Overcoming Anxiety & DepressionSample

The Power of The Cycle

The chicken or the egg, which came first? This seems to be a never-ending cycle because chickens come from eggs, and eggs come from chickens. Likewise, feelings flow from our focus, but our feelings can drive our focus. When we listen to sad music, it can make us feel sad, but when we feel sad, we feel like listening to sad music. It's not just about music but about the fact that the cycle tries to feed itself. While most of us recognize that we like to be right, at least in arguments, we may not realize how much our brain likes to be right. As such, our brains look for ways to confirm what they already hold to be true. Neurologically, this is called a confirmation bias. When we believe something, we begin looking for things that support it. So, when we let our feelings lead, we begin looking for things that back up or support how we already feel. This is further supported by Hebb’s law, which states that neurons that fire together wire together. In our brain, we have neurological connections or pathways. Each time we fire a neurological connection, the bond and path get stronger and easier to use. This is why practicing anything makes such a difference. Things we struggled through in the beginning become easy as we practice them. The neurological pathways grow, making a stronger connection in our brain. Many of us have gone from a path to paved highways in our brains as we have reinforced the habit of complaining, worrying, fault-finding, and holding on to the worst possibility. We may call it being a pessimist or a realist, but we have practiced finding the faults. I am not saying that all problems disappear if you aren’t looking for them, but you will find what you look for. Then what we find will affect our feelings.

Our brains will release chemicals in response to our feelings. We have all watched a movie and felt an emotional response to things in the movie that aren’t even real. Some movies produce anger and fear, and some pull on heartstrings. Food commercials can make our mouths water even when they're only on the screen and not real. Where we look and what we focus on triggers our brain to release chemicals on the inside. There are real and physical effects in our bodies due to where we focus. If our focus is on the storms, on the problems, on what didn’t go right, we will find it. Our bodies will be filled with the chemical response to it.

While many of us have gotten good at finding the negative, there is still hope. We “got good at it” means it’s a skill we developed. It’s not who we are. Skills can be learned, and connections can be strengthened. When we were born, we weren’t good at anything. We didn’t even know that we could control our arms, but we learned. In sports, coaches have players practice over and over to build connections so that they can do things correctly on autopilot. Sometimes doing things right means unlearning a habit they have. It means intentionally building new neurological pathways. Many of us need to practice focusing on God and looking for what we can be thankful for. We can build new pathways. Sure, the easiest thing is to use the old pathways most used in our brain, but we can make new ones. Even in areas that we aren’t good at yet. Let’s choose what we look for, let’s focus on God and His promises, and give thanks no matter our circumstances.