Graphic/artwork created by Designs By Otis G
The conditions we live in and the things that surround us has an impact on us. Living by truth and being honest to ourselves gives us clarity and purpose in our life. If there is a high percentage of our time in isolation or copious amounts of time alone, this, unfortunately, can be compounded by believing hurtful lies that our self-talk repeats. This example above can be damming to our mental health.
Identifying our own though patterns, making sure we identify the lies is a vital step in self-care, awareness and ultimately tied to our joy meter.
Another layer to this subject is being out in the community, being around our family and friends. By allowing ourselves to help and encourage others in society and building each other up, having strong, healthy and deep relationships is impactful to our health and our happiness.
The Subject of Happiness
The longest study on human happiness done by the Harvard Study of Adult Development
(link here to read full story) starting back in 1938, just confirmed that quality relationships has a direct effect on our happiness. This report continued saying, these relationships need time and “need to be nurtured” to blossom and was "found is the key" to a good life.
Many of us want to be independent individuals and not be dependent on others, but the truth is, we need others. We need to connect to people in our community and influence others in a positive way. The community needs us so we can offer a caring ear via active listening, or a hand to others so relationships, friendships and healing can exist.
The more I dive deeper into the many layers of mental health and new research on the biology of the brain, as well as active listening to others who struggle with their own mental health, there seems to be evidence pointing towards two damming subjects. More attention needs to be given to isolation and lies, and the impact it can have on someone’s joy, peace and happiness.
A Very Worthy Resource on Isolation and Lies
I try to read a variety of scholarly educational books every month to challenge my thinking from different points of view, on certain theories or different perspectives. One book that has really grabbed my attention is called, Live No Lies: Recognize and Resist the Three Enemies That Sabotage Your Peace by author John Mark Comer.
(Click on link above to purchase)
John, who has his master’s degree in biblical and theological studies from Western Seminary, talks throughout his new book about the importance of working on our inner peace and the value this has on our lives, our faith and ultimately, our soul.
In his book, he highlights other scholarly writers or researchers. Laurie Santos of Yale, professor of psychology and cognitive science who points out saying, simply knowing something is just not enough to change. She claims “knowing something” is only part of the battle. For things to really have an impact in our lives, they have to be part of our thoughts, we have to see great value in things for change to occur or evolve.
My Own Plea - The Faith Part
For a paragraph, I am going to use my own persuasive abilities to communicate how important it is to not isolate yourself and your unique talents. I also like to shine a bright flashlight on the importance of not believing those negative thoughts of yours, identify them for what they really are, lies.
Like author John suggested in his new book mentioned earlier, replace the enemy’s lies with prayer, scripture and the truth. I would highly recommend using the Part 1 Step Sheet in his book (pages 98-99) that summarizes key texts to mediate on and other strategies that can help with our building blocks of our spiritual formation.
Also recommended is to have an attitude similar to the apostle Paul, the writer of Philippians. The context and theme written by Paul's wisdom is simple, having a joy of knowing Jesus. And to focus on what is ahead, fulfilling your unique journey.
Philippians 3:13 "Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead."
Improve Our Brain Habits - The Science Part
Part of this for me is seeing what new science discoveries are coming to fruition. Scientists studying brain biology at a deeper level, have assisted with better brain habits, and we need to build new pathways called, neuroplasticity. According to recent study called, Neuroscience at Work, looking in more detail how the brain moves thoughts, habits or information around, they use a comparison of a power grid. Brain biology can be complicated, but we need to develop new patterns and new paths in our brain, don’t allow it to preserve brain power and take the same shortcuts, the same paths, the same narrative and the same lies. We need to challenge our brains to create new pathways, called neuroplasticity.
Using an analogy that can aid with this discovery is a logistics example. When we run one of our many weekly errands, we need to try and not always take the same exact path or roads. Our thoughts are the same, we need to take and create new pathways and not accept the same old lies we used to believe. We absolutely do not need to be forced and tied to our bad thoughts or unhealthy habits.
We can retrain and rewire our brains, have better attitudes and mindsets and science has confirmed this practice. The freedom to believe that we do have great value, great worth and our unique strengths will impact plus influence others in a positive way as well as curating our unique path to success.
Mixing the Two Parts - Science + Faith
Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz says in his book, You Are Not Your Brain, to rewire your brain, when negative thoughts come into your mind, think about something else, replace it with a positive thought. In short, you become what you give your mind to and what you focus on, your thoughts influence you and drive you. Set our minds on truths, offering grace and hope, embracing acceptance with a focus on solutions when we deem it necessary for growth.
As author John Mark Comer says so well, to combat the lies, curate your new thoughts, “change the channel”, turn on some truth, positive scripture.
Start reading the book of Philippians today, it only takes 15-20 minutes to read this short book and impactful scripture.
Also helpful, find a positive thought and connect to that meaningful thought at a deeper level. Repeat the steps above with repetition, hourly/daily, every time it is necessary to replace the lies. Beware of what we allow in our lives, into our environment or what influences our thoughts because what we think about is what we become.
Fill our minds with acceptance and truth which will in turn give us peace. This process will allow us to love at a much higher level, a higher capacity and engage in the present wisely, using our wisdom while allowing us to lean on our strengths.
Give A Tip Today (link in graphic below) to the contributors of Breathe & Eat Chocolate, Mental Health, Science & Food Forum, creating an ad-free, creative space with helpful strategies, a hopeful path forward towards a positive outcome for many families battling a mental health crisis.
