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When you see the word TOXIC for most all of us, that is something that we would want to avoid. We try and avoid things that are TOXIC to our health–that would include cleaners, food, toys, paint, etc. But how many of us will harbor toxic thinking without giving it much regard?
I have been enjoying a bible teaching series by Dr. Caroline Leaf. She is a woman full of the spirit of God and she is also a cognitive neuroscientist by trade. She is a knowledgeable woman in the field of science, and I have enjoyed listening to her series that correlates biblical teaching with scientific research. It is like the scientific world FINALLY caught up with what GOD’S WORD has been saying to us all these years!!
Much of her research explains why we should be thinking positive thoughts versus negative thoughts in our lives.
75% to 95% of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life. What we think about affects us physically and emotionally. It’s an epidemic of toxic emotions.
Most of us have heard the revelation of “positive thinking” approach to life. It is something that the “self-help” industry thrives on in our society. But this was a great visual to actually see how negative thoughts can actually cause damage in our brains chemically resulting in negative health issues.
The bible says in Proverbs 17:22:
A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
How true God’s word is. I know I have read about MANY people that have beat cancer and cured illness just by having a “positive” approach to their disease. Can you believe that God’s word is TRUE when it comes to healing ourselves from sicknesses?
Dr. Leaf gave a visual of what our brains looked like in a scan. Our thoughts appear as branches growing on a tree. She used a visual of a healthy looking tree and a dead tree. The healthy tree is how our brains are working when in a positive state. New branches form and they flourish and spread creating new ones, each time positive thoughts are processed. But for those that choose negative thoughts and bad thinking their branches would literally dry up and become dead in their brains. It made me realize the impact and importance of thinking positive thoughts in my own life.
God’s word says to take ALL thoughts into captivity. If we allow these thoughts to manifest in our brains, we are creating toxic trees in our brains.
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ
2 Corinthians 10:5
Thoughts are an electrical impulse. When we think a thought, it sends out chemicals into the body. If you are thinking positive thoughts it sends out “feel good” chemicals while bad thoughts release harmful chemicals that cause feelings of stress or fear. These chemicals affect every cell in your body along with your emotions and attitude. This in turn affects your physical health. If a person is fearful, anxious, or stressed this sends out abnormal bad chemicals which take a toll on a person’s physical health.
If a person is constantly thinking toxic thoughts and feelings this will lead to physical illness and disease. Research proves that unhealthy thoughts leave behind harmful waste in our bodies that cause sicknesses such as cancer, heart disease, ulcers, depression, and so many more. Your thoughts can either make you healthy or they can damage your body.
Our thoughts influence our physical health, our emotions, and our behavior. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” What you think each day will set the course for your life. The significance of your thoughts and the impact they have on your future cannot be emphasized enough. What you think is what you become. Think good and good will come; think bad and bad will come.
Are you a toxic thinker?
- Do you use the words: “could-have, should-have, or would-have” often?
- Are the words, “if only….” part of your vocabulary?
- Do you replay in your head a conversation or situation that pained you, or one that hasn’t even occurred yet?
- Do you create scenarios of the unpredictable future?
- Do you ever make comments like “nothing ever goes right for me”; “everything I touch fails”; “I always mess up”?
- How distorted is your thinking? Are you forming a personal identity around a sickness or a disease? Do you speak about “my arthritis”, “my back “my heart problem”?
If you CAN answer “yes” to these, then you NEED a detox on your thought life. How do you go about doing that? By changing the way you respond and think about things.
This will be a great series to help us retrain our minds into positive thinking. We want to get out the “junk” that is negatively impacting our lives so that we can enjoy and live life to the best that God has for us.
