Last night I was watching an episode from the Television series, House. In the story, the male patient’s frontal lobe was not working so that he could not filter any of his thoughts and he said everything that came to his mind. He made rather shocking, hurtful and insulting comments to everyone including his wife and his daughter. By the end of the story, House had of course discovered the nature of the problem. However, as his wife was wheeling him to the car, he asked her if his daughter was upset with him. She said, “No, children are pretty resilient.” However, there was a serious inference understood by her body language that she would have great difficulty trusting his comments since she now “knew” what he was really thinking.
I began wondering what kind of words would come out of my mouth if they were not being filtered by what I perceive to be acceptable or kind or reflect whatever persona I have developed. As someone who has had a lot of limits imposed on her life for the last decade, would I be surprised by the amount of whining, complaining, and judging negative comments that might slip out of my mouth? Like the patient in House, would I later be mortified and embarrassed?
I once read that the brain is like a computer. It inputs information and does not distinguish thoughts or opinions from facts. In other words, thoughts that I may not even believe all of the time are being added to my brain’s data bank as factual. One day, in a whining mood, I may think , “My doctor doesn’t know what he is doing! I am an idiot to actually believe that he can cure me!” My brain’s distorted perception of truth has now recorded that my doctor is an idiot and that I too am an idiot! This kind of data is most definitely not going to promote my wellness!!
As another component to optimizing my healing environment I should heighten my awareness of all of my thoughts! I have heard the suggestion to wear an elastic band and pull it every time a negative thought occurs. However, I suspect the most insidious thought is the one that appears rational and logical and I might excuse it since it “speaks a truth” . Those thoughts might be harder to identify as negative and might cause me to resist pulling that elastic band! And the real question is whether that kind of temporary pain will actually cause me to improve my thoughts?
Perhaps guarding our thoughts is like the analogy of identifying counterfeit money. I once heard that people who are trained to identify counterfeit money are not shown those dollars. Instead they just spend lots of time analyzing the real money! In other words, perhaps the most effective strategy is to intentionally add positive thoughts to my brain’s data bank by speaking positive affirmations, reciting Bible verses, listening to positive uplifting music etc. It could become quite an exciting game as I assess how much helpful healing information I have been able to file away in my brain’s amazing recording system each day! I don’t consider myself as an overly negative person, but I suspect the cumulative effect of such a purposeful positive endeavor could only increase the healing momentum!
Philippians 4:8 says, “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”
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