True Transformation: Rewiring the Brain with Healthy Thoughts

Have you ever thought, “I want transformation but don’t know how to achieve it”? Or “Why am I not experiencing lasting change?” Have you tried hard to make some changes in your life, but you still feel little to no progress? Or maybe you experienced some good changes, but they did not last long? What is the key to authentic and lasting transformation? The answer is in our thoughts.

The Garden Image

Let me explain with an image. Imagine your mental health is a large garden. The goal is to keep the garden flourishing with good plant life, which will represent mental health wellness. Now imagine the problem you are facing is a standard garden weed. The weed is toxic to your garden and must be removed. The weed can be anxiety, anger outbursts, depression, addiction, trauma, relationship discord, etc.

Removing the weed will keep away significant damage to your mental health. Some people will attempt to fix the problem by removing the stems and leaves and anything else they can see above the soil. They walk away thinking, “The weed is gone, so the problem is solved.” But they return in a few months to find that the same garden weed returned with more leaves and stems. How could it possibly have grown back?

As you can guess, the roots of the weed remained in the soil, which only made the problem appear to be gone. The person failed to pull the garden weed out by the roots. As long as the roots remain, the problem remains, which means no real lasting change can take place.

Now let me give some explanation of what the different parts of the weed represent. The stems and leaves of the garden weed represent behaviors and feelings. The roots of the garden weed represent our thoughts.

Understandably, we focus on the behaviors quite a bit to fix the problem because it is what we are seeing. Behaviors are everything from substance use and running away to playing and laughing. We can try to change our behaviors and feelings all day long but still have no real lasting change. Psychology teaches us that our thoughts affect our emotions and then our emotions affect our behaviors, and then our behaviors create our experiences.

So, for authentic and lasting change to take place, we need to examine the thoughts because they are the root, the epicenter, of everything that is happening. We must examine the deepest part of ourselves because this holds the greatest power to affect our entire psyche. This means that (in this image) the root of the weed needs to be fully removed in order for there to be change.

But it does not stop there. Not only does the root of the weed need to be removed, but it also needs to be replaced with a far healthier plant (a healthier thought). When we have healthy thoughts, incredible, lasting transformation starts to take place.

Rewiring the Brain

So now that we understand that the root of the garden weed is toxic thoughts (untruthful, unhelpful, distorted thinking), what do we do about it? The answer is in rewiring the brain.

God created our brains in a way to have the ability to remap and rewire themselves. Romans 12:2 states, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” In today’s world, we know this concept formally as neuroplasticity and cognitive restructuring.

Neuroplasticity is the remarkable ability of the nervous system to change, adapt, and reorganize its physical structure and functional connections throughout your life. It is the biological mechanism that allows the brain to learn new skills, recover from injuries, and adapt to changing environments.

This means that the transformation we seek doesn’t begin with changing circumstances or relationships. Transformation starts in our minds. We must shift the way we think in order to get the transformation we want. So, let’s begin by understanding some basic neuroscience.

Every time you have a thought, a neural pathway is created or reused in your brain. The more you have a particular thought, the stronger that neural pathway becomes and eventually becomes an automatic thought. Automatic thoughts are pathways in our mind that we have used so many times that they are instantly the way we think about a certain situation, person, or stimulus.

The first thing to do is to record these thoughts, formally known as a Thought Record. In the world of cognitive behavioral therapy, we call this cognitive restructuring. We select one thought at a time and put it on trial to challenge its validity. We ask, “Is this true? Is this hurting me or helping me? Is this thought based on objective facts?” When we find that a thought is untruthful, distorted, and only hurting us, we can then identify that as a toxic thought.

Once we have identified a toxic thought, we then select a replacement thought that is truthful, healthy, and helpful. God, being the divine architect of our brains, knows that the way to fix toxic thinking is by deliberately focusing our thoughts on what is healthy and helpful. Philippians 4:13 instructs us to focus our thoughts on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

And again, science is just now catching up to this. Neuroscience proves Philippians 4:13 by showing us how new neural pathways form when we have a thought. Studies and research conclude that healthy, helpful thoughts bring life and wellness to our bodies.

The antidote to toxic thinking is to intentionally focus on and rehash thoughts that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. This is the game changer. So, the only way to make that toxic thought stop is to replace it with a new thought.

Now the next part takes discipline and practice. We live in a culture of fast-paced results, but our brain does not operate in the same way. Our brain needs significant repetition to wire in an automatic thought. The studies and research on neuroplasticity have found that the new thought needs to be rehearsed enough to get wired into the brain.

In one study, participants were directed to rehearse their new healthy thought by taking five minutes every day to repeat the healthy thought out loud or write it down over and over again. The results showed that many participants had successfully rewired their brain with the new healthy thought by day sixty-three. The toxic thought naturally eased in intensity, and for many, the toxic thought ceased.

The new wiring of healthy thought results in more positive emotions (peace, optimism, contentment) and then creates more desired behaviors (restful sleep, connecting with others, responding calmly to stress). This is what we want in our mental health garden. Pulling out weeds and then planting healthy plants is the key to lasting change.

Remember, your life will not change until your mind changes. You are only limited by how you see yourself and how you choose to think. Your mind and thoughts are the game changer to true and lasting transformation.

How To Rewire Your Mind

Write down all your thoughts (a Thought Record)

Put your thoughts on trial Determine whether it is healthy, helpful, and truthful, or untruthful, hurtful, and toxic.

To help determine if the thought is healthy or toxic, ask the following: Is this based on facts? What are the objective facts here? Did I confirm that my interpretation is based on reality? Did the person actually say that to me? Is there another way I could look at this? Did that actually happen? Does this thought make me feel worse, or does it make things feel more manageable?

Select a new healthy thought

Working on this with a therapist or good friend is always helpful because they can offer a new way of thinking about this thought that you likely have not considered before.

Meditate on this new thought through active repetition every day Reserve five minutes every day to rehearse the new healthy thought by saying it out loud or writing it. Continue this routine until the new thought becomes an automatic thought. Anticipate about two months to notice real change and a transformation that lasts a lifetime.

Repeat this process with every toxic thought This is a lifelong skill to commit to.

Example

The automatic thought: “I can’t do anything right.”

Challenge the thought with questions: What exactly do I feel I have not done right? Is it really true that everything I have done is wrong? Is this thought hurting me or is it helping me?

Consider the answers: This thought makes me feel bad, which means it is hurting me. No, it is not true that everything I have done is wrong. I have indeed done a few things wrong because my coworker verbally told me that I did not complete certain tasks needed before closing the shop. But there are a lot of things I have done correctly at work. I know this because my supervisor thanked me for the good work.

Select a new healthy thought: “Sometimes I make mistakes. I am human, I am not perfect, and mistakes are part of life. There are a lot of things I do correctly. I can choose to learn from my mistakes.”