"I will praise you, for I am fearfully & wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works 
and that my soul knows very well”. Psalm 139:4

“…bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”  2 Corinthians 10:5

We may not give much thought to our thoughts.  They happen quite naturally, instantly, without much effort at all. We often miss the critical importance of our thought –  here is where each battle is won or lost. Every time you have a thought, it is actively changing your brain AND your body – for better or for worse. 

Thoughts may seem harmless but toxic thoughts can be harmful to us spiritually, emotionally and physically. Negative thoughts, fears, doubts, insecurities, anger and unforgiveness not only make us miserable but they also are harming our health.  Negative thoughts – nicknamed “Dirty Dozen” by Dr. Caroline Leaf her book “Who Switched off My Brain?” – result into stress.  According to her book, “Stress is a global term for the extreme strain on your body’s system as a result of toxic thinking. It harms the body and the mind in a multitude of ways; from patchy memory to severe mental health, immune system problems, heart problems and digestive problems.”(1)

Toxic thoughts affects every system of the body. Up to 80% of physical, emotional and mental health issues today could be a direct result of our thought lives.(2)  Toxic thoughts cause chemicals to flood our body and mind cause our body’s to become unbalanced. If this unbalanced state persists, these toxic thoughts tunnel into our mind, becoming who we are.

 "There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger, nor any health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me." Psalm 38:3-4

Internalizing feelings of anger, fear, anxiety & bitterness create an environment that’s bound to erupt. These strong emotions can cause serious mental and physical illness. Toxic thoughts are those that come from our old nature; carnal, self-centered, negative and they trigger negative & anxious emotions. "Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind." Psalms 73:21

Toxic thoughts produce toxic memories to build into the nerve networks of your mind. This results in toxic attitudes and actions. “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.” (Romans 8:6-7) Internalizing wounded emotions can produce serious mental and physical illness and quenches the Holy Spirit.

Knowledge is power: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” (Hosea 4:6). It’s important to get an understanding of the two things key to the fundamental to our body’s survival: protection & growth. Our brain and nervous system control both of these. “These systems are so important in understanding stress, because if your thought life becomes toxic, your growth and protection functions will be at odds with each other. You can’t have optimal growth and protection at the same time because your body usually concentrates on one or the other at any given time.”(3)  Our body should be focused on growth and not on protection.

Our body can naturally fight and defeat cancer. Every person has cancer cells in their body at one point or another. Whether or not the cells die or multiply depends on your immune system.  If your immune system is compromised do toxic thoughts, it isn't able to fight back as it ought to. Perpetual worrying, anger, constantly thinking of events or people who caused you to feel this way only make toxic thoughts stronger. Wrong quantities of chemicals are then released into the brain and actually distort the DNA of the immune cells and thereby weakening their ability to fight cancer.

There are many circumstances out of our control that cause us to be stressed but we can control how stress affects us. Breaking the habits of toxic thinking also breaks the habit of absorbing stress. 

THREE STAGES OF STRESS    

  1. Short-term: Sweat palms over a speech, etc
  2. Temporary: Stress that is not released
  3. Chronic: Fear triggers 1,400 known physical and chemical responses, more than 30 hormones and neurotransmitters that combine to set the body in a frantic state.

Toxic Thoughts  = Chemicals Released  = Emotions Released

Stage 2 & 3 are harmful to the heart, immune system and digestive system.

HEART

  • Stress is a major contributor to these conditions:
  • Hypertension
  • Angina
  • Coronary artery disease
  • Strokes or cerebrovascular insufficiency
  • Aneurysm (4)

IMMUNE SYSTEM
Resentment, bitterness, lack of forgiveness and self-hatred are just a few of the toxic thoughts & emotions that trigger immune system disorders.(5)  Your immune system is definitely shown to be neurologically sensitive to your thought life. When your immune system faces an attack, such as when your thought life is toxic, it generates blood proteins called cytokines, which are known to produce fatigue and depression. In this way, toxic thoughts and the emotions they generate interfere with the body’s natural healing processes. They compound the effects of illness and disease by adding new negative biochemical processes that the body must struggle to overcome. (6)
It’s interesting how our body’s autoimmune response is manipulated by stress. When the body is dealing with toxic thoughts and emotions it has difficulty identifying how the true enemy is. Because of this, it begins to attack healthy cells and is thereby enable to fight true threats. “Catching a cold” is often your body succumbing to a blast of stress that lowered your immunity. Even small day-to-day stressors can put the autoimmune response in motion which is responsible for your body turning on itself.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
We often eat “comfort foods” when we are stressed. However, the “comfort” only lasts about 20 minutes. Toxic thoughts and emotions can make even the best comfort foods toxic. The toxic thoughts can bring about the following ailments to our digestive system:

  • Constipation
  • Diarrhea
  • Nausea & vomiting
  • Cramping
  • Ulcers
  • Leaky gut syndrome
  • Irritable bowel syndrome

That was the bad news – now for the good!!

""I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life." Psalm 119:93"

NEXT >

(1) Leaf, Dr. Caroline, "Who Switched off my Brain?"
(2) Freeman, W.J. 1995, "Socieites of Brains: A study of the neuroscience of love and hate"
(3) Doidge, "In Search of Memory"
(4) Leaf, Dr. Caroline, "Who Switched Off My Brain?"
(5) Colbert, "Deadly Emotions"
(6) McEwan & Lasley, "The End of Stress as We Know It"