Who Switched Off My Brain?

Dr. Carolyn Leaf speaks to the power of our thoughts in her book, Who Switched Off My Brain? She writes, “Thoughts are measurable and occupy mental ‘real estate.’ Thoughts are active; they grow and change. Thoughts influence every decision, word, action, and physical reaction we make. Every time you have a thought, it is actively changing your brain and your body—for better or worse.”

She adds, “A massive body of research collectively shows that up to 80% of physical, emotional, and mental health issues today could be a direct result of our thought life.” However, neuroscience has proven that “when we work with how our brains are wired, lasting, life-giving change really is possible.”

With this truth in mind, let’s think about our thoughts and examine how we either take them captive or allow them to imprison us.

Consider the difference between these two words:

Captive—“one who has been captured: one taken and held usually in confinement.” Being held, but not necessarily because of any wrongdoing.

Prisoner—“a person deprived of liberty and kept under involuntary restraint, confinement, or custody.” Being restrained is a direct consequence of their actions.

It’s important to understand the difference between captivity and imprisonment regarding our thoughts. Consider that we have the ability to either take our thoughts captive or allow them to imprison us. We willfully imprison ourselves with negative thinking when, in actuality, we can release ourselves from being held captive to our thoughts.

We are not prisoners of our thoughts. Victor Frankl, a prisoner of war, wrote that the one thing the Nazis couldn’t take from him was his attitude—“a mental position with regard to a fact or state.” He went on to say, “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts, comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Do you reign in the thoughts that invade your mind or allow them to imprison you?