New Year, New You 4: Guard Your Mind

NEW YEAR, NEW YOUWeek 4: I Think, Therefore I Am

Dr. Cole Bradburn, D.C.

THE 10 WARNING SIGNS OF HEALTH

1. An increased awareness and appreciation of yourself

2. A tendency to set aside time each day to relax and pray

3. A persistent ability to maintain close relationships

4. A persistent ability to adapt to changing conditions

5. A chronic appetite for physical activity and healthy food

6. Acute and chronic attacks of laughter7. A compulsion to take pleasure and fun8. Repeated bouts of hope and optimism9. A chronic condition of caring for your body10. Rejection of worry

THINK WELL

Proverbs 23:7 “As a person thinks in his heart, so he is.”“The unhappy person is the target for any and every type of illness.” - B. Larson“What we receive will be a result of what we believe.” - T. Newberry

Thinking, talking, & worrying about what you don’t want can never bring you what you do want.

THINK WELL

Mental WellnessThe desire, enjoyment, and practice of lifetime learning about yourself, your world, and your purpose and role in it.

Emotional WellnessChoosing belief systems and self-talk based upon the values of unconditional love and forgiveness of self and others, optimism, and the desire to learn, grow, and fulfill a purpose.

“God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.” -- 2 Timothy 1:7

ART & SCIENCE OF LIFESTYLE CHANGE

Create belief systems that are congruent with values, produce desired behaviors, and desired states of mind.Behavior is a symptom, it is a consequence of beliefs and internal dialogueThe key to change is change the belief about the behavior.

you get to choose your beliefs.

Belief systems are chosen, and the behaviors we exhibit are always congruent with our beliefs.

SICKNESS BELIEFS

Medicine defines success by whether or not a drug can decrease a symptom, not by whether the patient returns to health and balance (that isn’t even measured!)Because of this there is a great amount of medical science and “success” in the midst of more illness, more suffering, more preventable death, more drugs, more science, and more medical technology.The goal of Wellness research is to drive the human body towards balance and health. It does not include the concept of symptom and disease “treatment”

Ask the right questions!

RESEARCH ON BELIEFS

“Because beliefs and emotions are objectively imperceptible, Western medicine has largely assumed that their effects are not physical or measurable. However, neurological researchers and those studying the considerable effects that beliefs can have on the human body are painting a very different portrait of human life.”

--Herbert Benson, MD - founder of the Harvard Mind-Body Institute

“Most of our stress and emotional suffering comes from our mind - the way we think and face a situation - and the thoughts that cause us stress are usually negative, unrealistic, and distorted.”

-- Harvard Mind-Body Institute

The effects of stress you can see - wrinkles, skin discoloration, changes in hair/nails, hunched shoulders (defeated), tense faceStress also depletes vitamins and nutrients from the body. What you eat isn’t as important as whats eating you!

RESEARCH ON WELLNESS

The Neurophysics of Human Behavior“Physical stressors such as subluxation elicit increased pain input into the nervous system. This elicits the same stress response as a stressful emotional event.”

--Gallo & Furman; 2000

“It is proven that spiritual belief increases longevity and protects against illness.”

--Duke University, 2000; David Larson, MD & Harold Koenig MD

THOUGHTS - THE SCIENCE

Left Prefrontal Cortex (Brain)Positive Empowering ThoughtsInhibit Stress ResponseDrive us towards Balance

Right Prefrontal Cortex (Brain)Negative, anxious thoughtsFires the adrenal stress response (fight or flight)Drive us away from balance

Whatever brain pathways you repeatedly use become streamlined

Your thoughts influence the expression of your genes. During periods of chronic stress it is very difficult to focus on positive thoughts due to stimulation of anxious/stressful thoughts and inhibition of rational, calming thoughts (adapt & unadapt)

THOUGHTS - THE SCIENCE

Important to remember that we have the ability to control our thoughts, and our thoughts determine which part of our brain (left or right) is stimulated and what emotions dominate.Life does not get happier, easier, or better by focusing on problems. The only way to create a positive life is to focus on positives.

we can choose stressful thoughts or peaceful thoughts.

The only way to deal with problems is to focus on solutions. Focusing on problems is NOT dealing with problems.

THINK WELL

Your history, culture, and self-esteem program how you view the world and form opinions. For your world to improve and stress to be reduced, you must begin seeing life through a totally different pair of glasses.

It is easy to blame circumstances for your stress. The problem is with that is when you blame things outside yourself for your troubles, you believe nothing can be done to overcome.

“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” -- 1 John 4:4

You put the power of your life outside you when it is truly placed within you.

YOUR STRESS RESPONSE

Stress is created when forces outside your body overwhelm the mind and senses and cause an emotional reaction inside the body.*All problems associated with stress speed up the aging process and contribute to every disease known to man.Both happy events and tragedies cause stress, the stress only becomes negative when your response to it is negative.Stress is not a person, a condition, or a event. It is a response to a person, a condition, or a event.

Stress has an actual, measurable impact on BP, cholesterol, brain chemistry, blood sugar, and hormone balance.Ex. roller coaster (some experience great joy, some experience great fear)

YOUR STRESS RESPONSE

You do not manage your stress, you manage your peace. Peace is not something you find when your latest crisis is over.To really change your stress levels requires a moment of awakening. You have to realize that you are not a victim of your crises.

1. Peace is not discovered, it is created What usually follows stress is the next stress.The challenge is that it is human nature to need to come near to complete destruction before we finally stop looking at everything and everyone around us for the answer to our problems and finally start looking in the mirror.

PHILIP THINKING VS. ANDREW THINKING

John 6: 5-6 “When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward Him, He said to Philip [and Andrew], ‘Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?’ He asked this only to test them, for He already had in mind what He was going to do.”Philip (man-thinking): “Eight month’s wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” (6-7)

where will we find it, how can we afford it, what if we can’t feed them all, but there isn’t a McDonald’s for miles.

Andrew chose God-thinking and found a couple pieces of bread & some fish and brought them to Jesus.

Man-thinking creates excuses based on what appear to be limitations due to physical boundaries.While there is no way a man could have handled this problem, Jesus handled it easily -- with food to spare! God thinking is not limited by time and space, and contains no excuses.Prov 3:5 “Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding.”

TIME MANAGEMENT VS. PEACE MANAGEMENT

It’s stress reduction and stress preventionWhat we spend time on: family, health, relationship with God, are the areas that cause us the most stress when they begin to fail.

If your time management is crisis/emergency management, the time is managing YOU.

PAINTING LINES AROUND YOUR LIVES

There is always enough time to get important things done.The problem isn’t that there is not enough time, but that there is not enough time management.Spiritual LifeFamily LifeHealth LifeWork Life

Wherever your heart and focus are, your treasure is there also. I want the things of God to be my treasure, not the things of man.

YOUR MANY LIVES:SPIRITUAL, FAMILY, HEALTH, WORK

All of these lives help you serve others and God, and each is worthy of being done with excellence. Put together, these make up your mission. By focusing on these, you are living a mission-centered life and doing mission-ary work.

ACTION STEPS WEEK 4

Eat 5 foods by God per dayEat 4-5 times per dayContinue food replacement*Choose any simple exercise to do three times a week for 20 minutes

5 -10-5 (5 warm up, 10 FUR, 5 cool down)

15 minute Spiritual Triathalon5 minutes prayer time5 minutes Bible time5 minutes quiet time

Always Honor God with your body and get 1% better each day

John 3:30 - “He must Increase, I must Decrease”

ACTION STEPS WEEK 4

Be Fear-less: It is God’s life, not yours. Make your spouse, children, friends, family, business, money, and body God’s and not your own & become fearless knowing it’s up to Him anyway.When King Jehoshaphat found out that a vast, deadly, unbeatable army was about to destroy his country, he showed up the five steps to being fearless (2 Chronicles 20)1. Take your problems to God (2 Chronicles 20:2)2. Turn to God for answers to your problems (20:12)3. It’s God’s battle, not yours (20:15)4.With God be fearless (strong & courageous) (20:16-17)5.Let God be glorified in victory (20:24-26)

PROTECTING YOUR MIND

1. Focus on the right Relationships2. Memorize Scripture3. Personalize Bible passages (insert I, me)4. Affirm God’s goodness (verbalize His promises)5. Visualize God’s blessings6. Quarantine negativity7. Establish a Law of Input

1.Environment - where you are reinforces who you are2.Association - you will take on the habits of those you

befriend3.Attention - whatever you dwell on becomes most

prominent in your mind and life.

5. we have been given the power to have what we visualize, but we tend to visualize only that which we already have.

joy is an outward sign of inward faith in the promises of God

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