocampus stores it in the cerebral cortex, the negative thought will be reinforced and will add to the bank of negative thoughts already there.
This process sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not. If it were easy, we would already be experts at only thinking positive thoughts! But while it isn’t easy, it IS possible.
What helps you to change the focus of your thoughts?
I enjoyed how you broke this down!
I believe that controlling our thoughts is the ultimate secret to success of any kind.
What we think about controls what we do, how we act, and what we ATTRACT into our life!
I focus on switching bad thoughts to good ones, the moment those unwanted intruders enter my mental house. We must kick them visitors out and not entertain them.
Loved reading this, thank you!!!
Hi Roshanda,
Welcome to my blog! Yes, I think we often don’t realize how important our thought life is. Taking every thought captive is critical. I’m glad you “kick” those negative intruders out the minute they come knocking!
I think I’m languishing in phase 2 at the moment – not in relation to anyone else, just feeling a bit down on myself at the moment. This too shall pass though, gotta just keep plugging away. Thanks for the useful information and inspiration!
Hi Marquita,
I don’t know what thoughts are going through your mind right now, but whatever they are, are they true ones? Just ones? For instance, I’ve often caught myself saying, “I’m so dumb!” Or, “How could I be so stupid!” or a number of other unflattering things. But in reality, I’m NOT dumb OR stupid! Neither are you. That’s not truth and it’s not a fair way of thinking!
And when we do something that is less than helpful (as we surely will, being human), there’s always forgiveness — even from ourselves. Sometimes that’s the hardest forgiveness to accept.
Keep “plugging away,” Marquita! “Meditate” on what is true!
Blessings on you, my friend.
Sherry,
Practice, practice, practice. It is the only way to catch those thoughts and discard them. I get a charge out of myself when I do catch them and am able to drop them into the negative or unwanted thought disposal. I’m pretty sure, by what you explained, that many thought do slip by. It’s tough being a human. Never heard my cat grumbling about the fact that I walked by and didn’t pet him. After all, I want to come back as a cat in my house. LOL!
Many thanks for a great post.
RICK
Hi Rick,
I don’t believe in reincarnation in the least, but I’m with you — I wouldn’t mind being a bird in my house!
I love your “unwanted thought disposal.” Good phrase! And it sure does help to keep practicing. The more we do it, the more the strength of our will increases.
And those that slip by . . . many have “slipped by” during our growing up years, others before we knew enough to catch them. But all is not lost — stay tuned
Hi Pastor Sherry,
Yet another fascinating article on the brain. This one really gets to me! The idea that if we focus on negative thinking or dwell on some situation where we blame someone else for our thoughts becomes imprinted in our brain is scary.
Now I will have to double my efforts to accept what I can’t change, and be more diligent about my thoughts! Really thought provoking insights here. It explains why it si good to remove yourself from negative influences.
Hi John,
Our thoughts are sooo important. As we think, so are we. I’m speaking to myself here, too. This is a human issue, and no one is immune. As we learn to take captive these negative thoughts, our minds will be more free to think the thoughts that God designs that we think — loving, peaceful, joyful thoughts. Blessings on you!
Pastor Sherry,
Interesting description of what happens with our thoughts. It is true that we can brush it aside and focus on something else. But what happens if our spouse is regularly neglecting us or hurting us in some way. If we keep brushing it aside and not letting it get to us, we may act in some passive-aggressive way or have an outburst of anger at some totally unexpected and inappropriate time.
But I do like the passage you quoted. If we can find a way to totally transform our thought process, to find what is good and overlook the impurities and negatives, our mind can really become so much more free.
Warmly,
DrErica
Hi Dr Erica!
It’s good to see you again!
First of all, some thoughts you will NOT want to brush aside, such as the illustration of being in the way of a car (previous blog).
Second, there’s a difference between taking our thoughts captive, and letting someone abuse us. However, even through the abuse, it’s how we take it in that affects us even more than the abuse itself. (Upcoming blog.) We can fold down and feel like a worm and that we get what we deserve, or we can take those thoughts captive and realize that this is not a good situation, but that it doesn’t have to affect who we are as a person.
And third, God can change us from the inside, so that while we take these destructive thoughts captive on the surface, He is working underneath to completely heal us of the unhealthy and painful reaction, memory, etc. I’m only talking here about our part in a total healing, a total thought transformation process, where there will ultimately be no passive-aggressive action or outburst of anger waiting to happen because it’s completely gone. With God, it can happen. And it does happen!!!
Hi Sherry,
This is a great break down of how our mind deals with our thoughts. I remember reading somewhere (eek, I don’t remember where, it could have been in men are from mars women are from venus) that 95% of what we feel in any given situation is remembered emotions from past experiences (or something like that!!). In any case I think you are right, we must keep the negative thoughts in check!
I also think that we take too many things personally… there is a lot going on in the minds of the people around us and most of the time, that forgotten kiss (or whatever), is nothing to do with us!
Great quote from the bible, so much wisdom in that book!
All the best,
Emma
Hi Emma,
So good to see you here
There’s so much subconscious stuff in our minds that influence how we react to present situations! You’re so right — when someone else responds to us in a negative way it may have nothing at all to do with what we said or did, but may only be indicative of all the garbage that’s stuck in their own minds. One good reason for learning to be tolerant of others.
If we could learn to keep negative thoughts from “roosting” in our minds when they first come into our awareness, we’d have a lot less negativity to deal with. That’s why every thought needs to be scrutinized before being allowed into our minds. Hard to do, but it’s a process. One that we’re all on. Have a great day!
Great post, Pastor Sherry! You have some really practical ideas to overcome these thoughts. I know that I’ve felt some of the things that you’ve talked about, and it is definitely a relief to know that we have as much time as we do to keep these thoughts from controlling us.
Steve Nicholas recently posted..Finding Your Pace
Yes, I just recently learned that — about the time frame, I mean. And thinking back over my life I can see that if I obsessed about something, it was far greater in the first day or two, and kind of dissipated after that. But this makes it really important to keep current on what’s going on in our minds. God gives us time, but He doesn’t force us to use it! Thanks for stopping by!
Pastor Sherry, thank you for the superb information! I loved learning about the 48 hour time period. The beauty of these truths is that we really do have a choice over what we choose to let into our minds. And because of that it’s so important to choose carefully what we put into our minds, and also what we dwell on. A book I would recommend (it’s a workbook) that will help your readers learn healthy thinking habits is called Thoughts and Feelings, by McKay and Fanning.
Steve-Personal Success Factors recently posted..See How Easily You Can Learn the Power of Contentment
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the book suggestion — I’ve not heard of it, but will look it up on Amazon. (What would we ever do without Amazon?)
Yes, so true — we really do have a choice over our minds. Although, sometimes we’ve operated by default so long that our choice is “deactivated” and needs to be “reactivated” again. But it’s always our choice. I love Phil 4:8 — “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.”
Hi Sherry,
Thank you so much for the in-depth information on the brain, how it operates, and how God has designed the brain to have “processing” time. I have to admit that from growing up believing lies about God, how He feels about me, and then in turn accepting the lies in my own heart/mind has caused me to remain negative; then that negativity turns into anger and bitterness—because if you believe that God cannot ultimately love you unconditionally, then you could believe that others would feel the same. Then, when you do not love or forgive yourself…..your body becomes toxic from all of the stress hormones. This is very destructive to the body and God wants to heal this because the truth is He really does love us eternally and unconditionally. He wants us to “know the truth” because that truth DOES set us free. I am learning this in my own life. I had a “stress-related” heart attack almost three years ago and it pushed me towards finding more healing in my heart/mind (because they are so intimately related). GOD IS SO GOOD!!! I love how you present this information and your care to take the time to do this. May God richly and abundantly bless you
Thanks for your kind words, Peggy! So glad you stopped by!
Isn’t it amazing how the mind and body works? I’m coming to believe that most of our illnesses are related to what has been happening in our minds. That’s a pretty strong statement, but others are starting to say it now, too. Since there is ultimate healing with God, and He works through our minds, it seems reasonable to conclude that our minds play more of a part than we know. Our thoughts can be the catalyst for toxins throughout our system. But it works both ways. Truth can also bring healing to our system. The amazing thing is that we always get to choose.
I am so very glad you sought healing in God!! You’re on the journey, and I know God will take you all the way through — see Phil 1:6!
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