“Toxic waste generated by toxic thoughts causes the following illnesses: diabetes, cancer, asthma, skin problems, and allergies to name just a few.”  Dr. Caroline Leaf.

How much do you know about your brain which is responsible for just about everything in your life?

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.  (Psa. 139:14; NIV)

Over the last several years, my reading has taken me in many fascinating directions–some spiritual, some physical, some business focused, and some into some pretty esoteric areas like quantum physics, energy medicine/psychology and the like.  I’m never able to go too deep.  Instead, I prefer to be a casual reader across a broad spectrum rather than diving into one topic very deep.  Actually, there has been a thread of continuity through all of those areas, and I suppose I would define that as an interest in what makes us the way we are and how we can make some basic “home improvements.”

One of the most fascinating areas has been studying some of what emerges from the latest discoveries and research surrounding the human brain.  This is a very dynamic field as 95%+ of what we now know has been learned only during the last decade.  And we thought we were so smart.  Isn’t it amazing how science keeps changing the definition of truth every couple of years?  Anyway, I have been wanting to do an extended series of DGs on the brain.  I know, I know…b-o-r-i-n-g!!!  Well, maybe so, but let me use an illustration by John Assaraf to help put this into perspective.

One of mankind’s most sophisticated creations is the F-16 Fighter Jet that costs somewhere around $50M per copy to build.  The pilots that fly that incredible device have to know that machine inside and out in order to survive.  He (She) has to know how every button works, under every condition while flying at Mach 2.  How does it operate in hail, sleet, snow, rain, day, night, fall, winter, spring, and summer.  Obviously, no effort is spared to train those who sit in the cockpit of that amazing creation. 

Contrast that to how much you and I know about our incredibly powerful brain.  The human brain has over 100 billion neurons and is capable of 10,000 trillion operations per second.  Makes the F-16 look like a paper airplane.  We all have an amazing array of “controls” at our disposal that we now understand would allow us to perceive the world differently and therefore behave differently than we do right now.  We have the ability to attain higher and higher levels of performance if we only knew how to use those controls that are immediately accessible to us.  Instead, most of us make no attempt to understand our brain and the results, not surprisingly, are much like what happens to an untrained fighter jet pilot–crash and burn.

According to Dr. Caroline Leaf, “Just on the physical level, research shows that around 87% of illnesses can be attributed to our thought life, and approximately 13% to diet, genetics, and environment.  Studies conclusively link more chronic diseases to an epidemic of toxic emotions in our culture.  According to the American Institute of Stress, between 75-90% of visits to primary-care physicians result from stress-related disorders.  Your thoughts can de-stress you, making you more clever, calm, and in control of your emotions, or they can do just the opposite!  The choice is yours.”

So, over the next several days, I would like to share some of what I have learned about our amazing brain.  I may interrupt the flow every now and again if something significant “pops up,” but there are at least five major sub-sections of the brain I would like to explore and some may take more than one DG to cover.  I hope you’ll bear with me and become as eager as I have become to receive the training necessary to be a successful operator of that amazing machine God designed for us to keep us out of trouble.

Prayer Power
Lord, the smarter we get, the more we realize how little we really know about this magnificent vehicle you gave us to navigate our brief time on earth.  You long ago anticipated our every need and made provisions accordingly.  Forgive us for the way we have recklessly been handling this incredible piece of precision machinery.

Link of the Day
Who Switched off My Brain?: Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions

Blessings on you as you purpose to apply some of the tips and techniques that have been uncovered and verified by the latest brain research.
 

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