While Amy’s on break, enjoy this episode from “What’s God Got To Do With It?” with Leanne Ellington - part of the Amy Brown Podcast Network!
In this episode, Leanne takes you on a journey to explore the profound interplay between faith, self-image, and neuroscience. Leanne breaks down (in simple science terms) how just influencing ONE specific part of the brain (the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC), or the "social brain" as she calls it) can change the game for you -- simply by knowing about it -- as just this ONE part of the brain influences everything from self-perception and emotional pain to coping mechanisms and physical pain.
Inviting God into the conversation right away, she shares how this region of the brain drives our need for acceptance and connection while also playing a big role in your coping mechanisms or habits which you feel are "out of control".
And it's not just theory either, as she shares evidence-based scientific studies that show how faith has been proven to drastically impact everything from self-esteem and addiction recovery...to the alleviation of physical pain, and how THIS can hold the keys to your own mental and emotional health.
Ultimately, she's simply inviting you to 'try on' this idea that faith can be a catalyst for healing, strength, and transformation in the realm of mental and emotional well-being.
HOST: @LeanneEllington
To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
If you want to go on a journey. If you're skeptical,
don't worry. Now here to preach. Want to keep it
clean and talk to me and recase where faith needs
off nature and get in touch with your creator with
a bacon, love and jo She even speaks Hebrew. What's that?
(00:31):
What's that? As well? Send that passion talking transformation? What's gone? Gonzo?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
We are back on what's God got to do with it?
And thank you so much for all the feedback where
you've received so far, and thank you to everyone who
has followed or liked or subscribed to the podcast. And
if you like what you've heard, we have so much
great content on the way for you. So for example,
next week we are going to be talking about what
God's got to do with it when it comes to
(01:05):
food and body image struggles. So if you struggle with
the whole food and body conversation, or maybe you feel
like it's the one thing you can't seem to control
or get a hold of, we are going to talk
about how you can invite God into the conversation and
really see food and body struggles through a new lens.
And we have some other amazing interviews coming in the
(01:26):
next few weeks as well, so make sure that you
like and subscribe and come back every single Tuesday when
new episodes drop of the God Pod. So if you've
been listening to this podcast, you know that my own
mental emotional health was kind of like my kryptonite for
much of my life, and teaching and coaching around mental
emotional health for women and teens is literally my day job.
(01:49):
But the reason I actually started podcasting was because I
just wanted the world to have easy access to the
tools that they need to take ownership of their mental
and emotional health, because it really is a universal human right,
and because the suffering that happens in our heads and
hearts and brains and bodies is also universal. I mean,
(02:10):
no one is immune to challenges and adversity, and our
brains just kind of doing what they do right, because
stress is universal, and we as humans relying on coping
mechanisms of different varieties to deal with those mental emotional
stress stressors. That's also universal. But also this simple but
not always easy desire to just be happy and to
(02:34):
be at peace and feel free. I believe that those
are also universal desires and universal human rights. So as
you soak in today's episode, I just want to plant
the seed that your mental and I would put emotional
and spiritual health in that same category, but that A
your mental health matters, and B you have a right
(02:55):
to feel healthy in your mind, brain, body, and spirit.
But here's that's what I also say about it. Okay,
since you do have a brain, I'm inviting you to
have a conversation about taking ownership and responsibility rather than
letting your brain run and do its thing, taking you
down your own rabbit holes. Right, It's about influencing what
(03:16):
you can influence to create your own peace of mind
and happiness and freedom. So yes, taking care of your
mental emotional health is a brain conversation. But this time around,
I'm also inviting you into the possibility of what if
it was also a god conversation? Like what if this
time you could invite God into the conversation and ask
(03:38):
God to meet you there and help you and support
you unconditionally and be your most supportive friend and trusted advisor.
But I will also say, and I'm sharing this from
my own experiences of making this so much harder on
myself than it needed to be, it will go a
lot smoother and easier if you shift, you know, from
(03:58):
this idea of really taking care of yourself and your
mental emotional health is kind of some sort of burden
and shift it to an assignment or a challenge that
you are choosing to take on. Okay, Because when everything
else in your life or your circumstances feels out of control,
your mental emotional health is one thing that you can influence,
(04:20):
you can focus on, and you can choose what you
feed it, right, but it's also something that you can
surrender over to God at the same time and just
see what happens when you do that. Okay. And again
I'm not just saying, like blindly take my word for it.
I'm saying, try it on and see how it feels
for you. Okay. So with that being said, let's just
(04:40):
dive on in. Okay. So this whole faith brain connection
and what I mean when I say where self image
meets neuroscience I shared with you in the very first episode.
A scientist goes looking for God. That meeting myself in
my skeptical, cynical mind, but also you know, stepping into
a God conversation around things I was previously trying to
(05:02):
do through my own might and will was so so
powerful for me because A it completed my story and
b it met me in what I already knew about
the magic and wonder of the brain and the nervous system.
And that's why for the last fifteen years of my life,
I have been obsessed with the female self image, Like
(05:23):
what is it that makes us see and perceive ourselves
the way that we do? And why do our brains
play tricks on us? And why do we do what
we do? And for me, this started with questions like,
you know, why did I just lose one hundred pounds
and totally make over my body, but my self image
is still calling myself fat? Or why do I still
feel like a crazy sugar addict? Or why do I
(05:46):
still feel unworthy, unlovable, undesirable fill in the blank? And
why didn't my mind and my brain and my self
image play catch up with how my body physically transformed?
And that is why I became obsessed with researching and
understanding the intricacies of the female brain and self image, because,
as you know, I suffered and struggled with food and
(06:07):
my body image and my self image for decades and
the world just kept throwing more diets at my deeper problems,
and you know, this stuff really is not taught in
the mainstream and it's not made readily available, And that's
why I really am so purposeful about getting this way
of thinking out there. But also I've noticed it's really
(06:28):
rare that I find anyone talking about what God has
to do with our own mental emotional health and how
that can be if you are willing to go there,
you know, a really pivotal piece of the puzzle. So
we're going to talk about where faith meets science in
terms of where your self image lives and how to
influence it through neuroscience and by inviting God into it.
(06:52):
But please just know that we are just scratching the
surface of this massive topic, and there will be multiple
episodes that unravel this thread and peel this onion so
that you can, you know, actually feel true worthiness down
in your bones, like not just this ambiguous you know, oh,
just love yourself the way you are kind of fake
positivity that a lot of the world is giving us.
(07:14):
I'm talking about taking a systematic and scientific approach to
self love and self trust and actually transforming the way
that you see yourself while you invite God into this
conversation or maybe that's where it starts, right, So that
is actually where I want to start today essentially, you know,
it's this is an introduction to where your self image
(07:35):
and your self perception actually live and how to start
influencing it and how to invite God into that conversation
from day one, and you probably guessed it. I want
to start with your self image. Okay, So when I
say self image, essentially it's the goggles that you are
seeing yourself through day in, day out. Okay, it's your
(07:56):
personal view or mental picture that you have of yourself.
And so imagine all of the thoughts that you think
about yourself on a day to day basis. So maybe
you're calling yourself things like intelligent or kind, or beautiful
or talented, or maybe you're calling yourself a loser or ugly,
or a disappointment or selfish, unworthy, unlovable, you name it right. Basically,
(08:19):
however you are regarding yourself or perceiving yourself, like how
you view your strengths or your weaknesses. You are defining
yourself and painting a picture of yourself and then living
into that story and picture, and then your beliefs and
your habits and your behaviors follow that story, Okay. And
that's why I always say what you see is who
(08:42):
you be, which is really just to say that how
you're showing up in your life, whether that's physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, relationally, whatever, Okay,
how you're showing up in your life is a direct
reflection of what you see as being true about yourself
relative to each of these areas. Okay, So if you
see yourself as beautiful and lovable and irreplaceable, then you
(09:06):
be someone who shows up in the world as beautiful
and lovable and irreplaceable. What you see is who you be.
But on the other hand, if you see yourself as
imperfect and flawed and ugly, unlovable, unworthy fill in the blank,
then you'll be the person who meets the circumstances of
your life as that person. Okay. Again, what you see
(09:30):
is who you be. And that's why doing the out
there work and I'm putting out there in quotes, right,
you know, the diets and the gym stuff and the
goal based or motivational stuff, it usually falls short for
us or it doesn't really address the deeper stuff going
on because we will only ever be the person that
we see. What you see is who you be. And
(09:52):
that's why I always say true transformation begins with the
self image and really stepping into a new identity. And
I learned this the hard way, you know, after losing
one hundred pounds and making over my body, you know,
because I didn't address this self image and body image
and the wiring in my brain that was causing me
to think and act and feel and behave like I
(10:13):
was fat, unworthy of failure, destined to stay this way forever,
whatever painful words I was using. Okay, yes, I lost
a lot of weight, but I never transformed my identity.
And I brought all of my old habits, thinking, and
behaviors with me because I brought my old self image
with me. Now, keep in mind that when I started
(10:34):
on my own self image path, I didn't have God
in my life yet, or at least I just didn't
know that I did. But by some divine miracle, I
eventually had the insight and awareness to just realize, like, Okay,
I'm never going to be able to outdiet or outwork
or outsmart the wiring that's been laying down in my
brain for a long time, and really my self image,
(10:55):
and I was not going to be able to do
it all on my own either, Like I needed help
and I needed a lifeline. And yes, in many ways,
I needed to be saved from myself, Okay, And that's
why I get so excited to bring God into this
conversation and talk about what's God got to do with
it when it comes to your self image, because I
believe there is absolutely a faith brain connection. So when
(11:20):
it comes to the collective stories that we're telling ourselves
on repeat about ourselves, where yeah, maybe we are using
hurtful words like unworthy or unlovable or you know, just
identifying with words like shame or self rejection, but it's
also those sneaky stories that we tell ourselves that maybe
we're we're different or weird, or maybe we just don't
(11:40):
belong or maybe we're telling ourselves that we're all alone
in this world or isolated. Right, Like you get the
picture on that side of it, right, those isolation words.
And if you're anything like me, I also thought that
I was crazy, Like I thought that like I was
morally and undoubtedly broken and fill in the blank, down
that rabbit hole, and that really is its own rabbit
(12:02):
hole when you're calling yourself crazy or broken, because when
we feel those things, we also feel isolated or disconnected,
and that's its own rabbit hole as well, or at
least it can be if our self image is untamed
or unmanaged or just you know, growing metaphorical weeds without
us weeding the metaphorical garden. And that's why right off
(12:23):
the bat, I'm going to dive into a very specific
part of the brain. And it's the part of the
brain that I have been, you know, semi obsessed with
for many years because it's essentially where your self image
and self perception live. And I'm starting here because this
is the stuff that if I knew about this when
I was younger, it would have saved me so much
(12:45):
suffering because understanding why I do what I do and
really understanding how this part of the brain works. Honestly,
it kind of helped me own my crazy. As I
lovingly say now, but what I really mean by that
is I can now see that I wasn't crazy at all. Okay,
my brain was just doing what it does and what
(13:05):
it got fired and wired to do and repeated until
I changed the pattern. So we are going to get
a bit geeky, but I promise it will all make
sense and become really important to your own faith brain connection. Okay. So,
this specific part of the brain I really want you
to get familiar with is called the anterior singulate cortex,
(13:26):
but you're gonna hear me calling it ACC for sure. ACC. Okay.
And the reason I believe it is so darn important
is because of all of the radically important stuff that
goes on in this part of the brain. So, first
of all, like I said, it's where our brain is
largely responsible for self perception and self reflection aka your
(13:49):
self image. Okay, But this is also where a large
majority of your emotional pain receptors and your social pain receptors,
as you'll learn about in a bit, which, as you'll learn,
is also a big time influencer when it comes to
conversations about addiction or just relying on any coping mechanisms
or anything you feel out of control of. Right, So,
(14:09):
whether that's food or alcohol, or shopping or Netflix, you
name it, Yes, that is all an ACC thing as well. Okay,
But if that's not important enough, all of that stuff
that I just mentioned, the ACC is also where a
large majority of your physical and physiological pain receptors live
(14:30):
as well. Okay, So for example, if I hurt my shoulder,
the injury lives in the shoulder, but the pain I'm
experiencing lives in the brain a large majority of it,
specifically in that ACC. So just that alone, those three things,
can you see why this part of the brain is
so important to know about and just try to take
(14:51):
care of and keep healthy?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Right?
Speaker 2 (14:53):
But also can you see how it would be a
really powerful experience to invite God into conversation about this
part of your brain as well? So that's exactly what
we're going to do, And I'm just going to break
down each part really quickly for the like the logic
and reason side of it for you, and then we're
going to directly invite God into these conversations. And as
(15:15):
you'll learn, there's literally evidence based science out there that
backs this up. So let's go through these one by one.
So let's go through these one by one. So first,
is the self perception and self reflection part of your
(15:37):
brain and your self image. Okay, So a quick thing
about the ACC or the social brain as I call it.
I teach my clients to remember the three letters ACC
by remembering acceptance, connection and care. ACC acceptance, connection and care.
And that's because your ACC's job is to look for acceptance,
(15:58):
connection and care from others, but it also is looking
to feel it from yourself. It doesn't really care if
it's from others or from yourself. It just needs to
feel accepted, connected and cared for and so. In other words,
in order for your social brain to feel safe and
not go into its own form of fight or flight,
it needs to feel emotionally and socially safe. Okay. More specifically,
(16:22):
it needs connection. It needs belonging, inclusion, and really actual
human connection. So either feeling accepted and connected and cared
for from yourself or to feel that from others. Okay,
and guys, this isn't just a desire, It is a require.
It's not just a want. It is a need from
your social brain. And ladies that are listening. And interesting
(16:45):
thing about the ACC is it's bigger and more active
in females than it is in males. Okay. And so
I want to quote one of my favorite neuroscientists, doctor
Lewin Brezendine, because she says it best when she says this. Okay,
she said more than ninety nine percent of male and
female genetic coding is exactly the same out of thirty
thousand genes in the human genome. The less than one
(17:08):
percent variation between the sexes aka male and female is small,
but that one percent difference influences every single cell in
our bodies, from the nerves that register pleasure and pain
to the neurons that transmit perception, thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
So that's what one of my favorite brain scientists, Lemon
(17:29):
Bresendin said, And here's the thing. One of the biggest differences.
She says that one percent difference, the biggest difference is
the acc Okay, it is bigger and more active in
females than it is in male. So, ladies, that social
emotional pain center of your brain essentially needs more love.
(17:49):
You need more acceptance, connection and care. And really understanding
that side of it, it really helped me realize like, Okay,
I'm not crazy, I'm not oh if we're emotional, I'm
not needy. I'm just a woman. And now I know
that my female brain needs a bit more acceptance, connection
and care, and it needs more love. But here's what
(18:10):
I also say about this social brain and self image conversation.
It is not practical or even possible for anyone to
just not care what other people think about us. Like,
if you've ever heard somebody be like, Oh, I don't
care what they think about us, Honestly, it's not true,
because our brains are wired to care about what other
people think about us. Like, that's what the acc does,
(18:31):
and it's especially that female brain. Right, We're wired to
actively notice other people's opinions and judges and judgments, I
should say, more than the male brain notices them. So yeah,
it's not possible to not care what other people's opinions
are of you. But here's what is possible. It is
possible to figure out what it would take for you
to value your own opinion of yourself more so or
(18:54):
even just a little bit more so than someone else's
opinion of you. And I truly believe that the best
way to do that is to align with God's view
of who you are, not society, not your neighbors down
the road, or that woman you follow on Instagram that
you're comparing yourself to. Right, I believe it's possible to
build an identity and recreate your self image through the
(19:17):
eyes of unconditional love and unconditional acceptance, connection and care.
And I believe that God is the perfect set of
eyes to start seeing yourself through. In other words, what
would it be like if you didn't need, you know,
endorsement or approval from somebody else to tell you who
you are, or tell you how much you're worth, or
(19:39):
tell you how beautiful or desirable you are, or if
you have the air quotes right to feel that way
for yourself. And let's be honest, like, we're human. It's
very nice to get that confirmation and affirmation from others,
like we're only human. But what would it be like
if you didn't need it and rely on it from
others and you were able to provide it for yourself
because you were getting your identity from God and through
(20:01):
the eyes of unconditional love and unconditional acceptance, right, Like,
Just imagine what would you be walking like and talking like,
and thinking like and feeling like if you were walking
around seeing yourself and your life through those eyes, through
God's eyes an identity built and based in that right
And imagine how your self image would be impacted if
(20:22):
you were walking around seeing your life through those eyes
and through God's eyes, and we're going to come back
to that, I promise. But I also want to touch
on remember how I said that the ACC was also
a big player in things like addiction and coping mechanisms
or you know, just kind of feeling dependent or codependent
or just out of control of something. And I believe
(20:42):
the ACC is also primarily where addiction and coping mechanisms
actually live. And here's what I mean by that. Now, First,
I want to just give a little disclaimer because this
is a massive topic. Okay, all of this really is
a massive topic, and none of this episode, but especially
when we're talking about a big thing like addiction. I
I'm not here claiming that this podcast episode is going
to solve addiction or even close to being a substitute
(21:05):
for getting actual help and support. Right, I'm simply here
to help you understand a bit more about maybe you
know why you do what you do, and of course
invite God into this conversation.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
And I know this is a massive topic. It's loaded
with emotions and history and oftentimes trauma. So please don't
hear what I'm not saying. Okay, My hope is just
to help you understand. So that you can approach your
struggles with compassion and care rather than judgment or shame.
So back to the ACC. So I'm going to kind
(21:37):
of describe this cause and effect cascade that happens in
the brain. And I'm actually going to use sugar for example.
But you know, let's be honest, sometimes it's wine, sometimes
it's Netflix, mindless TV, online shopping, scrolling Instagram, anything that
really numbs you out, distracts you, you know, causes you
to procrastinate, like drugs you right, and again, like we
all have our own drug of choice. There's no there's
(21:58):
no shame in that, right, but just no, Like, this
really is a small snapshot of how your ACC works.
And of course I'm giving you the very oversimplified version,
but I wanted to kind of lay out this cascade
for you. Okay, So when you're reaching for your drug
of choice, your social brain, like your ACC, is actually
looking for oxytocin, okay. And oxytocin is the love and
(22:21):
comfort and emotional or psychological safety hormone. And the ACC
has one of the highest densities of opioid receptors in
your brain. And I want you to remember that because
it's going to be important. So here's the thing. Your
ACC or social brain as I call it, will get it.
It will get oxytocin. Okay, Like I said, it's not
(22:42):
just something that your ACC desires. It requires oxytocin. But
it becomes a matter of what you feed your brain
because here's what's also happening, and a lot of times
it's happening without you knowing it. So, like I said,
your brain requires connection oxytocin. That's safety love connection hormone
that we talked about. Instead, in those moments, because our
(23:05):
brain doesn't know or maybe it's misfiring, we feed ourselves,
you know, food or mindless TV or mindless web scrolling
or compulsive shopping, or maybe it's actual drugs or alcohol, right,
But really it's any activity that numbs or distracts or
comforts in that moment. So in turn, instead of giving
our brains what it really needs in that moment, which
(23:25):
is oxytocin, we are giving it endless amounts of this high,
like a synthetic high of the drug itself, which is
actually not an oxytocin payoff. It's actually creating a dopamine
serotonin payoff. But in those moments, what our brain is
truly craving is connection and oxytocin, and in turn, our
social brain it stays hungry, like it's still hungry for
(23:49):
that oxytocin because it's still not getting it because we're
giving it endless amounts of dopamine instead. So essentially we
are feeding loneliness and sadness and shame and stress and
boredom with like fake connection like TV and food and
other drugs, and in turn we remain overfed, but we're undernourished,
(24:10):
and we stay undernourished because our brain still craze that oxytocin.
But again, the pattern keeps going. And this is the
vicious cycle that keeps happening over and over and over again,
and it's fired and wired in your brain. And that's
why willpower or trying to outmotivate or white knuckle your
way through it probably isn't working, or it doesn't work
(24:31):
very long, because that problem is never going to be
solved with logic reason because it is emotional. It's in
your brain. In fact, your brain is just doing what
it's been programmed to do, require oxytocin and expect to
get that hit of dopamine in return, okay. But also
this is the perfect place to invite God into the
(24:53):
conversation because in reality, this is your brain screaming at
you to feed it what it really needs. And here's
a hint, it's oftentimes a spiritual need and an emotional need.
But in the moment, your brain thinks it wants sugar
or Netflix or drugs or alcohol or sex or whatever.
But in reality, it doesn't want that thing. It wants
(25:15):
oxytocin and heart soul spirit connection. But it's just been
programmed and fired and wired to get that other thing.
It's been programmed to live in a state of being
overfed yet undernourished. So I really want you to start
seeing this through the eyes of like what spiritual need
and emotional need am I filling with my own drug
(25:37):
of choice? Okay? Just think about that, Like, when I'm
finding and feeding my drug of choice, what's the emotional
and spiritual need that I am really filling right there?
And we're gonna come back to that when we talk
about the faith brain connection, because it's so important. But
first let's look at that third piece of this puzzle,
because it actually totally overlaps and is very related to
(25:58):
what we just talked about the addiction and coping mechanism
kind of things, because you can't look at the pleasure
seeking side of your brain without looking at the counterpart
that manages or soothes pain. Right, So there's pleasure seeking
and then there's like pain relieving.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So the ACC also has one of the highest densities
of pain receptors as well in your brain. Okay, So,
like I said before, if I hurt my shoulder, the
injury itself is in the shoulder, but a lot of
the pain I'm experiencing is being processed by the ACC
in your brain. And this is where I'll also say,
(26:33):
and I'm not going to go too deep into this
today because it's also a really big topic, but there's
also a lot of evidenced based research that's been done
on the social emotional pain that humans experience, where they're
finding that emotional pain is actually manifesting as physiological pain. Okay,
so emotional pain is being experienced, but it's manifesting as
(26:55):
physical pain. And so for example, you know, take something
like fibromyalgia and this this is fascinating to me, and
I won't go too deep into it, but this is
a great example. So if you take something like fibromyalgia,
which is typically regarded as a physical pain disorder, a
lot of times it's called a it's called phantom pain
disorder because a lot of times doctors it's unexplained, so
to speak. But there's been studies that show when a
(27:18):
fibromyalgia sufferer is placed under an fMRI machine, the brain
scan shows that the ACC is essentially like firing and overdrive.
And that same study that I'm that I'm referring to,
it showed that the number one treatment for fibromyalga pain
in that study was not physical therapy and it wasn't
pain meds or pain management. It was getting these people
(27:41):
connected with other fibromyalgia sufferers. It was getting them in
community and connecting their ACC social brain to other humans
going through the same thing, okay, aka getting their social
brain that oxytocin social connection. And what this study concluded
was that fiber mayalgia could very well be a social
(28:03):
disorder not a physical one. In other words, the ACC
was essentially in pain and there was what could be
considered like kind of a sensory mismatch, meaning the emotional
pain centers were firing in the ACC. But it was
manifesting physiologically because remember, those emotional pain centers and the
physiological pain receptors are all predominantly in the ACC, and
(28:27):
when they attended to the social emotional pain in the ACC,
the physiological pain decreased significantly, way more than with meds
or PT, and so feeding and taking care of the
social brain is what helped the most with their physical pain. Okay,
And this is so fascinating, right, Like, just this brain
(28:48):
stuff to me was revelatory because again it made me realize, like, Okay,
I'm not crazy or weak willed or weird or different.
I just need to learn to take care of my
brain just like I take care of my body. But
if you think that's cool, then let's look at all
three of the important aspects of the ACC that we
just talked about, and let's look at it through the
(29:10):
faith lens. Okay, and let's directly invite God into this
conversation one by one. Let's look at all three of
the important aspects of the ACC that we just talked about,
(29:31):
and let's look at it through the faith lens. Okay,
and let's directly invite God into this conversation one by one.
So first let's look at self image and self perception
and where faith meets science, Like, let's see what God's
got to say about it. So first I just want
to mention there was a national study conducted by the
(29:51):
Association of Religion Data Archives, and it concluded that worship,
attendance and prayer, and the specific act of someone committing
their life to Christ, like, this is what the study said.
It said the specific act of somebody committing their life
to Christ was all related to higher self esteem when
the individuals reported a close relationship with and I'm quoting
(30:14):
here a divine being who cared about them, A divine
being who cared about them. Okay, And the sociologist that
conducted this experiment said that when humans have what they
call the ultimate friend on their side, it made a
big difference when it comes to self respect and self worth. Guys,
this is literally a study to see the impact of
(30:37):
faith on self image and self worth. And what they
concluded was that and I quote, a sense of divine
support is a robust predictor of self esteem. It is
a robust predictor, robust, robust potato potato, but it literally
is predicting self esteem, Okay, And Here's the thing I
really want you to take away from this study. Because
(30:57):
language we've talked about is so important. Notice the kind
of relationship with God in Christ that this study specifically
talks about. In their language, they referred to having a
relationship with Christ where he was like the air quote's
ultimate friend and a divine being who cared about them.
This is about relationship. Okay, it's not religion. It's not
(31:19):
a punishment or shame driven God. It's a relationship with
a loving, redeeming God and a heavenly Father who sees
you and loves you just as you are. And you
don't have to earn it or work for it. And
as Kevin Queen distinguished a few episodes ago, there's a
big difference between religion and faith, right, the big distinction
being that religion is rules and faith is relationship. And
(31:42):
this study just shows that faith is a relationship with
God and Christ as the ultimate friend and someone who
cares about you is scientifically proven to improve your self
esteem and self worth. Now, let's look at what God's
got to say about it by going into his word
like this from First Samuel sixteen seven. It says, but
(32:03):
the Lord said to Samuel. Don't judge by his appearance
or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't
see things the way that you see them. People judge
by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
The Lord looks at the heart. I love that. Like
How often are our self image is based solely on
what we look like, or quantifiable things like money and
(32:26):
bank balance and scale weight and gene size and all
those things. The Lord looks at the heart. Can you
imagine if you walked around reminding yourself of that? Or
this one from First Peter chapter three, verses three through
four reminds us of something similar. It says, don't be
concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry,
(32:47):
or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the
beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a
gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God
and to me. This is about word on your inner beauty,
because what you see is who you be, and the
beauty within you that has nothing to do with the
worldly ways that we comprise our self worth is so
(33:10):
so precious to God. And of course this one from
second Corinthians five seventeen. This means that anyone who belongs
to Christ has become a new person. The old life
is gone, a new life has begun. And this just
reminds me that you can take on a new story
and a new identity any time you choose. And like
(33:30):
I've shared throughout this entire podcast, I tried on the
story that God sent his son Jesus to die for
all my sins so that I didn't have to live
in my own burden and shame any longer, and I
could be a new creation in Christ, and that when
I chose to follow him, the old is God and
the new has come, and that I can take the
pen and I can rewrite my story with God. And
(33:53):
when I tried on that story and I literally just
asked God to show me who I really am and
show me how he sees me, everything transformed, because what
you see is who you be. And when I started
seeing myself through his eyes, Wow, it completely transformed my life.
And yeah, it started with me going down the brain
(34:14):
in science rabbit hole, but when I started asking, you know,
what's God got to do with all this self imaged
stuff and what's God reflecting back to me in the
mirror of my own self perception. What happened is beyond description.
And yeah, I use words like miracles because that's what
it felt like after thirty years of toxic shame and
having self rejection and self abandonment as my emotional home.
(34:37):
And really that's why I'm inviting you to try this on.
Try on that you're not crazy or weak willed. You
just have a brain, and ask God to fill you
with new beliefs and new elements of your identity and
step into your own rebirth because what you see is
who you be. And keep in mind I am just
giving you examples of scripture that resonated with me. But
(35:00):
like we talked about in last week's episode, resonance is everything,
so it's important that you find scripture that resonates with you.
So for the next part, remember how I also said
that the ACC was a big player in coping mechanisms
or you know, feeling dependent or out of control or
even outright addiction. So again, this is a big topic
and obviously not someone and done conversation, but I also
(35:23):
want to say this again just to reiterate. You know
you are not crazy and you are not weak willed,
and you are simply doing what your brain got fired
and wired to do. But this is also a brain
that God created and God gifted you with. And if
you feel lost or in the dark, then this is
the perfect place to meet God and invite him in there.
(35:43):
So let's see where faith meets science when it comes
to addiction or feeling out of control or you know,
relying on coping mechanisms. So a national study by the
Association of Religion Data Archives where they basically corelated one
hundred and eighty five different studies on faith's impacts on
different things such as you know, depression, mental health, you
(36:04):
name it. But they concluded that out of the one
hundred and eighty five studies that they located, eighty four
percent of them, eighty four percent of them found that
faith reduced the risks of drug abuse. This you know,
study of studies as I'm calling it, it's literally called belief,
behavior and belonging. How faith is indispensable in preventing and
(36:27):
recovering from substance abuse. And it's no wonder that seventy
three percent of addiction treatment programs in the USA include
a spirituality or faith based element and it's part of
twelve step programs, and of course it was initially made
popular by alcoholics anonymous, where a lot of its core
principles emphasize relying on God or a higher power to
(36:48):
stay sober. But as you learned, when we talk about
that acc that social brain, it might not necessarily be
drugs or alcohol or sex, or maybe it is those things,
but it can also feel like addicted to food or
social media or dating apps or fill in the blank.
And again, yes, it's a conversation of taking radical ownership
and responsibility and doing the work to rewire your brain.
(37:11):
But it's literally proven that inviting God into this conversation
will miraculously help and speed up recovery and I'll add
keep you on the path. So that's what science says
about the faith brain connection for this, But let's look,
let's take a look at what God has to say
about it. Let's go to God's word. So from First
Corinthians ten thirteen, it says, the temptations in your life
(37:35):
are no different from what others experience, and God is faithful.
He will not allow the temptation to be more than
you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show
you a way out so that you can ender. And
this is where I'll say it again. You are not crazy,
You're not weak willed. You are human and your temptations
(37:55):
are also the human part of you. But God will
not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.
And if you feel lost or in the dark or
out of control, this is the perfect place to meet
God and ask him to meet you there. First Corinthians
six ' twelve says, you say, I'm allowed to do anything,
(38:15):
but not everything is good for you. And even though
I'm allowed to do anything, I must not become a
slave to anything. So there's a difference between yeah, you're allowed,
but not being a slave. And that reminds me, Yeah,
we have free will, right, but not everything serves us.
And for me, this was about looking at what I
was a slave to, like what owned me right, And
(38:37):
I was a slave to so many things over my life, food,
opinions of others, we relationships, alcohol, friendships, dating sites, you
name it. But I finally did just have to acknowledge, like, wow,
this does own me and I'm not really free. And
I had to get to that point where I said,
you know, I refuse to go another day without figuring
out how to heal this. And it's not just about
(38:59):
giving it to God. It's about radical personal responsibility and
ownership while I give it over to God and have
him help me sort it out. But I feel like
that in itself is an important distinction, like taking personal
responsibility and ownership of your struggles while you invite God
in and surrender it over to God. Right, it's not
one of those things of like, oh, God, just do
(39:21):
it for me. It's like, no, you have to do
the work too. But when you invite God into that again,
miracles happen. And in one Peter five ten it says,
in his kindness, God called you to share in his
eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you
have suffered a little while, he will restore support and
(39:41):
strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. Okay,
So to that, I say, even if you feel like
you are at rock bottom or you're suffering, or maybe
you feel unhelpable or like you're a lost cause or
just destined to struggle with your vice forever, there is
a restorative healing power or in the name of Jesus
(40:01):
that can strengthen you and give you a new healthy foundation.
God's love will restore support and strengthen you, and He
will place you on a firm foundation. And again, don't
just take my word for it blindly. Try this on right.
Ask God to fill you with new beliefs and new
faith and new elements of your identity and step into
(40:24):
your own rebirth right. And of course yes you have
to take radical ownership and change what's going on in
your brain. But again, ask God to meet you there.
And I'm just giving you examples of scripture that resonated
with me. But again, resonance is everything, So make sure
that you find scripture that resonates with you. Okay, And last,
but not least, let's look at where faith meets science
(40:45):
when it comes to physical pain and what God's got
to say about that. So there's a study out of
Canada that they did it in two thousand and eight
and it was thirty seven thousand people that were fifteen
years or older. And the study concluded that faith based
individuals and they literally defined faith based individuals as measuring
(41:06):
it by worship frequency together with the importance of spiritual values.
So having spiritual values and worship in prayer. Okay, So
faith based individuals based on that definition were associated with
lower levels of chronic pain and fatigue syndromes. But on
top of that, frequent warship attendance was also associated with
(41:28):
better psychological well being in the populations that suffered from
chronic pain and fatigue. Faith was associated with the use
of positive psychological and positive physical coping mechanisms. So again
they also saw this alignment where where again it's connected
to what we talked about in our last section of
the coping mechanisms. Faith also changed how people cope. Okay,
(41:50):
And again this is the evidence based science is pointing
to the fact that having a faith life and a
relationship with God and a prayer life and worship is
a pain reliever. So let's take it even further by
looking to God's word and seeing what God's got to
say about it. So from Psalm six to two, it says,
have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord,
(42:14):
for my bones are an agony. And this is literally
a prayer. Okay. This is an example of asking God
for healing and strength and for relief from the agony,
which we just learned that faith and prayer is scientifically
proven to help alleviate pain, and the Bible aligns with this.
Philippians four thirteen says, for I can do everything through Christ,
(42:35):
who gives me strength. For I can do everything through Christ,
who gives me strength. And this just reminds me to
look to God for strength. And yes, don't hear what
I'm not saying, like, definitely do all you can do
for yourself physically and to heal from what's ailing you.
But to me, this reminds me to let God do
the heavy lifting in my head, heart and spirit, and
he gives me true inner strength when I might feel
(42:57):
physically weak, for I can do everything through Christ, who
gives me strength. And then, of course there's this scripture
that has given me peace in so many different situations,
but I feel like it's so relevant to this. It's
from Psalm thirty four eighteen and it says the Lord
is close to the broken hearted. He rescues those whose
spirits are crushed. Because, let's be honest, pain and unexplained
(43:21):
illness or physical mental emotional distress can be soul and
spirit crushing, you know what I mean. And even when
the circumstances feel like it's more than you can bear.
This scripture reminds me that this is when God is
closest to your reach. The Lord is close to the
broken hearted, and he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
And again, like, just reach out, Like try it on,
(43:43):
Try reaching out to God when you're broken hearted. Try
reaching out to God when your spirits are crushed. And
you know, these are just obviously some of the examples
of the healing power of God's word and the healing
power of faith and the healing power of Jesus. But again,
it's up to you to meet God there. Right, That's
all I'm inviting you to do. And really the big
point of this conversation, like, what if you simply started
(44:06):
looking at your mental emotional health and your beliefs and
self image and your coping mechanisms are parts of your
life where you feel bondage and yes, even your physical pain,
And what if this was all a God conversation?
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Right?
Speaker 2 (44:21):
This is the kind of stuff that is happening in
our social brains, whether we are aware of it or not.
But this is also the part of the brain that
I believe if we invite God in absolute miracles, can
happen right, our minds can be renewed, identities can be reshaped,
and hope and healing in our mental emotional health can
be something that we can continually invite God into the conversation.
(44:45):
And as always, everything I share is simply an invitation
without expectation, to just try on a new story or
new perspective and see what meets you where you are
in your own journey. So, if you're wondering what's God
got to do with your mental and min emotional health,
I'm here to tell you everything, everything you know and
everything you didn't know you didn't know. We will be
(45:09):
back with more What's God got to do with it?
But in the meantime, I would love to hear from you,
So just tell me where you are in your own
story or maybe what questions you have. You know, where
do you feel like you need more clarity or wisdom
or direction in your own journey. I definitely want to
hear from you, So head on over to What's God
(45:30):
Got to Do with It? Dot com and scroll down
to the forum to share your thoughts, questions, or feedback instantly.
That's What's God Got to Do with It? Dot Com?
And if you like this podcast and want to hear more, Follow,
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your weekly dose of What's God Got to Do With It?
(45:50):
New episodes drop every Tuesday, and while you're there, be
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really means so much. What's God Got to Do With
It is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown Podcast Network.
It's written and hosted by me Leanne Ellington, executive produced
by Elizabeth Fozzio, post production and editing by Houston Tilley,
(46:13):
and original music written by Cheryl Stark and produced by
Adam Stark
If you want to go on a journey. If you're skeptical,
don't worry. Now here to preach. Want to keep it
clean and talk to me and recase where faith needs
off nature and get in touch with your creator with
a bacon, love and jo She even speaks Hebrew. What's that?
(00:31):
What's that? As well? Send that passion talking transformation? What's gone? Gonzo?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
We are back on what's God got to do with it?
And thank you so much for all the feedback where
you've received so far, and thank you to everyone who
has followed or liked or subscribed to the podcast. And
if you like what you've heard, we have so much
great content on the way for you. So for example,
next week we are going to be talking about what
God's got to do with it when it comes to
(01:05):
food and body image struggles. So if you struggle with
the whole food and body conversation, or maybe you feel
like it's the one thing you can't seem to control
or get a hold of, we are going to talk
about how you can invite God into the conversation and
really see food and body struggles through a new lens.
And we have some other amazing interviews coming in the
(01:26):
next few weeks as well, so make sure that you
like and subscribe and come back every single Tuesday when
new episodes drop of the God Pod. So if you've
been listening to this podcast, you know that my own
mental emotional health was kind of like my kryptonite for
much of my life, and teaching and coaching around mental
emotional health for women and teens is literally my day job.
(01:49):
But the reason I actually started podcasting was because I
just wanted the world to have easy access to the
tools that they need to take ownership of their mental
and emotional health, because it really is a universal human right,
and because the suffering that happens in our heads and
hearts and brains and bodies is also universal. I mean,
(02:10):
no one is immune to challenges and adversity, and our
brains just kind of doing what they do right, because
stress is universal, and we as humans relying on coping
mechanisms of different varieties to deal with those mental emotional
stress stressors. That's also universal. But also this simple but
not always easy desire to just be happy and to
(02:34):
be at peace and feel free. I believe that those
are also universal desires and universal human rights. So as
you soak in today's episode, I just want to plant
the seed that your mental and I would put emotional
and spiritual health in that same category, but that A
your mental health matters, and B you have a right
(02:55):
to feel healthy in your mind, brain, body, and spirit.
But here's that's what I also say about it. Okay,
since you do have a brain, I'm inviting you to
have a conversation about taking ownership and responsibility rather than
letting your brain run and do its thing, taking you
down your own rabbit holes. Right, It's about influencing what
(03:16):
you can influence to create your own peace of mind
and happiness and freedom. So yes, taking care of your
mental emotional health is a brain conversation. But this time around,
I'm also inviting you into the possibility of what if
it was also a god conversation? Like what if this
time you could invite God into the conversation and ask
(03:38):
God to meet you there and help you and support
you unconditionally and be your most supportive friend and trusted advisor.
But I will also say, and I'm sharing this from
my own experiences of making this so much harder on
myself than it needed to be, it will go a
lot smoother and easier if you shift, you know, from
(03:58):
this idea of really taking care of yourself and your
mental emotional health is kind of some sort of burden
and shift it to an assignment or a challenge that
you are choosing to take on. Okay, Because when everything
else in your life or your circumstances feels out of control,
your mental emotional health is one thing that you can influence,
(04:20):
you can focus on, and you can choose what you
feed it, right, but it's also something that you can
surrender over to God at the same time and just
see what happens when you do that. Okay. And again
I'm not just saying, like blindly take my word for it.
I'm saying, try it on and see how it feels
for you. Okay. So with that being said, let's just
(04:40):
dive on in. Okay. So this whole faith brain connection
and what I mean when I say where self image
meets neuroscience I shared with you in the very first episode.
A scientist goes looking for God. That meeting myself in
my skeptical, cynical mind, but also you know, stepping into
a God conversation around things I was previously trying to
(05:02):
do through my own might and will was so so
powerful for me because A it completed my story and
b it met me in what I already knew about
the magic and wonder of the brain and the nervous system.
And that's why for the last fifteen years of my life,
I have been obsessed with the female self image, Like
(05:23):
what is it that makes us see and perceive ourselves
the way that we do? And why do our brains
play tricks on us? And why do we do what
we do? And for me, this started with questions like,
you know, why did I just lose one hundred pounds
and totally make over my body, but my self image
is still calling myself fat? Or why do I still
feel like a crazy sugar addict? Or why do I
(05:46):
still feel unworthy, unlovable, undesirable fill in the blank? And
why didn't my mind and my brain and my self
image play catch up with how my body physically transformed?
And that is why I became obsessed with researching and
understanding the intricacies of the female brain and self image, because,
as you know, I suffered and struggled with food and
(06:07):
my body image and my self image for decades and
the world just kept throwing more diets at my deeper problems,
and you know, this stuff really is not taught in
the mainstream and it's not made readily available, And that's
why I really am so purposeful about getting this way
of thinking out there. But also I've noticed it's really
(06:28):
rare that I find anyone talking about what God has
to do with our own mental emotional health and how
that can be if you are willing to go there,
you know, a really pivotal piece of the puzzle. So
we're going to talk about where faith meets science in
terms of where your self image lives and how to
influence it through neuroscience and by inviting God into it.
(06:52):
But please just know that we are just scratching the
surface of this massive topic, and there will be multiple
episodes that unravel this thread and peel this onion so
that you can, you know, actually feel true worthiness down
in your bones, like not just this ambiguous you know, oh,
just love yourself the way you are kind of fake
positivity that a lot of the world is giving us.
(07:14):
I'm talking about taking a systematic and scientific approach to
self love and self trust and actually transforming the way
that you see yourself while you invite God into this
conversation or maybe that's where it starts, right, So that
is actually where I want to start today essentially, you know,
it's this is an introduction to where your self image
(07:35):
and your self perception actually live and how to start
influencing it and how to invite God into that conversation
from day one, and you probably guessed it. I want
to start with your self image. Okay, So when I
say self image, essentially it's the goggles that you are
seeing yourself through day in, day out. Okay, it's your
(07:56):
personal view or mental picture that you have of yourself.
And so imagine all of the thoughts that you think
about yourself on a day to day basis. So maybe
you're calling yourself things like intelligent or kind, or beautiful
or talented, or maybe you're calling yourself a loser or ugly,
or a disappointment or selfish, unworthy, unlovable, you name it right. Basically,
(08:19):
however you are regarding yourself or perceiving yourself, like how
you view your strengths or your weaknesses. You are defining
yourself and painting a picture of yourself and then living
into that story and picture, and then your beliefs and
your habits and your behaviors follow that story, Okay. And
that's why I always say what you see is who
(08:42):
you be, which is really just to say that how
you're showing up in your life, whether that's physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, relationally, whatever, Okay,
how you're showing up in your life is a direct
reflection of what you see as being true about yourself
relative to each of these areas. Okay, So if you
see yourself as beautiful and lovable and irreplaceable, then you
(09:06):
be someone who shows up in the world as beautiful
and lovable and irreplaceable. What you see is who you be.
But on the other hand, if you see yourself as
imperfect and flawed and ugly, unlovable, unworthy fill in the blank,
then you'll be the person who meets the circumstances of
your life as that person. Okay. Again, what you see
(09:30):
is who you be. And that's why doing the out
there work and I'm putting out there in quotes, right,
you know, the diets and the gym stuff and the
goal based or motivational stuff, it usually falls short for
us or it doesn't really address the deeper stuff going
on because we will only ever be the person that
we see. What you see is who you be. And
(09:52):
that's why I always say true transformation begins with the
self image and really stepping into a new identity. And
I learned this the hard way, you know, after losing
one hundred pounds and making over my body, you know,
because I didn't address this self image and body image
and the wiring in my brain that was causing me
to think and act and feel and behave like I
(10:13):
was fat, unworthy of failure, destined to stay this way forever,
whatever painful words I was using. Okay, yes, I lost
a lot of weight, but I never transformed my identity.
And I brought all of my old habits, thinking, and
behaviors with me because I brought my old self image
with me. Now, keep in mind that when I started
(10:34):
on my own self image path, I didn't have God
in my life yet, or at least I just didn't
know that I did. But by some divine miracle, I
eventually had the insight and awareness to just realize, like, Okay,
I'm never going to be able to outdiet or outwork
or outsmart the wiring that's been laying down in my
brain for a long time, and really my self image,
(10:55):
and I was not going to be able to do
it all on my own either, Like I needed help
and I needed a lifeline. And yes, in many ways,
I needed to be saved from myself, Okay, And that's
why I get so excited to bring God into this
conversation and talk about what's God got to do with
it when it comes to your self image, because I
believe there is absolutely a faith brain connection. So when
(11:20):
it comes to the collective stories that we're telling ourselves
on repeat about ourselves, where yeah, maybe we are using
hurtful words like unworthy or unlovable or you know, just
identifying with words like shame or self rejection, but it's
also those sneaky stories that we tell ourselves that maybe
we're we're different or weird, or maybe we just don't
(11:40):
belong or maybe we're telling ourselves that we're all alone
in this world or isolated. Right, Like you get the
picture on that side of it, right, those isolation words.
And if you're anything like me, I also thought that
I was crazy, Like I thought that like I was
morally and undoubtedly broken and fill in the blank, down
that rabbit hole, and that really is its own rabbit
(12:02):
hole when you're calling yourself crazy or broken, because when
we feel those things, we also feel isolated or disconnected,
and that's its own rabbit hole as well, or at
least it can be if our self image is untamed
or unmanaged or just you know, growing metaphorical weeds without
us weeding the metaphorical garden. And that's why right off
(12:23):
the bat, I'm going to dive into a very specific
part of the brain. And it's the part of the
brain that I have been, you know, semi obsessed with
for many years because it's essentially where your self image
and self perception live. And I'm starting here because this
is the stuff that if I knew about this when
I was younger, it would have saved me so much
(12:45):
suffering because understanding why I do what I do and
really understanding how this part of the brain works. Honestly,
it kind of helped me own my crazy. As I
lovingly say now, but what I really mean by that
is I can now see that I wasn't crazy at all. Okay,
my brain was just doing what it does and what
(13:05):
it got fired and wired to do and repeated until
I changed the pattern. So we are going to get
a bit geeky, but I promise it will all make
sense and become really important to your own faith brain connection. Okay. So,
this specific part of the brain I really want you
to get familiar with is called the anterior singulate cortex,
(13:26):
but you're gonna hear me calling it ACC for sure. ACC. Okay.
And the reason I believe it is so darn important
is because of all of the radically important stuff that
goes on in this part of the brain. So, first
of all, like I said, it's where our brain is
largely responsible for self perception and self reflection aka your
(13:49):
self image. Okay, But this is also where a large
majority of your emotional pain receptors and your social pain receptors,
as you'll learn about in a bit, which, as you'll learn,
is also a big time influencer when it comes to
conversations about addiction or just relying on any coping mechanisms
or anything you feel out of control of. Right, So,
(14:09):
whether that's food or alcohol, or shopping or Netflix, you
name it, Yes, that is all an ACC thing as well. Okay,
But if that's not important enough, all of that stuff
that I just mentioned, the ACC is also where a
large majority of your physical and physiological pain receptors live
(14:30):
as well. Okay, So for example, if I hurt my shoulder,
the injury lives in the shoulder, but the pain I'm
experiencing lives in the brain a large majority of it,
specifically in that ACC. So just that alone, those three things,
can you see why this part of the brain is
so important to know about and just try to take
(14:51):
care of and keep healthy?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Right?
Speaker 2 (14:53):
But also can you see how it would be a
really powerful experience to invite God into conversation about this
part of your brain as well? So that's exactly what
we're going to do, And I'm just going to break
down each part really quickly for the like the logic
and reason side of it for you, and then we're
going to directly invite God into these conversations. And as
(15:15):
you'll learn, there's literally evidence based science out there that
backs this up. So let's go through these one by one.
So let's go through these one by one. So first,
is the self perception and self reflection part of your
(15:37):
brain and your self image. Okay, So a quick thing
about the ACC or the social brain as I call it.
I teach my clients to remember the three letters ACC
by remembering acceptance, connection and care. ACC acceptance, connection and care.
And that's because your ACC's job is to look for acceptance,
(15:58):
connection and care from others, but it also is looking
to feel it from yourself. It doesn't really care if
it's from others or from yourself. It just needs to
feel accepted, connected and cared for and so. In other words,
in order for your social brain to feel safe and
not go into its own form of fight or flight,
it needs to feel emotionally and socially safe. Okay. More specifically,
(16:22):
it needs connection. It needs belonging, inclusion, and really actual
human connection. So either feeling accepted and connected and cared
for from yourself or to feel that from others. Okay,
and guys, this isn't just a desire, It is a require.
It's not just a want. It is a need from
your social brain. And ladies that are listening. And interesting
(16:45):
thing about the ACC is it's bigger and more active
in females than it is in males. Okay. And so
I want to quote one of my favorite neuroscientists, doctor
Lewin Brezendine, because she says it best when she says this. Okay,
she said more than ninety nine percent of male and
female genetic coding is exactly the same out of thirty
thousand genes in the human genome. The less than one
(17:08):
percent variation between the sexes aka male and female is small,
but that one percent difference influences every single cell in
our bodies, from the nerves that register pleasure and pain
to the neurons that transmit perception, thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
So that's what one of my favorite brain scientists, Lemon
(17:29):
Bresendin said, And here's the thing. One of the biggest differences.
She says that one percent difference, the biggest difference is
the acc Okay, it is bigger and more active in
females than it is in male. So, ladies, that social
emotional pain center of your brain essentially needs more love.
(17:49):
You need more acceptance, connection and care. And really understanding
that side of it, it really helped me realize like, Okay,
I'm not crazy, I'm not oh if we're emotional, I'm
not needy. I'm just a woman. And now I know
that my female brain needs a bit more acceptance, connection
and care, and it needs more love. But here's what
(18:10):
I also say about this social brain and self image conversation.
It is not practical or even possible for anyone to
just not care what other people think about us. Like,
if you've ever heard somebody be like, Oh, I don't
care what they think about us, Honestly, it's not true,
because our brains are wired to care about what other
people think about us. Like, that's what the acc does,
(18:31):
and it's especially that female brain. Right, We're wired to
actively notice other people's opinions and judges and judgments, I
should say, more than the male brain notices them. So yeah,
it's not possible to not care what other people's opinions
are of you. But here's what is possible. It is
possible to figure out what it would take for you
to value your own opinion of yourself more so or
(18:54):
even just a little bit more so than someone else's
opinion of you. And I truly believe that the best
way to do that is to align with God's view
of who you are, not society, not your neighbors down
the road, or that woman you follow on Instagram that
you're comparing yourself to. Right, I believe it's possible to
build an identity and recreate your self image through the
(19:17):
eyes of unconditional love and unconditional acceptance, connection and care.
And I believe that God is the perfect set of
eyes to start seeing yourself through. In other words, what
would it be like if you didn't need, you know,
endorsement or approval from somebody else to tell you who
you are, or tell you how much you're worth, or
(19:39):
tell you how beautiful or desirable you are, or if
you have the air quotes right to feel that way
for yourself. And let's be honest, like, we're human. It's
very nice to get that confirmation and affirmation from others,
like we're only human. But what would it be like
if you didn't need it and rely on it from
others and you were able to provide it for yourself
because you were getting your identity from God and through
(20:01):
the eyes of unconditional love and unconditional acceptance, right, Like,
Just imagine what would you be walking like and talking like,
and thinking like and feeling like if you were walking
around seeing yourself and your life through those eyes, through
God's eyes an identity built and based in that right
And imagine how your self image would be impacted if
(20:22):
you were walking around seeing your life through those eyes
and through God's eyes, and we're going to come back
to that, I promise. But I also want to touch
on remember how I said that the ACC was also
a big player in things like addiction and coping mechanisms
or you know, just kind of feeling dependent or codependent
or just out of control of something. And I believe
(20:42):
the ACC is also primarily where addiction and coping mechanisms
actually live. And here's what I mean by that. Now, First,
I want to just give a little disclaimer because this
is a massive topic. Okay, all of this really is
a massive topic, and none of this episode, but especially
when we're talking about a big thing like addiction. I
I'm not here claiming that this podcast episode is going
to solve addiction or even close to being a substitute
(21:05):
for getting actual help and support. Right, I'm simply here
to help you understand a bit more about maybe you
know why you do what you do, and of course
invite God into this conversation.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
Right.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
And I know this is a massive topic. It's loaded
with emotions and history and oftentimes trauma. So please don't
hear what I'm not saying. Okay, My hope is just
to help you understand. So that you can approach your
struggles with compassion and care rather than judgment or shame.
So back to the ACC. So I'm going to kind
(21:37):
of describe this cause and effect cascade that happens in
the brain. And I'm actually going to use sugar for example.
But you know, let's be honest, sometimes it's wine, sometimes
it's Netflix, mindless TV, online shopping, scrolling Instagram, anything that
really numbs you out, distracts you, you know, causes you
to procrastinate, like drugs you right, and again, like we
all have our own drug of choice. There's no there's
(21:58):
no shame in that, right, but just no, Like, this
really is a small snapshot of how your ACC works.
And of course I'm giving you the very oversimplified version,
but I wanted to kind of lay out this cascade
for you. Okay, So when you're reaching for your drug
of choice, your social brain, like your ACC, is actually
looking for oxytocin, okay. And oxytocin is the love and
(22:21):
comfort and emotional or psychological safety hormone. And the ACC
has one of the highest densities of opioid receptors in
your brain. And I want you to remember that because
it's going to be important. So here's the thing. Your
ACC or social brain as I call it, will get it.
It will get oxytocin. Okay, Like I said, it's not
(22:42):
just something that your ACC desires. It requires oxytocin. But
it becomes a matter of what you feed your brain
because here's what's also happening, and a lot of times
it's happening without you knowing it. So, like I said,
your brain requires connection oxytocin. That's safety love connection hormone
that we talked about. Instead, in those moments, because our
(23:05):
brain doesn't know or maybe it's misfiring, we feed ourselves,
you know, food or mindless TV or mindless web scrolling
or compulsive shopping, or maybe it's actual drugs or alcohol, right,
But really it's any activity that numbs or distracts or
comforts in that moment. So in turn, instead of giving
our brains what it really needs in that moment, which
(23:25):
is oxytocin, we are giving it endless amounts of this high,
like a synthetic high of the drug itself, which is
actually not an oxytocin payoff. It's actually creating a dopamine
serotonin payoff. But in those moments, what our brain is
truly craving is connection and oxytocin, and in turn, our
social brain it stays hungry, like it's still hungry for
(23:49):
that oxytocin because it's still not getting it because we're
giving it endless amounts of dopamine instead. So essentially we
are feeding loneliness and sadness and shame and stress and
boredom with like fake connection like TV and food and
other drugs, and in turn we remain overfed, but we're undernourished,
(24:10):
and we stay undernourished because our brain still craze that oxytocin.
But again, the pattern keeps going. And this is the
vicious cycle that keeps happening over and over and over again,
and it's fired and wired in your brain. And that's
why willpower or trying to outmotivate or white knuckle your
way through it probably isn't working, or it doesn't work
(24:31):
very long, because that problem is never going to be
solved with logic reason because it is emotional. It's in
your brain. In fact, your brain is just doing what
it's been programmed to do, require oxytocin and expect to
get that hit of dopamine in return, okay. But also
this is the perfect place to invite God into the
(24:53):
conversation because in reality, this is your brain screaming at
you to feed it what it really needs. And here's
a hint, it's oftentimes a spiritual need and an emotional need.
But in the moment, your brain thinks it wants sugar
or Netflix or drugs or alcohol or sex or whatever.
But in reality, it doesn't want that thing. It wants
(25:15):
oxytocin and heart soul spirit connection. But it's just been
programmed and fired and wired to get that other thing.
It's been programmed to live in a state of being
overfed yet undernourished. So I really want you to start
seeing this through the eyes of like what spiritual need
and emotional need am I filling with my own drug
(25:37):
of choice? Okay? Just think about that, Like, when I'm
finding and feeding my drug of choice, what's the emotional
and spiritual need that I am really filling right there?
And we're gonna come back to that when we talk
about the faith brain connection, because it's so important. But
first let's look at that third piece of this puzzle,
because it actually totally overlaps and is very related to
(25:58):
what we just talked about the addiction and coping mechanism
kind of things, because you can't look at the pleasure
seeking side of your brain without looking at the counterpart
that manages or soothes pain. Right, So there's pleasure seeking
and then there's like pain relieving.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Right.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
So the ACC also has one of the highest densities
of pain receptors as well in your brain. Okay, So,
like I said before, if I hurt my shoulder, the
injury itself is in the shoulder, but a lot of
the pain I'm experiencing is being processed by the ACC
in your brain. And this is where I'll also say,
(26:33):
and I'm not going to go too deep into this
today because it's also a really big topic, but there's
also a lot of evidenced based research that's been done
on the social emotional pain that humans experience, where they're
finding that emotional pain is actually manifesting as physiological pain. Okay,
so emotional pain is being experienced, but it's manifesting as
(26:55):
physical pain. And so for example, you know, take something
like fibromyalgia and this this is fascinating to me, and
I won't go too deep into it, but this is
a great example. So if you take something like fibromyalgia,
which is typically regarded as a physical pain disorder, a
lot of times it's called a it's called phantom pain
disorder because a lot of times doctors it's unexplained, so
to speak. But there's been studies that show when a
(27:18):
fibromyalgia sufferer is placed under an fMRI machine, the brain
scan shows that the ACC is essentially like firing and overdrive.
And that same study that I'm that I'm referring to,
it showed that the number one treatment for fibromyalga pain
in that study was not physical therapy and it wasn't
pain meds or pain management. It was getting these people
(27:41):
connected with other fibromyalgia sufferers. It was getting them in
community and connecting their ACC social brain to other humans
going through the same thing, okay, aka getting their social
brain that oxytocin social connection. And what this study concluded
was that fiber mayalgia could very well be a social
(28:03):
disorder not a physical one. In other words, the ACC
was essentially in pain and there was what could be
considered like kind of a sensory mismatch, meaning the emotional
pain centers were firing in the ACC. But it was
manifesting physiologically because remember, those emotional pain centers and the
physiological pain receptors are all predominantly in the ACC, and
(28:27):
when they attended to the social emotional pain in the ACC,
the physiological pain decreased significantly, way more than with meds
or PT, and so feeding and taking care of the
social brain is what helped the most with their physical pain. Okay,
And this is so fascinating, right, Like, just this brain
(28:48):
stuff to me was revelatory because again it made me realize, like, Okay,
I'm not crazy or weak willed or weird or different.
I just need to learn to take care of my
brain just like I take care of my body. But
if you think that's cool, then let's look at all
three of the important aspects of the ACC that we
just talked about, and let's look at it through the
(29:10):
faith lens. Okay, and let's directly invite God into this
conversation one by one. Let's look at all three of
the important aspects of the ACC that we just talked about,
(29:31):
and let's look at it through the faith lens. Okay,
and let's directly invite God into this conversation one by one.
So first let's look at self image and self perception
and where faith meets science, Like, let's see what God's
got to say about it. So first I just want
to mention there was a national study conducted by the
(29:51):
Association of Religion Data Archives, and it concluded that worship,
attendance and prayer, and the specific act of someone committing
their life to Christ, like, this is what the study said.
It said the specific act of somebody committing their life
to Christ was all related to higher self esteem when
the individuals reported a close relationship with and I'm quoting
(30:14):
here a divine being who cared about them, A divine
being who cared about them. Okay, And the sociologist that
conducted this experiment said that when humans have what they
call the ultimate friend on their side, it made a
big difference when it comes to self respect and self worth. Guys,
this is literally a study to see the impact of
(30:37):
faith on self image and self worth. And what they
concluded was that and I quote, a sense of divine
support is a robust predictor of self esteem. It is
a robust predictor, robust, robust potato potato, but it literally
is predicting self esteem, Okay, And Here's the thing I
really want you to take away from this study. Because
(30:57):
language we've talked about is so important. Notice the kind
of relationship with God in Christ that this study specifically
talks about. In their language, they referred to having a
relationship with Christ where he was like the air quote's
ultimate friend and a divine being who cared about them.
This is about relationship. Okay, it's not religion. It's not
(31:19):
a punishment or shame driven God. It's a relationship with
a loving, redeeming God and a heavenly Father who sees
you and loves you just as you are. And you
don't have to earn it or work for it. And
as Kevin Queen distinguished a few episodes ago, there's a
big difference between religion and faith, right, the big distinction
being that religion is rules and faith is relationship. And
(31:42):
this study just shows that faith is a relationship with
God and Christ as the ultimate friend and someone who
cares about you is scientifically proven to improve your self
esteem and self worth. Now, let's look at what God's
got to say about it by going into his word
like this from First Samuel sixteen seven. It says, but
(32:03):
the Lord said to Samuel. Don't judge by his appearance
or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't
see things the way that you see them. People judge
by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
The Lord looks at the heart. I love that. Like
How often are our self image is based solely on
what we look like, or quantifiable things like money and
(32:26):
bank balance and scale weight and gene size and all
those things. The Lord looks at the heart. Can you
imagine if you walked around reminding yourself of that? Or
this one from First Peter chapter three, verses three through
four reminds us of something similar. It says, don't be
concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry,
(32:47):
or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the
beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a
gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God
and to me. This is about word on your inner beauty,
because what you see is who you be, and the
beauty within you that has nothing to do with the
worldly ways that we comprise our self worth is so
(33:10):
so precious to God. And of course this one from
second Corinthians five seventeen. This means that anyone who belongs
to Christ has become a new person. The old life
is gone, a new life has begun. And this just
reminds me that you can take on a new story
and a new identity any time you choose. And like
(33:30):
I've shared throughout this entire podcast, I tried on the
story that God sent his son Jesus to die for
all my sins so that I didn't have to live
in my own burden and shame any longer, and I
could be a new creation in Christ, and that when
I chose to follow him, the old is God and
the new has come, and that I can take the
pen and I can rewrite my story with God. And
(33:53):
when I tried on that story and I literally just
asked God to show me who I really am and
show me how he sees me, everything transformed, because what
you see is who you be. And when I started
seeing myself through his eyes, Wow, it completely transformed my life.
And yeah, it started with me going down the brain
(34:14):
in science rabbit hole, but when I started asking, you know,
what's God got to do with all this self imaged
stuff and what's God reflecting back to me in the
mirror of my own self perception. What happened is beyond description.
And yeah, I use words like miracles because that's what
it felt like after thirty years of toxic shame and
having self rejection and self abandonment as my emotional home.
(34:37):
And really that's why I'm inviting you to try this on.
Try on that you're not crazy or weak willed. You
just have a brain, and ask God to fill you
with new beliefs and new elements of your identity and
step into your own rebirth because what you see is
who you be. And keep in mind I am just
giving you examples of scripture that resonated with me. But
(35:00):
like we talked about in last week's episode, resonance is everything,
so it's important that you find scripture that resonates with you.
So for the next part, remember how I also said
that the ACC was a big player in coping mechanisms
or you know, feeling dependent or out of control or
even outright addiction. So again, this is a big topic
and obviously not someone and done conversation, but I also
(35:23):
want to say this again just to reiterate. You know
you are not crazy and you are not weak willed,
and you are simply doing what your brain got fired
and wired to do. But this is also a brain
that God created and God gifted you with. And if
you feel lost or in the dark, then this is
the perfect place to meet God and invite him in there.
(35:43):
So let's see where faith meets science when it comes
to addiction or feeling out of control or you know,
relying on coping mechanisms. So a national study by the
Association of Religion Data Archives where they basically corelated one
hundred and eighty five different studies on faith's impacts on
different things such as you know, depression, mental health, you
(36:04):
name it. But they concluded that out of the one
hundred and eighty five studies that they located, eighty four
percent of them, eighty four percent of them found that
faith reduced the risks of drug abuse. This you know,
study of studies as I'm calling it, it's literally called belief,
behavior and belonging. How faith is indispensable in preventing and
(36:27):
recovering from substance abuse. And it's no wonder that seventy
three percent of addiction treatment programs in the USA include
a spirituality or faith based element and it's part of
twelve step programs, and of course it was initially made
popular by alcoholics anonymous, where a lot of its core
principles emphasize relying on God or a higher power to
(36:48):
stay sober. But as you learned, when we talk about
that acc that social brain, it might not necessarily be
drugs or alcohol or sex, or maybe it is those things,
but it can also feel like addicted to food or
social media or dating apps or fill in the blank.
And again, yes, it's a conversation of taking radical ownership
and responsibility and doing the work to rewire your brain.
(37:11):
But it's literally proven that inviting God into this conversation
will miraculously help and speed up recovery and I'll add
keep you on the path. So that's what science says
about the faith brain connection for this, But let's look,
let's take a look at what God has to say
about it. Let's go to God's word. So from First
Corinthians ten thirteen, it says, the temptations in your life
(37:35):
are no different from what others experience, and God is faithful.
He will not allow the temptation to be more than
you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show
you a way out so that you can ender. And
this is where I'll say it again. You are not crazy,
You're not weak willed. You are human and your temptations
(37:55):
are also the human part of you. But God will
not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.
And if you feel lost or in the dark or
out of control, this is the perfect place to meet
God and ask him to meet you there. First Corinthians
six ' twelve says, you say, I'm allowed to do anything,
(38:15):
but not everything is good for you. And even though
I'm allowed to do anything, I must not become a
slave to anything. So there's a difference between yeah, you're allowed,
but not being a slave. And that reminds me, Yeah,
we have free will, right, but not everything serves us.
And for me, this was about looking at what I
was a slave to, like what owned me right, And
(38:37):
I was a slave to so many things over my life, food,
opinions of others, we relationships, alcohol, friendships, dating sites, you
name it. But I finally did just have to acknowledge, like, wow,
this does own me and I'm not really free. And
I had to get to that point where I said,
you know, I refuse to go another day without figuring
out how to heal this. And it's not just about
(38:59):
giving it to God. It's about radical personal responsibility and
ownership while I give it over to God and have
him help me sort it out. But I feel like
that in itself is an important distinction, like taking personal
responsibility and ownership of your struggles while you invite God
in and surrender it over to God. Right, it's not
one of those things of like, oh, God, just do
(39:21):
it for me. It's like, no, you have to do
the work too. But when you invite God into that again,
miracles happen. And in one Peter five ten it says,
in his kindness, God called you to share in his
eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you
have suffered a little while, he will restore support and
(39:41):
strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. Okay,
So to that, I say, even if you feel like
you are at rock bottom or you're suffering, or maybe
you feel unhelpable or like you're a lost cause or
just destined to struggle with your vice forever, there is
a restorative healing power or in the name of Jesus
(40:01):
that can strengthen you and give you a new healthy foundation.
God's love will restore support and strengthen you, and He
will place you on a firm foundation. And again, don't
just take my word for it blindly. Try this on right.
Ask God to fill you with new beliefs and new
faith and new elements of your identity and step into
(40:24):
your own rebirth right. And of course yes you have
to take radical ownership and change what's going on in
your brain. But again, ask God to meet you there.
And I'm just giving you examples of scripture that resonated
with me. But again, resonance is everything, So make sure
that you find scripture that resonates with you. Okay, And last,
but not least, let's look at where faith meets science
(40:45):
when it comes to physical pain and what God's got
to say about that. So there's a study out of
Canada that they did it in two thousand and eight
and it was thirty seven thousand people that were fifteen
years or older. And the study concluded that faith based
individuals and they literally defined faith based individuals as measuring
(41:06):
it by worship frequency together with the importance of spiritual values.
So having spiritual values and worship in prayer. Okay, So
faith based individuals based on that definition were associated with
lower levels of chronic pain and fatigue syndromes. But on
top of that, frequent warship attendance was also associated with
(41:28):
better psychological well being in the populations that suffered from
chronic pain and fatigue. Faith was associated with the use
of positive psychological and positive physical coping mechanisms. So again
they also saw this alignment where where again it's connected
to what we talked about in our last section of
the coping mechanisms. Faith also changed how people cope. Okay,
(41:50):
And again this is the evidence based science is pointing
to the fact that having a faith life and a
relationship with God and a prayer life and worship is
a pain reliever. So let's take it even further by
looking to God's word and seeing what God's got to
say about it. So from Psalm six to two, it says,
have compassion on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord,
(42:14):
for my bones are an agony. And this is literally
a prayer. Okay. This is an example of asking God
for healing and strength and for relief from the agony,
which we just learned that faith and prayer is scientifically
proven to help alleviate pain, and the Bible aligns with this.
Philippians four thirteen says, for I can do everything through Christ,
(42:35):
who gives me strength. For I can do everything through Christ,
who gives me strength. And this just reminds me to
look to God for strength. And yes, don't hear what
I'm not saying, like, definitely do all you can do
for yourself physically and to heal from what's ailing you.
But to me, this reminds me to let God do
the heavy lifting in my head, heart and spirit, and
he gives me true inner strength when I might feel
(42:57):
physically weak, for I can do everything through Christ, who
gives me strength. And then, of course there's this scripture
that has given me peace in so many different situations,
but I feel like it's so relevant to this. It's
from Psalm thirty four eighteen and it says the Lord
is close to the broken hearted. He rescues those whose
spirits are crushed. Because, let's be honest, pain and unexplained
(43:21):
illness or physical mental emotional distress can be soul and
spirit crushing, you know what I mean. And even when
the circumstances feel like it's more than you can bear.
This scripture reminds me that this is when God is
closest to your reach. The Lord is close to the
broken hearted, and he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
And again, like, just reach out, Like try it on,
(43:43):
Try reaching out to God when you're broken hearted. Try
reaching out to God when your spirits are crushed. And
you know, these are just obviously some of the examples
of the healing power of God's word and the healing
power of faith and the healing power of Jesus. But again,
it's up to you to meet God there. Right, That's
all I'm inviting you to do. And really the big
point of this conversation, like, what if you simply started
(44:06):
looking at your mental emotional health and your beliefs and
self image and your coping mechanisms are parts of your
life where you feel bondage and yes, even your physical pain,
And what if this was all a God conversation?
Speaker 1 (44:20):
Right?
Speaker 2 (44:21):
This is the kind of stuff that is happening in
our social brains, whether we are aware of it or not.
But this is also the part of the brain that
I believe if we invite God in absolute miracles, can
happen right, our minds can be renewed, identities can be reshaped,
and hope and healing in our mental emotional health can
be something that we can continually invite God into the conversation.
(44:45):
And as always, everything I share is simply an invitation
without expectation, to just try on a new story or
new perspective and see what meets you where you are
in your own journey. So, if you're wondering what's God
got to do with your mental and min emotional health,
I'm here to tell you everything, everything you know and
everything you didn't know you didn't know. We will be
(45:09):
back with more What's God got to do with it?
But in the meantime, I would love to hear from you,
So just tell me where you are in your own
story or maybe what questions you have. You know, where
do you feel like you need more clarity or wisdom
or direction in your own journey. I definitely want to
hear from you, So head on over to What's God
(45:30):
Got to Do with It? Dot com and scroll down
to the forum to share your thoughts, questions, or feedback instantly.
That's What's God Got to Do with It? Dot Com?
And if you like this podcast and want to hear more, Follow,
like and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts to get
your weekly dose of What's God Got to Do With It?
(45:50):
New episodes drop every Tuesday, and while you're there, be
sure to rate and review to show your support. It
really means so much. What's God Got to Do With
It is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown Podcast Network.
It's written and hosted by me Leanne Ellington, executive produced
by Elizabeth Fozzio, post production and editing by Houston Tilley,
(46:13):
and original music written by Cheryl Stark and produced by
Adam Stark
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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