A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book, Winning the War in Your Mind (p. 70). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.)
And that is what we want or is it?
Craig says, "Of course, you already knew that, but you may never have understood why. As a neural pathway forms in your brain, thinking a thought or taking an action can go from very difficult to very easy. With enough repetition, falling into a neurological rut will become automatic.
"God created neural pathways to be a good thing. When you learned to drive, you were unsure of yourself; you fumbled through it, going too easy on the gas and slamming on the brakes, turning the wrong way when you drove in reverse. Today driving is simple for you."
He goes on, "Have you ever been driving on a long road trip, gone deep into thought, and then after several minutes went by, suddenly snapped out of it? Who was driving while you were momentarily checked out? Well, you were. How? By means of your developed neural pathways.
"Repetition formed helpful ruts.
"But because of our sin, neural pathways can also be a bad thing. Why?
- The same reason you felt awkward the first time you tried to eat away your depressed feelings with a Snickers.
- thought of yourself as a victim who can never win.
- responded to a bad experience by going shopping and spending way too much money.
- passed along some juicy but hurtful gossip about a good friend."
He continues, "Feeling uncomfortable, you thought, This is dumb. Why am I doing this? You may have felt guilty. But you also got a little jolt of pleasure. That buzz is a chemical your brain releases called dopamine. That little natural high is your brain’s way of saying, I like that. Let’s think that again! Let’s do that again!"
This is so important to realize and deal with in our lives.
He says, "So you checked out the cute trainer at the gym again, drank another glass of wine when you were stressed, or lied to a friend to get out of something. This time felt a little less awkward, and you got another hit of dopamine. That led you to do it again. The third time was much easier. Why? You were developing a neural pathway. Do the same thing enough, and you will have a rut that you fall into automatically.
"You were designed to smoothly, efficiently create and fall into habits, into neurological ruts.
"That is helpful for brushing your teeth. That is harmful for overeating."
He then says, "If you find yourself stuck in unhealthy ruts, there’s some good news: God has given us a way out."
And he has. And He will. Now I'm just scratching the surface of this book and there is so much more to learn. So if this is an area of concern for you, why not click on the title of the book and check it out. We really do need to find a way through the negative ruts in our lives, don't we?
Yes, yes!
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