Too many of us have believed the lie that “I’m broken” for far too long.
When you believe something long enough, it gets hardwired into your brain.
God made it possible for us to rewire or renew our minds so we can believe the truth (Romans 12:2).
Here’s a 5-step Nerocycle process that Dr. Caroline Leaf developed. Use this to renew your mind to God’s truth about yourself.
Dr. Leaf says our mind heals in 3 - 21 day cycles, so pick one toxic thought you want to renew and go through this process daily for 63 days.
5-Step Nerocycle:
1. Gather:
Gather is the awareness stage. You are becoming aware of what you’re thinking.
Think of it as gathering fruit in a basket. No judgment or shame; just pick the fruit, the information, and put it in the basket.
Questions to gather:
My Emotions:
What are the emotional warning signs coming up? Your feelings.
Panic attack, despair, anxiety, depression, etc.?
My Body:
What are your physical/bodily responses? How is your body feeling?
Heart fluttering, chest tight, gut hurting or butterflies?
My Behaviors:
What are my behaviors or actions? What am I saying or doing?
My Perspective:
What do I think about this? What’s my perspective? Do I think this is bad, terrible, overwhelming, etc.?
2. Reflect
We’re like detectives in observation mode, trying to discover why.
Look at the basket of information you just gathered from your emotions, physical body, behaviors and perspective.
Reflect on it.
What’s it trying to tell you?
What’s the origin story?
3. Write
Write down your thoughts. Write to empty your brain onto paper, phone or computer.
Each day you write, you gain more and more clarity and order to help clean up your thoughts or lies you’ve believed about yourself.
4. Recheck
Now you’re going to go back and look at the warning signs you wrote down earlier.
You’re looking for patterns, noticing where you can make changes or solutions, and then planning your new thoughts. You’re freeing yourself from internal negative thoughts and positively planning a way out.
5. Active Reach
It’s time to practice your newly designed thoughts from stage 4. Rehearse things mentally.
Each time you rehearse a new thought, you strengthen your memory by adding energy: the more energy, the more impact on your memory.
This stage weakens the old toxic or negative thoughts and creates new thoughts in your mind.
You can study this process further in Dr. Caroline Leaf’s book, Clean Up Your Mental Mess: 5 Simple, Scientifically Proven Steps to Reduce Anxiety, Stress, and Toxic Thinking.
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That’s renewing and renovating your mind!
Change doesn’t happen overnight, but change comes with consistency.
That will begin your renovation process–turning your mind into something astonishing.
To learn more about your identity, check out Mirror moments - a 99-day devotional to inspire and heal a woman’s heart. I had the privilege to co-write it with friends Sharon Fletcher and Donna McDaniel.
https://www.heatherlbunch.com/store/mirror-moments-book
Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free
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