By Curt Fowler
“…bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…”- 2 Corinthians 10:5
Last week we learned that our thoughts create physical structures in our brains. This fact blows me away and makes me take the instruction to “take every thought captive” seriously.
If you missed last week, we learned that our brain records things we learn through the growth of dendrites. These are long stringy things that grow out of our neurons. Electrical impulses travel from neuron to neuron along “brain cables” called axons. As we practice a thought or physical activity our brain adds myelin to the axons. Myelin helps the electrical impulses travel faster.
These physical structures in our brain cause what we repeat or practice to become easier and easier to do. Our brain is changing to make the task easier whether the task is hitting a baseball or remembering math facts. I refer to these physical changes as brain “river beds.” Once the river bed is dug out, our thoughts tend to stay within its boundaries.
The same thing happens for negative thoughts. Thoughts of fear, worry, anxiety and greed cause our brains to create the same mental river beds that we create when we learn to play piano or how to catch a ball. As we continue to have these negative thoughts the river bed in our brain becomes a deeper channel and it becomes harder and harder to think in another way.
Changing a habit is not easy. It reminds me of a story about Larry Bird trying to film a commercial where he misses a free throw. He was trying to miss the basket but kept making them. The river bed in his brain for making free throws was too deep to overcome.
It would be best if we never formed negative habits or negative thought patterns, but we all do. I don’t care how disciplined a person looks they’ve got some negative stuff going on in their lives.
How can we take these negative thoughts captive and replace them with better thoughts – thoughts that will lead to the healthy and successful life we all desire? I learned a neat formula from Daniel Amen that I have modified over the years. If you are interested in brain science and building a healthier brain, I highly recommend Amen’s books.
To get started, draw four columns on a sheet of paper. Turn a standard sheet of paper sideways and use the entire page so you’ll have enough room. Put these titles at the top of the rows – Negative Thought; Label; Rebuttal and Replacement.
Now, grab a negative thought and give it a try. At first, you might find it difficult to figure out what you are thinking. You might be in a bad mood or feeling anxious. Those feelings are being caused by your thoughts. Take a minute and find the root thoughts that are causing those feelings.
Let’s run through an example. Let’s say I’m feeling anxious about my business. If you’re an entrepreneur and have not felt this way, please give me a call and tell me your secret. It is a general feeling of anxiety, so I start to dig to determine what thoughts are causing the problem. It turns out I am worried about money again.
I put “money worries” in the negative thought column and I add some details. What is it about money that is stressing me out? I’m thinking about all the expenses that are upcoming in my life. Things like college, weddings, retirement, etc. I write those things down.
Now I want to label the thought. Turns out people have been troubled by negative thoughts since the beginning of time. Some smart people have created categories that you can place these thoughts in.
This labeling step is helpful for two reasons. First, it helps you know you are not alone in this fight. Secondly, labeling helps to cement in my mind that this thought is false. It is a lie. Psychologists call them cognitive distortions.
I’ve found fifteen of these distortions listed on the web. I’ll give you my top five. You’ll have a short list that your brain tends to take you to. Find yours so you can recognize them quickly and battle the thought.
Fortune Telling – This occurs when your brain has jumped days, months or years down the road to find trouble that doesn’t exist yet. It’s like my brain couldn’t find anything to worry about today, so it kept going down the road until it could come up with a good story to mess with me about. My money fears fall into this category. Mark Twain speaks of living through this distortion in the following quote.
“I’ve lived through many terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” – Mark Twain
Mind Reading – Thoughts like “they don’t like me” and “they sure look bored” are types of mind reading. You are coming to the most negative conclusion possible and have no idea what people are thinking.
Focusing on The Negative – This one is easy to do. Our media primes us for it by only showing the most negative news they can find because they know we’ll read or watch it. This occurs when there are millions of things to be thankful for and we choose to find the negative instead.
Labeling – Labeling happens when we take a single event and let it define us. I spill my coffee and declare that I’m a clutz. I forget something and conclude that my memory is terrible.
Blame – Blaming happens when we look to others to fix our problems or make us happy. If my boss wasn’t so…. If my kids would only…, etc. We are the captains of our lives and we will get along much better when we take personal responsibility for our situations and our happiness.
That is it for my labels. If your thought doesn’t fit into one of those, Google “cognitive distortions” and you’ll find some exhaustive lists.
So far you have thought about what you are thinking, and you’ve given that thought a label. Congratulations! That is an awesome first step. We’ll walk through Rebuttal and Replacement next week and you’ll be taking every thought captive in no time!
If you’d like some great resources to help you on your journey you can find them on our resources page at www.valuesdrivenresults.com or call me at 229.244.1559.
Curt Fowler is President of Fowler & Company and Director at Fowler, Holley, Rambo & Stalvey. He is dedicated to helping leaders build great businesses and better lives for themselves and the people they lead.
Curt is a syndicated business writer, keynote speaker and business advisor. He has an MBA in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from the Kellogg School, is a CPA, and a pretty good guy as defined by his wife and four children.
