By Mark Soppitt
For some years now I have been following a fairly unpredictable and often challenging path out of long-term mental illness to discover who the ‘me’ of the 2020’s really is. With diagnoses of Bipolar II, PTSD, and a mild cognitive disorder, I have had to navigate some stormy waters. Sometimes it has been discouraging, such as when I had to quit a job I had been doing well for five years due to some cognitive impairment issues that began to affect my performance. These times can appear bleak and I have had to work hard on my mindset, refusing to lose hope, and believing that the best is still yet to come.
I am learning about how I can resist and even reverse cognitive decline, and find ways of growing my mind to be healthy and hopeful. Sometimes I wish this particular battle of mine was finished, or better yet that I didn’t have it in the first place. However, I am finding that struggle in itself can act like a muscle of transformation which grows when we refuse to surrender and give up.
What I have been learning about developing a growth mindset is very exciting and this is in no small part to what neuroscience is discovering about the inner workings of the brain. One of the most exciting discoveries is that the brain is far more able to adapt and change in our older years than was once thought possible. The term to describe this is ‘neuroplasticity,’ and very simply put, it is the ability of parts of the brain to continue to grow and change as we age, through deliberate use. Sometimes these changes become permanent and sometimes they disappear when the activity stops.
This plasticity applies to the brain’s information pathways, which move and create something akin to ‘highways of thoughts’ that can pass from one part of the brain to another. They connect our thoughts, emotions, logic and reasoning in such a way to trigger physical responses in our body. With practice, we can actually build new healthy ‘highways’ for good thoughts to pass along, whilst digging up the old, negative ones.
The Bible actually calls this process ‘repentance,’ or literally ‘changing the mind.’ Paul uses a clothing analogy as an illustration in Ephesians 4:22-24. Here he commands the Ephesians to put off their old self, be renewed in the spirit of their minds, and to put on the new self, “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” God offers us an exchange: our stinky rags for his rich, royal garments. God always has special clothes for special people, such as the Old Testament priests and kings, and as God’s “royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:9), so do we.
The challenge we face though is taking those old, familiar, and comfortable clothes (old ways of thinking) off and leaving them in the trash. Sometimes our new clothes, (renewed thinking), can feel uncomfortable, and the familiarity of the old continues to draw us back. With trauma responses, our thoughts can be so ingrained and unconscious that we don’t even recognise them until we get some assistance. It is remarkable to realise our thinking affects the very structures of our brain, as well as the chemicals within it, and the feelings that go with those chemicals. As a believer, it can be helpful to interrupt our old thought patterns when we recognise them by saying, “I am not a beggar anymore who wears rags. I am a child of the King and I choose to think like royalty today by putting on my new clothes.”
As a practical example from my own life, for the longest time I believed I was a failure. It was hard for me to live up to the academic achievements of my brothers, who both became medical doctors.I was the youngest, and I felt the pressure and the criticism of bringing up the rear. Little hurtful comments said in the heat of the moment further compounded my sense of failure. I couldn’t do anything to earn this kind of academic approval and so I stopped trying to get it.
When I became a Christian at the age of 16, I began to have my mind washed and cleansed with the Word of God, and in this process I was taking off my old rags and putting on royal garments of salvation (Isaiah 61:10). As I realised how powerful a lie “I am a failure” was in my life, and how it often stopped me trying anything new because I was afraid, I asked God to speak His truth and I began to search for it in the Bible. I heard Him speak to me one day, “You are not a failure. You are my child and I love you unconditionally. I fearfully and wonderfully made you in your mother’s womb and I chose you since before the beginning of time. I accept you and receive you. Don’t be afraid, for I am with you and I will help you.”
There was tremendous power in those words of truth and I could find various Bible verses that backed them up. So, instead of holding onto the limiting belief “I am a failure,” I was able to take it off and replace it with something far more encouraging and life-giving. And to do this, I would repeat regularly as a prayer affirmation, “I renounce the lie that I am a failure, and I announce the truth that I am a child of God; I am loved unconditionally; I am accepted and received by my God. I am not afraid because God is with me and He will help me.” I have written and spoken these kinds of prayer affirmations many times as I continue to seek to grow in my new identity.
The amazing thing I have found, as I have learnt more about the brain, is that there are so many things going on inside my body, my soul, and my spirit that are all interconnected. Old highways of thinking were being replaced with new healthier ones in my physical brain. My go-to thinking was being changed as I spent time thinking and praying about who I was in Christ. My soul was energised with truth from the living and active Word of God and I began to believe that failure was not my destiny at all. I was speaking the life changing truth that was bringing me out of a restricting poverty into freedom and a royal inheritance. And I began to worship with thoughts that were good and liberating, which in turn released “feel good” chemicals in my brain. God loves it when our minds are filled with true thoughts about Him, ourselves and others, as that is how He created us to be.
In the midst of taking off my old thinking and putting on the new I still need to take some medications to keep chemicals in my brain at levels that allow me to grow in a consistent way. I still need to exercise to release good chemicals into my brain that help me live a more positive life. And I still ask God to heal me. The fight isn’t over, and yet I am really encouraged that I can play my part in taking off the old clothes, thought by thought, and putting on the new royal garments of praise and salvation.
And this is my belief for each one of you too, and those you love and care for. God invites you to walk into your inheritance step by step with His Word and Spirit to help you and guide you. Maybe today, the thing you most need to hear is, “Well done, good and faithful servant. I am with you always. Don’t be afraid. I will give you strength for today. Come and rest in me and listen to My voice as I sing over you with songs of joy.” May you be encouraged that though the journey may be hard God is with you, and His Spirit is within you, and that as He helps your thinking change so can your feelings and brain change too.
Mark lives in Niagara Falls, Canada with his wife, Janet. They have 5 children and a dog and enjoy exercise, public speaking, and motivating others. They have walked through many years of navigating mental illness and its effects on their marriage, their children, and pretty much every aspect of their lives. Through Living Well Coaching, their desire is to connect people to Jesus’ unlimited resources, and help them build resilient, healthy, and fruitful lives that glorify God and reach their full potential. You can follow them on social media: INSTAGRAM @livingwellcoaching; FACEBOOK livingwellcoachingniagara or their website Livingwellcoaching.ca
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