Good morning…
“I thought of you when I wrote yesterday’s blog, A Fun Tale Of Two Brains,” I texted our friend Dr. Cathy Snapp, co-author of The Hidden Life Awakened. Since she works in the blossoming field of neuroscience, I figured Cathy would have some wise answers to the questions expanding in my mind.
“This comedian is really funny,” I referenced the five minute video in our post, “but I wanted to ask you, do the brains of men and women actually look different scientifically? The more we actualize our true selves, do our brains fire more similarly, in a more unifying, expansive way?”
By mid afternoon, she emailed me an informative response.
Massive study reveals few differences between men’s and women’s brains: Neuroscientists conduct meta-synthesis of three decades of research: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/03/210325115316.htm
How different are men’s and women’s brains? The question has been explored for decades, but a new study coalesces this wide-ranging research into a single mega-synthesis. And the answer is: hardly at all.
Interesting. Setting funny jokes aside, in reality men’s and women’s brains are hardly different at all.
To answer my second question about the firing of our brains when we actualize our true selves, I turn to the third page of the preface of the book written by Cathy and Kitty Crenshaw. I read again these fascinating words.
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Excerpt from Crenshaw and Snapp’s The Hidden Life Awakened, p. xiii
Neuroscience is growing in its capacity to map, through stunning new technology, how our thoughts, emotions, and choices register in the brain by a cascade of physical and energetic changes in the structure of its cells. Scientists now affirm how and where we focus our attention dictates the content of the brain structure we create. By choosing to focus our attention (mindfulness and prayer) on uplifting emotional content (positivity and hope), and sustaining that moment for twenty-five seconds (installation), we little by little change our brain structure, which changes mental activity, which changes biochemical communication in the body, which epigenetically changes gene expression and thus our physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
Think of it this way: the act of replacing negative thoughts with good thoughts physically impacts the synapses in our brain, causing them to disconnect and make brand new connections, creating new pathways and cells devoted to right thinking. We turbocharge the process by engaging in positive lifestyle choices such as exercising, adding nutrient-rich foods into our diet, sleeping and resting well, and cultivating positive relationships. These combine synergistically to provide critical nutrients to grow healthy brain structure. Literally, in a process scientifically described as neuroplasticity, a new brain can be created to replace the old brain!
The effects of this self-directed neuroplasticity are cumulative, so every time we make a choice for hope, we are turning the part of us that chooses into something different than it was before. Just as it takes more than one footstep, though, to create a new path in the ground, it takes more than one thought to make a new pathway in our mind. We have to choose to cultivate the good we want in our mind over and over again. Somehow, the Apostle Paul understood this when he said, “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (p. xiii)
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In every situation at all times, there are things that ignite calm, contentment, connection and things that feed depression, distraction, disconnection. We gradually awaken our true selves by repeatedly focusing our attention on something uplifting, something beautiful, something gratitude-inducing, something positive, something hopeful. We, both men and women, are endowed by our Creator with an ability to rewire our brains, from negative spiraling to positive possibilities, in twenty-five second increments. Twenty-five seconds. Only twenty-five seconds. The time it takes to truly savor five deep breathes in our innermost being.
Friends, we can do this!
Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete (Romans 12:2, VOICE).
Little by little, twenty-five seconds at a time, might our daily lives be transformed by God from the inside out?
…Sue…
P.S. “For a non-organized person,” I said to my husband, “I just did a really hard thing.” Empowered by Spirit, I focused my full attention on creating a master list of all the items being donated by SueToYou subscribers for 100 Valentine’s Day gift bags we are creating for PAWkids to deliver to the senior citizens in the impoverished Grove Park area of our city. I felt overjoyed to finally push “send” on the overwhelming organizational email. Today and tomorrow at 3:00 pm at Corinne Adam’s art studio, we will be assembling the bags filled with the symbols of God’s love. If you want to join in on the fantastic fun, please email or text me (404-401-8317) for details.
