Read the full transcript of Barbara O’Neill’s talk titled “7 Laws of Mental Health.”
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Mind and the Brain: Understanding Mental Laws
The mind is no different from any other part of the body. When given the right conditions, it works well. In our previous lecture, we had a look at the brain. We examined the different parts of the brain and determined that the front part of the brain is the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is where our intellect, judgment, and reason reside. But it’s also what I classified as, I think, the most wonderful gift that God has given to man: the will.
The will is the governing power in the nature of man. It is the power of decision or of choice. When you think about it, everything depends on the right action of the will. What God designed is that every decision we make be made according to intellect, judgment, and reason.
We have more control over what we think and feel, our thoughts, our feelings, than we realize that we do. We also had a look at how the enemy of souls desires to take that down. Because if that can be taken down, and our limbic system, our emotional brain, rises up to take control, it’s not good.
The Seven Laws Governing Brain Function
In this presentation, I’m going to use as my framework the seven laws that govern the functioning of the brain. Let me begin by reciting a paragraph I read from a little book called “Education”:
“The same laws that uphold nature are working also in man. The same great laws that guide alike star and atom control human life. The laws that govern the action of the heart, regulating the current of flow to the body, are the laws of the mighty intelligence that has jurisdiction of the soul. From him, all life proceeds. Only in harmony with him can be found its true sphere of action. To all objects of his creation, the conditions are the same: a life sustained by receiving life from the Creator, a life exercised in harmony with the Creator’s will. To transgress his law, whether it be physical, mental, or moral, is to place oneself out of harmony with the universe, to invite discord, anarchy, and ruin.”
Notice the three laws: physical, moral, and mental. We’ve looked at physical law all week. The Ten Commandments are called the great moral code of ethics. But what are the mental laws?
The First Law: Cause and Effect
In my journey of investigation, I discovered seven laws, and that’s what I’d like to use as my framework today. The first law is Newton’s third law of motion. It is the law of cause and effect: to every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction.
There is always a cause. We’ve also looked this week at how sometimes in medicine, the cause is not ascertained. And sometimes, unfortunately, the effect is being blamed as the cause. In the case of sickness, whether it be mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical, the cause should be ascertained. The cause can only be ascertained by investigation of the history, really.
Mental Conditions and Their Causes
Let’s have a look at a couple of mental conditions and see what their causes are. One is schizophrenia. If someone comes to me and says, “Can you help my son? He’s got schizophrenia,” my next question is, “How old is he?” The answer is usually, “Oh, in his thirties.” So my next question is, “Has he done recreational drugs?” And I would say in 98% of cases, the answer is yes.
That tells me straightaway a part of the brain has been damaged because even schizophrenia doesn’t just happen. Remember, genetics may load the gun, but it is lifestyle that pulls the trigger. And in some cases, there is a genetic link. But if that person gives their body all the conditions conducive for peak health, that schizophrenia may never manifest itself.
But one of the conditions for it to be manifested is, yes, a breaking of those laws and taking in recreational drugs. And of course, that’s where it comes right in here with temperance.
Understanding Panic Attacks
What about panic attacks? Panic attacks just don’t happen. There is always a cause. So if someone says to me, “I get panic attacks,” I’m immediately intrigued. Let’s investigate. And when I investigate, I come to the point where it first happened. Then I have a look at the surroundings around it happening, and it’s quite easy to define it.
But what happens is when someone has a panic attack, I’ll show you what happens. That first panic attack is usually understandable because it was a crisis. In Ecclesiastes, it says, “There’s a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to laugh, a time to cry, a time to build up, a time to break down.” I think the Seekers made that into a song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” They made that quite famous. But it’s a section from Ecclesiastes. There is a time to panic.
And if you panic in a crisis, it’ll give you the energy to run a mile, and maybe running that mile will save your life. I read about a little girl who’d been studying tsunamis in school. She was 10, and this was a week before the tsunami hit in Asia. She was on the beach. The sea went in. She immediately knew what it was. She said to her father, “We’ve just been studying this. It’s a tsunami. We need to move.” She told the lifeguard. He blew the whistle. Those people moved. They panicked just as well because no one on that beach was saved, whereas on other beaches, when they didn’t realize what it was and they followed the sea out, intrigued, they were taken.
Now, let’s say someone on that beach – let’s just choose a lady, and she’s known to be a little fragile emotionally, and it really took its toll on her.
Let’s call this lady Sue. They were saved. A few days later, something happens. Maybe a saucepan falls on the ground, and she starts to shake. Her emotions go down that panic pathway. She doesn’t realize what’s happening. And then as the days go by, she starts to panic more and more, even at little things that don’t seem to be very big.
Her husband takes her to the doctor. He refers her to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist says, “We found the cause of all your problems. You get panic attacks. You will need to be on medication, probably for the rest of your life.” Phew! When she goes home, her mother says, “What did he say?” She replies, “He said I get panic attacks.”
What does that do to the pathway? That puts a little bit of reinforcement in there. “He said I’ll be on panic attack medication for the rest of my life.” Oh, you see, the more you say it, the more you think it, the more you go there, the stronger those pathways get. They’re physical pathways. It reminds me of the old saying that repetition deepens the impression. And repetition is the mother of retention, going over it and over it.
Overcoming Panic Attacks
I have had this happen. I’ve had ladies like this come to our retreat. And when I speak to them, I say, “I think you’re panicking about your panic attack.” They smile. What does the smile say? “I know, but I don’t know what to do about it.” And I say, “I’m so glad you’ve come because here we can help you.”
I said, “The next time you feel the emotions rising” – now, notice what the emotions are coming from: our limbic system, our emotional brain – “I said, next time you feel those emotions arising, start laughing.” She said, “I won’t feel like laughing.” I said, “No, you won’t feel like laughing, but you’ll be able to laugh.” What did I do when I said “you’ll be able to laugh”? I made a “you’ll be able to laugh” pathway. And the more she goes down that pathway, guess what? The stronger it’ll get.
Just go, “Ho, ho, ho, ho.” Have a pinch of salt, a glass of water. The salt has three magnesiums in it. Have the water. The brain’s a hydroelectric system. Put the kettle on. Get a chamomile tea bag down. Chamomile is a mild tranquilizer. Pour your cup of tea. The whole body, your limbic system, will be screaming at you saying, “Panic! This is what you usually do. Panic!” Ignore it.
One girl said to me, “That’ll be very hard.” I said, “It will be very hard. It’s very hard to rewire your brain, but you can. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. If you say you can, you will. If you say you can’t, you won’t.” As we’ll see as we go through the laws that govern the mind, our words affect our thoughts and our feelings.
The limbic system was screaming at her, “Panic!” but she ignored it. I said, “Go outside with your cup of chamomile tea and now do star jumps.” “Can’t do star jumps.” “Get on the exercise bike. Run around the house three times. Get on the rebounder. Push-ups.” “Can’t do any of that because the knees and the hips aren’t good.” “Breathe deeply.” Remember the lady that tattooed “Just breathe” on her wrist? Just breathe. Just breathe. And it’ll be like a peak. And then it’ll ease.
The water will kick in. The chamomile tea will kick in. The oxygen will kick in. The first time is the hardest. I said to this girl, “You’ll be able to. I believe you will be able to conquer your panic attacks. I believe you will be able to get off your medication.” And every time she goes through that and conquers it, can you see what’s happening?
But remember, the old pathway is still the strongest. But every day, every situation, maybe a few times a day, as she goes down the new pathway and doesn’t go down the old pathway, the old pathway gets thinner and thinner and thinner. How long does it take before the new pathway is bigger than the old pathway? 21 days to form a new habit. But sorry, it doesn’t end in 21 days. It’s much better: 60 days before it’s in cement. We want the new pathway cemented in, absolutely cemented in.
I’ve seen many conquer their panic attacks doing these simple things. Understanding the role of the prefrontal cortex, understanding the limbic system. Thoughts and feelings aren’t bad, but they’re not a good guide because they go up and down like the wind.
The Importance of Self-Control
It’s like when I say to a man, “This is a wild horse. Can you take him for a ride?” Half an hour later, they come back, and I say, “What happened?” And the man says, “Well, he wanted to go up there, and he wanted to go over there, and he wanted to go here and down there.” And I said, “What about the bridle? What about the reins? Pull it in, pull it in.” This is our bridle. This is our reins.
I read recently in a book, “Acts of the Apostles,” and I really liked the way it described it. In fact, the writer said, “The reasoning powers, enlightened by the teachings of God’s word and guided by the Holy Spirit, must take the reins of control.” So here’s our reins of control. Notice what the writer said: enlightened by the readings of God’s word and guided by His spirit, must take the reins of control. Notice the “must,” because if reason is not under the control of the Holy Spirit, if reason is not being enlightened by the readings in God’s words, which are God’s principles, and those limbic system thoughts and feelings are not brought under control, well, it’s not good.
Dealing with Tantrums: A Practical Approach
Here’s a good illustration. Just look at a two-year-old. Two-year-old, not much prefrontal cortex there. And the two-year-old can’t get its way, so the two-year-old throws itself on the ground and starts screaming. Have you noticed that children will never tantrum for another child? They’ll only tantrum where it’s effective. They don’t usually tantrum for the school teacher; it’s the parents and the grandparents.
But you know, there’s a simple remedy. There’s a very simple remedy. It’s called a bucket of cold water. Now, I wouldn’t like to throw cold water where the carpet was, so you just gently but firmly pick them up and then put them out on the veranda and then get the cold water and whoosh! It’s a wonderful hydrotherapy treatment.
One lady said, “But you wouldn’t do it in the cold weather.” I said, “That’s the most effective time.” The child feels the cold, and the parent says, “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Why do they smile and say, “Are you okay, sweetheart?” Because they love the child. They love the child so much, they’re not going to allow the child to display such behavior. Because not only is it difficult for everyone in the room to handle, they hurt themselves. When they scream, they’re hurting the nerves, they’re hurting their throat, they’re slowing down their digestion. It’s a shocking experience for that little one to experience.
Us adults, it’s our role to guide them. And so the cold water snaps them out of it. And the child says, “Why did you do that?” And the adult says, “Well, you were getting a little bit hot. I just thought I’d cool you down.” And the child goes to tantrum again. Another bucket of cold water doesn’t usually take two. One is usually enough.
And so when the child has taken their clothes off and got a clean set of clothes, and the child has taken their clothes and hung them up on the rack, cause and effect. Teach the child from cause to effect. Then the parent sits down with the child and says, “Next time you’re feeling frustrated, sweetheart, talk about it.”
Guiding Children’s Behavior
“Next time you’re feeling like that, remember that you don’t have to throw yourself on the ground. Oh, you must have hurt your head when you threw yourself on the ground.” See, it is our role to guide them. A child will never throw their first tantrum in the supermarket. So it’s at home, it’s at home that you do it. And if the child is being minded by other people, it’s important that they know the guidelines that you have in your home.
No wonder the Bible says, “Train up the child in the way that they should go.” They need a little bit of training because their prefrontal cortex is not fully developed.
Panic attacks and tantrums often develop into panic attacks. So deal with them way down there. Deal with them there so they don’t develop into that. It’s cause and effect.
Understanding Depression
What about depression? Depression is not a cause. That defies reason, defies science. Depression is an effect. So what’s the cause of depression? Dr. Neil Nedley states in his book, “Depression: A Way Out,” genetics cannot cause depression. Isn’t that good news? Even if both parents were severely depressed, we need never go there. And how many people go there because they think they’re going to go there? Genetics loads the gun but lifestyle pulls the trigger.
The Bible says in Proverbs 23:7, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” Genetics cannot cause depression. He also stated that lifestyle tragedy cannot cause depression. And I would like to suggest that every heart has its sorrow. Everyone has suffered in some way or other. It’s not what happens to you. It’s what you do with what happens to you.
So lifestyle tragedy cannot cause depression. Genetics cannot cause depression. So what does? They certainly may be part. And remember, a whole lot of little threads come together to make a strong rope. And a strong man tries to break that rope but he can’t. And a little tiny mouse comes along, and that strong man could just stomp on that little tiny mouse and kill it, but that little tiny mouse comes along and starts nibbling away at the threads, and the rope breaks. Not overnight. Maybe not in a week or two. That rope that the strong man could not break, the little tiny mouse does by nibbling away at the threads.
And depression is like that. It’s often a whole lot of little threads coming together. And sometimes it can be a tragedy or a crisis that tips the scales. It’s like the straw that broke the camel’s back. A piece of straw cannot break a camel’s back. But on top of a whole lot of other little things, it can certainly tip the scales.
Factors Contributing to Depression
And some of those little threads aren’t realized. What are some of the little threads?
- Bad air: When we’re getting pure air, we’re getting 18 times more energy per little energy cycle in the cell, and we’re having lots of oxygen.
- Sunshine: The ultraviolet rays from the sun go through neurochemical pathways into the brain, stimulate the pineal gland which releases serotonin. And serotonin is your mood hormone.
- Diet: We looked at how sugar and hybridized wheat cause a fuel imbalance.
- Caffeine: Causes a chemical imbalance.
- Mercury and alcohol: Kill the brain cells.
- Drugs: Cause massive imbalances.
- Tobacco: Inhibits oxygen going there.
- MSG: Can cause death.
- Chemicals and electromagnetic field excess.
All these, in fact, Dr. Neil Nedley calls them “hits.” Bang, bang, bang, bang.
- Lack of sleep: Dr. Matthew Walker says lack of sleep – ten nights of six hours sleep a night can double the risk of mental illness.
- Lack of exercise: Contributes to lack of pure air going in.
- Impoverished diet: Not supplying the nutrients the brain needs to function.
- Dehydration: In a dehydrated brain, that brain can develop negative thought patterns, worry. The old saying is “worry is blind and cannot discern the future.”
All of these can contribute to depression.
Addressing Depression
And so when someone comes to me wanting help with depression, the first thing I do is go through the laws. Let’s check the air quality in their bedroom. Let’s get them out in the sunshine. Let’s start to slowly ease these things out of the body. Go to bed earlier. Implement an exercise program. Begin a plant-based diet.
I’ve met some vegetarians. They’re on a plant-based diet, but it’s all refined. It’s all packaged. We need to go back to fresh. Lots of salads, fresh vegetables, legumes just with simple herbs and good oils. Good quality olive oil which I’ll put in at the end. And a good quality salt, just simple food. Start drinking more water.
Start to read the Bible and discover a savior who loves you. “Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace” (Job 22:21). “Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace. Thereby good shall come unto thee and receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth and lay up his words in thine heart.” Look at the promise: “Then shall thou lay up gold as dust and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brook. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense and thou shalt have plenty of silver.”
Share these beautiful words from scriptures. When all of that is implemented, the prefrontal cortex now starts to work a little bit better, and we can begin to address, assess, what happened here? How did we get to this?
Dealing with Guilt
Sometimes one of the reasons for depression is guilt. Now we come to the next one. Guilt is a very heavy burden to bear, and there’s no need to bear that burden. God has given us the ability to choose. We can bear that burden or we can give it to our Savior.
Remember 1 Peter 5:7, “Cast all your care upon him for he cares for you.” And he also says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly of heart and you will find rest unto your souls for my burden is easy and my yoke is light.” Share these beautiful words so that the person knows they have a Savior.
They can trust. He is worthy to be trusted. What more could he do than he already has done? We have a choice. We have a choice to take hold of those negative emotions or we can let them go.
The Power of Forgiveness
But what helps to let go, and I believe this is the most powerful tool to let those negative emotions go, it’s forgiveness. Forgiveness is not dependent on feeling. If you were to wait until you felt like it, you would never do it. Forgiveness is the only prescription in the entire universe that has the power to break the chemical bonds of hostility, anger, and hate. Just forgive.
One lady said to me, “They don’t deserve it.” I said, “I agree. It’s absolutely right. What has happened to you is terrible. It’s totally unacceptable. But we are not the judge. God is the judge.”
And there’s a lovely verse that I share often with abused people, especially young girls. It’s found in Luke 17:1-2 where the Bible says, “It’s impossible but these offenses will come. But woe to him by whom they come. It would be better that a millstone were hung around his neck and thrown into the deepest sea than him touch one of my little ones.” That’s how God sees it.
You see, God gave mankind choice. And when he gave mankind choice, some people would do wrong. And when people do wrong, innocent people suffer. It’s the nature of the beast. Some have suffered terribly. But I don’t think anyone has quite suffered the way Jesus suffered.
Finding Comfort in Scripture
So he offers to you a solution. And it’s found in Hebrews chapter 4. In Hebrews chapter 4, there’s a beautiful description of the Bible and then a description of our great high priest and what we are to do. It starts in verse 12:
“The word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight. All things are naked and opened before the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, even Jesus, the son of God, let us hold fast to our profession. For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but who was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to that throne of grace that we might obtain mercy and grace to help in every time of need.”
What a beautiful comfort those words have been to many. Notice what it says. All things are naked and opened. Jesus knows. He’s seen what’s happened to you. He hates what has happened to you, but he’s there to offer help. He’s there to bring comfort. He’s there to bring healing, and healing often begins when we make the decision to forgive.
The Process of Forgiveness
Let it go. When you forgive, you are now giving it over to Jesus. He says, “Vengeance is mine. I will repay.” Leave it with him. He’ll do a better job. But you know often he doesn’t have to do anything because life serves back in the coin you pay. That is the law of cause and effect. What goes around comes around. Isn’t that true?
What’s the golden rule? Do unto others as you would have them do to you. Because when you do to others what you’d like them to do to you, you’re actually laying down the conditions how you’d like to be treated. So if someone has hurt you and you hurt them back, you’ve actually just laid down the conditions that it’s time for them to hurt you again.
Let it go. Jesus is the judge. Let him deal with it. The Bible talks about a judgment day where everyone will have to answer for what they’ve done in life. But what about me? What about some of the things I’ve done? The Bible says if we confess our sins, he is just and faithful to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He wipes the slate clean when we confess and ask him to help us.
Isn’t that beautiful? Far better to do it now, and then you don’t have to stand before that judge because it’s already been dealt with. Forgiveness. Forgiveness lets it go. Forgiveness is acknowledging it was wrong. It was not my fault, but giving it to the judge.
But I think that you’ll see in the history of planet Earth those that lived by the sword died by the sword. Life did serve back in the coin that they paid. Be careful what you’re giving out because it will always come back. I’ve seen a little slogan on the back of a car one day. It said, “Parents, be nice to your children. They’re going to choose your old folks home.”
The Power of Words
Absolutely. Just forgive. Something happens when you forgive, and this brings us to the third law of the mind. Your words affect your feelings. So don’t wait till you feel like it because you will probably never do it. Just do it because then you will feel like it. I can’t promise you that you’ll feel like it straight away, but I have seen this with many people. I’ve seen it again and again.
The heartache is related every day, every day, every day. “I was abused as a child.” Of course, that is never all right. “I was yelled at as a child.” I was, but don’t say it anymore because your words affect your feelings. It keeps it fresh. It keeps it fresh. Let it go.
How do you let it go? By forgiving. One man, he just struggled so much. His mother had been shot on the street by the Germans in the war. He carried this image with him for 20 years. It just took him down. His therapist said to him, “I want you to consider this. The German soldier that was told to shoot your mother, if he had disobeyed, he would have been shot. Or even worse, his whole family would have been shot. Can you consider that? It was a terrible regime. It was cruel.”
The Power of Forgiveness
When he considered that, he was able to forgive. If you can’t forgive, pray. Say, “Father in heaven, give me the ability to forgive that person.” One lady said that’s what she did. After a week, she was able to say their name. After another week, she found she didn’t have the anger anymore. She found that she stopped relating the story because our words affect our feelings.
Dr. Carolyn Leaf, in her book “Who Switched Off My Brain,” shows the science behind it. She says when we entertain or cherish negativity, thorns grow. These are physical thorns that grow between the dendrites. They’re just psychosomatic diseases. They damage the tissues when we entertain or cherish negativity. You see, we have a choice. We can let it go or we can hold on to it.
The Accuser and the Savior
The Bible talks about an accuser. It’s found in Revelation Chapter 12. We looked at Revelation Chapter 12 yesterday. “There was war in heaven and the great dragon was cast out.” Verse 10: “And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ because the accuser of our brethren has been cast down, which accuses them before our God day and night.”
So that pointing of the finger, “You can’t do it. You’re wrong. You’re an idiot. You’ll never make it. You’ll never be any good.” Where’s that coming from? It’s not coming from the gentle Savior that says, “Come unto me. Come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
Notice that roaring lion. He walks around seeking whom he can devour. Notice what the Bible says, “Whom resist. Steadfast in the faith.” Steadfast in the faith. Faith in Jesus. Trust in divine power. He loves us. He died that we might live. He now intercedes on our behalf in the heavenly courts.
Letting Go of Negative Emotions
Let go of those negative emotions. Let them go. And one of the best ways is through forgiveness. One of the people hardest to forgive is ourselves. But if Jesus says, “If you confess your sins,” he says, “I am able and just to forgive, to forgive.” If he forgives, then who are we not to?
Notice when we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive.” We’re actually laying down the conditions. “Father in heaven, forgive me as I’m forgiving. Oh, but not him.” So our Father in heaven, he can’t help us if we hold on to this. It’s a prefrontal cortex decision. Just do it. It’ll get easier. And your feelings will follow. I’ve seen many heal from physical ailments through forgiveness.
Love as a Choice
Love is also a choice. Love is not dependent on feelings. It’s probably not a surprise that the movies are wrong. Have you noticed that the movie stars, they seem to have many marriages? They haven’t even worked it out and they’re playing the roles of people falling in love.
When we fall in love, we fall in love here. It’s with character. And character, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, should get more beautiful with age. That’s where we fall in love, there. Love is a principle. It is not an emotion. It is not a feeling.
And when you fall in love, when you make the decision, “I want to marry this girl. I want to marry this boy.” When you make the decision to do that, why have you made that decision? Because you’ve studied them. You’re attracted to them. You love their character. That’s what you fall in love with. You fall in love with that. When you make that decision, the feelings follow.
Obviously, there has to be an attraction. You don’t choose to marry someone because I guess it’s everything you need or you want. No, no, no. There must be an attraction, always. But attraction is not the only one because there can be an attraction. I think if a good-looking guy walks in the room, every girl in the room’s heart starts to thump. But they don’t know that that good-looking young guy just screamed at his mother and kicked the dog, you know, and can’t hold a job down. We fall in love with character. And when you make the decision to love, your feelings follow.
The Power of Words
Your words affect your feelings, and I’ve seen many relationships fail because of the words that are said. The Bible says in Proverbs 13:3, “He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.” And Proverbs 12:18 says, “There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health.” Who is it the piercings of the sword to? Yes, everyone who hears it, but also the speaker. It pierces their own soul.
This brings us to the fourth law. And the fourth law states that your words reveal your feelings. You cannot let them all out. Some say it’s your right to speak your mind. It’s your obligation not to speak your mind. You don’t know the effect of your words.
The Bible says in Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.” And remember that divine appointment we’ve talked about this week, early in the morning, very early in the morning. The earlier I wake up, the happier I am. I’ve got more time with my Savior.
Isaiah 50:4 says, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I may know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned.” Where does that, those lips, that voice come from? They come from God. They’re the ones we want because Proverbs 29:11 says, “The fool utters all his mind, but the wise man keeps it until afterwards.”
There are things that need to be said, but let your speech be always with grace. Where do we get that grace? Do you remember what we looked at in Hebrews chapter 4? “Let us there come boldly to that throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy and grace to help in every time of need.” That’s where you get it. It’s that early appointment every morning where you surrender your prefrontal cortex to God and ask for his guidance through the day. He will never fail you.
Your words reveal your feelings, so please do something with them. But I’m upset. We’ll go for a run. Have a big drink of water. Go outside and do some deep breathing exercises, but don’t say anything until prefrontal cortex, again, is the bridle, not the limbic system.
The Law of Adaptation
The fifth law states that we have a changeable brain. It’s the law of adaptation. Science has always claimed that our brain is hardwired, but now they’re saying, well, it’s not. It’s softwired. We have a softwired brain. That means it’s an adaptable brain.
Now, that adaptation of the body, of the brain, is a wonderful process or a scary process. It’s wonderful when it’s adapted to habits and pathways that are going to strengthen the body. It’s dangerous when it adapts to pathways that are going to be destructive to the body. The adaptation process states in the proverb, “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools will be destroyed.” Because of the law of adaptation, because of neuroplasticity, because of our softwired brain.
The other proverb is Proverbs 22:24: “Make no friendship with an angry man. With a furious man thou shalt not go, lest thou learn his ways and get a snare for thy soul.” Because of the law of adaptation. Be careful what you’re watching. Be careful what you’re listening to. Be careful who you’re with. Be careful what you’re reading. Because it all has an effect on the brain.
It is a law, both of the intellectual and spiritual nature that by beholding we become changed. The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. See the allowed word, the choice. This is found in a book, “Great Controversy,” page 555. The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is allowed to dwell. It assimilates itself to what it is accustomed to love and reverence.
Brain Growth and Shrinkage
Because we have a changeable brain, it can grow and it can shrink. So I’m going to give you a terrible growing scenario and a wonderful growing scenario as with the shrinking. What’s a terrible growing scenario? If we have been through heartache, hardship, abuse, and we continually relate the story, it can grow. And who would want that to grow in their mind? Something else is growing and it’s the thorns between the dendrites that have the ability to damage you. That’s the terrible growing scenario.
Well, what’s the wonderful growing scenario? Our brain has the ability to grow new dendrites and it can be growing new dendrites right up until the day we die. So we have one trillion nerve cells that make up our brain and every time we learn something new, we grow another dendrite, another dendrite, and another dendrite, and another dendrite. We should be learning new things every day.
But the three most powerful ways to grow new dendrites are:
- Learning a musical instrument
- Learning a new language
- Memorizing the Bible
Now those three take a lot of discipline to be able to master those. It’s over. Repetition is the mother of retention. Repetition deepens the impression.
The Power of Scripture Study
And I read these three sentences in a little book called “Steps to Christ.” And it’s page 19. I read it on a plane, on a plane trip. It was told to me just before the plane trip. It was a 15-hour plane trip, a long way from Australia to America. And I spent my time memorizing it:
“There is nothing more calculated to strengthen the intellect than the study of the scriptures. There is no other book so potent to elevate the thoughts and vitalize the faculties than the broad and ennobling truths of the Bible. If God’s word was studied as it should be, men would have a breadth of mind, a nobility of character, and a stability of purpose rarely seen today.”
That’s that amazing book. Now, I knew it fairly well after 20 days, but I had to get to the 60 to get it into cement. Same process, memorizing, as learning a new language, as learning a musical instrument. Every time you learn something new, another dendrite. One nerve cell has the capacity to develop 70,000 dendrites.
When I hear that, I’m excited, but I’m also horrified at the amount of brains that go through life never fully accessing or developing the faculties of their brain. That reminds me of a statement I read in a book called “Christ’s Object Lessons.” It says in there that “the human organism needs to be carefully developed, that through humanity, the divine nature might be revealed in all of its fullness.” Carefully preserved and developed, every single part of our body preserved, every single part of our body developed.
Are you in training? Are you getting your physical body fit? Are you developing your mind every single day, learning new things?
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
Another wonderful growing scenario, and this was discovered in 1998. A group of scientists discovered a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is a protein that stimulates neurogenesis. Neurogenesis means new brain cells. This was a groundbreaking discovery. It’s a groundbreaking discovery for each one of us because if in times past, some of us have done drugs, have done alcohol, have had this exposure to mercury, have suffered some brain cell death, the good news is, in 1998, they discovered brain-derived neurotrophic factor that stimulates neurogenesis.
What they have found is that a high carbohydrate diet inhibits its release. There are three shockers that stimulate its release. One shocker is fasting. In his book, Dr. Michael Mosley, “The Fast Diet,” he talks about brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Also, in his book, “The Brain That Changes Itself,” the neurologist, Dr. Norman Doidge, he quotes the discovery, brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
Fasting. Yesterday, I had breakfast like a king. I had lunch like a queen. And I didn’t eat again till the next day. The breakfast again. So I had an 18-hour fast. At our health retreats, our guests fast for two days. And then for the rest of the week, we give them breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen, and then a thin soup at night. An 18-hour fast.
The Benefits of Intermittent Fasting
This time-restricted eating, this intermittent fasting stimulates the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor. What’s the other shocker? High-intensity interval training. In his book, “The Fast Exercise,” Dr. Michael Mosley again talks about brain-derived neurotrophic factor. The interval training that we talked about a few presentations ago, when you’re running as fast as you can, it’s a shocker to the body. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is released.
The Power of Hot and Cold Therapy
What’s the third shocker? The third shocker is hot and cold showers. When I’m in my misty mountain home, I run up and down hills every morning and then I dive in the cool creek. Yes, even in the middle of winter. I’m not there long in the middle of winter. If you haven’t got a creek, you can just finish your hot shower with a quick blast of cold. These are the three shockers that stimulate the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
So there’s your wonderful growth scenarios. And Ezekiel 36:36, the Bible says, “That the heathen that are left round about might know that I, the Lord God, build the ruined places and plant again that which was desolate for I, the Lord God, have spoken it.” A beautiful verse to show that God can regrow, revive damaged parts of the body, especially the brain.
Use It or Lose It: Brain Cell Maintenance
What’s the terrible shrinking scenario? If we don’t use our brain cells, we lose them. So we must be learning new things every single day.
Well, what’s the good shrinking scenario? When we forgive everyone who’s ever hurt us in our life, ever abused us, misunderstood us, we turn that painful past to dust and there’s no bad smell to draw us down there anymore. And the pathway to that memory even shrinks. Isn’t that great?
I’ve seen it again and again in people when they have forgiven their abuser, they stop relating the story. We don’t forget, but it need not be part of our everyday life because we’ve let it go. We’ve given it to the judge of the whole earth. We’ve given it to our Savior. He says, “Leave it with me, cast all your care upon me. I care for you.” That’s what he says in 1 Peter 5:7.
The Science of Forgiveness
Dr. Carolyn Leaf, she goes one step further. She says, when we forgive, let’s say we forgive today. Each one of us forgives. And remember, you don’t have to feel like it. Just do it. You’ll eventually feel like it. Might take a few days, might take a week. Just forgive. Just do it.
And then we go to sleep. And remember the sleep lecture? Eight hours a night. Remember those early parts of the night especially? This is 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, before midnight. Those early hours where the non-rapid eye movement is the strongest. That’s when the cleaning system happens. It’s called the glymphatic system. It’s made up of glial cells.
So when we forgive and then go to bed in those early hours especially, the glymphatic system is activated. And that glymphatic system cleans up the thorns. Science now shows us that forgiveness has a physiological effect to detoxify or clean up the brain. Isn’t God good?
The Law of Diversion
The last law is the law of diversion. And the law of diversion states that when something is so firmly denied as to refuse any hope for it, the brain has the ability to divert to other pursuits. Don’t you love this law? Everyone experiences shut doors. That’s why I say to parents, get your children used to “no.” Say, “No, sweetheart, sorry, we can’t do that. But look what we can do.” Get them used to “no” because when they leave home, there’s going to be a lot of “no’s.” Help them to cope with that. There’s going to be a lot of shut doors.
But what’s the old saying? When God closes a door, he opens a window. My son, James, at the age of 15, he said, “Mom, sometimes the window’s bigger than the door.” I said, “Good prefrontal cortex thinking, James.” Only 15 and able to think that. That’s why this mind and the nerves, they can be strengthened through use.
An Italian man said to me, “No, no, Barbara. What we say in Italy, when God closes one door, he’ll open two.” And I’m sure we can all see that in our lives. When God closes a door, he often opens two.
Finding Opportunity in Adversity
So when God closes a door in your life, me being banned in Australia was a closed door. That was very hard to take, especially when you’ve done nothing wrong. I say, how can there be a crime when there is no victim? That was hard. I allowed myself 15 minutes grieving. I sobbed. My whole life work stopped. I can no longer do it. Stopped. And then I dried my eyes and I said to Father in Heaven, “Thank you for closing the door because I know you’ve got something else for me.”
And he has. And he has. And I am here in the US today because God has opened other doors. When God closes a door in your life, thank him. It says in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” You don’t have to like it. Just thank him. Say, “Thank you, Father. I don’t like it. I don’t understand it, but I trust you.”
That’s trust in divine power. I trust you that out of this, I’m going to learn something. Out of this, I’m going to be a better person. Trust him. There’s no one better on the planet that you can trust than our Savior.
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