Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health (18 page)

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Authors: Dr. Caroline Leaf

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fear, and therefore all the circuits—neurochemical, neuro-

physiological, neurobiological, electromagnetic, and quan-

tum—are geared up for healthy, not toxic, thinking. If we

allow ourselves to learn fear, it creates chaos and havoc in

our brains.5

For example, one study showed that when patients with

OCD remained toxic, obsessing and worrying about an issue,

their brains showed damage and incorrect firing.6 The re-

searcher saw a decrease in activity in the lateral prefrontal

cortex (just above your temples) where the circuits would

normally have generated and maintained strategy. The me-

dial orbital frontal cortex (behind your eyes) became more

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The Science of Thought

imbalanced and busy, which meant their decision-making

ability became impaired. In addition, the amygdala (deep

inside the middle of your brain running backward from the

corner of your eyes) showed less balanced activity, so the

patients were not evaluating emotional significance correctly.

All this negative brain activity changed positively once the

researcher put the patients through a rigid, directed, mental

activity program.

If you look back to the chart of my theory again (see

pp. 126–27), the bottom part beneath the horizontal line

represents the neurological level that I have been describ-

ing throughout this book. Essentially the first three levels

all describe mind activity, and the bottom level shows that

this mind activity signals a change in brain structure. So my

theory, the Geodesic Information Processing Theory, falls

within the realm of cognitive neuroscience.

I show in my theory that the brain works in neurological

pillars and multiple parallel circuits, which means there is a

lot of interconnectivity among the neurons.7 Essentially, the

Geodesic Information Processing Theory deals with the sci-

ence of thought. It is a description of how we think, choose,

and build thoughts and the impact of this on our brain and

behavior. It is our choices that make something out of noth-

ing. This is basically cognitive neuroscience in action: the

mind-brain connection.

My Switch On Your Brain 21-Day Brain Detox Plan, which

is based on my theory and research, is designed to help im-

prove your thinking and choices and subsequent happiness and

health. It is our choices that create healthy thought universes

in our brain, or they turn the powerless lie into a toxic thought

universe in our brain. This is the incredible power God has

given us: to be able to think and choose and create reality.

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HOW TO SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN

Automatization and Riding a Bicycle

After a period of repeated thinking about a choice over two to

three cycles of twenty-one days, the new thought moves into

the nonconscious metacognitive level, where it becomes part of

our internal perception. This process is called
automatization
.

A simple example of automatization is learning to ride a

bike. Initially, it was difficult and you wobbled all around. But

as you practiced with determination—which means you ap-

plied the QZE—and intensely concentrated on the sequence

of how to ride a bike, suddenly one day you were riding

perfectly. It appeared as though having mastered the skill of

bike riding meant you were not thinking about the process

of cycling because now you rode the bike automatically. But

you were actually thinking very nonconsciously—I know

that makes no sense yet, so read on.

All the focused, dedicated, and repeated practice you con-

sciously put into the learning process over time created a

very strong thought network. Once the skill was mastered

with the repeated and focused practice, it moved from the

conscious mind (cognitive level) to the nonconscious mind

(metacognitive level). Even though you were not consciously

aware of the how-to-ride-a-bicycle thought, it was very much

alive, and it was the guiding force behind the cycling. So each

time you got on your bike, this memory was still in your

metacognitive nonconscious guiding your bicycle riding. And

as you ride around on your bike, you bring that thought into

your conscious mind and it becomes malleable (plastic and

changeable), and a few new branches are added as you cycle

over that challenging mountain path or speed-jump over a log

trying to keep up with your teenage son. So when you get off

that bike, that “cycling thought” has become enriched from

the experience you have just gone through.

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The Science of Thought

Automatization Is a Life Principle

Automatization applies to everything in your life, because

everything you do and say is first a thought. This means

nothing happens
until you first build the thought, which is

like the root of a tree buried under the ground. The thought

produces words, actions, behavior, and so on, which can be

compared to the tree, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit you

see above the ground. The roots under the ground are like the

nonconscious metacognitive mind that nourishes and sup-

ports the tree, keeping it alive twenty-four hours a day.8 The

nonconscious metacognitive mind operates and nourishes

your conscious cognitive mind twenty-four hours a day.

The nonconscious metacognitive mind is filled with the

thoughts you have been building since you were in the womb,

and they form the perceptual base from which you see life. Up

to 99 percent of the decisions you make are based on what you

have built and automatized into your nonconscious metacog-

nitive level.9 If a person’s nonconscious metacognitive mind

is filled with negative, toxic trash, then that is what informs

his or her decisions on a day-to-day basis, which means that

person will speak and act from toxicity. This is metacognitive

to cognitive to symbolic—as per my theory.

Obviously the opposite of toxicity is health, and we were

originally designed by God for health because we are made

in God’s image (Gen. 1:26). So we begin with health and then

move away through bad choices. Most of the time we are a

mix of healthy and toxic—you determine the proportions of

these two for yourself.

You cannot sit back and wait to be happy and healthy and

have a great thought life; you have to make the choice to make

this happen. You have to choose to get rid of the toxic and

get back in alignment with God. You can be overwhelmed

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HOW TO SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN

by every small setback in life, or you can be energized by the

possibilities they bring.

Chapter 8 Summary

1. The Geodesic Information Processing Theory deals

with the science of thought. It is a description of how

we think, choose, and build thoughts and the impact

of this on our brain and behavior.

2. I show in my Geodesic Information Processing Theory

that the brain works in neurological pillars and multiple

parallel circuits, which means there is a lot of intercon-

nectivity among the networks of the brain.

3. It is our choices that make something out of nothing. It’s

our choices that collapse the probabilities into actuali-

ties that define the state of our nonconscious metacog-

nition, which in turn inform our conscious cognition

and symbolic actions.

4. My Switch On Your Brain 21-Day Brain Detox Plan,

which is based on my theory and research, is designed

to help improve your thinking and choices and subse-

quent happiness and health.

5. It is our choices that either create healthy thought uni-

verses in our brain or turn the powerless lie into a toxic

thought universe—which is essentially evil. This is the

incredible power God has given us: to be able to think

and choose and create reality. This reality can be good

or evil based on our choices.

6. After a period of repeated thinking about the choice

over two to three cycles of twenty-one days, the new

thought moves into the nonconscious metacognitive

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The Science of Thought

level where it becomes part of our internal perception.

This process is called
automatization
.

7. Everything you do and say is first a thought.

8. The nonconscious metacognitive mind is filled with the

thoughts you have been building since you were born, and

they form the perceptual base from which you see life.

Now, as you move into part 2 of this book, remember the

eight keys from chapters 1 through 8 and refer back to them

often to get the most out of the 21-Day Brain Detox:

1. Mind controls matter

2. Choice and your multiple-perspective advantage

3. Your choices change your brain

4. Catch those thoughts

5. Entering into directed rest

6. Stop milkshake-multitasking

7. Thinking, God, and the quantum physics brain

8. The science of thought

Now step into part 2 and switch on your brain!

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PART 2
The 21-Day Brain Detox Plan

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9

What Is the 21-Day

Brain Detox Plan?

The hardest part about achieving peak happiness, think-

ing, and health is remembering that we can choose

them. Achieving them is not accomplished by putting

on a brave or happy face, nor are they attained by adopting

an ostrich mentality and pretending that problems don’t exist

or that everything will always be great. The way to find this

state is by harnessing the neuroplasticity God has designed

in our brains and choosing to rewire—or renew—our mind

(Rom. 12:2). This is a lifestyle that will bring us ever closer in

alignment to our original design of perfection (Matt. 5:48),

of being made in God’s image (Gen. 1:26).

We can actively choose happiness rather than letting our

external and internal world of wired-in and learned thoughts

and our biology define happiness for us. We need to wire in

positive thought networks that can fill us with the power to

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THE 21-DAY BRAIN DETOX PLAN

get us back on track (2 Tim. 1:7). It is the implanted Word

that will save our souls (James 1:21). Who we are is where

happiness lies, but this is so often blocked by who we have

become.

A Simple Tool That Brings Peace

Even though the 21-Day Brain Detox Plan is based on rig-

orous science and the Word of God, it is a simple tool to

help bring peak happiness, thinking, health, and peace—not

only into your life but also into the lives of your loved ones.

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