July 1, 2025 • 39 mins
What would change if you truly understood the power your thoughts have over your reality? In this transformative episode, we dive deep into the revolutionary science behind how our thought patterns physically reshape our brains and ultimately determine our life experiences.
Neuroscience has caught up to what scripture has been telling us all along: we are quite literally what we think. Research from experts like Dr. Caroline Leaf reveals that up to 98% of mental, physical, and behavioral issues stem directly from our thought patterns. Even more fascinating, our thoughts create actual physical structures in our brains—positive thoughts form perfect tree-like neural structures, while negative thinking creates visibly damaged patterns.
We explore the remarkable concept of neuroplasticity—God's built-in design for us to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2)—and break down practical strategies for detoxing your thought life. From Dr. Leaf's five-step process to combat negative thinking to prayer's scientifically-proven ability to activate positive neural pathways, you'll walk away with powerful tools to recognize and replace toxic thought patterns.
The battle for your mind is real, but you don't have to fight it alone. Join us in discovering how to partner with God to transform your thinking from "I have to" into "I get to," and experience the freedom that comes when you align your thoughts with truth. Your thought life shapes not just who you are, but the reality you experience—isn't it time you took control of what's growing in your mental garden?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
it's good to be back, sure is I tell you what that
devil's been attacking ourschedule lately.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yes, he has these early mornings are crushing me 7
am on a monday morning.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I just want everybody to know every time I laugh my
face is still so morning poofy Ican barely see out of my eyes.
You might still have some sheetmarks.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I know, but it's worth it.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It is, it is.
I'm excited about thisconversation today.
I know what are we diving into.
We are diving into somethingthat's been really transforming
both of our lives not onlyimpacting our personal growth,
but I would say how weexperience every aspect of our
lives, and for our Double Doselisteners or maybe you're just
tuning in for the very firsttime the Double Dose is a place
(00:55):
where we walk out personalgrowth that's always grounded in
spiritual truth, and thisepisode is packed with all of
that.
I think people are going towalk away today with some real
fuel for their lives, and so ourtopic is you are what you think
, because there are thoughtsthat manifest as mind fuel, and
(01:18):
then there are thoughts thatsecretly grow as mind mold in
the back of our mind, thatsecretly grow as mind mold in
the back of our mind, and weneed to get really intentional
about what we allow to take root, what we water, what we feed
right?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, there's so much , so much, you know, content
that we could dive in to in thistopic today, because so often
people say that actions speaklouder than words, but the truth
of the matter is, actions don'tbegin on their own.
They actually begin in ourthought life, and so we mind our
(01:54):
actions, but are we minding thethoughts that we're marinating
on?
So, yeah, we're going to divein to biblical truth.
What does the Bible say aboutour thought life, which is
really who we are?
And then, what doesneuroscience say about it today?
And then, how do we actuallymake sure that we're intentional
to live a healthy thought life?
(02:16):
Because, again, like, it beginswith our thoughts.
Our thoughts turn into wordsand our words turn into action.
So actions don't really speaklouder than words, they just
speak to our thought life.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's good and you know, I think so many people
have heard you are what you eat,right, but you are what you
think might be a little lesserknown.
And I think, even if you'resomebody who maybe has heard
that hundreds of times, or maybeyou hear us say it and you're
thinking, well, duh, I certainlyknow that my thoughts affect me
.
I encourage everybody to stickwith us, because I think they're
(02:55):
going to be just as shocked asyou and I were to really
understand what the science andthe evidence is showing in terms
of how truly life-altering ourthoughts can be.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, there's a little book out there.
It's literally paper thin soeveryone can read it, even if
you're not a reader.
It's by James Allen and it's asa man Thinketh oh yes, it's an
incredible powerful book, but hebasically sums it up that you
are what you think.
As a man thinketh.
So he is.
And it's really a powerfulstatement because if we're
(03:30):
marinating, I think about likeJoel Olsteen, he would be the
epitome in my mind of he's gotso much positivity in his
thinking.
It just kind of comes out firstand foremost through his smile
and then just kind of how heteaches.
I mean I don't know that he'sreally ever marinated in a bad
day.
At least he's really good aboutnot publicly displaying it.
(03:51):
And then you can see otherpeople who just show up angry,
you know, and it's really adirect result of what's going on
upstairs.
And so I just love again shortlittle book James Allen on
upstairs.
And so I just love again shortlittle book James Allen as a man
Thinketh.
It's a really powerful readjust to get you grounded in.
(04:15):
You are what you think and youbetter be careful, then, on what
you think.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Well, and it's straight out of the Bible too,
right.
Proverbs 23, 7 says as a manthinks in his heart, so he is,
and spiritually, that versereminds us that real
transformation always begins onthe inside.
You know you spoke a lot abouthead knowledge and heart
knowledge, I think even over thepast two podcasts, and both are
(04:38):
really important.
You know our beliefs that wecarry in our heart.
They affect, really, you know,all aspects of our lives.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, they do, and you know, I kind of think about
just living examples of this.
I have so many differentexamples of how, if we're not
minding what we think, we becomeor we start to show up in a way
that is not who God designed usto be, and so one example would
be I can't control the thoughtsin somebody else.
(05:12):
You have no idea what they'rethinking, but this is the
reality.
What I have found in my life isI could be creating a narrative
in my thinking without evenunderstanding that I'm doing it.
The narrative and my thinkingwithout even understanding that
I'm doing it.
It is this subtle conversationthat's on autoplay in my mind
and I'm not aware of it, andit's looking at another person
and thinking that they'rethinking the worst of me.
(05:35):
Okay, and I have so many timesfelt an experience in a negative
way and I started to putlanguage in my mind to the
experience, to the situation,and I was so far off when
confronting the person to say,hey, this experience, this
situation, made me feel A, b andC, which is a direct reflection
(05:58):
of what I was thinking, andthey're like whoa, my mind
wasn't even there, and so Ithink it's important to
understand the negativitynarrative that can run through
your head on someone else isvery much not a representation
of reality, and just recentlyit's really become apparent to
(06:21):
me through various situations.
I had a teammate come to me whoworks on my team and was very
concerned about theirperformance.
And they start to role playwhere they're not satisfied in
their performance and how I'mperceiving their performance,
(06:41):
and it was a pretty doom andgloom scenario and I just had to
stop and pause and say where isthat thinking really coming
from?
Why are you feeling insecure?
Because the reality is this isone of my top performers and my
(07:01):
thinking was nowhere near youknow the mirror image that they
were expecting me to confirm.
So they're.
They're pouring their soul outto me and I'm like you're in an
alter universe, and so even that, like you know, I've had
teammates project their thinkingonto me.
I've had my kids project theirthinking on me, my spouse, and
(07:22):
then I've done it to otherpeople, and so I think it's just
a really good example to notonly mind our thoughts, to make
sure we're seeing the best inother people, we're seeing the
best in circumstances, but neverassume that you actually
understand what another personis thinking.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So good, that's so good.
Well, when we kick things off Ithink we mentioned, you know,
there's mind fuel and thenthere's mind mold, and you know
the reality is mind mold seeds.
I mean.
It's a constant battle everyday.
Right, because they're beingsown in culture and media and
(08:00):
people places, things, contentthat we scroll, even the people
that we hang with, which wewon't dive deep into that
because that's going to be ournext episode, right.
But if we aren't intentionalabout what we allow into our
minds, the wrong things willgrow, you know, without us even
realizing it, and I thinkdiscernment isn't just about
(08:22):
knowing right from wrong, butit's also about learning to
recognize what are the thingsthat are draining our spirit
right.
Maybe quietly draining ourspirit, you know, stealing our
peace and our perspective.
And those kinds of things cansort of grow sneakily quietly in
the small corners of our heartsand minds without us even
(08:46):
realizing it, and so that's whyguarding our hearts and our
minds is such a big deal.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, it's so true.
We can start to become theresult of what we see with our
eyes and what we hear with ourears, because that is actually
putting information in ourbrains and it's training our
brains.
I mean God is so good and Imean his creation is so
marvelous, right?
I mean you can't even put intowords how incredible he is as a
(09:15):
creator, and he created ourbrains with this notion of
neuroplasticity.
How do you say it,neuroplasticity?
Thank you, I struggle on a fewwords these days.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I find that hard to believe.
It's 7 am people, soneuroplasticity.
Yeah, plasticity, yep, whatElisa?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
said.
Anyway, he made us with thisbeautiful ability to renew our
mind.
Renew our mind, literally, thatis the process in which our
brains can reshape and adapt tothe information that's coming
into the brain.
And so, again, the guard is wecould be completely healthy
today, but if we get lazy or notintentional and we allow toxic
(09:59):
information via eyes, ears,people, television, music to
come into our sensories and intoour brain, it can rewire
positive and negative.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
But this is.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
God's grace when he says do not conform to the ways
of the world, but forever betransformed by the renewing of
your mind.
He built the capability in ourbrains, physically, to be able
to do that through theneuroplasticity.
Did I say it right?
Yes, yes, you did so.
Now science is even taking thatscripture that I just quoted
(10:32):
which is Romans 12 too, by theway what God is commanding us to
do.
It's just another evidence thathe doesn't leave us on our own
to do it.
He built us to be able to do it, and science is now starting to
catch up with what thescriptures have been pointing to
all along.
He built us to be able to do it, and science is now starting to
catch up with what thescriptures have been pointing to
all along.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, yeah, and it is a big term.
Some people might be hearing itfor the very first time, but I
think you did a good job ofsetting the stage on what that
is.
Do you want to dig into that alittle bit further, just so
people maybe who are hearing itfor the first time?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, I think it's reinforcing that if we fix our
thoughts, our brain willliterally start to become
negative.
Yeah, we form new highways inthe brain.
That's it.
Yeah, and it's literallyrewiring the brain and you are
what you think.
(11:23):
Yeah, and again, it's.
Science is proving this and Ijust recently heard and I've
known this, I've actually saidit, but I just listened to a
podcast on Joe Rogan and itreinforces this that, if you
marinate, he was interviewingsome psychologist who wrote a
book don't ask me who, but hewas interviewing this lady and
(11:45):
one of her profound openingstatements in her book,
apparently, is that a problemwill be the size in which you
put your mind to it.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
That's good will be the size in which you put your
mind to it, and so you.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Basically, if you marinate on a problem, the
problem becomes exponentiallybigger, for sure, if you believe
Been there, done that.
Right.
And if you believe that theproblem will resolve, the
problem becomes so small.
And so, again, if we thinkpositively, if we believe, god
says if you believe, anything ispossible.
(12:17):
And so when we think about whatGod has in store for us, we are
limiting ourselves based onstinking thinking or fruitful
thinking, and so don't let themold grow.
Believe that God has the bestthings for you.
And I'm not just talking aboutyour dreams, I'm talking about
(12:39):
in relationships.
I mean, I've had relationshipsthat have been spoiled and I
have literally leaned into mythought life on that
relationship and I've had to askmyself am I sowing negativity,
even in my mental capacity,towards that person, even in my
mental capacity towards thatperson?
Meaning I'm replaying over andover and over again you know,
the continued negative narrativethat this relationship will
(13:02):
never be restored or repaired,or am I actually starting to
imagine in my mind that we havea fully restored relationship?
And I'm telling you time andtime again, whatever I start to
imagine in my head becomes thefruit that I experienced.
Relationships are restored, Iget the promotion, I have new
(13:25):
opportunities in relationships,new friends coming my way.
I mean it's just endless.
The amount like your lifereflects literally what you
think.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Oh, absolutely, and there's countless studies and so
many neuroscientists who havereally dug deep into this.
I follow Dr Andrew Huberman.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I don't know if you do online.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
He's an incredible neuroscientist and professor and
he does a pretty good job ofbreaking down complex science in
a way that's practical andaccessible, although I will say
sometimes I do have to hitrewind three or four times
because the guy is wicked smart,but he speaks a lot about what
you've mentioned several times,which is what you think on
(14:06):
literally rewires your neuralpathways.
But get this.
So this is a fascinating study.
Dr Caroline Leaf, who is acognitive neuroscientist and
also a believer, she actuallyhas done tons of research and
she describes our thoughts asthese physical, like real
(14:31):
physical things that take upmental real estate in our minds,
which I think is an incrediblevisual right, because it it it
helps to remind us that ourminds and our brains are this
finite.
You know, sacred space.
So, if it's taking up physicalreal estate, then it helps you
(14:51):
to be a little bit moreintentional about how you fill
it up right.
But her research found that 75%to 98% of all mental, physical
and behavioral illnesses stemdirectly from our thoughts.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Huge like warning, right yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I mean, I can't believe that stat and listen.
I mean, like most studies, I'msure it's been, you know,
debated and critiqued, right,but but regardless of whether
you lean into that exact figure,the bigger truth still remains,
yeah, and that is you know thatour thoughts directly impact
really every aspect of our lives.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, Just leaning into Dr Leaf, I mean she does a
couple more things too I thinkit's 95% meaning that we have
God has given us the ability toonly allow 5% negative thinking
into our brains, and it's almostlike a protective barrier that
anything greater than 5% erodespretty quickly.
(15:57):
It's so destructive.
So there's like a protectionboundary in our brain that
starts to shut off our brains sowe don't go into toxic,
negative thinking overload.
Now the warning on that is, ifyou are depressed, if you are
suffering from mass anxiety andthat is, if you are depressed,
(16:26):
if you are suffering from massanxiety and you're in that rut
and stuck, the warning is likeGod's bringing you down to
actually give you relational,one-on-one relational capacity
to bring you back up.
And so the hope is that as soonas we start to decide decision,
the decision is how do I beginto renew my thinking?
Because God will again allow mybrain to heal and then reshape
back towards the positive path.
It's such a promise to usBecause I've been in periods
(16:47):
where I've been stuck and thenin his sovereignty, the stuck is
almost the protective barrierto then say, okay, now let's
wake up, right?
He says awake from your slumber, awake from your sleep, now
let's start renewing our mind.
And the other thing that I'm avery visual person Dr Lee talks
about is the thoughts take upphysical space in our brain.
(17:09):
As you've described, it'sactually a tree-like structure.
So every time we form a thought, the cell looks like a tree.
Is that the neural pathway part?
It's the actual cell itself.
As you have a new thought, acell gets created in your brain
and the shape of a healthythought is a perfect tree-like
(17:30):
structure.
So think you got the.
What's it called the trunk.
Is it the trunk?
The trunk on the tree with thebranches that come off?
Need more coffee?
I know it's a perfect structure.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
If you think something negative, they can
visually see the cell structure.
It's a broken tree.
Is that not powerful?
Amazing?
Take it one step further andwe'll get into this on how do we
actually renew our mind?
In a little bit.
But they did a study, a globalstudy, and they started to
understand what is the effect ofprayer.
(18:07):
Okay, yeah, and they surveyedall world religions, including
those that claim to be agnosticor atheist.
And when you go into quoteunquote meditation or prayer
time, there was a phenomenonthat took place when you pray to
Jesus Christ.
It was a superhighway, as theydescribed, got opened up to the
(18:27):
brain and healthy, tree-likestructure thoughts were just
being downloaded into the humanbrain.
Tree-like structure thoughtswere just being downloaded into
the human brain.
So we can now look at thescience and we can measure the
quality of our thought life,which is absolutely
mind-boggling.
It really is Amen, yeah, and youknow, dr Amen is another one.
(18:49):
He does a lot of work on how doyou raise mentally strong kids,
and just, he's a neuroscientistas well and he he focuses in on
3d imaging of the brain and hehe surveys to see what's
unhealthy versus healthy, andagain, same thing.
You know, supporting DrCaroline Leaf's work as well, is
this notion that we can trulyreprogram our brain and to be
(19:15):
aware what we allow in throughour eyes and ears, because our
brains are always listening.
That's what he says.
He says our brains are alwayslistening, so make sure we guard
them up.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So good, so good.
Romans 12 says Be transformedby the renewing of your mind,
and science is catching up towhat Scripture's been saying all
along.
Reinforcing it.
Yeah, romans 8, 5 through 6actually takes that even further
.
Those who live according to theflesh have their minds set on
what the flesh desires, butthose who live in accordance
(19:47):
with the spirit have their mindsset on what the spirit desires.
The mind governed by the fleshis death, but the mind governed
by the spirit is life and peace.
So, again, what we set ourminds on determines our life
experience.
Right, what we live in, youknow, peace or chaos, fear or
freedom.
And so the hope is that iftoxic thinking can negatively
(20:11):
impact us, then the flip side isalso true, right, if we're
intentional about healthythinking, then that can lend
itself to healing, right, andhope and forward trajectory.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
What I love is the notion of self-fulfilling
prophecy Meaning.
Again, we call itself-fulfilling prophecy because
what we think will manifest.
True, that's right.
And so again, good or bad,you're going to manifest what
you think.
And so how do we break thesetoxic cycles?
Right, and I love Dr CarolineLeaf's approach.
(20:48):
It's a 21 day detox of thebrain.
So typically, when I thinkdetox, I'm like cut the sugar,
go in the sauna, you know nowine, like I'm going to go clean
.
Well, this is really detoxingyour thoughts on what's really
not serving you well, andthere's five steps to it.
And so you want to break in tothe five steps, please?
(21:10):
Yeah, so the first step isgather awareness.
So are we even aware of whatwe're allowing?
Just to the narrative that'srunning rampant in our head.
And so, first and foremost,I'll just use a simple example.
I used to not work out, and Iused to have this notion, when I
first started working out, thatI have to work out, and then
(21:33):
there would be this drudgerythat's going on in my head.
I'm not even realizing what'shappening.
And then, all of a sudden, Iwould just drag myself down to
the gym and I would startworking out.
But the notion is why is it?
Why is it that that's actuallyhappening?
Am I aware that I have thisnegative perception in my
(21:53):
thought life that working out isa bad thing, when we know that
we need to work out?
We need to strength train?
It strengthens our bones weneed to do cardio.
It strengthens our heart, itincreases longevity, it gives us
more energy, it reduces stressthe benefits of physical
activity we all know, right,yeah, okay.
(22:15):
So why is it, though, that mythought life is negative on
working out?
Okay, so that's where we don'tjust take the thought at surface
value.
We have to reflect on it.
We have to start saying why doI believe that this thing is the
way it is?
Why do I believe this persondoesn't like me?
(22:35):
Why do I believe working out isbad?
Continuing in on that example,and for me, working out.
I was never raised in a healthconscious environment, meaning
the only thing that I was taughtabout the physical appearance
is that you had to be skinny.
Okay, skinny people get furtherin life.
Like this is what was ingrainedinto my psyche as a child.
(22:58):
Okay, but it wasn't about thenutrition that I fed my body.
It wasn't about working out andbeing physically fit.
And so if you were going towork out, that was like a chore.
And so at a very early age theinfluence around me was modeling
that working out was bad.
And so I had a lie, a belief.
(23:19):
That was a lie like no, workingout's really good.
And so once you reflect and youcan understand where the lie is
coming from, that's not servingyou.
You can literally write it down, and it's 40 to 50% higher
probability that you're going tobe successful in retraining
your brain if you actually writeout journal what you're
(23:42):
realizing.
So I don't like to work out.
Where is it coming from?
It came from my childhood and Iwasn't encouraged to have
physical fitness as a priorityin my life.
Well, what does God say about it?
You got to start to reframe itin truth.
Well, god says that our bodiesare a vessel for him, that the
Holy Spirit lives and dwells inus, and that we really need to
care and feed for this templethat the Holy Spirit lives
(24:04):
inside so we can live out thepurposes that God has intended
for us.
And so write that scripturedown.
It's actually 1 Corinthians6.19.
And so now you're going tostart to retrain your brain to
unwind the belief of the lie,and then you're going to put it
into practice.
And what does that mean?
Every time something comesagainst physical activity, it's
(24:27):
not I have to, it's I get to.
That's right.
And it's because when I chooseto be obedient to what the
Lord's calling me to do, I getto do more for Him.
And it's the reward system andit's reframing the lie into His
truth, anchored in Scripture.
And you reach for it.
It's called the daily reach andyou reach for it throughout the
(24:48):
day and you just on repeat.
So again, gather the awarenessto what you're thinking, reflect
on it, understand where it.
Gather the awareness to whatyou're thinking, reflect on it,
understand where it's comingfrom, write it down, okay,
reframe it anchored in scriptureand then actively reach,
actively start to train yourbrain to think differently.
So that would be the five-stepprogram from Dr Caroline Leaf.
(25:10):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I get to is such a game changer right Instead of I
have to?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, Do you have an example where you're living that
out?
So I kind of reflected on myworkout example.
What's something that you'vehad to retrain your thinking on?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Oh, things like this right, like just kind of
stepping out, putting yourselfout there speaking at the church
, public speaking in general.
I get this opportunity to youknow, hone my skills to level up
to practice.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It's such a beautiful thing because I'm so glad
that's the one that you leanedinto you, seemed to know I was
going to say that Well this isso true.
You know me well to know I wasgoing to say that.
Well, this is so true.
You know me well.
You, when you're thinking aboutyour self-public speaking, it's
I can't, I'm not equipped orskilled.
(26:04):
The list goes on, and first dayI met you, a couple of years
ago, I'm like you were made tospeak to people.
You have a beautiful voice, anice tone, you have a presence
about you, you're filled withgrace and it's just a perfect
example where we sometimes arethinking blocks what God's
actually put in us.
(26:24):
Sure does.
And it does take other people tocall it forward.
So I would also say gatheringawareness is sometimes listening
to the people around you whosee you.
If they're calling somethingout in you, believe them.
That's right.
You don't have to believe it inyour own instinct, meaning they
said it, I believe it but trustthat God is speaking through
(26:46):
them and be curious to exploreit.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Oh, that's so good.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Right.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And it also makes me think of Philippians 4, 8, where
he reminds us and I'm going toparaphrase whatever is true,
pure, lovely noble, all the goodthings, think on those things.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
That's so good, that's so good.
Speaking of Dr Amen, again, hehas a similar process to Dr Leaf
.
It's called the ant.
Yes, you heard that right, theant process.
So automatic negative thoughts.
Okay, and so we don't evenrealize how much these thoughts
are assaulting us throughout theday and it's literally slowing
(27:25):
down to kill the ant If you havea negative thought.
Going directly back to what youjust said, philippians 4a, you
know fix your thoughts on thethings that are pure and lovely
and noble, and all the thingsExcellent, excellent, excellent,
praiseworthy.
Yeah, if it is not, if yourthought is not in that bucket,
(27:45):
it should not be taking up realestate in your life.
Yeah, to the point that, evenif whatever it is you're
thinking on is real, meaninglike there is a behavior that
you keep experiencing fromanother individual and it's
impacting you the question is,how are you going to solve it
with the Lord?
And it's impacting you.
The question is how are yougoing to solve it with the Lord?
(28:07):
It doesn't mean act like it'snot real, but how you think
about a situation is real andyou have the ability not to be a
victim to the circumstance.
You can rise up in your thoughtlife and say, okay, how do I
need to redefine the situationthat I find myself in so it's
not robbing me of my joy?
And by the way the otherperson's not robbing me of my
joy and, by the way, the otherperson's not robbing you of your
(28:28):
joy.
You are robbing you of your joy.
God doesn't tell the otherperson to transform their
thinking, he tells you totransform your thinking, and so
this is deep accountability thatI can say, ooh, I don't like
how I feel in this situation.
It doesn't make me feel good,but the more I marinate on the
problem, the problem becomesbigger.
(28:50):
And so what's my solution?
With God?
And that's really whatever theperson thinks about me, it's not
who God says I am, and so it'slike let it go, let it go, let
God, let God transform us.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, you know, a lot of what you just shared kind of
reminds me a little bit back toour last episode of grace and
grind right the whole impostersyndrome concept, where we have
to flip the script and remindourselves who we are under
Christ, right, and also that allof this is a partnership,
(29:25):
always between us and God.
God is faithful to provide thegood seeds, but we have to do
our part and condition the soilright and we also have to kind
of pull out what I'm going tocall a weed, a negative thought,
and plant something good youknow, and feed and water that.
So you know, we've got to getinto his word, right, and while
(29:48):
we can't control, like, all thethoughts that pop into our minds
, we can be more aware.
As you mentioned, I was havingthis conversation the other day
actually with my mom about youknow what do you do when
negative thoughts pop into yourmind, and her version of how she
handles it is much morebeautiful than mine.
She said, well, I say theLord's Prayer and I was like Mom
(30:11):
, I love that.
She said what do you do?
You know what I do?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
You don't know what I do.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I don't know what you do I literally go shut up,
devil, and every time it makesme laugh, I flip the script and
go about my business.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
It's so good.
Well, god says the battle isnot just with ourselves.
We truly have an adversary, andhis name is Satan, that's right
and he attacks us through ourmind.
And so for us to be doing therenewal of the mind is doing the
work of what, you know, thespirit calls us to do.
Yeah, even like in Ephesianssix, where it talks about
(30:53):
putting on the armor of God.
Yeah, and first thing, you know, you got to put on the helmet
of salvation, right, you got toput on the belt of truth.
Yeah, and it's.
It's really about equippingyourself with the truth, because
we live in a world that'sfilled with lies and we got to
constantly be intentional totear down the narrative of the
(31:18):
lie.
Yeah, amen, yeah, yeah, it is awar.
Yeah, it is the enemy'splayground is our mind for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, yeah, it is a war.
Yeah, it is the enemy'splayground, is our mind for sure
.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
It is.
And so my encouragement wouldbe when's the last time you did
my first question when is thelast time you've done an
inventory of your thought life?
Yeah, and you know, literallysetting alerts up on your phone
or just having a time to saywhat have I been thinking about
(31:46):
for the last hour?
And you know, one of the thingsthat I do it's kind of
interesting I have this littlething called the aura ring,
right, yeah, and it will tellyou when you go into a stress
state.
Well, a stress state is abyproduct of negative thinking.
Okay, and so what I can do issay Okay, and so what I can do
is say what meeting was I inwhen my stress spiked during the
(32:09):
day?
Who was I with?
What was the tone of theconversation?
Why did I feel that way?
And again, that allows me tostart.
The five-step framework of DrLeaf is to be intentional, to
examine.
If there is no intentionality,if there is no plan to renew,
(32:29):
guess what?
It's not going to happen, right, and so, again, the
intentionality behind ourthinking is so critically
important.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, you make me think of the wise and foolish
builders.
Right, in terms of beingintentional, where we have to
work on our foundation, buildour foundation on a rock, right?
So when the storms come andthey're going to come frankly,
they come every day you knowsome bigger than others, right?
Yes, you need to have thatstrong foundation so that you
can withstand.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, you know what I love to do too, so you
mentioned it.
You know lean in with God andyou know prayer is a powerful
tool.
Uh, yeah, we'll.
We'll get into what prayer doesin a minute, but even even so,
like worship Okay.
So what are other things thatyou can be doing If you're
really caught in a negativethinking pattern?
(33:21):
What I do is I turn on worshipmusic that addresses the very
thing that I'm struggling with.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Oh, that's great.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
And if it's not, if it's just maybe it's not really
my thinking, that's the problem.
It is the situation, but mythinking.
I can't get my thinking unstuck, I can't get off the problem.
I literally turn on worshipmusic that reinforces that.
It's not up to me to fix it,it's up to God.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
And that will renew my spirit.
And I want to read some lyricsjust from a song that really
drives this home, please.
Okay, the song is titled BattleBelongs and it's by Phil
Wickham.
Okay, when all I see is thebattle, you see my victory.
That's the beautiful thingabout God.
We are so stuck in ourcircumstances sometimes we can't
(34:12):
get out of stinking thinkingand the mold is like taken over
entirety.
But God, when we partner withhim, he sees the victory because
he's going to give us thevictory.
So again, when all I see is thebattle, you see my victory.
When all I see is the mountain,you see a mountain moved.
And as I walk through theshadow, your love surrounds me.
(34:33):
There's nothing to fear now,for I am safe with you.
So when I fight, I'll fight onmy knees, so good, with my hands
lifted high.
Oh God, the battle belongs toyou.
Oh, that's good, is that not sogood?
And so I want to just take that.
When we pray to Jesus, it'sliterally the dominant faith
(35:09):
that opens up a supernaturalhighway, scientifically, in our
brain, that healthy thoughts getdownloaded into.
But it also it hits theprefrontal cortex, which helps
us focus, regulate our emotions,and it helps us make thoughtful
decisions.
It also prayer quiets ourAmygdala.
(35:34):
Thank you, you knew, you knew,oh, angelique's going to trip on
that one.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I was like this is another, this is another one.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Oh gosh, won't go into the bunny trail that's in
my brain right now.
Maybe I will.
You know I was in speechtherapy as a child.
No, I didn't know that.
So talk about the enemyattacking where God's calling
you.
He attacked my voice from veryearly on.
I had a hard time with variouswords.
So, although I did rise above alot of what I had to work,
(36:03):
through as a child, they stillcome up a little bit.
So thank you for catching me,coach.
Okay, but that is the part ofthe brain that triggers fear and
anxiety.
So if prayer actually quietsthe amygdala, then we're not
going to have as much fear andanxiety.
So super powerful Prayer alsoboosts the limbic system, which
(36:26):
governs our emotion and memory.
It gives us more peace, ithelps us feel more connected to
people and it even helps us beemotionally balanced.
So again, prayer worship itliterally is a pathway to
creating new neural pathways inour brain.
Scientifically, that allows usto become healthier thinkers,
(36:48):
yeah, and becoming who Godcreated us to be, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
I mean, not only do you receive the gift of being in
relationship with him, talkingto God right, Knowing that he
hears our prayers, but also allthe physical benefits too.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Amen.
So let's wrap this up.
Yeah, so we've covered a lottoday, but, most importantly,
our thoughts shape who we are.
Period, that's it.
And so, if you haven't done aninventory of where you're at in
life, directionally find yourinner compass on.
Where are you?
Start with your thought life,how is your thought life helping
(37:23):
you?
How is it hurting you?
Science and scripture are inviolent agreement that we can
rewire our brain, and it'simperative that we rewire our
brains to be healthy and thenpractice intentional renewal
with tools like journaling,truth-telling and, of course,
(37:45):
prayer and worship.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah, and I would challenge everybody this week
when a toxic thought pops up andthey will right Replace it with
something good and somethingtrue To your point.
Be intentional, that's right.
And a really big one is talk toyourself like you're someone
that you love and you wouldencourage, right?
I mean, that's our biggestenemy you spoke about it earlier
(38:10):
how we tell ourselves storiesbased on our own toxic thinking
and make assumptions about whateverybody else is thinking and
how we're interpreting what'shappening around us.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
That's so good.
I just had this vision of ifyou look at yourself in the
mirror, would you say half thethings you say to yourself when
you're not looking at yourself?
Most of us wouldn't, no.
Most of us wouldn't Loveyourself, and even writing the
reaffirming thoughts on stickynotes and putting it on your
mirror so it's the first thingyou see when you get up in the
morning.
Again, write it down.
It can be in a journal, it canbe on a sticky note anywhere,
(38:44):
just to keep retraining yourbrain on God's truth.
You are fearfully andwonderfully made, created for
divine purpose, and today isanother day that he just wants
to grab a hold of your mind andyour heart to have you live your
best life with Him.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
That's it.
And you're not doing it alone.
We're walking it out with youevery day.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Thanks for being here with us today.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Yeah, let's close out in prayer.
Yeah, heavenly Father, we justlove you so much and we thank
you that you created us withjust a mind that can be
transformed, that you don't justgive us these unattainable
goals of renewing our mind, butyou've given us the ability to
do it.
You've given us the tools, theresources and Holy Spirit.
You are fully present with usin partnership, to just get us
(39:28):
thinking in accordance to yourwill and your truth of what's
described in the Bible.
So, thank you, lord, give usawareness to the negative
thoughts that come up, that gounchecked most of the time.
So thank you that you've givenus an awareness into our
thinking and that you've givenus the ability to actually be
(39:49):
transformed in partnership withyou.
We love you, lord, and we dothis all for your glory.
In the name of Jesus, we prayAmen.
it's good to be back, sure is I tell you what that
devil's been attacking ourschedule lately.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Yes, he has these early mornings are crushing me 7
am on a monday morning.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
I just want everybody to know every time I laugh my
face is still so morning poofy Ican barely see out of my eyes.
You might still have some sheetmarks.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
I know, but it's worth it.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
It is, it is.
I'm excited about thisconversation today.
I know what are we diving into.
We are diving into somethingthat's been really transforming
both of our lives not onlyimpacting our personal growth,
but I would say how weexperience every aspect of our
lives, and for our Double Doselisteners or maybe you're just
tuning in for the very firsttime the Double Dose is a place
(00:55):
where we walk out personalgrowth that's always grounded in
spiritual truth, and thisepisode is packed with all of
that.
I think people are going towalk away today with some real
fuel for their lives, and so ourtopic is you are what you think
, because there are thoughtsthat manifest as mind fuel, and
(01:18):
then there are thoughts thatsecretly grow as mind mold in
the back of our mind, thatsecretly grow as mind mold in
the back of our mind, and weneed to get really intentional
about what we allow to take root, what we water, what we feed
right?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, there's so much , so much, you know, content
that we could dive in to in thistopic today, because so often
people say that actions speaklouder than words, but the truth
of the matter is, actions don'tbegin on their own.
They actually begin in ourthought life, and so we mind our
(01:54):
actions, but are we minding thethoughts that we're marinating
on?
So, yeah, we're going to divein to biblical truth.
What does the Bible say aboutour thought life, which is
really who we are?
And then, what doesneuroscience say about it today?
And then, how do we actuallymake sure that we're intentional
to live a healthy thought life?
(02:16):
Because, again, like, it beginswith our thoughts.
Our thoughts turn into wordsand our words turn into action.
So actions don't really speaklouder than words, they just
speak to our thought life.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's good and you know, I think so many people
have heard you are what you eat,right, but you are what you
think might be a little lesserknown.
And I think, even if you'resomebody who maybe has heard
that hundreds of times, or maybeyou hear us say it and you're
thinking, well, duh, I certainlyknow that my thoughts affect me
.
I encourage everybody to stickwith us, because I think they're
(02:55):
going to be just as shocked asyou and I were to really
understand what the science andthe evidence is showing in terms
of how truly life-altering ourthoughts can be.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, there's a little book out there.
It's literally paper thin soeveryone can read it, even if
you're not a reader.
It's by James Allen and it's asa man Thinketh oh yes, it's an
incredible powerful book, but hebasically sums it up that you
are what you think.
As a man thinketh.
So he is.
And it's really a powerfulstatement because if we're
(03:30):
marinating, I think about likeJoel Olsteen, he would be the
epitome in my mind of he's gotso much positivity in his
thinking.
It just kind of comes out firstand foremost through his smile
and then just kind of how heteaches.
I mean I don't know that he'sreally ever marinated in a bad
day.
At least he's really good aboutnot publicly displaying it.
(03:51):
And then you can see otherpeople who just show up angry,
you know, and it's really adirect result of what's going on
upstairs.
And so I just love again shortlittle book James Allen on
upstairs.
And so I just love again shortlittle book James Allen as a man
Thinketh.
It's a really powerful readjust to get you grounded in.
(04:15):
You are what you think and youbetter be careful, then, on what
you think.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Well, and it's straight out of the Bible too,
right.
Proverbs 23, 7 says as a manthinks in his heart, so he is,
and spiritually, that versereminds us that real
transformation always begins onthe inside.
You know you spoke a lot abouthead knowledge and heart
knowledge, I think even over thepast two podcasts, and both are
(04:38):
really important.
You know our beliefs that wecarry in our heart.
They affect, really, you know,all aspects of our lives.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yeah, they do, and you know, I kind of think about
just living examples of this.
I have so many differentexamples of how, if we're not
minding what we think, we becomeor we start to show up in a way
that is not who God designed usto be, and so one example would
be I can't control the thoughtsin somebody else.
(05:12):
You have no idea what they'rethinking, but this is the
reality.
What I have found in my life isI could be creating a narrative
in my thinking without evenunderstanding that I'm doing it.
The narrative and my thinkingwithout even understanding that
I'm doing it.
It is this subtle conversationthat's on autoplay in my mind
and I'm not aware of it, andit's looking at another person
and thinking that they'rethinking the worst of me.
(05:35):
Okay, and I have so many timesfelt an experience in a negative
way and I started to putlanguage in my mind to the
experience, to the situation,and I was so far off when
confronting the person to say,hey, this experience, this
situation, made me feel A, b andC, which is a direct reflection
(05:58):
of what I was thinking, andthey're like whoa, my mind
wasn't even there, and so Ithink it's important to
understand the negativitynarrative that can run through
your head on someone else isvery much not a representation
of reality, and just recentlyit's really become apparent to
(06:21):
me through various situations.
I had a teammate come to me whoworks on my team and was very
concerned about theirperformance.
And they start to role playwhere they're not satisfied in
their performance and how I'mperceiving their performance,
(06:41):
and it was a pretty doom andgloom scenario and I just had to
stop and pause and say where isthat thinking really coming
from?
Why are you feeling insecure?
Because the reality is this isone of my top performers and my
(07:01):
thinking was nowhere near youknow the mirror image that they
were expecting me to confirm.
So they're.
They're pouring their soul outto me and I'm like you're in an
alter universe, and so even that, like you know, I've had
teammates project their thinkingonto me.
I've had my kids project theirthinking on me, my spouse, and
(07:22):
then I've done it to otherpeople, and so I think it's just
a really good example to notonly mind our thoughts, to make
sure we're seeing the best inother people, we're seeing the
best in circumstances, but neverassume that you actually
understand what another personis thinking.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
So good, that's so good.
Well, when we kick things off Ithink we mentioned, you know,
there's mind fuel and thenthere's mind mold, and you know
the reality is mind mold seeds.
I mean.
It's a constant battle everyday.
Right, because they're beingsown in culture and media and
(08:00):
people places, things, contentthat we scroll, even the people
that we hang with, which wewon't dive deep into that
because that's going to be ournext episode, right.
But if we aren't intentionalabout what we allow into our
minds, the wrong things willgrow, you know, without us even
realizing it, and I thinkdiscernment isn't just about
(08:22):
knowing right from wrong, butit's also about learning to
recognize what are the thingsthat are draining our spirit
right.
Maybe quietly draining ourspirit, you know, stealing our
peace and our perspective.
And those kinds of things cansort of grow sneakily quietly in
the small corners of our heartsand minds without us even
(08:46):
realizing it, and so that's whyguarding our hearts and our
minds is such a big deal.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, it's so true.
We can start to become theresult of what we see with our
eyes and what we hear with ourears, because that is actually
putting information in ourbrains and it's training our
brains.
I mean God is so good and Imean his creation is so
marvelous, right?
I mean you can't even put intowords how incredible he is as a
(09:15):
creator, and he created ourbrains with this notion of
neuroplasticity.
How do you say it,neuroplasticity?
Thank you, I struggle on a fewwords these days.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
I find that hard to believe.
It's 7 am people, soneuroplasticity.
Yeah, plasticity, yep, whatElisa?
Speaker 2 (09:34):
said.
Anyway, he made us with thisbeautiful ability to renew our
mind.
Renew our mind, literally, thatis the process in which our
brains can reshape and adapt tothe information that's coming
into the brain.
And so, again, the guard is wecould be completely healthy
today, but if we get lazy or notintentional and we allow toxic
(09:59):
information via eyes, ears,people, television, music to
come into our sensories and intoour brain, it can rewire
positive and negative.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
But this is.
Speaker 2 (10:11):
God's grace when he says do not conform to the ways
of the world, but forever betransformed by the renewing of
your mind.
He built the capability in ourbrains, physically, to be able
to do that through theneuroplasticity.
Did I say it right?
Yes, yes, you did so.
Now science is even taking thatscripture that I just quoted
(10:32):
which is Romans 12 too, by theway what God is commanding us to
do.
It's just another evidence thathe doesn't leave us on our own
to do it.
He built us to be able to do it, and science is now starting to
catch up with what thescriptures have been pointing to
all along.
He built us to be able to do it, and science is now starting to
catch up with what thescriptures have been pointing to
all along.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, yeah, and it is a big term.
Some people might be hearing itfor the very first time, but I
think you did a good job ofsetting the stage on what that
is.
Do you want to dig into that alittle bit further, just so
people maybe who are hearing itfor the first time?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, I think it's reinforcing that if we fix our
thoughts, our brain willliterally start to become
negative.
Yeah, we form new highways inthe brain.
That's it.
Yeah, and it's literallyrewiring the brain and you are
what you think.
(11:23):
Yeah, and again, it's.
Science is proving this and Ijust recently heard and I've
known this, I've actually saidit, but I just listened to a
podcast on Joe Rogan and itreinforces this that, if you
marinate, he was interviewingsome psychologist who wrote a
book don't ask me who, but hewas interviewing this lady and
(11:45):
one of her profound openingstatements in her book,
apparently, is that a problemwill be the size in which you
put your mind to it.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
That's good will be the size in which you put your
mind to it, and so you.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Basically, if you marinate on a problem, the
problem becomes exponentiallybigger, for sure, if you believe
Been there, done that.
Right.
And if you believe that theproblem will resolve, the
problem becomes so small.
And so, again, if we thinkpositively, if we believe, god
says if you believe, anything ispossible.
(12:17):
And so when we think about whatGod has in store for us, we are
limiting ourselves based onstinking thinking or fruitful
thinking, and so don't let themold grow.
Believe that God has the bestthings for you.
And I'm not just talking aboutyour dreams, I'm talking about
(12:39):
in relationships.
I mean, I've had relationshipsthat have been spoiled and I
have literally leaned into mythought life on that
relationship and I've had to askmyself am I sowing negativity,
even in my mental capacity,towards that person, even in my
mental capacity towards thatperson?
Meaning I'm replaying over andover and over again you know,
the continued negative narrativethat this relationship will
(13:02):
never be restored or repaired,or am I actually starting to
imagine in my mind that we havea fully restored relationship?
And I'm telling you time andtime again, whatever I start to
imagine in my head becomes thefruit that I experienced.
Relationships are restored, Iget the promotion, I have new
(13:25):
opportunities in relationships,new friends coming my way.
I mean it's just endless.
The amount like your lifereflects literally what you
think.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Oh, absolutely, and there's countless studies and so
many neuroscientists who havereally dug deep into this.
I follow Dr Andrew Huberman.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
I don't know if you do online.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
He's an incredible neuroscientist and professor and
he does a pretty good job ofbreaking down complex science in
a way that's practical andaccessible, although I will say
sometimes I do have to hitrewind three or four times
because the guy is wicked smart,but he speaks a lot about what
you've mentioned several times,which is what you think on
(14:06):
literally rewires your neuralpathways.
But get this.
So this is a fascinating study.
Dr Caroline Leaf, who is acognitive neuroscientist and
also a believer, she actuallyhas done tons of research and
she describes our thoughts asthese physical, like real
(14:31):
physical things that take upmental real estate in our minds,
which I think is an incrediblevisual right, because it it it
helps to remind us that ourminds and our brains are this
finite.
You know, sacred space.
So, if it's taking up physicalreal estate, then it helps you
(14:51):
to be a little bit moreintentional about how you fill
it up right.
But her research found that 75%to 98% of all mental, physical
and behavioral illnesses stemdirectly from our thoughts.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Huge like warning, right yeah?
Speaker 1 (15:14):
I mean, I can't believe that stat and listen.
I mean, like most studies, I'msure it's been, you know,
debated and critiqued, right,but but regardless of whether
you lean into that exact figure,the bigger truth still remains,
yeah, and that is you know thatour thoughts directly impact
really every aspect of our lives.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Yeah, Just leaning into Dr Leaf, I mean she does a
couple more things too I thinkit's 95% meaning that we have
God has given us the ability toonly allow 5% negative thinking
into our brains, and it's almostlike a protective barrier that
anything greater than 5% erodespretty quickly.
(15:57):
It's so destructive.
So there's like a protectionboundary in our brain that
starts to shut off our brains sowe don't go into toxic,
negative thinking overload.
Now the warning on that is, ifyou are depressed, if you are
suffering from mass anxiety andthat is, if you are depressed,
(16:26):
if you are suffering from massanxiety and you're in that rut
and stuck, the warning is likeGod's bringing you down to
actually give you relational,one-on-one relational capacity
to bring you back up.
And so the hope is that as soonas we start to decide decision,
the decision is how do I beginto renew my thinking?
Because God will again allow mybrain to heal and then reshape
back towards the positive path.
It's such a promise to usBecause I've been in periods
(16:47):
where I've been stuck and thenin his sovereignty, the stuck is
almost the protective barrierto then say, okay, now let's
wake up, right?
He says awake from your slumber, awake from your sleep, now
let's start renewing our mind.
And the other thing that I'm avery visual person Dr Lee talks
about is the thoughts take upphysical space in our brain.
(17:09):
As you've described, it'sactually a tree-like structure.
So every time we form a thought, the cell looks like a tree.
Is that the neural pathway part?
It's the actual cell itself.
As you have a new thought, acell gets created in your brain
and the shape of a healthythought is a perfect tree-like
(17:30):
structure.
So think you got the.
What's it called the trunk.
Is it the trunk?
The trunk on the tree with thebranches that come off?
Need more coffee?
I know it's a perfect structure.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
If you think something negative, they can
visually see the cell structure.
It's a broken tree.
Is that not powerful?
Amazing?
Take it one step further andwe'll get into this on how do we
actually renew our mind?
In a little bit.
But they did a study, a globalstudy, and they started to
understand what is the effect ofprayer.
(18:07):
Okay, yeah, and they surveyedall world religions, including
those that claim to be agnosticor atheist.
And when you go into quoteunquote meditation or prayer
time, there was a phenomenonthat took place when you pray to
Jesus Christ.
It was a superhighway, as theydescribed, got opened up to the
(18:27):
brain and healthy, tree-likestructure thoughts were just
being downloaded into the humanbrain.
Tree-like structure thoughtswere just being downloaded into
the human brain.
So we can now look at thescience and we can measure the
quality of our thought life,which is absolutely
mind-boggling.
It really is Amen, yeah, and youknow, dr Amen is another one.
(18:49):
He does a lot of work on how doyou raise mentally strong kids,
and just, he's a neuroscientistas well and he he focuses in on
3d imaging of the brain and hehe surveys to see what's
unhealthy versus healthy, andagain, same thing.
You know, supporting DrCaroline Leaf's work as well, is
this notion that we can trulyreprogram our brain and to be
(19:15):
aware what we allow in throughour eyes and ears, because our
brains are always listening.
That's what he says.
He says our brains are alwayslistening, so make sure we guard
them up.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
So good, so good.
Romans 12 says Be transformedby the renewing of your mind,
and science is catching up towhat Scripture's been saying all
along.
Reinforcing it.
Yeah, romans 8, 5 through 6actually takes that even further
.
Those who live according to theflesh have their minds set on
what the flesh desires, butthose who live in accordance
(19:47):
with the spirit have their mindsset on what the spirit desires.
The mind governed by the fleshis death, but the mind governed
by the spirit is life and peace.
So, again, what we set ourminds on determines our life
experience.
Right, what we live in, youknow, peace or chaos, fear or
freedom.
And so the hope is that iftoxic thinking can negatively
(20:11):
impact us, then the flip side isalso true, right, if we're
intentional about healthythinking, then that can lend
itself to healing, right, andhope and forward trajectory.
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
What I love is the notion of self-fulfilling
prophecy Meaning.
Again, we call itself-fulfilling prophecy because
what we think will manifest.
True, that's right.
And so again, good or bad,you're going to manifest what
you think.
And so how do we break thesetoxic cycles?
Right, and I love Dr CarolineLeaf's approach.
(20:48):
It's a 21 day detox of thebrain.
So typically, when I thinkdetox, I'm like cut the sugar,
go in the sauna, you know nowine, like I'm going to go clean
.
Well, this is really detoxingyour thoughts on what's really
not serving you well, andthere's five steps to it.
And so you want to break in tothe five steps, please?
(21:10):
Yeah, so the first step isgather awareness.
So are we even aware of whatwe're allowing?
Just to the narrative that'srunning rampant in our head.
And so, first and foremost,I'll just use a simple example.
I used to not work out, and Iused to have this notion, when I
first started working out, thatI have to work out, and then
(21:33):
there would be this drudgerythat's going on in my head.
I'm not even realizing what'shappening.
And then, all of a sudden, Iwould just drag myself down to
the gym and I would startworking out.
But the notion is why is it?
Why is it that that's actuallyhappening?
Am I aware that I have thisnegative perception in my
(21:53):
thought life that working out isa bad thing, when we know that
we need to work out?
We need to strength train?
It strengthens our bones weneed to do cardio.
It strengthens our heart, itincreases longevity, it gives us
more energy, it reduces stressthe benefits of physical
activity we all know, right,yeah, okay.
(22:15):
So why is it, though, that mythought life is negative on
working out?
Okay, so that's where we don'tjust take the thought at surface
value.
We have to reflect on it.
We have to start saying why doI believe that this thing is the
way it is?
Why do I believe this persondoesn't like me?
(22:35):
Why do I believe working out isbad?
Continuing in on that example,and for me, working out.
I was never raised in a healthconscious environment, meaning
the only thing that I was taughtabout the physical appearance
is that you had to be skinny.
Okay, skinny people get furtherin life.
Like this is what was ingrainedinto my psyche as a child.
(22:58):
Okay, but it wasn't about thenutrition that I fed my body.
It wasn't about working out andbeing physically fit.
And so if you were going towork out, that was like a chore.
And so at a very early age theinfluence around me was modeling
that working out was bad.
And so I had a lie, a belief.
(23:19):
That was a lie like no, workingout's really good.
And so once you reflect and youcan understand where the lie is
coming from, that's not servingyou.
You can literally write it down, and it's 40 to 50% higher
probability that you're going tobe successful in retraining
your brain if you actually writeout journal what you're
(23:42):
realizing.
So I don't like to work out.
Where is it coming from?
It came from my childhood and Iwasn't encouraged to have
physical fitness as a priorityin my life.
Well, what does God say about it?
You got to start to reframe itin truth.
Well, god says that our bodiesare a vessel for him, that the
Holy Spirit lives and dwells inus, and that we really need to
care and feed for this templethat the Holy Spirit lives
(24:04):
inside so we can live out thepurposes that God has intended
for us.
And so write that scripturedown.
It's actually 1 Corinthians6.19.
And so now you're going tostart to retrain your brain to
unwind the belief of the lie,and then you're going to put it
into practice.
And what does that mean?
Every time something comesagainst physical activity, it's
(24:27):
not I have to, it's I get to.
That's right.
And it's because when I chooseto be obedient to what the
Lord's calling me to do, I getto do more for Him.
And it's the reward system andit's reframing the lie into His
truth, anchored in Scripture.
And you reach for it.
It's called the daily reach andyou reach for it throughout the
(24:48):
day and you just on repeat.
So again, gather the awarenessto what you're thinking, reflect
on it, understand where it.
Gather the awareness to whatyou're thinking, reflect on it,
understand where it's comingfrom, write it down, okay,
reframe it anchored in scriptureand then actively reach,
actively start to train yourbrain to think differently.
So that would be the five-stepprogram from Dr Caroline Leaf.
(25:10):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
I get to is such a game changer right Instead of I
have to?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Yeah, Do you have an example where you're living that
out?
So I kind of reflected on myworkout example.
What's something that you'vehad to retrain your thinking on?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Oh, things like this right, like just kind of
stepping out, putting yourselfout there speaking at the church
, public speaking in general.
I get this opportunity to youknow, hone my skills to level up
to practice.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
It's such a beautiful thing because I'm so glad
that's the one that you leanedinto you, seemed to know I was
going to say that Well this isso true.
You know me well to know I wasgoing to say that.
Well, this is so true.
You know me well.
You, when you're thinking aboutyour self-public speaking, it's
I can't, I'm not equipped orskilled.
(26:04):
The list goes on, and first dayI met you, a couple of years
ago, I'm like you were made tospeak to people.
You have a beautiful voice, anice tone, you have a presence
about you, you're filled withgrace and it's just a perfect
example where we sometimes arethinking blocks what God's
actually put in us.
(26:24):
Sure does.
And it does take other people tocall it forward.
So I would also say gatheringawareness is sometimes listening
to the people around you whosee you.
If they're calling somethingout in you, believe them.
That's right.
You don't have to believe it inyour own instinct, meaning they
said it, I believe it but trustthat God is speaking through
(26:46):
them and be curious to exploreit.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
Oh, that's so good.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Right.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And it also makes me think of Philippians 4, 8, where
he reminds us and I'm going toparaphrase whatever is true,
pure, lovely noble, all the goodthings, think on those things.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
That's so good, that's so good.
Speaking of Dr Amen, again, hehas a similar process to Dr Leaf
.
It's called the ant.
Yes, you heard that right, theant process.
So automatic negative thoughts.
Okay, and so we don't evenrealize how much these thoughts
are assaulting us throughout theday and it's literally slowing
(27:25):
down to kill the ant If you havea negative thought.
Going directly back to what youjust said, philippians 4a, you
know fix your thoughts on thethings that are pure and lovely
and noble, and all the thingsExcellent, excellent, excellent,
praiseworthy.
Yeah, if it is not, if yourthought is not in that bucket,
(27:45):
it should not be taking up realestate in your life.
Yeah, to the point that, evenif whatever it is you're
thinking on is real, meaninglike there is a behavior that
you keep experiencing fromanother individual and it's
impacting you the question is,how are you going to solve it
with the Lord?
And it's impacting you.
The question is how are yougoing to solve it with the Lord?
(28:07):
It doesn't mean act like it'snot real, but how you think
about a situation is real andyou have the ability not to be a
victim to the circumstance.
You can rise up in your thoughtlife and say, okay, how do I
need to redefine the situationthat I find myself in so it's
not robbing me of my joy?
And by the way the otherperson's not robbing me of my
joy and, by the way, the otherperson's not robbing you of your
(28:28):
joy.
You are robbing you of your joy.
God doesn't tell the otherperson to transform their
thinking, he tells you totransform your thinking, and so
this is deep accountability thatI can say, ooh, I don't like
how I feel in this situation.
It doesn't make me feel good,but the more I marinate on the
problem, the problem becomesbigger.
(28:50):
And so what's my solution?
With God?
And that's really whatever theperson thinks about me, it's not
who God says I am, and so it'slike let it go, let it go, let
God, let God transform us.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah, you know, a lot of what you just shared kind of
reminds me a little bit back toour last episode of grace and
grind right the whole impostersyndrome concept, where we have
to flip the script and remindourselves who we are under
Christ, right, and also that allof this is a partnership,
(29:25):
always between us and God.
God is faithful to provide thegood seeds, but we have to do
our part and condition the soilright and we also have to kind
of pull out what I'm going tocall a weed, a negative thought,
and plant something good youknow, and feed and water that.
So you know, we've got to getinto his word, right, and while
(29:48):
we can't control, like, all thethoughts that pop into our minds
, we can be more aware.
As you mentioned, I was havingthis conversation the other day
actually with my mom about youknow what do you do when
negative thoughts pop into yourmind, and her version of how she
handles it is much morebeautiful than mine.
She said, well, I say theLord's Prayer and I was like Mom
(30:11):
, I love that.
She said what do you do?
You know what I do?
Speaker 2 (30:17):
You don't know what I do.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
I don't know what you do I literally go shut up,
devil, and every time it makesme laugh, I flip the script and
go about my business.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
It's so good.
Well, god says the battle isnot just with ourselves.
We truly have an adversary, andhis name is Satan, that's right
and he attacks us through ourmind.
And so for us to be doing therenewal of the mind is doing the
work of what, you know, thespirit calls us to do.
Yeah, even like in Ephesianssix, where it talks about
(30:53):
putting on the armor of God.
Yeah, and first thing, you know, you got to put on the helmet
of salvation, right, you got toput on the belt of truth.
Yeah, and it's.
It's really about equippingyourself with the truth, because
we live in a world that'sfilled with lies and we got to
constantly be intentional totear down the narrative of the
(31:18):
lie.
Yeah, amen, yeah, yeah, it is awar.
Yeah, it is the enemy'splayground is our mind for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Yeah, yeah, it is a war.
Yeah, it is the enemy'splayground, is our mind for sure
.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
It is.
And so my encouragement wouldbe when's the last time you did
my first question when is thelast time you've done an
inventory of your thought life?
Yeah, and you know, literallysetting alerts up on your phone
or just having a time to saywhat have I been thinking about
(31:46):
for the last hour?
And you know, one of the thingsthat I do it's kind of
interesting I have this littlething called the aura ring,
right, yeah, and it will tellyou when you go into a stress
state.
Well, a stress state is abyproduct of negative thinking.
Okay, and so what I can do issay Okay, and so what I can do
is say what meeting was I inwhen my stress spiked during the
(32:09):
day?
Who was I with?
What was the tone of theconversation?
Why did I feel that way?
And again, that allows me tostart.
The five-step framework of DrLeaf is to be intentional, to
examine.
If there is no intentionality,if there is no plan to renew,
(32:29):
guess what?
It's not going to happen, right, and so, again, the
intentionality behind ourthinking is so critically
important.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, you make me think of the wise and foolish
builders.
Right, in terms of beingintentional, where we have to
work on our foundation, buildour foundation on a rock, right?
So when the storms come andthey're going to come frankly,
they come every day you knowsome bigger than others, right?
Yes, you need to have thatstrong foundation so that you
can withstand.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
Yeah, you know what I love to do too, so you
mentioned it.
You know lean in with God andyou know prayer is a powerful
tool.
Uh, yeah, we'll.
We'll get into what prayer doesin a minute, but even even so,
like worship Okay.
So what are other things thatyou can be doing If you're
really caught in a negativethinking pattern?
(33:21):
What I do is I turn on worshipmusic that addresses the very
thing that I'm struggling with.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Oh, that's great.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
And if it's not, if it's just maybe it's not really
my thinking, that's the problem.
It is the situation, but mythinking.
I can't get my thinking unstuck, I can't get off the problem.
I literally turn on worshipmusic that reinforces that.
It's not up to me to fix it,it's up to God.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
And that will renew my spirit.
And I want to read some lyricsjust from a song that really
drives this home, please.
Okay, the song is titled BattleBelongs and it's by Phil
Wickham.
Okay, when all I see is thebattle, you see my victory.
That's the beautiful thingabout God.
We are so stuck in ourcircumstances sometimes we can't
(34:12):
get out of stinking thinkingand the mold is like taken over
entirety.
But God, when we partner withhim, he sees the victory because
he's going to give us thevictory.
So again, when all I see is thebattle, you see my victory.
When all I see is the mountain,you see a mountain moved.
And as I walk through theshadow, your love surrounds me.
(34:33):
There's nothing to fear now,for I am safe with you.
So when I fight, I'll fight onmy knees, so good, with my hands
lifted high.
Oh God, the battle belongs toyou.
Oh, that's good, is that not sogood?
And so I want to just take that.
When we pray to Jesus, it'sliterally the dominant faith
(35:09):
that opens up a supernaturalhighway, scientifically, in our
brain, that healthy thoughts getdownloaded into.
But it also it hits theprefrontal cortex, which helps
us focus, regulate our emotions,and it helps us make thoughtful
decisions.
It also prayer quiets ourAmygdala.
(35:34):
Thank you, you knew, you knew,oh, angelique's going to trip on
that one.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
I was like this is another, this is another one.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Oh gosh, won't go into the bunny trail that's in
my brain right now.
Maybe I will.
You know I was in speechtherapy as a child.
No, I didn't know that.
So talk about the enemyattacking where God's calling
you.
He attacked my voice from veryearly on.
I had a hard time with variouswords.
So, although I did rise above alot of what I had to work,
(36:03):
through as a child, they stillcome up a little bit.
So thank you for catching me,coach.
Okay, but that is the part ofthe brain that triggers fear and
anxiety.
So if prayer actually quietsthe amygdala, then we're not
going to have as much fear andanxiety.
So super powerful Prayer alsoboosts the limbic system, which
(36:26):
governs our emotion and memory.
It gives us more peace, ithelps us feel more connected to
people and it even helps us beemotionally balanced.
So again, prayer worship itliterally is a pathway to
creating new neural pathways inour brain.
Scientifically, that allows usto become healthier thinkers,
(36:48):
yeah, and becoming who Godcreated us to be, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (36:52):
I mean, not only do you receive the gift of being in
relationship with him, talkingto God right, Knowing that he
hears our prayers, but also allthe physical benefits too.
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Amen.
So let's wrap this up.
Yeah, so we've covered a lottoday, but, most importantly,
our thoughts shape who we are.
Period, that's it.
And so, if you haven't done aninventory of where you're at in
life, directionally find yourinner compass on.
Where are you?
Start with your thought life,how is your thought life helping
(37:23):
you?
How is it hurting you?
Science and scripture are inviolent agreement that we can
rewire our brain, and it'simperative that we rewire our
brains to be healthy and thenpractice intentional renewal
with tools like journaling,truth-telling and, of course,
(37:45):
prayer and worship.
Speaker 1 (37:47):
Yeah, and I would challenge everybody this week
when a toxic thought pops up andthey will right Replace it with
something good and somethingtrue To your point.
Be intentional, that's right.
And a really big one is talk toyourself like you're someone
that you love and you wouldencourage, right?
I mean, that's our biggestenemy you spoke about it earlier
(38:10):
how we tell ourselves storiesbased on our own toxic thinking
and make assumptions about whateverybody else is thinking and
how we're interpreting what'shappening around us.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
That's so good.
I just had this vision of ifyou look at yourself in the
mirror, would you say half thethings you say to yourself when
you're not looking at yourself?
Most of us wouldn't, no.
Most of us wouldn't Loveyourself, and even writing the
reaffirming thoughts on stickynotes and putting it on your
mirror so it's the first thingyou see when you get up in the
morning.
Again, write it down.
It can be in a journal, it canbe on a sticky note anywhere,
(38:44):
just to keep retraining yourbrain on God's truth.
You are fearfully andwonderfully made, created for
divine purpose, and today isanother day that he just wants
to grab a hold of your mind andyour heart to have you live your
best life with Him.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
That's it.
And you're not doing it alone.
We're walking it out with youevery day.
Speaker 2 (39:04):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (39:04):
Thanks for being here with us today.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
Yeah, let's close out in prayer.
Yeah, heavenly Father, we justlove you so much and we thank
you that you created us withjust a mind that can be
transformed, that you don't justgive us these unattainable
goals of renewing our mind, butyou've given us the ability to
do it.
You've given us the tools, theresources and Holy Spirit.
You are fully present with usin partnership, to just get us
(39:28):
thinking in accordance to yourwill and your truth of what's
described in the Bible.
So, thank you, lord, give usawareness to the negative
thoughts that come up, that gounchecked most of the time.
So thank you that you've givenus an awareness into our
thinking and that you've givenus the ability to actually be
(39:49):
transformed in partnership withyou.
We love you, lord, and we dothis all for your glory.
In the name of Jesus, we prayAmen.
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