Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor writes in her wonderful book My Stroke of Insight that she believes that over 99 percent of the cells in our brains and bodies want us to be healthy, happy, and successful. I believe that, too. That's why I get so disappointed in myself when I do something that disrupts the functioning of those cells. I believe God gave us these miraculous minds and bodies because He loves us. When we don't take care of our minds and bodies, we dishonor God and ourselves.
Who is in the drivers seat of your life? You are, when you take responsibility for the circumstances of your life. Each of us is in control of how we choose to think about what happens in our lives. This must include compassion, towards ourselves and towards others.
As Dr. Taylor writes, if we are paying attention to our thoughts and emotions, we can recognize when our brain is running negative loops. What can we do about those negative loops? We can recognize them, and tell our brains that we do not want to run those loops. Dr. Taylor even recommends that we use kinesthetic components, such as wagging our fingers or standing with our hands on our hips to make our points emphatically.
Dr. Taylor writes about a tiny piece of our brains that she calls her "story teller." She writes,
The story teller is expert at exploring thought patterns that have the potential to really derail my feelings of inner peace. These are the cells in our verbal mind that are totally resourceful in their ability to run our loops of doom and gloom. These cells tap into our negative attributes of jealousy, fear, and rage. They thrive when they are whining, complaining, and sharing with everyone how awful everything is.
All of us have regrets. Is everything we regret our fault? Probably not. But if I own my piece of the pie, ask God for His mercy, love, and forgiveness, I can put myself in a position, as Ann Voskamp advocates, to be a gift of God's grace to those who are in my life today.
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