We can take back control of our mind and body. It is possible to detoxify our thought life and our memories. They can be reshaped and reformed. Thoughts can be constantly remodeled by the “renewing of our minds” Romans 12:2 Spending time in God's Word every day is essential to the process of renewing our minds; removing the toxic thoughts and emotions.
We can change mental pathways in 4 days and create NEW ONES in 21 days. In fact, as soon as you are conscience of the memory, it will start changing physically in your brain.
We must take a toxic thought back through the sequence to rebuild it.
5 STEPS
Collect THEN Meditate THEN Visualize THEN Recreate THEN Act
Collect: Realize that through your 5 senses, you are constantly collecting information that becomes a thought. Collect what you know about what you are wanting to detox – feelings, emotions, behaviors, etc.
Mediate: We were designed for deep intellectual, non-toxic thoughts (made in the image of God). No thought should control you. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.” Psalm 19:13-14 Once you have collecting all the information surrounding the event/memory that you're wishing to detox, then you proceed to this mediate stage. Compare what you are feeling & remembering with what you know God wants us to think & feel. Here are some of the things God has made clear in His Word on what we should mediate and reflect on:
- On Himself; His attributes & Character: “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.” Psalm 63:6
- His Works; nature, creation, the universe, our bodies, etc: “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,” Psalm 8:3
” My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on Your statutes.” Psalm 119:48
” I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands.” Psalm 143:5 - His miracles: “I will remember the works of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds.” Psalm 77:11-12
- The Scriptures: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” Joshua 1:8
” But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:2
” Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.” I Timothy 4:15
Stop and check what you are thinking on
- Psalm 19:14 “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.”
- Philippians 4:8-9 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Visualize: Write your thoughts down, then look at your “brain” on paper. This will help you to see visible & non-visible thoughts in a visual way. Write without regard to spelling or grammar, draw diagrams, make lists, etc. Writing and seeing your thoughts on paper and then evaluating what you see will help you detox your thoughts.
Recreate:
So we've collected information, we've identified what we're actually mediating on versus what God's Word says we're suppose to be thinking on, we've visualized our thoughts on paper, now it's time to create new thoughts/emotions/feelings in place of the toxic one. Here's a personal example:
Back in January 2009, my husband was due to return from Iraq but the exact date was uncertain. The area where he was, was under fire. A couple of times I thought he'd make it out, only to be told that it didn't happen. At the same time, I had been saving up money to purchase a car for him so he'd have it once he returned. I had researched many, many car ads and I finally found one that was in our price range, only had 54,000 miles and seemed like a great deal. I met the guy with the car, took it for a test drive - everything seems wonderful. The guy was a family man, had K-Love programmed on the radio - I had a really good feeling about the deal. The next time I spoke with my hubby, we discussed it and he agreed to go ahead and buy it. I paid cash and took the car home.
Once I had the title, I decided to run a Carfax report on it. Only then did I find out that the car had been involved in flood damage and the mileage may not be accurate. I immediately contacted the previous owner, "Darrel", requesting that he take the car back because he hadn't disclosed this information before I bought the car. Darrel absolutely refused and proceed to criticize me for buying a car for my husband - that no man would want a woman to purchase a car when he's not there and questioned what kind of man my husband was. Not only was I dealing with the stress of not knowing when my husband would be home and the danger he was constantly in, now I had this car with unknown damage and man attacking me verbal with phone calls and emails. I can't even tell you how high my stress level was - it was through the roof! I ended up taking the man to court and even though the problem was later resolved, simply mentioning his name caused me to immediately feel the sweaty palms, elevated blood pressure and be flooded with anxiety. These were very toxic thoughts.
This is how I detoxed that memory. First, I gathered all the anxiety, anger and fear I felt with that memory. Then I looked at all the things I know about God and what He desires for me to have occupy my thoughts... Forgiveness, peace, trust, not the resentment, anxiety and distrust that was consuming me. Writing out my thoughts on paper looked like complete nonsense - a diagram of a car, words, adjectives & phrases. Not truly coherent but definitely filled with toxic thoughts.
Next was the step of recreating. I went back in my memory, and chose to release my anxiety and replace it with trust that God had a plan to work out all things together for good. I let go of the bitterness for being verbally attacked and being deceived and instead, chose to forgive and submit to God's command to love my neighbor as myself. I really don't have it in myself, but God will freely give healing to all who sincerely ask it. I asked God to please remove these sinful, negative thoughts and emotions from me and to please fill my heart with His love, His forgiveness and His peace. I was wronged - but holding on to the "but I was right" attitude is sorta like me drinking poison and expecting Darrel to drop over. The negative and toxic thoughts were only damaging me. Every time I remember this incident, I had to consciously stop the negative thought process and deliberately choose this healing new train of thought. Over time, I no longer had to consciously make the choice - I simply didn't have any negative feelings about the incident at all - it had been completely replaced with a peace. AMAZING!!
"Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones." Proverbs 3:7-9
THEN we can REALLY – Forgive
- Stop Worrying -
- "If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things." Luke 12:28-30
- Stop dwelling in the past -
- "...but one thing I do,forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,.." Philippians 3:13
- Stop talking critically about others
- "There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health." Proverbs 12:29
- And really START being Thankful!
- "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
- "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5:17-19
Act: This is putting faith into action; it is obedience. It helps us “feel” something is true. It helps line up thoughts and confessing with action.
- Romans 10:9-10 … If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
- James 1:21-22 “ Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
When we think and use our free will to make a decision, we influence which genes are initiated in our nerve cells. This is call Epigenetics – Our perception of life shapes our biology NOT the other way around. “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Proverbs 23:7a
Every cell is packaged with all needed genes, but not all are initiated at the same time. When a gene is expressed/initiated, it makes a new proton that alters the structure and functions of that particular cell. In essence, we can “rewrite” our genetics by detoxing the harmful and negative thoughts, and re-aligning our thought life with God’s Word and His fantastic design for our heart, thoughts & even our health!
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3
"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7