Guest Devotionals #5
Doctor Caroline Leaf is a minister and an excellent, well respected neurologist. Her program, website, and other information is wonderful. They all present the detailed presentation of factual information on how the mind works and its relationship with scripture, science, and health. It is tremendously exciting!
Her website is http://drleaf.com. Thanks so much for joining our list, your subscription was a success.
If you haven't already done so, be sure to check out the 21 Day Brain Detox
program at http://21daybraindetox.com - it is an online daily guide that takes only 7-10 minutes of your time each day. Dr. Leaf will walk you through each of the 21
days guiding you and coaching you to a toxic-free mind. Sign-up here today: https://app.21daybraindetox.com/sign-up.php
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Hot Flushes, the Mid-life Crisis and Those Little Things Called Hormones
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
“Wow … you’re just a ball of raging hormones!”
At certain times in life this statement would seem to equally describe both men and women, girls and boys. And once again, the differences between the influence and regulation of hormones in men and women stem from the unique characteristics of their brains. See this short 2-minute VIDEO.
If you understand how these hormones work, they can be a powerful force that deepens connections and creates wonderful balance in a relationship. But when you don’t realize how they work, their damaging, toxic impact can be destructive. Do you feel like toxic battle lines are being drawn in your relationship? You are not alone!
Your endocrine system controls the flow of hormones into your bloodstream. These hormones influence all kinds of things in your body, including metabolism and tissue function. The hypothalamus is the part of the brain responsible for controlling and directing the endocrine system. So it is a regulator of sorts, and while it is physically bigger in the male, it develops earlier in the female. This is one of the reasons girls mature quicker than boys (I bet you already knew that, didn’t you?) and it could also be one of the reasons why men, on average, tend to be more calm than women and are able to calm down more quickly than a woman (I can see you gents nodding your heads in vigorous agreement).
So, men, your regulator is bigger and research also shows that you have 52% more serotonin than women. You are good at calming down the ladies in your life and, believe it or not, you tend to get that often-elusive “better attitude” quicker than women (now you gents are really, really nodding your heads in agreement). This may not have been what you have heard or read before but this is the case when you are operating in a positive love state because it’s your natural design!
Ladies, you have approximately 11-13% more linguistic neurons and bigger interpersonal and interpersonal areas in the brain, and two very active x-chromosomes in each cell, which in general give you an increased ability to describe in detail the nature and impact of your emotions. So now you can tell your partner with scientific confidence that you are not on the verge of emotional insanity—your brain is just different!
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POSITIVE STRESS VERSES NEGATIVE STRESS
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
We have been told stress is always detrimental to our bodies. Not so! There is such a thing as positive stress! Let me explain.
Stress is the body's reaction to influences coming from outside or inside the body. Stress has three stages. Stage One is positive. In this stage we become alert and focused to the task at hand. This is normal. It is a temporary state.
Stage Two and Three, however, are negative. In Stage Two, the stress response is prolonged. Hormones like cortisol, which are only supposed to be increased for a short time, persist at high levels in the blood stream causing damage to our brains and bodies. If Stage Two becomes chronic and is maintained for a longer period it becomes Stage Three. At this point the body’s resources are exhausted, leading to disease and even death.
So what is the key to staying in positive and out of negative stress? It is our thought life; it is how we think. Research has shown that how we think about stress can affect whether we live or die.
The emerging fields medical specialties of psychoneuroendocrinology and psychoneuroimmunology are shedding light on the how thinking affects stress, the brain, the immune system, and hormones, and how these things determine our psychological and physical well-being. See http://drleaf.com/about/scientific-faqs/(under ‘Thinking Affects Health’) for more on the science. Because mind controls matter, thinking is the pre-eminent influence on health. In fact 78% to 98% of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life.
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EPIGENETICSEpisode two of season two of our TV series on Mental/Mind Health airs this Wednesday on TBN (3:30pm PST/5:30pm CST/6:30pm EST). In this episode, Dr. Leaf discusses Epigenetics. View the brief promo video here.
What is the Science of Epigenetics?
The genome has been prominent in general scientific thinking. However, because of the recent discoveries in the growing field of Epigenetics, the perceived pre-eminence of the gene is waning. The science of Epigenetics describes how gene expression is controlled by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence. The mind thinks and produces thoughts. Thinking epigenetically affects DNA and gene expression. Thinking, therefore, lies within the sphere of Epigenetics. Thinking affects gene expression in somatic cells of the brain and the rest of the body. This in turn affects the anatomy (structure) and physiology (function) and subsequently the health of the body.
Therefore aberrant (toxic) thinking can adversely affect the normal functioning of the body, leading to particular psychological and somatic disorders and diseases. Epigenetic mechanisms have been demonstrated in germ cells (eggs and sperm) and can affect our progeny. Therefore thinking can affect our children. There is even epidemiological evidence of epigenetic effects in multiple generations.
Visit the section on Epigenetics in the Scientific FAQs on our website for references.
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Choice/Free Will - A basic Ingredient of Quantum Physics
From the book SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN
Quantum physics has as its basic ingredients free will, directed attention as the result of a choice, and the effects and consequences of these choices. For example, Proverbs 4:20–27 says that if we direct our attention to the Word of God, we will align our thinking and subsequent choices with God, and the outcome will be healing and health.
Thus an intentional act—such as choosing to attend to God’s words, listen to them, memorize them—will produce the effect of health to all your flesh. Deuteronomy 30:19 can be evaluated in the same way: “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses”—the options—“Now choose life”—you intentionally evaluate the options and choose your reaction—“so that you and your children may live” - which is the consequence of your intentional choice.
Let’s apply the basic ingredients of quantum physics: choice, paying attention, thinking and choosing, and consequence.
1. Information: You get a call from your doctor’s office telling you that the results of your blood test are in and asking you phone them as soon as possible.
2. Thoughts: Multiple thoughts swirling around in your head. Option one is fear: “They said as soon as possible! Does this mean bad news? “What if I have. . . ?” And on it goes, down to planning the songs for your funeral. Option two is denial: “This is routine; I’ll call when I have time.” Option three is trust: “I have faith that this will be good news. I am not moved by any doctor’s report.”
3. Choice: You choose an option. For instance, if you choose fear, your brain responds by wiring in the thought, “I am sick,” and you live into this thought.
4. Consequence: You suddenly feel sick and are sure you are dying.
5. New consequence = You phone the doctor; your results are clear; and suddenly you feel fine (and perhaps a little foolish).
So your brain becomes what you focused on (body carries out the will of the spirit and soul), and what your brain has become produces what you say and do and how you feel physically and mentally.
Quantum physics has multiple definitions, but the original Copenhagen formulation of quantum theory made by Niehls Bohr of Copenhagen University in 1927 is considered the granddaddy of the definitions. It states that the free choices made by human subjects are a subjectively controllable variable–which simply means that you control your choices. Quantum mechanics can be used to prove that thinking and choosing is a real and measurable.
The way you experience your feelings. the way you interface with your thoughts, and the kind of attention you give them will change how your brain functions. If you apply this principle, you can free yourselves from destructive thoughts and actions and change bad habits for good.
For References see Notes at back of Switch on Your Brain softcover and for more information on Quantum Biology see this BLOG LINK
Watch Dr Caroline Leaf PART 2 speak on Quantum Physics and Choice at a recent Sunday Ministry session at Covenant Love Church in Fayetteville NC (1hr 17mins)
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Episode 9 - Psychiatric Medications
In case you missed it, here is the link for Episode 8 on the Disordered Mind that aired last Wednesday the 9th of March.
http://itbn.org/index/detail/lib/Networks/sublib/TBN/ec/E1bXExMjE60g1Oy_VY280wVVU2cG81cq
Switch On Your Brain with Dr Caroline Leaf airs every Wednesday on TBN USA at 3.30pm PST, 5.30pm CST and 6.30pm EST. It also airs on TBN UK, in Europe, TBN Asia and TBN Africa.
See http://drleaf.com/broadcast/ for viewing times and for replays of all the episodes.
Episode 9 on the 'Psychiatric Medications' is airing this Wednesday.
See synopsis below: Episode 9 - "Psychiatric Medications"
Restate Disease model. 3 groups of drugs. Why developed: Thorazine - magic bullet. Diagnosed people automatically put on drugs. Chemical stew. Publication bias. Why psychotropic drugs are not the answer. Side effects. What psychotropic drugs do to the brain. Mass shooters on medications. Mental Health management not handled like it should. You have a love, power and sound mind. Brain damage limited to 5%. You can change your brain with your mind.
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Male/Female relationship Q&A
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
At a recent relationship seminar at Coastal Church -Vancouver. Dr Leaf answered some questions re the differences between male and female brains. See questions below and watch the video clip. I hr and 19mins:
http://coastalchurch.org/message-archive/dr-caroline-leaf/session-1/
She also outlined the 3C's for successful male/female relationships.
Question 1: What stimulates male brains and what motivates female brains?
Differences in color recognition Men follow motion/movement - Woman more detail focused. Differences in terms of hearing. Woman more sensitive to sound
Question 2: How does the male brain and female brain function in sexual intimacy?
Intimate Touch, loving touch, cutaneous deprivation. Tips about hugging. The spirit, soul, body link when having sex with your partner. What is the effect in the brain of having sex with multiple partners. Gentleness as a result of good sexual encounters. Sexual encounters outside of marriage. Mind changes brain. We are spirit, soul, body.
Question 3: Why is pornography addictive?What is the effect of pornography on the brain/body How does one overcome that addiction? What is the path of freedom?
Addicted to God! Addiction is a learned behavior. Visual stimulation. Repeated effort. The QZE (Quantum Zeno effect) resulting in being caught in addictions. Fascination with the physical body and sex. Dealing with shame. The help of the Holy Spirit in dealing with Pornography Addictions. Toxic thoughts wire dendrites differently. Dendrite remodeling. Memory loss, aggression and other brain damage occurs. The impact on the 'Connectome.' Change in Cortisol levels. Impact on the blood/brain barrier. Affects the 'hippocampus.' Cognitive decline. Set up for cognitive dementia's What is the difference between female and males watching/reading pornography. How do you create a safe environment at home for your children in terms of discussions about sex.
Question 4: How do males/females differ in terms of Anger and dealing with Anger
Examine where you are at when dealing with anger. Have mindful self-reflection, self-awareness. The Anger circuit in a male brain vs the Anger Circuit in a female brain. Males get angry quicker, and calm down quicker. Females take longer to get angry and longer to calm down. Cortisol level differences. Loving kind and gentle responses.
Question 6. Do woman talk more than men?
Watch the video
Switch on Your Brain - MENTAL/MIND HEALTH TV SERIESIn case you missed it, here is the link for Episode 5 on Addictions that aired last Wednesday.
http://itbn.org/index/detail/lib/Networks/sublib/TBN/ec/B1MGphMTE6yhQN4wrnjrGCw-L0RVoE6t
Switch On Your Brain with Dr Caroline Leaf airs every Wednesday on TBN at 3.30pm PST, 5.30pm CST and 6.30pm EST.
It also airs on TBN UK, in Europe and TBN Asia. See http://drleaf.com/broadcast/
Episode 6 on Psychiatric Labels is airing this Wednesday (today). See synopsis below:
Episode 6
"Psychiatric labels"
Labels are problems when people absorb and become them. Disease model says chemical imbalance. Disorder model says toxic trees. List and describe different labels (anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, ADD/ADHD, etc.). Labels overlap, have same brain damage. More detail on how toxic thoughts are formed (rumination, etc) and manifest. Bring all thoughts into captivity to Christ.
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EPISODE 4 - MENTAL/MIND HEALTH TV SERIES In case you missed it here is the LINK to watch a replay of Episode 3.
http://itbn.org/index/detail/lib/Networks/sublib/TBN/ec/ZybGR4MDE6JupmNQ0QyamqACg187ic0k
Episode 4 airs this Wednesday on TBN at 3.30pm PST, 5.30pm CST and 6.30pm EST.
You can also also WATCH TBN ONLINE
Remember to set your to TV recorder at the time in your area if you are unable to watch at that time.
If you miss it, REPLAYS will be available at iTBN or BROADCASTwithin 2-7 days There are 12 TV episodes.
See outline of Episode 4 below. Each episode will end with Dr Caroline Leaf leading you into a 5-8 mins practical exercise.
Episode 4: DISEASE VS DISORDER
Disease model illustration - biology produces mind, diseased genes make diseased brain, gets labels that lock in. Chemical imbalance. Magic bullet wishful thinking. Disease model treatments - medication, ECT. video games, implants (physical interventions). Need to move toward talk therapies.
**************************************************************************With Valentine's Day coming up, here is more on the science of Love
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
I am sure you have felt the effects of love before: your heart is racing, your skin is covered with Goosebumps, you can’t eat or sleep, you feel as if you don’t just walk you float…
Well, God specifically wired your brain to feel this way!
Brain-imaging studies of women in love show increased activity in different areas of the brain: specifically the memory, attention and instinct circuits. Men show more activity in high-level visual processing. In fact brain circuits ‘in love” show reduced activity in the amygdala (the perceptual warning system of the brain) and the ACG (the “gear-shifter”), which combine to form the critical thinking and worry center. This means that the concern and worry buttons are switched off – so, believe it or not, science confirms love’s ability to keep us “on cloud nine”!
Moreover, an actual electrical-chemical bond forms between a man and woman in love. Hence, we have the power to build each other up or tear each other down! And these electrical-chemical bonds can cause real structural changes in our brains, in both a positive or a negative direction – it’s up to us to decide what kind of bond we are going to form. Yet this biological process doesn’t stop there: love takes on a different “brain form” as you progress through your relationship, which—if not understood properly—can start creating toxic patterns in relationships.
Being in love creates a positive chemical reaction that causes you to be physically healthier. A lack of love and affirmation can literally make you feel sick. Researchers are even finding that intense passionate feelings of love can provide amazingly effective pain relief. It turns out that the areas of the brain activated by intense love are the same areas that drugs use to reduce pain! Scientists are trying to deepen their understanding of these neural reward pathways so they can develop new methods for reducing pain.
This gives new meaning to “love conquers all,” indeed!
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A Brief History of Mental Health Care in the Twentieth Century
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
In the early twentieth century, the prevailing concept in psychiatry was the demented mind, while drugs that changed one’s mental state (including alcohol) were largely views as “mind-altering substances” [1]. Asylums, largely state-run institutions where people with mental health issues were locked away, were commonplace [2]. Lobotomies, in which a mini icepick was shoved up the nose into the brain, were performed up to the 1950s [3]. In fact, Egas Moniz, who invented this procedure, received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1949 for his work, before the practice when into disrepute in the mid-1950s [4].
From the 1930s to the 1950s the prevailing concept in psychiatry was the disordered mind [5]. Of the non-physical treatments available to those suffering from issue of the mind, psychoanalysis, invented by Sigmund Freud, prevailed in the 1930s [6]; psychotherapy, based on classical conditioning (Ivan Pavlov) [7] and operant conditioning (B. F. Skinner) [8] prevailed in the 1940s, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) [9] has dominated the field since the 1950s.
The arrival of the first anti-psychotic (or neuroleptic) Chlorpromazine in the mid-twentieth century marked a revolution mental health care [10]. There was a shift in mental health care from state-run asylums to the private sector as patients were able to be restrained by the administration of these neuroleptics, which acted as “chemical straitjackets” or “chemical lobotomies” [11]. At first these medications were predominantly seen as “tranquilizers:” temporary measures to calm patients down in order to introduce more long-term treatments [12]. In the 1970s-1980s, these drugs began to be seen as “chemical cures,” and the concept that mental disorders were the result of chemical imbalances started to take hold [13], despite the lack of physical evidence to support the chemical imbalance theory [14]. SSRIs such as Prozac [15] exploded into the public consciousness with the introduction of second generation neuroleptics in the 1990s [16].
It was during this time that Dr. Leaf began researching the mind and the brain. Based on her findings, both during her studies and in her practice, she noticed that mind-action is actually the predominant element in mental wellbeing [17]. Dr. Leaf pioneered mind-directed therapy that involved family and/or caregivers in the context of the patient’s life and needs [18]. The patient was highly involved in taking responsibility for their intervention and recovery. Dr. Leaf applied this successfully in many situations, and in the development of her 21 day brain detox program [19]. Her approach is similar to the scientifically researched and successful Open Dialogue Therapy, which is currently becoming very popular for the treatment of mental health [20].
Through her work, which continues to this day, Dr. Leaf noticed that mental ill-health is not just a biological imbalance that could be “cured” by medication; it is a disorder of the mind that can be caused by a traumatic thought life [21]. In other words, mental ill-health is a thought disorder based in the mind, which changes the brain physiologically. Consequently, Dr. Leaf developed the Switch On Your Brain with the 5-step Learning Process [22] from over three decades of study, clinical practice and research [23]. This learning process, based on her Geodesic Learning Theory [24], has been shown not only to be effective in mental health care, but also treating physical damage to the brain that occurs in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), learning disabilities and to improve learning techniques in both schools and the corporate world [25]. The groundbreaking discoveries of neuroplasticity [26] (i.e. the brain can change) and neurogenesis [27] (new nerve cells are continually produced) in 1990s further support Dr. Leaf’s work, showing how the brain is a complex, living organ and not merely part of a biological machine.
In today’s scientific community, the prevailing concept that chemical imbalances form the basis mental illness is being challenged. David Anderson, a prominent geneticist involved in psychiatric research, has eloquently stated [28] that the chemical imbalance concept promotes the erroneous idea that the brain consists of a “bag of chemical soup.” Taking drugs like Prozac have been shown to be ineffective in a great number of scientific articles [29]. As Anderson notes, taking psychiatric drugs to “fix” mental health issues is like performing an oil change on a car by pouring oil all over the engine: it does more harm than good. In the her ground-breaking book, The Myth of the Chemical Cure [30], Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, a prominent British psychiatrist at University College London, stated that psychiatric drugs actually create abnormal brain states instead of counteracting them, and that the concept of chemical imbalance rather reflects successful marketing by the dominant pharmaceutical industry. Indeed, a recent meta-analysis from Stanford University [31] documenting 193 brain imaging studies on the whole-brain images of nearly 16,000 people turned the dominant brain disease model of psychiatry on its head. The study essentially found that the brains of people with different diagnoses such as schizophrenia, depression and addiction showed similar gray-matter loss. This finding challenges the disease model, which proposes that the different diagnoses have different brain pathologies. Even Tom Insel, a psychiatrist, the Director of the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) and a proponent of the disease model of mental health, has admitted to the failure of the present day paradigm of the chemical imbalance concept in successfully treating mental illness. [32] His views were supported by Kenneth Kendler, one of the world’s foremost experts on chemical imbalances, who noted in 2005 that “we have hunted for big simple neurochemical explanations for psychiatric disorders and have not found them.” [33]
It is obvious that the disease model of mental health, with its accompanying concept of chemical imbalance and drug use, is not succeeding, as we have more individuals suffering from mental health issues than ever before in human history. Although there has been a 400% increase in anti-depressant use alone since the 1990s, with a similar rise in the use of neuroleptics, more and more people are being locked away in mental health institutions and more and more adults and children are being put on dangerous, mind-altering substances [34]. It is high time for a change.
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WHY DON'T WE STICK WITH NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
It’s amazing how everyone is so full of advice at this time of the year – in fact everywhere you look you will find advice, some good, some not so good - on how to get rid of that excess weight gathered over the holiday season; how to get the best body; the best exercise workout for the new year; great devotionals for getting our spiritual life off to a good start.
Despite this plethora of wisdom, very few people really stick to these New Year's Resolutions. In fact few people make lasting changes in their lives despite the desire and sometimes-desperate intent to do so.
Why?
It all begins in your mind: your thinking, your emotions and your choices. If your mind isn’t right, then you will not stick with anything, no matter how great. Your mind is the most powerful thing in the universe – after God, of course. It is with your mind that you choose to develop your spiritual walk and relationship with God, and it is with your mind you choose to stick with that diet and exercise regimen.
We have been created with a loving, powerful and sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7) and God made us virtuous, but we choose to go down our own pathway (Ecclesiastes 7:29). So we are powerful enough to choose right and stick with it. This is actually our default mode. We need to train and discipline our minds in order to develop our spirit and have healthy bodies.
To this end, we need to renew our minds (Romans 12:2). This is one of the main reasons I developed my 21 Day Brain Detox to help us renew our minds and turn News Year’s Resolutions into lifelong resolutions.
Join thousands who have taken up the challenge of the 21-day brain detox and who are changing their worlds and impacting the worlds of those around them. And if you are already doing the 21-day brain detox, send us feedback (see this VIMEO - 1.33mins) so we can encourage each other, and I mean each other – I am always doing a 21-day brain detox!
Happy New Year and happy mind detoxing!
Love Dr Caroline Leaf
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Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
What she said wasn’t what you heard….
What he thought wasn’t what you assumed…
When a word makes its way off your tongue and out of your mouth it’s no small feat or random event – it’s a complex process that began as a thought. And the phenomenal process of thinking, building and choosing a thought is incredibly complex. Add to this maleness and femaleness, and we find ourselves sorting through multiple circuitous loops happening in the brain at any one time to produce that sentence you just spoke to each other. The entire intricate process takes about half a second. Isn’t it amazing what can go wrong in that short time span!
Science shows that the art of conversation is a little more natural for a woman, which is be a big reason why so many of us girls love it – both the desire and the capacity are hard-wired into our minds.Research also shows that the circuits in a woman’s brain between the emotional processing and memory centers are large, very active and closely connected to the language centers in the brain. The circuits in a man’s brain are stronger between the spatial and action areas of the brain.
So, in general, men speak the language of facts, actions and results; women speak the language of feelings and emotions:
He’s designed to separate words, emotions and memories; she’s designed to link words, emotions and memories.
Women bond as they are having a conversation and give support while they are listening. Men have a conversation as a way of getting facts in order to solve problems and accomplish tasks, which produces a greater bond in relationships.
Men mentally index their thoughts; women externally pour out their thoughts. These are just a few differences, and we are surprised that things get lost in translation! In my book “Who Switched Off Your Brain? The Mystery of He said She Said” I show how these differences are part of our Intelligent design and that God did this for a reason: to get us to think of others and not only of ourselves. When you go beyond yourself trying to understand each other and the opposite sex, we follow the Jesus model of “100% give”. As we target this struggle, we will increase our peace, happiness and joy as well as our intelligence! So…don’t get lost in translation!
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Christmas Fellowship and Our Frontal Lobe
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
I love the Christmas season: the fellowship with family and friends, the fun, the happiness and excitement and the decorations!
This is a very obvious statement and this blog is not going to be all about how much I love Christmas. I want to rather focus on how God designed us for fellowship, and how, as we enjoy fellowship with each other over this beautiful season, we experience an infinitesimal taste of what it means to have fellowship with God. Many years ago I asked God to help me to try to understand His love. His answer grounded me. The love that I feel for my husband and our four children is, infinity times infinity, indescribable. God said back to me so clearly that this love that I feel for my family is but an infinitesimal taste of His love for me.
God wired us for love. See this VIMEO (1.57mins) or longer VIDEO CLIP(28mins).
Scientists have found this to be so as they navigate their way though intricate world of neuroscience. We feel this love as we fellowship with those we love. His grace extends to the great care and purposefulness He poured into our design, which enables us to experience this fellowship. For example, the prefrontal cortex (the front part of the brain, just above the eyebrows that most people know as the frontal lobe) has specifically been designed to connect us with people. As we make eye contact and assess facial expressions and tones in voices and body language, our frontal lobe makes sense of all this and we reach out and hug.
And then God put these cute little mirror neurons within the networks of our brain that help us mirror each other’s emotions, and experience each other’s joy. So we reach out and hug back, and warmth spreads all over our bodies from the amazing neurochemicals now flowing in harmonized synchrony through our brains and bodies as a result of this contact—a tangible way to experience His fellowship!
So as you fellowship this Christmas by handing gifts to your loved ones, sharing stories and laughter over Christmas dinner, and enjoying the beautiful Christmas decorations and lights, for just a moment stop and think about what you are feeling, multiply it by infinity and … you have just been touched by the love God has for you and the desire He has to fellowship with you by sending Jesus into the world.
Have a happy and blessed Christmas! May this coming year bring an increase in your fellowship with Almighty God.
LOOKING for the Perfect Christmas Gift see the PERFECTLY YOU GIFT CARD . It can be shipped to you or someone you want to bless.
THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART CONFERENCE - June 4th 2016 DALLAS TX
Join me in Dallas, TX on Saturday, June 4th for my workshop entitled Think and Eat Yourself Smart.
In this one day workshop, I will help you gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of eating, the entangled relationship between thinking and food, and how our uniqueness spreads throughout our spirit, soul and body. This workshop is divided into three sections that will help you begin approaching these issues with a renewed mindset.
Part 1, ADMIT IT! This section deals with the dysfunctional state of our current food system, and how far it has become removed from the concept of real food.
Part 2, QUIT IT! This section focuses on the power of the mind, and the impact of toxic thinking and toxic food choices on the brain and body.
Part 3, BEAT IT! This section deals with lifestyle changes that can help you begin the task of thinking and eating yourself smart.
See WORKSHOP SCHEDULE.
The Workshop includes a signed copy of my newest book (to be released in 2016), including 21 of my family's favorite recipes, which can help you practically apply these lifestyle changes in your kitchen and your tummy!
God has given us a choice: life or death, blessings or curses. He has also given us, through the incredible power in our sound minds, the ability to act on these choices and transform our world (2 Timothy 1:7).
I look forward to seeing you on June 4th!
REGISTER NOW for the Early Bird special at $139 (special finishes01/14/2016)
ACCOMMODATIONS There are special hotel rates ($89 per room) available for workshop attendees. Register at the Westin - Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. There are limited number of rooms availble so register as soon as possible.
The Westin provides a shuttle from DFW Airport to the hotel.
Organic lunch can be purchased from on-site food trucks the day of the workshop.
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THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART! Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
My new book is not a feel-good-quick-fix-magic-solution-pop-a pill-on-a-diet-latest-food-fad-I-have-the-only-solution-diet. It is a long-term, sustainable challenge to a big problem: what to eat in our world today. It is an attempt to reintroduce a culture of thinking and effort back into eating, one based on diligently stewarding the bodies, and world, that God has entrusted to us. In the spirit of renewing the mind, it is a lifestyle book that seeks to reimagine what we eat within an integrated spirit, mind and body framework (Romans 12:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:23).
The fact is we are all unique, which means that a way of eating, exercising, and sleeping that works for you may not work for me, within the context of a healthy lifestyle and a real food diet, which I will discuss in part 1. Let us take juicing as an example. This has spiraled in popularity and for good reason; it is a great way of getting all those necessary required fruit and veggies into your daily intake. But I personally get very lethargic and uncomfortable after drinking any type of juice (and I have pretty much tried every combination). I prefer to get my daily intake of veggies in other ways. So this book will not give you the solution, but rather teach you how to be your own solution, with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The book is divided into three parts that will help you begin approaching these issues with a renewed mindset. Part 1, ADMIT IT! deals with the dysfunctional state of our current food system, and how far it has become removed from the concept of real food. Part 2, QUIT IT! focuses on the power of the mind, and the impact of toxic thinking and toxic food choices on the brain and body. Part 3, BEAT IT! deals with lifestyle changes that can help you begin the task of thinking and eating yourself smart. It includes 21 of my family's favorite recipes, which can help you practically apply these lifestyle changes in your kitchen and your tummy!
I am not a dietician, nutritionist or medical doctor. My area of expertise is the mind, and I have approached eating from this perspective. I personally do not think you have to have a degree in nutritional science to know what you should put in your mouth. I think the fact that we feel we cannot even make our own food choices anymore without the help of an “expert” is a sign of just how broken our food system is. Indeed the field of nutrition is massive, and the research is so extensive that it is not possible in a book of this size or nature to present all sides of every argument. To this end, I have had to be selective, and have included as many original sources as possible to encourage and empower you to make your own choices—to encourage and empower you to think and eat yourself smart in every area of your life!
This book began in Deuteronomy 30:19. God has given us a choice: life or death, blessings or curses. He has also given us, through the incredible power in our sound minds, the ability to act on these choices and transform our world (2 Timothy 1:7).
And the world we live in desperately needs transformation. Today, nearly a billion people are hungry and almost two billion people are overweight or obese. Indeed, for the first time in our recorded history, millions of people across the world are both overweight and starving: dying of lifestyle diseases that are preventable. The exploitation and waste of the earth’s natural resources, partnered with a dramatically expanding world population and increasing levels of chronic diseases, have led many to question what we should eat, how people will eat, and the way in which our current food production system has contributed to these issues.
Despite all our advances—and there are many to be proud of—millions of people are condemned to live out their days in doctors’ offices or dying of extreme hunger; the rest of us are confounded by the latest nutritional advice, marketing campaigns and calorie dense foods of a global food industry. What exactly is stopping us from avoiding illnesses and premature death that are largely preventable through mind and dietary changes? How have our choices led us down this destructive road, away from God’s perfect plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11)?
These tragic facts compel us to question the way we think about our food. As the stewards of God’s creation (Genesis 1—2), we are not only responsible for our own wellbeing, spirit, soul and body, but that of the entire world: a world that God so loved that he was willing to send his one and only Son to save it (John 3:16).
We can change nothing until we fully comprehend what needs to be changed. Just as every action first begins with a thought, we, as the children of the Creator of this beautiful universe, have to understand the broken food system we face (Colossians 1:15-20). We have to take these thoughts captive unto Christ Jesus, asking him to guide our minds and show us the way forward (2 Corinthians 10:5). And, as we renew the way we think about what we eat and how we eat it, we take the first step to renewing our health and the health of God’s wonderful planet (Romans 12:2).
Only after we admit it, can we quit it and beat it.
The choice is ours.
I choose life.
Blessings
Dr Caroline Leaf
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CHEMICAL IMBALANCES IN THE BRAIN: A MODERN MYTH?
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
Part 1
Today, it has become commonplace to say that people have chemical imbalances in their brain, most notably a disruption in the proper production of dopamine (for “diseases” like ADHD) and serotonin (for “diseases” like depression) [1]. These people, it is supposed, need drugs to “cure” these chemical imbalances, hence the terms “antipsychotics” or “antidepressants” [2].
However, in the first part of the 20th century drugs dealing with issues of the mind (as opposed to the rest of the body) were predominantly viewed as “mind-altering substances” like alcohol, and classified as sedatives or stimulants that tranquilized symptoms or the manifestations of
psychosis [3]. When the first modern neuroleptic, Thorazine (Chlorpromazine), was introduced
in the 1950s, the French researchers Pierre Deniker and Jean Delay noted that the drug created a state of mind similar to Parkinson’s disease, introducing a “new neurological syndrome” in the patient [4]. Essentially, these drugs created, not treated, chemical imbalances [5].
During the 1950s and 1960s a new view of these mind-altering drugs began to shape the world of mental health [6]. Despite the lack of a conclusive body of scientific evidence these drugs came
to be seen as “cures”, targeting the underlying biological mechanism of the “disease” of depression or psychosis [7]. It was just assumed that since these drugs affected brain chemistry in a certain way, the opposite reaction must be the result of the disease, notwithstanding the fact that this has never been adequately proven [8]. People no longer spoke of the mind-altering effects of these psychoactive drugs, and, as psychiatrist and professor at University College London Joanna Moncrieff notes, today it is incredibly difficult to find or publish journal articles
on these effects, compelling professionals and researchers to look at patient websites such asaskapatient.com (which currently number close to a million) [9].
If the overly simplistic explanation of chemical imbalances in the brain is an insufficient
explanation for mental illness, why did many people come to see these drugs as “cures”? And
why do people still see these dugs as correcting an underlying chemical imbalance? There are a number of social and political factors involved in the rise of this infamous theory (remember: medicine does not occur in a historical vacuum). First, in the second part of the 20th century psychiatry was under heavy criticism [10]. To justify and defend the profession, psychiatrists promoted a medical/disease model of mental health, which is most notably seen at the time in
the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III, which marked a definitive shift away from psychoanalysis and talk therapy [11]. By creating lists of disorders (again, based off no conclusive scientific evidence on the possible biological mechanisms underlying these so-called disorders), which appeared to be simple, objective ways of recognizing mental illness
(somewhat like identifying a tumor), psychiatry created a self-made marketing weapon against
its attackers [12]. From now on, institutions like the American Psychiatric Association and the
DSM would define what is normal, in turn telling us what it means to suffer and, essentially,
what it means to be human [13]. They medicalized misery, and today millions are suffering because of their actions, creating a public health disaster [14]. In fact, since it was now widely,
yet incorrectly, assumed that these drugs were “curing” the supposed “disease” and not just tranquilizing the disturbed individual, forced drug treatments, institutionalization and lack of consent merely became “cures” [15]. The responsibility and guilt of the medical processionals behind these so-called treatments was essentially sidelined [16]. Today a psychiatrist can be praised for drugging a depressed person with mind-altering substances and, if these do not
work, institutionalizing them and shocking their brain with ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) [17].
It is even an acceptable and commonplace practice to imprison mentally ill persons, drug them and lock them in solitary confinement, compelling them to live their days marinating in their
own excrement [18]. It is therefore no surprise that mental health advocate, psychiatrist,
former director of the DSM and professor at Duke University Allen Frances declares that “there
has never been a worse time or a worse place to have a mental illness than in the US today”
[19]. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies, like the psychiatrists, also realized just how effective a marketing tool the chemical imbalance theory could be [20]. Despite the recognition amongst many psychiatrists and medical health professionals that the chemical imbalance
theory is not valid [21], drug companies like Eli Lilly still claim that “antipsychotic medicines are believed to work by balancing the chemical found naturally in the brain” [22]. In fact, their marketing efforts, predominantly to doctors through prescription privileges, have been so successful that it is estimated that 80% of the American public alone believe in chemical imbalances in the brain [23]. These companies would not spend billions of dollars on marketing campaigns if they did not think they would work. Additionally, a number of materialistic and reductionistic cultural assumptions have supported these developments. First, we tend to see science and allopathic medicine as the source of all truth [24]. The doctor in his white coat is
the priest of a secular age, and evidence-based clinical medicine is the bible [25]. So, if the
doctor says that these drugs are safe and will cure chemical imbalances in the brain, even
though they get most of their information from the drug company representatives who offer
them multiple benefits for prescribing particular medications, we believe wholeheartedly in what he or she may say and are more inclined to believe the medication will work for us [26]. These
beliefs, which ignore actual scientific results, are buttressed by a flood of distorted and biased news reports, press releases and scientific journal articles on supposed chemical imbalances,
and have transformed the theory into cultural dogma [27]. So, obviously, if we experience negative side effects and do not feel the drug is working, it must be something wrong with us,
not the drug [28]. The situation is critical. Since primary care doctors/family physicians, not qualified psychiatric professionals, prescribe most of these mind-altering drugs, we do not ask ourselves if these doctors really understand all the implications of using these substances [29].
Not even the psychiatrists understand these drugs [30]! But for many of us a doctor is a
doctor: we don’t ask ourselves if the allure of money, based off biased information, may blind
the him/her to the reality of the pill [31]. It is perhaps the lure of a quick fix, a magic bullet solution to our problems, that obscures our judgment. And, sometimes, it is far easier to take a pill than to take responsibility [32]. True change is a difficult and lengthy process. Anyway, the doctor is the professional right? He studied for years correct? Who am I, but an ordinary
person? You may have not studied for years, but you still have the right to ask these questions, as you will be the one taking the drug and dealing with its side effects. You have every right to determine the potential biases and interests of your doctor, asking them if their use of the psychoactive substance in question is based on the free lunches and monetary gifts of a drug company representative [33]. It is your brain, your body, your life. These drugs can directly
affect your health, with side effects such as an increased risk of suicide [34], loss of sexual ability [35], potential brain shrinkage [36], agitation [37], insomnia [38], weight gain and obesity-
related diseases like diabetes [39], lethargy [40], mental fog [41], emotional apathy [42], homicide [43], to name just a few, and taking them can turn into a matter of life and death, particularly for the elderly and children [44]. Of course, you may argue that these substances
have helped you stabilize your life, thereby allowing you to sort out your problems. Yet there
are several considerations to take into account. Most people will feel better after seeing a doctor, whether or not they are given medication at all—doctor visits can have a powerful placebo
effect, particularly if the doctor is very friendly and compassionate [45]. Moreover, we tend to
visit medical professionals when we feel we just cannot cope any longer—when we are at a breaking point [46]. Due to spontaneous healing, many people will begin feel better after this peak in their illness/issue, whether they do or do not do anything to alleviate it, and the same is true for depression and anxiety [47]. In fact, most people recover from depression without
drug treatments [48]. And, as Irving Kirsh, professor at a number of universities and lecturer at
Harvard Medical School, has shown, antidepressants are no better than placebos in terms of clinical significance, but, unlike placebos, come with a host of negative side effects in the short
and long term [49]. Lastly, we have to take into account that many things can make us feel better, including alcohol, yet we do not say that alcohol fixed “a previous brain deficiency of alcohol” [50]. So why do we think of anti-depressants and other psychiatric drugs in this way? Even if you feel that these psychoactive substances do help you, they are not correcting an underlying chemical imbalance in your brain, and potentially creating neurological imbalances
that were not there to begin with [51]. These drugs start changing your neurochemistry within the first dose [52]. We then have to take into consideration some very hard questions.
Substances like marijuana and speed also make people feel better, but do not fix the root of
the issue: why someone felt the way he/she did in the first place. Indeed, more people die from overdoses of psychiatric drugs than illicit drugs like cocaine and heroin [53]. So, if it is okay to
take psychoactive substances like antipsychotics and antidepressants because they make us feel better even though they can be dangerous, is it okay to take other, non-legal drugs because
they make us feel better as well, even though they can be dangerous? It is in fact easier to withdraw from heroin than antidepressants (SSRIs, that is selective serotonin re-uptake
inhibitors) [55]. And what about the hundreds of thousands of people suffering under the
burden of our pseudoscientific bio-centric model of psychiatry [56], people like those prisoners locked in solitary confinement or those individuals forced to take these drugs and
institutionalized [57], who have no voice? They too deserve to be heard.
Indeed, we have every right to question not only our doctors but also the cultural power of neo-liberal capitalism [58]. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, these drugs play a particularly important role in social control, as the philosopher Michel Foucault pointed out [59]. By emphasizing that the problem lies within an individual’s biology, we are less inclined to look
at their experiences and the social context of why they are feeling the way they feel [60]. We
look at the mythical chemical imbalance instead of economic exploitation, violence and inept political structures [61]. Children in foster care are told that they have malfunctioning brains
and given these mind-altering substances, and the terrible, abusive and shocking circumstances that they have experienced are put in a mental corner [62]. The child who moves a lot in class
is forced to take mind-altering medication that is as addictive as cocaine in the long run, and we do not question whether the school systems we have in place are adequate for the diverse expression of humanity [63]. Once again, the quick fix mentality comes into play: it is far easier
to give people a drug that makes them indifferent to their socio-economic circumstances rather than fighting for social justice and changing those circumstances. Certainly, these drugs are also useful tools for neutralizing anyone who does not fit neatly into the neo-liberal capitalist framework--those people that make us uncomfortable and fearful—within and without the
Church [64]. When we are faced with such a harsh reality, we must always remember that God
has given us powerful minds, which can change the structure of our brains [65]. Our souls are
not locked in a cage by our biology [66]. We have, after all, the mind of Christ; we are dignified beings; we are more than conquerors through Him (1 Corinthians 2:16; Romans 8:37).
Although Jesus never said we wouldn’t suffer, that we wouldn’t feel pain and anguish, His death and resurrection enables us to have joy despite our circumstances (Philippians 4:11-13).
Indeed, not only are pain and human suffering are a part of the world today, but also a clarion
call for us as the children of God to go out and be the light in dark places (Romans 8) [67]. If
we stop sharing in the pain, as God shares our pain, how can we ever challenge injustice? We, with our sound minds, together as the Church, can choose to overcome with the help of the
Holy Spirit, and in turn impact our communities, our cities, our countries and our world.
In the end, we will all be compelled to choose between the worldview presented by the modern psychiatry, a corrupted institution which claims that suffering is not normal and that those that cannot cope without medication have broken, defective brains, or the promises made in God’s word that He never gives us more than we can handle, that He has given us sound minds, that
He is always with us, and that nothing can separate us from His love (1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Timothy 1:7; Joshua 1:9; Romans 8:35-39). I will discuss these worldviews more in part 2 of
this blog.
Blessings, Caroline
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The Mind Changes the BrainWritten
by Dr. Caroline Leaf
Materialists believe that the mind emerges from the brain and that the mind (soul) is an artifact
of the brain. Like the Sadducees of Jesus’ time, they only believe what they can see, feel and
touch (Matthew 22:23-31, Acts 23:8). This has been the prevailing paradigm in the western scientific world since Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution became the dominant scientific
dogma. Recently, however, there has been growing dissent in the area of neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry because the result of adherence to the materialists’ philosophy in
the lives of patients, where the rubber meets the road, has been devastating [1]. Interestingly
the discovery of the baffling area of quantum physics at the beginning of the last century [2] marked the beginning the crumbling of materialist philosophy. Denial of the power of the mind, and by extension the spirit, in the treatment of patients with mental and even physical
disorders, has led to poor treatment outcomes in many cases. The materialist position,
therefore, is becoming increasing untenable.
Alternatively the Bible presents the view of the spirit, soul and the body as separate, but
intimately integrated entities (Genesis 2:7, Matthew 26:41, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews
4:12). Each of us is a spirit, having a soul (mind) and living in a body. Life is actually a spiritual force. The mind has the power of intellect, emotions and free will [3], and, if enabled by the
spirit and, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can make good choices that can positively change the body, which includes the brain. The materialist view, however, in denying the existence of the spirit and soul, has held to the pre-eminence of the body. This mindset contributed to the view that the brain could not really be changed once we reached adolescence and that all we could hope for in many psychiatric and neurological conditions was compensation and reliance on medication rather than a total cure. This was the prevailing view in the 1980s when Dr. Caroline
Leaf started in research and clinical practice as a communication pathologist treating patients
with various mental and neurological conditions in clinical and educational settings and research settings. Because of her belief in the biblical view, she set out to help patients, who the medical community had given up on, with remarkable results [4]. She also was able help transform destitute students in deprived schools even to international notice [5]. At the time clinicians and educationalists like her, who believed in the power of the mind to change the brain, were
scoffed at. However, as the Sanhedrin discovered, when faced with the walking man who was
once crippled (Act 4:14), it was difficult to deny the results.
Fortunately certain discoveries have led credence to the biblical view, Dr Leaf's research included.
It was discovered that the brain continually changes in response to mental and sensory signals throughout the human life span [6]. This process has now been termed ‘neuroplasticity’. It was once thought that, as adults, we had the full complement of nerve cells (neurons) and that we basically lost neurons until we died. Now we know scientifically that we continue to produce neurons in certain areas of the brain constantly, a process known as neurogenesis [7]. The growing medical specialties of psychoneuroimmunology and psychoneuroendocrinology [8] are bringing to light the intimate relationship between the mind, the brain and the immune and endocrine systems. Remarkably the eye-opening science of epigenetics is showing how our
choices can profoundly influence, not just our own genes and those that we are in relationship with, but the genes of multiple generations of our descendants [9]. There is thankfully now a growing opposition to the materialist view even among mainstream scientists. In response to
the growing evidence of the mind being able to change the brain, materialist have held the view that it is the brain that changes the brain [10]- this is akin to a computer reprogramming and redesigning itself.
Thankfully, in the face of growing recent evidence, the materialist view is losing some of its pre-eminence. There is growing dissent among a populace that is seeking answers to gnawing questions and cures to intractable mental and physical disorders [11]. Surveys show that the majority of lay people globally do not see themselves as biological automata, but as thinking human beings with the ability to think and choose making biological change [12]. Furthermore, the crisis in the education, over-labeling and over-medication of our children is crying out for a change of direction. It is time to return to what the Creator says about the nature of man in the Bible- He knows what we are made of and how we are made (Psalm 103:14). The Mind
definitely changes the Brain.
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INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT - Switch on Your Brain with the 5-Step Learning Process (R) and Metacog system (TM)
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
Working in the field of education for over 25 years, I love to teach people how to think and
learn, and see them reach their full potential. Based on my academic research and clinical work, I developed a learning system based on how the brain works: The Switch on your Brain 5-Step Learning process (R). In South Africa I used in this system in many schools across the economic and cultural spectrum, with both students and teachers. Watching their faces light up as their academic performance increased (up to 35-75% improvement in many cases), many of them realizing that they could achieve anything they correctly put their minds to, was truly inspiring!
Three years ago I was presented with an opportunity to introduce this learning system in a Charter school group in Dallas, Texas, with similar results to South Africa. Once again, regardless of nationality, culture or any other differences, I saw children and teachers improve, both academically and emotionally, when they realized that they could succeed in life. Our circumstances, even though they constrain us, do not determine our destiny. (You can read
more information at Dallas Charter School results, and more about the research and application under Science Article downloads)
But what exactly is this learning system? It is a Metacog™-based program, mirroring the way
the brain builds memory, thereby stimulating deep thinking and learning. It simplifies the
learning process, helping a person become an effective learner and increasing their intelligence.
A Metacog™ is essentially a way of writing things down on paper that is more compatible with
the way your brain actually thinks, as opposed to writing in the normal linear fashion. The Metacog™ patterns look more like trees with words on lines, which stimulates the two sides of
the brain to work together more efficiently, which in turn stimulates long-term brain develop-ment. The Metacogs™ essentially switch on your brain! I have abook and DVD set that teaches you exactly how to follow the Switch on your Brain 5-Step Learning process (R). We are so
excited about the results that we have been introducing the concept into more schools and educational institutions, and we are in the process of creating the online Switch on Your Brain® learning program.
As a scientist, I understand the importance of reaching younger generations, teaching them
how to think so they can succeed in every area of their life, since the patterns for adulthood are laid down in childhood. Because of this I firmly believe (and the research backs this up) in not
only teaching adults how to reign in unruly toxic thoughts that are messing up their minds and
bodies, but in also getting children to think properly, as thinking and emotions are all
intertwined in the learning process and need to be dealt with as early as possible. Indeed, we
need to get our children thinking again, considering the fact that American thinking patterns
and therefore creativity alone are in decline (Newsweek July 19, 2010). The implications of such a decline are severe, and the evidence is already in front of us. There is an urgent need to improveIntellectual Development.
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MENTAL HEALTH - PART 2 - MIND ACTION VS THE DISEASE MODEL
A recent WHO study on psychiatric disorders found that developing nations experience better recovery from major mental issues, notwithstanding restricted general access to medications as compared to developed nations like the USA, UK and Denmark [1]. In fact, the developed
nations had worse recovery rates, despite their “first class” psychiatric medications and modern mental health care. Likewise, in Western Lapland (northern Finland), an ongoing, large-scale research project on schizophrenia has indicated that people diagnosed with a severe mental
illness can experience long term recovery without the use of psychiatric drugs [2]. Individuals
can also overcome addictions without psychiatric drugs. In the early 2000s, the National Epidemiological survey (NESARC) showed that 43000 Americans (75% of addicts) had
overcome their addictions by themselves and how drug addicts give up habits by themselves
more easily than alcoholics [3]. Most people get over addiction through CHOICE - quitting is
the rule!
Clearly we can and do triumph over mental health issues. Unfortunately, due of the clinician illusion, in which sickest subset that physicians see are generalized in regards to the overall population, mental ill-heath issues like addiction, schizophrenia and depression are made to
seem hopeless [4]. In the developed world, the “disease” model of mental health, which sees mental illness as physically-based and often permanent, has prevailed over the view that mental illness is based in the mind, is temporary and can be overcome.
The disease model of mental health is derived from the medical model of illness. Allopathic
medical doctors are trained to diagnose pathology, or disease. They are trained, in other words, to look for what is wrong. This viewpoint is useful in a great number of contexts (e.g. physical trauma or diabetes), but not so helpful in mental health. Indeed, we are only beginning to understand how the mind and brain function—this is one the greatest and most exciting
frontiers in science today. Many psychiatrists, however, diagnose mental illnesses according to
the unscientific “psychiatric bible”: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
Fifth Edition (DSM-5). The DSM content is produced by small committee, and is influenced by
drug companies, who use the DSM to manipulate scientific data to construct diseases that will
be “cured” by their drugs, thereby exponentially increasing their profits while controlling “problematic social behavior" [5]. From the 1970s drug companies have largely marketed their products as anti-psychotic, anti-depressive, or anxiolytic (anti-anxiety)—cures combating a particular disease, notwithstanding the lack of evidence for chemical imbalances or other pathologies related to mental illness [6]. What these drugs predominantly do is mask symptoms and produce altered mental states, similar to tranquilizers that temporarily dumb normal
biological functions [7]. These drugs create chemical imbalances [8].
In fact, while proponents of the disease model often claim that today we have reduced the
stigma associated with mental health issues, the DSM defines criteria for “diagnoses,” which can stigmatize an individual and lead to the loss of income, purpose, family, community, health and even death [9]. In some cases, the criteria change depending on public opinion. Homosexuality, for example, in earlier manual was considered a mental disorder, is now considered normal behavior [10].
Even in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, there has been serious push-back against the disease model. One recent example is the BBC Stress test, one of the largest studies of mental health to date, which saw the biggest predictor of mental health problems as “rumination”: the tendency to dwell on negative events for too long [11]. Rumination is clearly a mental process—it is concerned with thinking. The antidote to a negative mental process therefore should be a positive mental process, not a physical one such as medication. Dr. Peter Kinderman, a
professor at Liverpool University, a prominent clinical psychologist and the primary investigator
in this study has expressed the urgent need to “abandon the disease-model of mental health care.” [12] Kinderman’s concerns were recently echoed by a group of prominent British psychiatrists, led by Pat Bracken, who published an article in the British Journal of Psychiatry arguing “that psychiatry needs to move beyond the dominance of the current, technological paradigm.” [13]
Dr. Leaf, following a similar research path, has also demonstrated, using her research on the power of mind-action in changing the brain, and the bible, that mental disorders are primarily based in the mind (see the section above). Since the early 1980s (when the DSM-3, the first diagnostic manual to promote the diseased model of metal health, was in use), Dr. Leaf has demonstrated the effectiveness of mind action techniques (which are thought-based) in overcoming the negative effects of disease labels such as TBI, dementias, movement disorders, autism, aphasia, and learning disabilities (see the section above).
Even though medication has its place, Dr. Leaf has shown, both scientifically and biblically, that
the mind is where the action is determined and focused, and that persistent mind-action, especially when coupled with God's Word, is able to stimulate the brain and the rest of the body, leading to increased health and vitality. As it says in the New Testament, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” (3 John 2). Everything relies on your soul, which is your mind, prospering. Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as “…a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.” [14] God gave us an incredible mind, one that is able to cope and prosper with all of life’s circumstances, and it is His hope that we realize the potential for health inside all of us.
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C-reactive Protein and How Our Bodies React To Toxic Thought
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
Watch this VIDEO clip
"Do not be anxious about anything..." Philippians 4:6
This biblical admonition does not just have spiritual and mental implications, but physical as
well. In fact our bodies react to physical attack, whether it be by trauma or infection, and
mental alarm in a similar fashion by a process called inflammation [1]. Inflammation involves different types of white blood cells and various substances including many different types of cytokines [2]. Inflammation, if short-lived, is beneficial, however if it is prolonged it can
physically damage the brain and body.
Among the substances first released in the inflammatory process is the appropriately named C-reactive protein, a five-part protein produced in the liver [3]. Researchers have found that worrying about a past stressful event, known as rumination, is associated with persistently high levels of C-reactive protein in the blood, indicating chronic inflammation in the body [4].
Chronic inflammation is associated with mental and physical disorders.
We cannot control our circumstances; however we can control our reactions to those circumstances. It seems our reactions can be measured by C-reactive protein. If we react the wrong way, we can damage our brain and body. We have to take heed to what St. Paul goes
on to say from the scripture mentioned above:
"...but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus". Philippians 4:6b-7.
References
1. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2014 Nov;49:244-52. Post-stress rumination predicts HPA axis responses to repeated acute stress. Gianferante D, Thoma MV, Hanlin L, Chen X, Breines JG, Zoccola PM, Rohleder N.Health Psychol. 2014 Dec;33(12):1606-9. Differential effects of poststressor rumination and distraction on cortisol and C-reactive protein. Zoccola PM,
Figueroa WS, Rabideau EM, Woody A1, Benencia F. Stress Health. 2014 Aug;30(3):188-97. Cardiovascular and affective consequences of ruminating on a performance stressor depend on mode of thought. Zoccola PM, Rabideau EM, Figueroa WS, Woody A. Clin Schizophr Relat Psychoses. 2014 Jan;7(4):223-30. C-reactive protein levels in schizophrenia: a review and meta-analysis. Miller BJ1, Culpepper N2, Rapaport MH3. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2000 Apr;30(2):133-43. Review: Biology and relevance of C-reactive protein in cardiovascular and renal disease. Westhuyzen J1, Healy H.
2. Immunobiology: The Immune System in Health and Disease. 5th edition. Janeway CA Jr, Travers P, Walport M, et al. New York: Garland Science; 2001. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10757 / 3. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2000 Apr;30(2):133-4
3. Review: Biology and relevance of C-reactive protein in cardiovascular and renal disease. Westhuyzen J, Healy H.
4. Health Psychol. 2014 Dec;33(12):1606-9. Differential effects of poststressor rumination and distraction on cortisol and C-reactive protein. Zoccola PM, Figueroa WS, Rabideau EM, Woody
A1, Benencia F.
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Males, Females, the 6th sense and Money!
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
Watch this video clip THE MYSTERY OF HE SAID/SHE SAID (60-mins)
I want to remind you that a difference between a man and a woman is not a value judgement;
it does not expose weakness between males and females, rather it celebrates uniqueness.
So now let me tell you about a great structure that we (males and females both!) have in the brain called the insula. The insula is designed to help translate physical sensations and thoughts in our subconscious mind into conscious thoughts with attached emotions. So working with the
rest of the brain, the insula helps us anticipate what something will feel like before it happens,
like the proverbial “gut-feel” or “6th-sense”.
The insula is larger in the female, which makes ladies more sensitive to existing and anticipated situations. A woman will quickly, for example, draw on past memories of financial situations (or any situation for that matter!) and bring them into the present scenario, which almost collapses time, making it more difficult for her to take risks. The male insula, on the other hand, is more geared to strategically reading the environment and actions, making it easier for him to take
risks. These are complementary ways of thinking things through, so neither males or females alone will have the full answer; together we are exponentially better! A woman predominately provides the emotional colour and details, while a man predominantly provides the strategy
and action.
Another area of the brain called the Anterior Central Gyrus (ACG) is designed in men and
women to shift between thoughts, weigh up options and make predictions. The ACG is bigger
in a female, which enables her to integrate and consider many scenarios; this is assuming she is not harboring toxic thoughts, in which case she will get “stuck” in an event or thought pattern. Men’s ACGs are smaller and operate in a more focused manner, getting “bottom-line-big-
picture” information quickly. If a man is operating from toxic thoughts, he will not weigh up options sufficiently and will act too quickly. Thus, the smaller ACG helps men see reason and
logic quicker, and the larger ACG in women helps them see detail and emotional nuance quicker–both are important in any decision making and in life!
So when we combine these two opposite, but nevertheless equal, types of thought and apply it to financial investment–whether it is between husband and wife or business colleagues–the best investment can be achieved.
In my book SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN - the Mystery of He Said/She said, I show how men and woman have been created to compliment one another through their own inique strengths.
You can also order that book as a Digital Download or order the AUDIO CD or save $6.99 and get the COMBO.
DR LEAF'S NEW BOOK COMING OUT SPRING 2016 - around April 5th 2016
THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART
A Neuroscientific Approach to a Sharper Mind and a Heathier Life
Raw, vegan, gluten-free or paleo?
Rather than getting caught up in the latest food fad, let Dr Leaf help you understand that each
of us has unique nutritional needs, and we have the power to impact our health with the right thinking!
Anyone who is tired of diet plans, struggling with emotional eating, or who simply isn’t satisfied with their level of health will find in this book the key to discovering how they can begin developing a healthier body, brain, and spirit.
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Formation Of Long Term Memory - The SOWER AND THE SEED - 4-Types of Listeners
What kind of listener are you?
Watch THE SOWER AND THE SEED shorter version video clip (33mins)
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf.
As we form long term memory, the structure of the brain is changed, right down to the cellular, molecular and even the level of quantum physics. Here we shall examine how long term
memory is formed at the level of cells and molecules.
The reason it takes about 63 days for habit formation is because habit formation depends on
long term memories which goes through a process to be fully established [1]. It takes time for
the cellular and molecular structures to be fully formed.
As we learn, nerve cells (neurons) fire and release neurotransmitters in the small gaps (synapses) between them and other neurons, which cause them to also fire. These neurotransmitters therefore relay the electrical impulse from one neuron to the next neuron across the synapse between them. As we continue to learn, this connection (synapse) gets stronger chemically and structurally making it easier for the impulse to be relayed and therefore nerve networks to be established [2]. This is short term memory.
However, research is now showing memory is not just shown in strengthened synapses, but
also by intracellular changes in microtubules. Microtubules were once thought to be merely cell scaffolding- now it is realized that they actually form the 'brain' of the cell. In fact the
microtubule network in the dendrites have been likened to mini-computers [3].
As we learn a molecule called, CAMK 2, is activated in the dendrite [4]. CAMK 2 has been nick-named the 'nanopoodle' because of its molecular shape. As we persist in learning, activated
CAMK 2 'walks' on the mircrotubules depositing phosphate groups thereby imprinting memory
in the dendritic mini-computers [5]. As this process of memory imprinting continues, the
dendritic spines, which form part of the synapse, changes shape- from a bump, then a lollipop, and eventually to an umbrella shape [6].
Microtubules have even been implicated in how consciousness is expressed through in the brain by a process of quantum computing operating at fantastic speeds of 10 to the power of 27 operations per second for the whole brain [7].
As long term memory is fully established in our brains, our thoughts become automatized into habits . It is then that God's word is firmly 'implanted' and can 'fully save our souls' (James 1:21) leading to godly behavior (Matthew 7:20) and life giving words from our mouths (Matthew
12:34).
Want to develop a disciplined renewing of the mind lifestyle?
Sign up for the 21-DAY BRAIN DETOX program
or get the BOOK or the COMBO
References
1. Mol Brain. 2012 May 14;5:14. The molecular biology of memory: cAMP, PKA, CRE, CREB-1, CREB-2, and CPEB. Kandel ER. Nature. 2000 Aug 17;406(6797):722-6. Fear memories require protein synthesis in the amygdala for reconsolidation after retrieval.Nader K, Schafe GE,
Le Doux JE. Nature. 2013 Nov 7;503(7474):115-20. Dendritic spikes enhance stimulus
selectivity in cortical neurons in vivo. Smith SL, Smith IT, Branco T, Häusser M. Nature. 2015
Jan 8;517(7533):200-4. Calcium transient prevalence across the dendritic arbour predicts place field properties. Sheffield ME, Dombeck DA. Fodor, J. The Modularity of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT/Bradford, 1983. Science. 1999 Nov 26;286(5445):1745-9. Building neural representations of habits. Jog MS, Kubota Y, Connolly CI, Hillegaart V, Graybiel AM. How do habits guide behavior? Perceived and actual triggers of habits in daily life. Neal, DT; Wood, W; Labrecque, JS; Lally, P; (2012) How do habits guide behavior? Perceived and actual triggers of habits in daily life. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY , 48 (2) 492 - 498. European Journal of Social Psychology. How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world.
Phillippa Lally, Cornelia H. M. van Jaarsveld, Henry W. W. Potts and Jane Wardle .Article first published online: 16 JUL 2009 Br J Gen Pract. 2012 Dec;62(605):664-6. Making health
habitual: the psychology of 'habit-formation' and general practice. Gardner B, Lally P, Wardle J.
2. Physiol Rev. 2004 Jan;84(1):87-136. Long-term potentiation and memory. Lynch MA. Mol Brain. 2012 May 14;5:14. The molecular biology of memory: cAMP, PKA, CRE, CREB-1, CREB-2, and CPEB. Kandel ER.
3. University of North Carolina School of Medicine. (2013, October 27). Neuroscientists discover new 'mini-neural computer' in the brain. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 22, 2015 fromwww.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131027185027.htm Spencer L. Smith,
Ikuko T. Smith, Tiago Branco, Michael Häusser. Dendritic spikes enhance stimulus selectivity in cortical neurons in vivo. Nature
4. Nature. 2009 Mar 19;458(7236):299-304. Activation of CaMKII in single dendritic spines
during long-term potentiation. Lee SJ, Escobedo-Lozoya Y, Szatmari EM, Yasuda R.
5. PLoS Comput Biol. 2012;8(3):e1002421. Cytoskeletal signaling: is memory encoded in microtubule lattices by CaMKII phosphorylation? Craddock TJ, Tuszynski JA, Hameroff S.
6. Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nuture your Child's Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth Through Adolescence k – January 1, 1999 by Marian Diamond, Janet Hopson. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2007 Nov;88(4):445-50. Epub 2007 Aug 27. Morphological changes in dendritic spines of Purkinje cells associated with motor learning. Lee KJ, Jung JG,
Arii T, Imoto K, Rhyu IJ.
7. Biol Phys. 2010 Jan; 36(1): 53–70. Published online 2009 Jun 4. A critical assessment of the information processing capabilities of neuronal microtubules using coherent excitations Travis John Adrian Craddock and Jack A. Tuszynski Phys Life Rev. 2014 Mar;11(1):39-78. doi: 10.1016/j.plrev.2013.08.002. Epub 2013 Aug 20. Consciousness in the universe: a review of
the 'Orch OR' theory. Hameroff S, Penrose R.
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THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART!
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
You have probably heard that our global food system is deeply flawed. You're are right. In fact, it's probably worse than you imagine. Fortunately there's hope. It is possible for us to vote with
our forks for better practices that respect our health and the health of our planet.
To begin voting for a better way, we need to increase our knowledge about food and food practices. We need to improve our shopping and cooking skills. And, most importantly, we
need to change our attitudes towards food, health, healing and nutrition. Once we have
opened our minds to a new, healthy way of approaching food, and have started removing unhealthy foods and habits from our everyday lives, we will have entered a culinary world
bursting with magnificient smells, tastes, sights, sounds and feelings that will bring joy to our mouths and stomachs.
My new book, 'THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART - A Nueroscientific Approach to a Sharper Mind and healthier Life,' which can be pre-ordered from your favourite bookseller orAMAZON is an attempt to reintroduce the culture of thinking and effort back into eating, one based on diligently stewarding the bodies, and world, that God has entrusted to us. In the spirit of renewing the mind, it is a lifestyle book that seeks to reimagine what we eat within an integrated spirit, mind and body framework (Romans 12:2; 1st Thessalonians 5:23).
Thinking, as you will see, plays a dominant role in eating. Toxic thoughts can negate the
positive effects of good nutrition. Healthy thoughts can enhance the effects of good nutrition,
and
mitigate the effects of bad nutrition - to a degree. In fact, healthy thoughts lead to better food choices. Eating and thinking are so intertwined that what you are thinking about before,
during and after eating will impact every one of the 75-100 trillion cells in your body, including
the cells of your digestive sytem. Your state of mind will have a negative or positive influence
on your digestive health, and your digestive health will also have a negative or positive
influence on your state of mind.
There is always someone new telling us that they have the solution to everyone's dietary and
or exercise habits, suggesting that if we don't follow their advice we will surely drop dead. Even
a lot of nutritional advice from so-called "experts" is often based on overblown correlations and inaccurate interpretations. And that is not even mentioning the $50 billion supplement industry. If I had to follow the advice of just one company, i worked out I would be taking up to 65
different tablets, three times a day!
The fact is that we are all unique, which means that a way of eating, exercising, and sleeping
that works for you may not work for me, within a context of a healthy lifestyle and a diet of real, naturally produced foods. Rather than getting caught up whether you should go paleo, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, plant-based, raw vegan or follow the blood type diet or even genetic typing (to mention just a few diets that are popular today), it would be much better to understand the fundamentals of eating, the completely entangled relationship between
thinking and food, and how our uniqueness spreads throughout our spirit, soul and body.
Bon appetit!
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STEP INTO YOUR PERFECTLY YOU!
"Does anyone out there understand me?" God says:"I do; do you?....."
God tells us we are made in His image (Genesis 1:26) with a sound mind that operates in love
and power (2 Timothy 1:7). Science proves we are wired for love, for the positive. This is called the optimism bias. Therefore both science and scripture demonstrate we are wired for healthy thinking, choices, emotions and health.
Once you know how you are made, you can know your purpose and fulfill your destiny. You are on your way to ‘Becoming the Perfect You’.
You are uniquely you and adding to your uniqueness is the expression of your uniqueness through your maleness and your femaleness.
God created you for uniqueness and for perfection. In fact the scriptures instruct us to become perfect as He is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Becoming the Perfect You is a lifelong walk - but - it begins with recognizing what it means to be made perfect: "I made them perfect BUT they
choose to go down their own pathway" (Ecclesiastes 7:29).
The way in which you think and choose is the road to becoming PERFECTLY YOU.
We are thinking beings made in the image of a thinking God, Who is perfect and Who is Love.
But we have to think and choose to follow God and His way of thinking. This is free will.
Einstein so accurately once said: "I want to know God's thoughts, the rest are details."
God gave each of us the ability to think and choose as well as a unique way in which to do this. The way that we use our unique ability to think and choose determines how we stay on the
road of "The Perfect You". Stepping out of our perfect thinking happens when we don't listen
to God; when we do our own thing. This is a bump in the road, and by admitting, quitting and beating, we can get back on the road again.
Each of us is a set-apart designer babe! There is something you can do that no one else can do - and - if you don't do it: the whole world suffers because we are entangled in each others lives. This is called the Law of Entanglement in Quantum Physics and can be seen in Ephesians 4:16,
as well as many other scriptures.
What do you have inside of you that no one else has?
Maybe no one ever told you that you are unique.
You have a divinely pre-wired Perfect You - a unique way of thinking and seeing the world that God has placed within you - a divine sense of purpose, a piece of eternity! (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
What is your piece of the Puzzle?
THE PERFECT YOU: WIRED FOR HEALTH
The fact that you are wired for love is reflected in all the bodily systems. When you don't think
and choose well, when you step out of your PERFECTLY YOU, it affects the whole body. 75 to 98% of all mental and physical illness is a result of the thought life. If you are functioning according to The PERFECTLY YOU, you remain in good health and your body heals a lot faster. You are wired for health.
Nervous System- Healthy thoughts literally causes the brain to grow, making you more
intelligent. Since the brain is connected via the rest of the nervous system to all the rest of the body, total health increases.
Endocrine System- Healthy thoughts positively affect the hormonal balance, which in turn positively affects all the rest of the bodily systems. Even fertility can be affected by the thought life.
Immune System- Thoughts affect the functioning of the defenders of the body- the white blood cells. Healthy thoughts lead to robust white blood cells which can fight off infections and even devour cancer cells.
Intestinal System- The gut has a brain of its own. A ‘gut feeling’ is real. Healthy thoughts enable proper food digestion and therefore leads to good general health.
Integumentary System-This system includes the skin, the largest organ in the body. Healthy thoughts leads to better skin- the first line of defense against for the rest of the body.
Muscular System- When your thought life is healthy you are motivated to exercise. Exercised muscles in turn released substances that increase brain health. This an example of an upward spiral.
Cardiovascular System- Healthy thoughts are involved in proper communication between the heart mini-brain and the skull brain, leading to the promotion of well-being by the heart’s orchestration of the whole body’s electromagnetic rhythm and harmony. Good thoughts also enhance the vascular system, thus preventing hypertension.
For nearly 30 years Dr. Caroline Leaf has researched the science of thought. She discovered that "The Perfect You" is reflected in the unique structuring and functioning of our brains. In other words we are are wired differently according to our unique way of thinking.
Watch this video clip as Dr Leaf addresses this at a recent SundayMinistry session:
WANT TO STEP INTO YOUR PERFECT YOU? JOIN US AT THE AUGUST 21st and 22nd 2015 ANNUAL SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN CONFERENCE - DALLAS TX
REGISTER NOW.
There are special rates for Conference delegates. RESERVE your room now. An Organic breakfast and refreshments will be provided on theSaturday. The hotel provides shuttle services. Delegates at the Conference will each receive a signed copy of Dr Leaf's hardcover bookThe Gift in You and after completing their Gift Profile will develop an understanding in Maximising their Gift and overcoming Gift Blockers.
Read more about the online program PERFECTLY YOU. Order the online program. or the hardcover book or the Digital Download to understand your Gift from God, your Perfect way of thinking.
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THE POWER of THE BRAIN AND QUANTUM BIOLOGY
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
From the pioneers of the development of the computer such as Alan Turin [1] to Hollywood films[2], artificial intelligence in medicine [3], contests between computers and humans [4] and the more recent singularity movement led by Ray Kurzweil [5], the notion that artificial
intelligence would soon become more powerful than the human brain has captured the public imagination. Since Hal the computer in ‘2001, A Space Odyssey’ [6] we have imagined robots
and computers as eventually becoming sentient beings- a logical conclusion of a materialist mindset that asserts that the mind (soul) only emerges from complicated brain computation [7].
In contrast the Bible states that the soul was created when God breathed His Spirit into a
human formed from physical dust (Genesis 2:7). Interestingly, recent scientific research is
pointing to the fact that a world taken over by super-intelligent sentient robot beings is actually a total fantasy - the brain is much more powerful than we once thought by many orders of magnitude [8].
The position of the status quo has been that information is processed by weighted connections (synapses) or nodes [9]. Therefore it seemed it was possible to reproduce brain function using computer simulation. A human brain was estimated to operate at 10^9 bits per second at the synaptic level, however there is now evidence of information processing taking place at the microtubular level inside the cell [8]. Microtubules were once thought to be just cell scaffolding - now it is clear they form the nervous system of the cell. After all, single-celled animals which do not have synapses have been shown to have intelligence [10]. Dendrites, which are the
branches of single nerve cells (neurons), are now been compared to mini-computers rather
than binary switches, as once thought [11]. Taken together, therefore, a whole human brain
can conceivably operate at 10^27 bits per second [8]. That is more processing power than all
the computers in the world put together [8][12]. Therefore it is inconceivable that attempts to simulate the Human Brian, like the epic Billion Euro Human Brain Project [13], a progression of Henry Markram’s Blue Brain Project [14], will ultimately succeed. However such projects will
yield and has already yielded useful information about brain structure and function that can be applied to medical informatics [15] as well as computer technology [16].
Additionally there is also evidence that the brain is operating at the quantum level in the microtubules [17]. Interestingly biological processes such as photosynthesis, bird navigation
and olfaction (odor detection) have been shown to take advantage of quantum effects such as superposition as proposed by as Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle [18]. It seems biological process are tapping into the ‘spooky’ (as described by Einstein [19] world of quantum entanglement, where information transfer is not limited time or location. A whole new discipline termed ‘Quantum Biology’ is emerging. It is therefore conceivable that more biological
processes operate at a quantum level. The brain actually may be acting like a quantum
computer at the microtubular level as proposed by Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose’s
Orch-OR Theory [17]. In fact there is growing experimental evidence for this theory which is
also implying that the brain is processing information using fractal resonance frequencies not
just electrical action potentials- akin to songs within songs in an orchestral arrangement [20].
We are truly ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14). The above-mentioned research is showing that the brain is much more powerful, functioning at a more profound manner than was once thought. This surely points to the infinitely powerful and innovative Mind of The Creator, The God of the whole Universe described in the His Living Word, the Bible.
References 1. Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2012 Jul 28;370(1971):3273-6. The
foundations of computation, physics and mentality: the Turing legacy. Cooper SB, Abramsky S.
2. ‘Blade Runner’ (1982), ‘The Terminator’ (1984), ‘The Matrix’ (1999), 'I, Robot’ (2004), ‘The Machine’ (2013), ‘Chappie’ (2015). 3. Ramesh AN, Kambhampati C, Monson JRT, Drew PJ.
Artificial intelligence in medicine. Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2004;86(5):334-338. 4. Chess: Garry Kasparov vs Deep Blue (Computer) (1997), Jeopardy: Watson (Computer) vs Humans (2011) 5. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology- Sep 26, 2006 by Ray Kurzweil. 6. ‘2001, A Space Odyssey’ (1968) 7.The Emerging
Mind: The BBC Reith Lectures 2003 – September 20, 2003 by Vilaynur Ramachandran 8. J Biol Phys. 2010 Jan;36(1):53-70. A critical assessment of the information processing capabilities of
neuronal microtubules using coherent excitations. Craddock TJ, Tuszynski JA 9. Connectivism: Learning as Network-Creation, Learning Circuits, November 2005. 10. CELL INTELLIGENCE Guenter Albrecht-Buehler, Ph.D. Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. Website-http://www.basic.northwestern.edu/g-buehler/FRAME.HTM 11. Spencer L. Smith, Ikuko T.
Smith, Tiago Branco, Michael Häusser. Dendritic spikes enhance stimulus selectivity in cortical neurons in vivo. Nature, 2013 12. Ars Technica- World’s total CPU power: one human brain by John Timmer.http://arstechnica.com/science/2011/02/adding-up-the-worlds-storage-and-computation-capacities/ 13. The Human Brain Project-https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/
14. The Blue Brain Project -http://bluebrain.epfl.ch/page-52063.html 15. Human Brain Project- Medical Informatics- https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/medical-informatics-platform 16.
Human Brain Project- Neuromorphic Computing-https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/neuromorphic-computing-platform 17. Phys Life Rev. 2014 Mar;11(1):39-78. Consciousness in the universe: a review of the 'Orch OR' theory. Hameroff S, Penrose R. 18. Quantum Effects in Biology – September 22, 2014. by Masoud Mohseni ,Yasser Omar, Gregory S. Engel, Dr Martin B. Plenio. HFSP J. 2009 Dec;3(6):386-400. Quantum
physics meets biology. Arndt M, Juffmann T, Vedral V. 19. Spooky Action at a Distance By Brian Greene 09.22.11 .NOVA http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/spooky-action-distance.html
20. Information 2014, 5(1), 28-100. Design and Construction of a Brain-Like Computer: A New
Class of Frequency-Fractal Computing Using Wireless Communication in a Supramolecular
Organic, Inorganic System. Subrata Ghosh, Krishna Aswani, Surabhi Singh, Satyajit Sahu,
Daisuke Fujita and Anirban Bandyopadhyay
Upcoming speaking schedule
Dr Caroline Leaf will be talking about God, Quantum Physics and the Brain in many of her upcoming speaking events.
See http://drleaf.com/schedule to see if there is an event near you.
Her website is http://drleaf.com. Thanks so much for joining our list, your subscription was a success.
If you haven't already done so, be sure to check out the 21 Day Brain Detox
program at http://21daybraindetox.com - it is an online daily guide that takes only 7-10 minutes of your time each day. Dr. Leaf will walk you through each of the 21
days guiding you and coaching you to a toxic-free mind. Sign-up here today: https://app.21daybraindetox.com/sign-up.php
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Hot Flushes, the Mid-life Crisis and Those Little Things Called Hormones
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
“Wow … you’re just a ball of raging hormones!”
At certain times in life this statement would seem to equally describe both men and women, girls and boys. And once again, the differences between the influence and regulation of hormones in men and women stem from the unique characteristics of their brains. See this short 2-minute VIDEO.
If you understand how these hormones work, they can be a powerful force that deepens connections and creates wonderful balance in a relationship. But when you don’t realize how they work, their damaging, toxic impact can be destructive. Do you feel like toxic battle lines are being drawn in your relationship? You are not alone!
Your endocrine system controls the flow of hormones into your bloodstream. These hormones influence all kinds of things in your body, including metabolism and tissue function. The hypothalamus is the part of the brain responsible for controlling and directing the endocrine system. So it is a regulator of sorts, and while it is physically bigger in the male, it develops earlier in the female. This is one of the reasons girls mature quicker than boys (I bet you already knew that, didn’t you?) and it could also be one of the reasons why men, on average, tend to be more calm than women and are able to calm down more quickly than a woman (I can see you gents nodding your heads in vigorous agreement).
So, men, your regulator is bigger and research also shows that you have 52% more serotonin than women. You are good at calming down the ladies in your life and, believe it or not, you tend to get that often-elusive “better attitude” quicker than women (now you gents are really, really nodding your heads in agreement). This may not have been what you have heard or read before but this is the case when you are operating in a positive love state because it’s your natural design!
Ladies, you have approximately 11-13% more linguistic neurons and bigger interpersonal and interpersonal areas in the brain, and two very active x-chromosomes in each cell, which in general give you an increased ability to describe in detail the nature and impact of your emotions. So now you can tell your partner with scientific confidence that you are not on the verge of emotional insanity—your brain is just different!
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POSITIVE STRESS VERSES NEGATIVE STRESS
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
We have been told stress is always detrimental to our bodies. Not so! There is such a thing as positive stress! Let me explain.
Stress is the body's reaction to influences coming from outside or inside the body. Stress has three stages. Stage One is positive. In this stage we become alert and focused to the task at hand. This is normal. It is a temporary state.
Stage Two and Three, however, are negative. In Stage Two, the stress response is prolonged. Hormones like cortisol, which are only supposed to be increased for a short time, persist at high levels in the blood stream causing damage to our brains and bodies. If Stage Two becomes chronic and is maintained for a longer period it becomes Stage Three. At this point the body’s resources are exhausted, leading to disease and even death.
So what is the key to staying in positive and out of negative stress? It is our thought life; it is how we think. Research has shown that how we think about stress can affect whether we live or die.
The emerging fields medical specialties of psychoneuroendocrinology and psychoneuroimmunology are shedding light on the how thinking affects stress, the brain, the immune system, and hormones, and how these things determine our psychological and physical well-being. See http://drleaf.com/about/scientific-faqs/(under ‘Thinking Affects Health’) for more on the science. Because mind controls matter, thinking is the pre-eminent influence on health. In fact 78% to 98% of the illnesses that plague us today are a direct result of our thought life.
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EPIGENETICSEpisode two of season two of our TV series on Mental/Mind Health airs this Wednesday on TBN (3:30pm PST/5:30pm CST/6:30pm EST). In this episode, Dr. Leaf discusses Epigenetics. View the brief promo video here.
What is the Science of Epigenetics?
The genome has been prominent in general scientific thinking. However, because of the recent discoveries in the growing field of Epigenetics, the perceived pre-eminence of the gene is waning. The science of Epigenetics describes how gene expression is controlled by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence. The mind thinks and produces thoughts. Thinking epigenetically affects DNA and gene expression. Thinking, therefore, lies within the sphere of Epigenetics. Thinking affects gene expression in somatic cells of the brain and the rest of the body. This in turn affects the anatomy (structure) and physiology (function) and subsequently the health of the body.
Therefore aberrant (toxic) thinking can adversely affect the normal functioning of the body, leading to particular psychological and somatic disorders and diseases. Epigenetic mechanisms have been demonstrated in germ cells (eggs and sperm) and can affect our progeny. Therefore thinking can affect our children. There is even epidemiological evidence of epigenetic effects in multiple generations.
Visit the section on Epigenetics in the Scientific FAQs on our website for references.
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Choice/Free Will - A basic Ingredient of Quantum Physics
From the book SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN
Quantum physics has as its basic ingredients free will, directed attention as the result of a choice, and the effects and consequences of these choices. For example, Proverbs 4:20–27 says that if we direct our attention to the Word of God, we will align our thinking and subsequent choices with God, and the outcome will be healing and health.
Thus an intentional act—such as choosing to attend to God’s words, listen to them, memorize them—will produce the effect of health to all your flesh. Deuteronomy 30:19 can be evaluated in the same way: “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses”—the options—“Now choose life”—you intentionally evaluate the options and choose your reaction—“so that you and your children may live” - which is the consequence of your intentional choice.
Let’s apply the basic ingredients of quantum physics: choice, paying attention, thinking and choosing, and consequence.
1. Information: You get a call from your doctor’s office telling you that the results of your blood test are in and asking you phone them as soon as possible.
2. Thoughts: Multiple thoughts swirling around in your head. Option one is fear: “They said as soon as possible! Does this mean bad news? “What if I have. . . ?” And on it goes, down to planning the songs for your funeral. Option two is denial: “This is routine; I’ll call when I have time.” Option three is trust: “I have faith that this will be good news. I am not moved by any doctor’s report.”
3. Choice: You choose an option. For instance, if you choose fear, your brain responds by wiring in the thought, “I am sick,” and you live into this thought.
4. Consequence: You suddenly feel sick and are sure you are dying.
5. New consequence = You phone the doctor; your results are clear; and suddenly you feel fine (and perhaps a little foolish).
So your brain becomes what you focused on (body carries out the will of the spirit and soul), and what your brain has become produces what you say and do and how you feel physically and mentally.
Quantum physics has multiple definitions, but the original Copenhagen formulation of quantum theory made by Niehls Bohr of Copenhagen University in 1927 is considered the granddaddy of the definitions. It states that the free choices made by human subjects are a subjectively controllable variable–which simply means that you control your choices. Quantum mechanics can be used to prove that thinking and choosing is a real and measurable.
The way you experience your feelings. the way you interface with your thoughts, and the kind of attention you give them will change how your brain functions. If you apply this principle, you can free yourselves from destructive thoughts and actions and change bad habits for good.
For References see Notes at back of Switch on Your Brain softcover and for more information on Quantum Biology see this BLOG LINK
Watch Dr Caroline Leaf PART 2 speak on Quantum Physics and Choice at a recent Sunday Ministry session at Covenant Love Church in Fayetteville NC (1hr 17mins)
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Episode 9 - Psychiatric Medications
In case you missed it, here is the link for Episode 8 on the Disordered Mind that aired last Wednesday the 9th of March.
http://itbn.org/index/detail/lib/Networks/sublib/TBN/ec/E1bXExMjE60g1Oy_VY280wVVU2cG81cq
Switch On Your Brain with Dr Caroline Leaf airs every Wednesday on TBN USA at 3.30pm PST, 5.30pm CST and 6.30pm EST. It also airs on TBN UK, in Europe, TBN Asia and TBN Africa.
See http://drleaf.com/broadcast/ for viewing times and for replays of all the episodes.
Episode 9 on the 'Psychiatric Medications' is airing this Wednesday.
See synopsis below: Episode 9 - "Psychiatric Medications"
Restate Disease model. 3 groups of drugs. Why developed: Thorazine - magic bullet. Diagnosed people automatically put on drugs. Chemical stew. Publication bias. Why psychotropic drugs are not the answer. Side effects. What psychotropic drugs do to the brain. Mass shooters on medications. Mental Health management not handled like it should. You have a love, power and sound mind. Brain damage limited to 5%. You can change your brain with your mind.
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Male/Female relationship Q&A
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
At a recent relationship seminar at Coastal Church -Vancouver. Dr Leaf answered some questions re the differences between male and female brains. See questions below and watch the video clip. I hr and 19mins:
http://coastalchurch.org/message-archive/dr-caroline-leaf/session-1/
She also outlined the 3C's for successful male/female relationships.
Question 1: What stimulates male brains and what motivates female brains?
Differences in color recognition Men follow motion/movement - Woman more detail focused. Differences in terms of hearing. Woman more sensitive to sound
Question 2: How does the male brain and female brain function in sexual intimacy?
Intimate Touch, loving touch, cutaneous deprivation. Tips about hugging. The spirit, soul, body link when having sex with your partner. What is the effect in the brain of having sex with multiple partners. Gentleness as a result of good sexual encounters. Sexual encounters outside of marriage. Mind changes brain. We are spirit, soul, body.
Question 3: Why is pornography addictive?What is the effect of pornography on the brain/body How does one overcome that addiction? What is the path of freedom?
Addicted to God! Addiction is a learned behavior. Visual stimulation. Repeated effort. The QZE (Quantum Zeno effect) resulting in being caught in addictions. Fascination with the physical body and sex. Dealing with shame. The help of the Holy Spirit in dealing with Pornography Addictions. Toxic thoughts wire dendrites differently. Dendrite remodeling. Memory loss, aggression and other brain damage occurs. The impact on the 'Connectome.' Change in Cortisol levels. Impact on the blood/brain barrier. Affects the 'hippocampus.' Cognitive decline. Set up for cognitive dementia's What is the difference between female and males watching/reading pornography. How do you create a safe environment at home for your children in terms of discussions about sex.
Question 4: How do males/females differ in terms of Anger and dealing with Anger
Examine where you are at when dealing with anger. Have mindful self-reflection, self-awareness. The Anger circuit in a male brain vs the Anger Circuit in a female brain. Males get angry quicker, and calm down quicker. Females take longer to get angry and longer to calm down. Cortisol level differences. Loving kind and gentle responses.
Question 6. Do woman talk more than men?
Watch the video
Switch on Your Brain - MENTAL/MIND HEALTH TV SERIESIn case you missed it, here is the link for Episode 5 on Addictions that aired last Wednesday.
http://itbn.org/index/detail/lib/Networks/sublib/TBN/ec/B1MGphMTE6yhQN4wrnjrGCw-L0RVoE6t
Switch On Your Brain with Dr Caroline Leaf airs every Wednesday on TBN at 3.30pm PST, 5.30pm CST and 6.30pm EST.
It also airs on TBN UK, in Europe and TBN Asia. See http://drleaf.com/broadcast/
Episode 6 on Psychiatric Labels is airing this Wednesday (today). See synopsis below:
Episode 6
"Psychiatric labels"
Labels are problems when people absorb and become them. Disease model says chemical imbalance. Disorder model says toxic trees. List and describe different labels (anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, ADD/ADHD, etc.). Labels overlap, have same brain damage. More detail on how toxic thoughts are formed (rumination, etc) and manifest. Bring all thoughts into captivity to Christ.
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EPISODE 4 - MENTAL/MIND HEALTH TV SERIES In case you missed it here is the LINK to watch a replay of Episode 3.
http://itbn.org/index/detail/lib/Networks/sublib/TBN/ec/ZybGR4MDE6JupmNQ0QyamqACg187ic0k
Episode 4 airs this Wednesday on TBN at 3.30pm PST, 5.30pm CST and 6.30pm EST.
You can also also WATCH TBN ONLINE
Remember to set your to TV recorder at the time in your area if you are unable to watch at that time.
If you miss it, REPLAYS will be available at iTBN or BROADCASTwithin 2-7 days There are 12 TV episodes.
See outline of Episode 4 below. Each episode will end with Dr Caroline Leaf leading you into a 5-8 mins practical exercise.
Episode 4: DISEASE VS DISORDER
Disease model illustration - biology produces mind, diseased genes make diseased brain, gets labels that lock in. Chemical imbalance. Magic bullet wishful thinking. Disease model treatments - medication, ECT. video games, implants (physical interventions). Need to move toward talk therapies.
**************************************************************************With Valentine's Day coming up, here is more on the science of Love
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
I am sure you have felt the effects of love before: your heart is racing, your skin is covered with Goosebumps, you can’t eat or sleep, you feel as if you don’t just walk you float…
Well, God specifically wired your brain to feel this way!
Brain-imaging studies of women in love show increased activity in different areas of the brain: specifically the memory, attention and instinct circuits. Men show more activity in high-level visual processing. In fact brain circuits ‘in love” show reduced activity in the amygdala (the perceptual warning system of the brain) and the ACG (the “gear-shifter”), which combine to form the critical thinking and worry center. This means that the concern and worry buttons are switched off – so, believe it or not, science confirms love’s ability to keep us “on cloud nine”!
Moreover, an actual electrical-chemical bond forms between a man and woman in love. Hence, we have the power to build each other up or tear each other down! And these electrical-chemical bonds can cause real structural changes in our brains, in both a positive or a negative direction – it’s up to us to decide what kind of bond we are going to form. Yet this biological process doesn’t stop there: love takes on a different “brain form” as you progress through your relationship, which—if not understood properly—can start creating toxic patterns in relationships.
Being in love creates a positive chemical reaction that causes you to be physically healthier. A lack of love and affirmation can literally make you feel sick. Researchers are even finding that intense passionate feelings of love can provide amazingly effective pain relief. It turns out that the areas of the brain activated by intense love are the same areas that drugs use to reduce pain! Scientists are trying to deepen their understanding of these neural reward pathways so they can develop new methods for reducing pain.
This gives new meaning to “love conquers all,” indeed!
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A Brief History of Mental Health Care in the Twentieth Century
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
In the early twentieth century, the prevailing concept in psychiatry was the demented mind, while drugs that changed one’s mental state (including alcohol) were largely views as “mind-altering substances” [1]. Asylums, largely state-run institutions where people with mental health issues were locked away, were commonplace [2]. Lobotomies, in which a mini icepick was shoved up the nose into the brain, were performed up to the 1950s [3]. In fact, Egas Moniz, who invented this procedure, received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1949 for his work, before the practice when into disrepute in the mid-1950s [4].
From the 1930s to the 1950s the prevailing concept in psychiatry was the disordered mind [5]. Of the non-physical treatments available to those suffering from issue of the mind, psychoanalysis, invented by Sigmund Freud, prevailed in the 1930s [6]; psychotherapy, based on classical conditioning (Ivan Pavlov) [7] and operant conditioning (B. F. Skinner) [8] prevailed in the 1940s, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) [9] has dominated the field since the 1950s.
The arrival of the first anti-psychotic (or neuroleptic) Chlorpromazine in the mid-twentieth century marked a revolution mental health care [10]. There was a shift in mental health care from state-run asylums to the private sector as patients were able to be restrained by the administration of these neuroleptics, which acted as “chemical straitjackets” or “chemical lobotomies” [11]. At first these medications were predominantly seen as “tranquilizers:” temporary measures to calm patients down in order to introduce more long-term treatments [12]. In the 1970s-1980s, these drugs began to be seen as “chemical cures,” and the concept that mental disorders were the result of chemical imbalances started to take hold [13], despite the lack of physical evidence to support the chemical imbalance theory [14]. SSRIs such as Prozac [15] exploded into the public consciousness with the introduction of second generation neuroleptics in the 1990s [16].
It was during this time that Dr. Leaf began researching the mind and the brain. Based on her findings, both during her studies and in her practice, she noticed that mind-action is actually the predominant element in mental wellbeing [17]. Dr. Leaf pioneered mind-directed therapy that involved family and/or caregivers in the context of the patient’s life and needs [18]. The patient was highly involved in taking responsibility for their intervention and recovery. Dr. Leaf applied this successfully in many situations, and in the development of her 21 day brain detox program [19]. Her approach is similar to the scientifically researched and successful Open Dialogue Therapy, which is currently becoming very popular for the treatment of mental health [20].
Through her work, which continues to this day, Dr. Leaf noticed that mental ill-health is not just a biological imbalance that could be “cured” by medication; it is a disorder of the mind that can be caused by a traumatic thought life [21]. In other words, mental ill-health is a thought disorder based in the mind, which changes the brain physiologically. Consequently, Dr. Leaf developed the Switch On Your Brain with the 5-step Learning Process [22] from over three decades of study, clinical practice and research [23]. This learning process, based on her Geodesic Learning Theory [24], has been shown not only to be effective in mental health care, but also treating physical damage to the brain that occurs in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), learning disabilities and to improve learning techniques in both schools and the corporate world [25]. The groundbreaking discoveries of neuroplasticity [26] (i.e. the brain can change) and neurogenesis [27] (new nerve cells are continually produced) in 1990s further support Dr. Leaf’s work, showing how the brain is a complex, living organ and not merely part of a biological machine.
In today’s scientific community, the prevailing concept that chemical imbalances form the basis mental illness is being challenged. David Anderson, a prominent geneticist involved in psychiatric research, has eloquently stated [28] that the chemical imbalance concept promotes the erroneous idea that the brain consists of a “bag of chemical soup.” Taking drugs like Prozac have been shown to be ineffective in a great number of scientific articles [29]. As Anderson notes, taking psychiatric drugs to “fix” mental health issues is like performing an oil change on a car by pouring oil all over the engine: it does more harm than good. In the her ground-breaking book, The Myth of the Chemical Cure [30], Dr. Joanna Moncrieff, a prominent British psychiatrist at University College London, stated that psychiatric drugs actually create abnormal brain states instead of counteracting them, and that the concept of chemical imbalance rather reflects successful marketing by the dominant pharmaceutical industry. Indeed, a recent meta-analysis from Stanford University [31] documenting 193 brain imaging studies on the whole-brain images of nearly 16,000 people turned the dominant brain disease model of psychiatry on its head. The study essentially found that the brains of people with different diagnoses such as schizophrenia, depression and addiction showed similar gray-matter loss. This finding challenges the disease model, which proposes that the different diagnoses have different brain pathologies. Even Tom Insel, a psychiatrist, the Director of the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) and a proponent of the disease model of mental health, has admitted to the failure of the present day paradigm of the chemical imbalance concept in successfully treating mental illness. [32] His views were supported by Kenneth Kendler, one of the world’s foremost experts on chemical imbalances, who noted in 2005 that “we have hunted for big simple neurochemical explanations for psychiatric disorders and have not found them.” [33]
It is obvious that the disease model of mental health, with its accompanying concept of chemical imbalance and drug use, is not succeeding, as we have more individuals suffering from mental health issues than ever before in human history. Although there has been a 400% increase in anti-depressant use alone since the 1990s, with a similar rise in the use of neuroleptics, more and more people are being locked away in mental health institutions and more and more adults and children are being put on dangerous, mind-altering substances [34]. It is high time for a change.
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WHY DON'T WE STICK WITH NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
It’s amazing how everyone is so full of advice at this time of the year – in fact everywhere you look you will find advice, some good, some not so good - on how to get rid of that excess weight gathered over the holiday season; how to get the best body; the best exercise workout for the new year; great devotionals for getting our spiritual life off to a good start.
Despite this plethora of wisdom, very few people really stick to these New Year's Resolutions. In fact few people make lasting changes in their lives despite the desire and sometimes-desperate intent to do so.
Why?
It all begins in your mind: your thinking, your emotions and your choices. If your mind isn’t right, then you will not stick with anything, no matter how great. Your mind is the most powerful thing in the universe – after God, of course. It is with your mind that you choose to develop your spiritual walk and relationship with God, and it is with your mind you choose to stick with that diet and exercise regimen.
We have been created with a loving, powerful and sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7) and God made us virtuous, but we choose to go down our own pathway (Ecclesiastes 7:29). So we are powerful enough to choose right and stick with it. This is actually our default mode. We need to train and discipline our minds in order to develop our spirit and have healthy bodies.
To this end, we need to renew our minds (Romans 12:2). This is one of the main reasons I developed my 21 Day Brain Detox to help us renew our minds and turn News Year’s Resolutions into lifelong resolutions.
Join thousands who have taken up the challenge of the 21-day brain detox and who are changing their worlds and impacting the worlds of those around them. And if you are already doing the 21-day brain detox, send us feedback (see this VIMEO - 1.33mins) so we can encourage each other, and I mean each other – I am always doing a 21-day brain detox!
Happy New Year and happy mind detoxing!
Love Dr Caroline Leaf
***************************************************************************LOST IN TRANSLATION
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
What she said wasn’t what you heard….
What he thought wasn’t what you assumed…
When a word makes its way off your tongue and out of your mouth it’s no small feat or random event – it’s a complex process that began as a thought. And the phenomenal process of thinking, building and choosing a thought is incredibly complex. Add to this maleness and femaleness, and we find ourselves sorting through multiple circuitous loops happening in the brain at any one time to produce that sentence you just spoke to each other. The entire intricate process takes about half a second. Isn’t it amazing what can go wrong in that short time span!
Science shows that the art of conversation is a little more natural for a woman, which is be a big reason why so many of us girls love it – both the desire and the capacity are hard-wired into our minds.Research also shows that the circuits in a woman’s brain between the emotional processing and memory centers are large, very active and closely connected to the language centers in the brain. The circuits in a man’s brain are stronger between the spatial and action areas of the brain.
So, in general, men speak the language of facts, actions and results; women speak the language of feelings and emotions:
He’s designed to separate words, emotions and memories; she’s designed to link words, emotions and memories.
Women bond as they are having a conversation and give support while they are listening. Men have a conversation as a way of getting facts in order to solve problems and accomplish tasks, which produces a greater bond in relationships.
Men mentally index their thoughts; women externally pour out their thoughts. These are just a few differences, and we are surprised that things get lost in translation! In my book “Who Switched Off Your Brain? The Mystery of He said She Said” I show how these differences are part of our Intelligent design and that God did this for a reason: to get us to think of others and not only of ourselves. When you go beyond yourself trying to understand each other and the opposite sex, we follow the Jesus model of “100% give”. As we target this struggle, we will increase our peace, happiness and joy as well as our intelligence! So…don’t get lost in translation!
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Christmas Fellowship and Our Frontal Lobe
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
I love the Christmas season: the fellowship with family and friends, the fun, the happiness and excitement and the decorations!
This is a very obvious statement and this blog is not going to be all about how much I love Christmas. I want to rather focus on how God designed us for fellowship, and how, as we enjoy fellowship with each other over this beautiful season, we experience an infinitesimal taste of what it means to have fellowship with God. Many years ago I asked God to help me to try to understand His love. His answer grounded me. The love that I feel for my husband and our four children is, infinity times infinity, indescribable. God said back to me so clearly that this love that I feel for my family is but an infinitesimal taste of His love for me.
God wired us for love. See this VIMEO (1.57mins) or longer VIDEO CLIP(28mins).
Scientists have found this to be so as they navigate their way though intricate world of neuroscience. We feel this love as we fellowship with those we love. His grace extends to the great care and purposefulness He poured into our design, which enables us to experience this fellowship. For example, the prefrontal cortex (the front part of the brain, just above the eyebrows that most people know as the frontal lobe) has specifically been designed to connect us with people. As we make eye contact and assess facial expressions and tones in voices and body language, our frontal lobe makes sense of all this and we reach out and hug.
And then God put these cute little mirror neurons within the networks of our brain that help us mirror each other’s emotions, and experience each other’s joy. So we reach out and hug back, and warmth spreads all over our bodies from the amazing neurochemicals now flowing in harmonized synchrony through our brains and bodies as a result of this contact—a tangible way to experience His fellowship!
So as you fellowship this Christmas by handing gifts to your loved ones, sharing stories and laughter over Christmas dinner, and enjoying the beautiful Christmas decorations and lights, for just a moment stop and think about what you are feeling, multiply it by infinity and … you have just been touched by the love God has for you and the desire He has to fellowship with you by sending Jesus into the world.
Have a happy and blessed Christmas! May this coming year bring an increase in your fellowship with Almighty God.
LOOKING for the Perfect Christmas Gift see the PERFECTLY YOU GIFT CARD . It can be shipped to you or someone you want to bless.
THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART CONFERENCE - June 4th 2016 DALLAS TX
Join me in Dallas, TX on Saturday, June 4th for my workshop entitled Think and Eat Yourself Smart.
In this one day workshop, I will help you gain a better understanding of the fundamentals of eating, the entangled relationship between thinking and food, and how our uniqueness spreads throughout our spirit, soul and body. This workshop is divided into three sections that will help you begin approaching these issues with a renewed mindset.
Part 1, ADMIT IT! This section deals with the dysfunctional state of our current food system, and how far it has become removed from the concept of real food.
Part 2, QUIT IT! This section focuses on the power of the mind, and the impact of toxic thinking and toxic food choices on the brain and body.
Part 3, BEAT IT! This section deals with lifestyle changes that can help you begin the task of thinking and eating yourself smart.
See WORKSHOP SCHEDULE.
The Workshop includes a signed copy of my newest book (to be released in 2016), including 21 of my family's favorite recipes, which can help you practically apply these lifestyle changes in your kitchen and your tummy!
God has given us a choice: life or death, blessings or curses. He has also given us, through the incredible power in our sound minds, the ability to act on these choices and transform our world (2 Timothy 1:7).
I look forward to seeing you on June 4th!
REGISTER NOW for the Early Bird special at $139 (special finishes01/14/2016)
ACCOMMODATIONS There are special hotel rates ($89 per room) available for workshop attendees. Register at the Westin - Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. There are limited number of rooms availble so register as soon as possible.
The Westin provides a shuttle from DFW Airport to the hotel.
Organic lunch can be purchased from on-site food trucks the day of the workshop.
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THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART! Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
My new book is not a feel-good-quick-fix-magic-solution-pop-a pill-on-a-diet-latest-food-fad-I-have-the-only-solution-diet. It is a long-term, sustainable challenge to a big problem: what to eat in our world today. It is an attempt to reintroduce a culture of thinking and effort back into eating, one based on diligently stewarding the bodies, and world, that God has entrusted to us. In the spirit of renewing the mind, it is a lifestyle book that seeks to reimagine what we eat within an integrated spirit, mind and body framework (Romans 12:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:23).
The fact is we are all unique, which means that a way of eating, exercising, and sleeping that works for you may not work for me, within the context of a healthy lifestyle and a real food diet, which I will discuss in part 1. Let us take juicing as an example. This has spiraled in popularity and for good reason; it is a great way of getting all those necessary required fruit and veggies into your daily intake. But I personally get very lethargic and uncomfortable after drinking any type of juice (and I have pretty much tried every combination). I prefer to get my daily intake of veggies in other ways. So this book will not give you the solution, but rather teach you how to be your own solution, with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit.
The book is divided into three parts that will help you begin approaching these issues with a renewed mindset. Part 1, ADMIT IT! deals with the dysfunctional state of our current food system, and how far it has become removed from the concept of real food. Part 2, QUIT IT! focuses on the power of the mind, and the impact of toxic thinking and toxic food choices on the brain and body. Part 3, BEAT IT! deals with lifestyle changes that can help you begin the task of thinking and eating yourself smart. It includes 21 of my family's favorite recipes, which can help you practically apply these lifestyle changes in your kitchen and your tummy!
I am not a dietician, nutritionist or medical doctor. My area of expertise is the mind, and I have approached eating from this perspective. I personally do not think you have to have a degree in nutritional science to know what you should put in your mouth. I think the fact that we feel we cannot even make our own food choices anymore without the help of an “expert” is a sign of just how broken our food system is. Indeed the field of nutrition is massive, and the research is so extensive that it is not possible in a book of this size or nature to present all sides of every argument. To this end, I have had to be selective, and have included as many original sources as possible to encourage and empower you to make your own choices—to encourage and empower you to think and eat yourself smart in every area of your life!
This book began in Deuteronomy 30:19. God has given us a choice: life or death, blessings or curses. He has also given us, through the incredible power in our sound minds, the ability to act on these choices and transform our world (2 Timothy 1:7).
And the world we live in desperately needs transformation. Today, nearly a billion people are hungry and almost two billion people are overweight or obese. Indeed, for the first time in our recorded history, millions of people across the world are both overweight and starving: dying of lifestyle diseases that are preventable. The exploitation and waste of the earth’s natural resources, partnered with a dramatically expanding world population and increasing levels of chronic diseases, have led many to question what we should eat, how people will eat, and the way in which our current food production system has contributed to these issues.
Despite all our advances—and there are many to be proud of—millions of people are condemned to live out their days in doctors’ offices or dying of extreme hunger; the rest of us are confounded by the latest nutritional advice, marketing campaigns and calorie dense foods of a global food industry. What exactly is stopping us from avoiding illnesses and premature death that are largely preventable through mind and dietary changes? How have our choices led us down this destructive road, away from God’s perfect plan for our lives (Jeremiah 29:11)?
These tragic facts compel us to question the way we think about our food. As the stewards of God’s creation (Genesis 1—2), we are not only responsible for our own wellbeing, spirit, soul and body, but that of the entire world: a world that God so loved that he was willing to send his one and only Son to save it (John 3:16).
We can change nothing until we fully comprehend what needs to be changed. Just as every action first begins with a thought, we, as the children of the Creator of this beautiful universe, have to understand the broken food system we face (Colossians 1:15-20). We have to take these thoughts captive unto Christ Jesus, asking him to guide our minds and show us the way forward (2 Corinthians 10:5). And, as we renew the way we think about what we eat and how we eat it, we take the first step to renewing our health and the health of God’s wonderful planet (Romans 12:2).
Only after we admit it, can we quit it and beat it.
The choice is ours.
I choose life.
Blessings
Dr Caroline Leaf
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CHEMICAL IMBALANCES IN THE BRAIN: A MODERN MYTH?
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
Part 1
Today, it has become commonplace to say that people have chemical imbalances in their brain, most notably a disruption in the proper production of dopamine (for “diseases” like ADHD) and serotonin (for “diseases” like depression) [1]. These people, it is supposed, need drugs to “cure” these chemical imbalances, hence the terms “antipsychotics” or “antidepressants” [2].
However, in the first part of the 20th century drugs dealing with issues of the mind (as opposed to the rest of the body) were predominantly viewed as “mind-altering substances” like alcohol, and classified as sedatives or stimulants that tranquilized symptoms or the manifestations of
psychosis [3]. When the first modern neuroleptic, Thorazine (Chlorpromazine), was introduced
in the 1950s, the French researchers Pierre Deniker and Jean Delay noted that the drug created a state of mind similar to Parkinson’s disease, introducing a “new neurological syndrome” in the patient [4]. Essentially, these drugs created, not treated, chemical imbalances [5].
During the 1950s and 1960s a new view of these mind-altering drugs began to shape the world of mental health [6]. Despite the lack of a conclusive body of scientific evidence these drugs came
to be seen as “cures”, targeting the underlying biological mechanism of the “disease” of depression or psychosis [7]. It was just assumed that since these drugs affected brain chemistry in a certain way, the opposite reaction must be the result of the disease, notwithstanding the fact that this has never been adequately proven [8]. People no longer spoke of the mind-altering effects of these psychoactive drugs, and, as psychiatrist and professor at University College London Joanna Moncrieff notes, today it is incredibly difficult to find or publish journal articles
on these effects, compelling professionals and researchers to look at patient websites such asaskapatient.com (which currently number close to a million) [9].
If the overly simplistic explanation of chemical imbalances in the brain is an insufficient
explanation for mental illness, why did many people come to see these drugs as “cures”? And
why do people still see these dugs as correcting an underlying chemical imbalance? There are a number of social and political factors involved in the rise of this infamous theory (remember: medicine does not occur in a historical vacuum). First, in the second part of the 20th century psychiatry was under heavy criticism [10]. To justify and defend the profession, psychiatrists promoted a medical/disease model of mental health, which is most notably seen at the time in
the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual III, which marked a definitive shift away from psychoanalysis and talk therapy [11]. By creating lists of disorders (again, based off no conclusive scientific evidence on the possible biological mechanisms underlying these so-called disorders), which appeared to be simple, objective ways of recognizing mental illness
(somewhat like identifying a tumor), psychiatry created a self-made marketing weapon against
its attackers [12]. From now on, institutions like the American Psychiatric Association and the
DSM would define what is normal, in turn telling us what it means to suffer and, essentially,
what it means to be human [13]. They medicalized misery, and today millions are suffering because of their actions, creating a public health disaster [14]. In fact, since it was now widely,
yet incorrectly, assumed that these drugs were “curing” the supposed “disease” and not just tranquilizing the disturbed individual, forced drug treatments, institutionalization and lack of consent merely became “cures” [15]. The responsibility and guilt of the medical processionals behind these so-called treatments was essentially sidelined [16]. Today a psychiatrist can be praised for drugging a depressed person with mind-altering substances and, if these do not
work, institutionalizing them and shocking their brain with ECT (electroconvulsive therapy) [17].
It is even an acceptable and commonplace practice to imprison mentally ill persons, drug them and lock them in solitary confinement, compelling them to live their days marinating in their
own excrement [18]. It is therefore no surprise that mental health advocate, psychiatrist,
former director of the DSM and professor at Duke University Allen Frances declares that “there
has never been a worse time or a worse place to have a mental illness than in the US today”
[19]. Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical companies, like the psychiatrists, also realized just how effective a marketing tool the chemical imbalance theory could be [20]. Despite the recognition amongst many psychiatrists and medical health professionals that the chemical imbalance
theory is not valid [21], drug companies like Eli Lilly still claim that “antipsychotic medicines are believed to work by balancing the chemical found naturally in the brain” [22]. In fact, their marketing efforts, predominantly to doctors through prescription privileges, have been so successful that it is estimated that 80% of the American public alone believe in chemical imbalances in the brain [23]. These companies would not spend billions of dollars on marketing campaigns if they did not think they would work. Additionally, a number of materialistic and reductionistic cultural assumptions have supported these developments. First, we tend to see science and allopathic medicine as the source of all truth [24]. The doctor in his white coat is
the priest of a secular age, and evidence-based clinical medicine is the bible [25]. So, if the
doctor says that these drugs are safe and will cure chemical imbalances in the brain, even
though they get most of their information from the drug company representatives who offer
them multiple benefits for prescribing particular medications, we believe wholeheartedly in what he or she may say and are more inclined to believe the medication will work for us [26]. These
beliefs, which ignore actual scientific results, are buttressed by a flood of distorted and biased news reports, press releases and scientific journal articles on supposed chemical imbalances,
and have transformed the theory into cultural dogma [27]. So, obviously, if we experience negative side effects and do not feel the drug is working, it must be something wrong with us,
not the drug [28]. The situation is critical. Since primary care doctors/family physicians, not qualified psychiatric professionals, prescribe most of these mind-altering drugs, we do not ask ourselves if these doctors really understand all the implications of using these substances [29].
Not even the psychiatrists understand these drugs [30]! But for many of us a doctor is a
doctor: we don’t ask ourselves if the allure of money, based off biased information, may blind
the him/her to the reality of the pill [31]. It is perhaps the lure of a quick fix, a magic bullet solution to our problems, that obscures our judgment. And, sometimes, it is far easier to take a pill than to take responsibility [32]. True change is a difficult and lengthy process. Anyway, the doctor is the professional right? He studied for years correct? Who am I, but an ordinary
person? You may have not studied for years, but you still have the right to ask these questions, as you will be the one taking the drug and dealing with its side effects. You have every right to determine the potential biases and interests of your doctor, asking them if their use of the psychoactive substance in question is based on the free lunches and monetary gifts of a drug company representative [33]. It is your brain, your body, your life. These drugs can directly
affect your health, with side effects such as an increased risk of suicide [34], loss of sexual ability [35], potential brain shrinkage [36], agitation [37], insomnia [38], weight gain and obesity-
related diseases like diabetes [39], lethargy [40], mental fog [41], emotional apathy [42], homicide [43], to name just a few, and taking them can turn into a matter of life and death, particularly for the elderly and children [44]. Of course, you may argue that these substances
have helped you stabilize your life, thereby allowing you to sort out your problems. Yet there
are several considerations to take into account. Most people will feel better after seeing a doctor, whether or not they are given medication at all—doctor visits can have a powerful placebo
effect, particularly if the doctor is very friendly and compassionate [45]. Moreover, we tend to
visit medical professionals when we feel we just cannot cope any longer—when we are at a breaking point [46]. Due to spontaneous healing, many people will begin feel better after this peak in their illness/issue, whether they do or do not do anything to alleviate it, and the same is true for depression and anxiety [47]. In fact, most people recover from depression without
drug treatments [48]. And, as Irving Kirsh, professor at a number of universities and lecturer at
Harvard Medical School, has shown, antidepressants are no better than placebos in terms of clinical significance, but, unlike placebos, come with a host of negative side effects in the short
and long term [49]. Lastly, we have to take into account that many things can make us feel better, including alcohol, yet we do not say that alcohol fixed “a previous brain deficiency of alcohol” [50]. So why do we think of anti-depressants and other psychiatric drugs in this way? Even if you feel that these psychoactive substances do help you, they are not correcting an underlying chemical imbalance in your brain, and potentially creating neurological imbalances
that were not there to begin with [51]. These drugs start changing your neurochemistry within the first dose [52]. We then have to take into consideration some very hard questions.
Substances like marijuana and speed also make people feel better, but do not fix the root of
the issue: why someone felt the way he/she did in the first place. Indeed, more people die from overdoses of psychiatric drugs than illicit drugs like cocaine and heroin [53]. So, if it is okay to
take psychoactive substances like antipsychotics and antidepressants because they make us feel better even though they can be dangerous, is it okay to take other, non-legal drugs because
they make us feel better as well, even though they can be dangerous? It is in fact easier to withdraw from heroin than antidepressants (SSRIs, that is selective serotonin re-uptake
inhibitors) [55]. And what about the hundreds of thousands of people suffering under the
burden of our pseudoscientific bio-centric model of psychiatry [56], people like those prisoners locked in solitary confinement or those individuals forced to take these drugs and
institutionalized [57], who have no voice? They too deserve to be heard.
Indeed, we have every right to question not only our doctors but also the cultural power of neo-liberal capitalism [58]. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, these drugs play a particularly important role in social control, as the philosopher Michel Foucault pointed out [59]. By emphasizing that the problem lies within an individual’s biology, we are less inclined to look
at their experiences and the social context of why they are feeling the way they feel [60]. We
look at the mythical chemical imbalance instead of economic exploitation, violence and inept political structures [61]. Children in foster care are told that they have malfunctioning brains
and given these mind-altering substances, and the terrible, abusive and shocking circumstances that they have experienced are put in a mental corner [62]. The child who moves a lot in class
is forced to take mind-altering medication that is as addictive as cocaine in the long run, and we do not question whether the school systems we have in place are adequate for the diverse expression of humanity [63]. Once again, the quick fix mentality comes into play: it is far easier
to give people a drug that makes them indifferent to their socio-economic circumstances rather than fighting for social justice and changing those circumstances. Certainly, these drugs are also useful tools for neutralizing anyone who does not fit neatly into the neo-liberal capitalist framework--those people that make us uncomfortable and fearful—within and without the
Church [64]. When we are faced with such a harsh reality, we must always remember that God
has given us powerful minds, which can change the structure of our brains [65]. Our souls are
not locked in a cage by our biology [66]. We have, after all, the mind of Christ; we are dignified beings; we are more than conquerors through Him (1 Corinthians 2:16; Romans 8:37).
Although Jesus never said we wouldn’t suffer, that we wouldn’t feel pain and anguish, His death and resurrection enables us to have joy despite our circumstances (Philippians 4:11-13).
Indeed, not only are pain and human suffering are a part of the world today, but also a clarion
call for us as the children of God to go out and be the light in dark places (Romans 8) [67]. If
we stop sharing in the pain, as God shares our pain, how can we ever challenge injustice? We, with our sound minds, together as the Church, can choose to overcome with the help of the
Holy Spirit, and in turn impact our communities, our cities, our countries and our world.
In the end, we will all be compelled to choose between the worldview presented by the modern psychiatry, a corrupted institution which claims that suffering is not normal and that those that cannot cope without medication have broken, defective brains, or the promises made in God’s word that He never gives us more than we can handle, that He has given us sound minds, that
He is always with us, and that nothing can separate us from His love (1 Corinthians 10:13; 2 Timothy 1:7; Joshua 1:9; Romans 8:35-39). I will discuss these worldviews more in part 2 of
this blog.
Blessings, Caroline
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The Mind Changes the BrainWritten
by Dr. Caroline Leaf
Materialists believe that the mind emerges from the brain and that the mind (soul) is an artifact
of the brain. Like the Sadducees of Jesus’ time, they only believe what they can see, feel and
touch (Matthew 22:23-31, Acts 23:8). This has been the prevailing paradigm in the western scientific world since Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution became the dominant scientific
dogma. Recently, however, there has been growing dissent in the area of neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry because the result of adherence to the materialists’ philosophy in
the lives of patients, where the rubber meets the road, has been devastating [1]. Interestingly
the discovery of the baffling area of quantum physics at the beginning of the last century [2] marked the beginning the crumbling of materialist philosophy. Denial of the power of the mind, and by extension the spirit, in the treatment of patients with mental and even physical
disorders, has led to poor treatment outcomes in many cases. The materialist position,
therefore, is becoming increasing untenable.
Alternatively the Bible presents the view of the spirit, soul and the body as separate, but
intimately integrated entities (Genesis 2:7, Matthew 26:41, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews
4:12). Each of us is a spirit, having a soul (mind) and living in a body. Life is actually a spiritual force. The mind has the power of intellect, emotions and free will [3], and, if enabled by the
spirit and, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can make good choices that can positively change the body, which includes the brain. The materialist view, however, in denying the existence of the spirit and soul, has held to the pre-eminence of the body. This mindset contributed to the view that the brain could not really be changed once we reached adolescence and that all we could hope for in many psychiatric and neurological conditions was compensation and reliance on medication rather than a total cure. This was the prevailing view in the 1980s when Dr. Caroline
Leaf started in research and clinical practice as a communication pathologist treating patients
with various mental and neurological conditions in clinical and educational settings and research settings. Because of her belief in the biblical view, she set out to help patients, who the medical community had given up on, with remarkable results [4]. She also was able help transform destitute students in deprived schools even to international notice [5]. At the time clinicians and educationalists like her, who believed in the power of the mind to change the brain, were
scoffed at. However, as the Sanhedrin discovered, when faced with the walking man who was
once crippled (Act 4:14), it was difficult to deny the results.
Fortunately certain discoveries have led credence to the biblical view, Dr Leaf's research included.
It was discovered that the brain continually changes in response to mental and sensory signals throughout the human life span [6]. This process has now been termed ‘neuroplasticity’. It was once thought that, as adults, we had the full complement of nerve cells (neurons) and that we basically lost neurons until we died. Now we know scientifically that we continue to produce neurons in certain areas of the brain constantly, a process known as neurogenesis [7]. The growing medical specialties of psychoneuroimmunology and psychoneuroendocrinology [8] are bringing to light the intimate relationship between the mind, the brain and the immune and endocrine systems. Remarkably the eye-opening science of epigenetics is showing how our
choices can profoundly influence, not just our own genes and those that we are in relationship with, but the genes of multiple generations of our descendants [9]. There is thankfully now a growing opposition to the materialist view even among mainstream scientists. In response to
the growing evidence of the mind being able to change the brain, materialist have held the view that it is the brain that changes the brain [10]- this is akin to a computer reprogramming and redesigning itself.
Thankfully, in the face of growing recent evidence, the materialist view is losing some of its pre-eminence. There is growing dissent among a populace that is seeking answers to gnawing questions and cures to intractable mental and physical disorders [11]. Surveys show that the majority of lay people globally do not see themselves as biological automata, but as thinking human beings with the ability to think and choose making biological change [12]. Furthermore, the crisis in the education, over-labeling and over-medication of our children is crying out for a change of direction. It is time to return to what the Creator says about the nature of man in the Bible- He knows what we are made of and how we are made (Psalm 103:14). The Mind
definitely changes the Brain.
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INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT - Switch on Your Brain with the 5-Step Learning Process (R) and Metacog system (TM)
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
Working in the field of education for over 25 years, I love to teach people how to think and
learn, and see them reach their full potential. Based on my academic research and clinical work, I developed a learning system based on how the brain works: The Switch on your Brain 5-Step Learning process (R). In South Africa I used in this system in many schools across the economic and cultural spectrum, with both students and teachers. Watching their faces light up as their academic performance increased (up to 35-75% improvement in many cases), many of them realizing that they could achieve anything they correctly put their minds to, was truly inspiring!
Three years ago I was presented with an opportunity to introduce this learning system in a Charter school group in Dallas, Texas, with similar results to South Africa. Once again, regardless of nationality, culture or any other differences, I saw children and teachers improve, both academically and emotionally, when they realized that they could succeed in life. Our circumstances, even though they constrain us, do not determine our destiny. (You can read
more information at Dallas Charter School results, and more about the research and application under Science Article downloads)
But what exactly is this learning system? It is a Metacog™-based program, mirroring the way
the brain builds memory, thereby stimulating deep thinking and learning. It simplifies the
learning process, helping a person become an effective learner and increasing their intelligence.
A Metacog™ is essentially a way of writing things down on paper that is more compatible with
the way your brain actually thinks, as opposed to writing in the normal linear fashion. The Metacog™ patterns look more like trees with words on lines, which stimulates the two sides of
the brain to work together more efficiently, which in turn stimulates long-term brain develop-ment. The Metacogs™ essentially switch on your brain! I have abook and DVD set that teaches you exactly how to follow the Switch on your Brain 5-Step Learning process (R). We are so
excited about the results that we have been introducing the concept into more schools and educational institutions, and we are in the process of creating the online Switch on Your Brain® learning program.
As a scientist, I understand the importance of reaching younger generations, teaching them
how to think so they can succeed in every area of their life, since the patterns for adulthood are laid down in childhood. Because of this I firmly believe (and the research backs this up) in not
only teaching adults how to reign in unruly toxic thoughts that are messing up their minds and
bodies, but in also getting children to think properly, as thinking and emotions are all
intertwined in the learning process and need to be dealt with as early as possible. Indeed, we
need to get our children thinking again, considering the fact that American thinking patterns
and therefore creativity alone are in decline (Newsweek July 19, 2010). The implications of such a decline are severe, and the evidence is already in front of us. There is an urgent need to improveIntellectual Development.
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MENTAL HEALTH - PART 2 - MIND ACTION VS THE DISEASE MODEL
A recent WHO study on psychiatric disorders found that developing nations experience better recovery from major mental issues, notwithstanding restricted general access to medications as compared to developed nations like the USA, UK and Denmark [1]. In fact, the developed
nations had worse recovery rates, despite their “first class” psychiatric medications and modern mental health care. Likewise, in Western Lapland (northern Finland), an ongoing, large-scale research project on schizophrenia has indicated that people diagnosed with a severe mental
illness can experience long term recovery without the use of psychiatric drugs [2]. Individuals
can also overcome addictions without psychiatric drugs. In the early 2000s, the National Epidemiological survey (NESARC) showed that 43000 Americans (75% of addicts) had
overcome their addictions by themselves and how drug addicts give up habits by themselves
more easily than alcoholics [3]. Most people get over addiction through CHOICE - quitting is
the rule!
Clearly we can and do triumph over mental health issues. Unfortunately, due of the clinician illusion, in which sickest subset that physicians see are generalized in regards to the overall population, mental ill-heath issues like addiction, schizophrenia and depression are made to
seem hopeless [4]. In the developed world, the “disease” model of mental health, which sees mental illness as physically-based and often permanent, has prevailed over the view that mental illness is based in the mind, is temporary and can be overcome.
The disease model of mental health is derived from the medical model of illness. Allopathic
medical doctors are trained to diagnose pathology, or disease. They are trained, in other words, to look for what is wrong. This viewpoint is useful in a great number of contexts (e.g. physical trauma or diabetes), but not so helpful in mental health. Indeed, we are only beginning to understand how the mind and brain function—this is one the greatest and most exciting
frontiers in science today. Many psychiatrists, however, diagnose mental illnesses according to
the unscientific “psychiatric bible”: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,
Fifth Edition (DSM-5). The DSM content is produced by small committee, and is influenced by
drug companies, who use the DSM to manipulate scientific data to construct diseases that will
be “cured” by their drugs, thereby exponentially increasing their profits while controlling “problematic social behavior" [5]. From the 1970s drug companies have largely marketed their products as anti-psychotic, anti-depressive, or anxiolytic (anti-anxiety)—cures combating a particular disease, notwithstanding the lack of evidence for chemical imbalances or other pathologies related to mental illness [6]. What these drugs predominantly do is mask symptoms and produce altered mental states, similar to tranquilizers that temporarily dumb normal
biological functions [7]. These drugs create chemical imbalances [8].
In fact, while proponents of the disease model often claim that today we have reduced the
stigma associated with mental health issues, the DSM defines criteria for “diagnoses,” which can stigmatize an individual and lead to the loss of income, purpose, family, community, health and even death [9]. In some cases, the criteria change depending on public opinion. Homosexuality, for example, in earlier manual was considered a mental disorder, is now considered normal behavior [10].
Even in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, there has been serious push-back against the disease model. One recent example is the BBC Stress test, one of the largest studies of mental health to date, which saw the biggest predictor of mental health problems as “rumination”: the tendency to dwell on negative events for too long [11]. Rumination is clearly a mental process—it is concerned with thinking. The antidote to a negative mental process therefore should be a positive mental process, not a physical one such as medication. Dr. Peter Kinderman, a
professor at Liverpool University, a prominent clinical psychologist and the primary investigator
in this study has expressed the urgent need to “abandon the disease-model of mental health care.” [12] Kinderman’s concerns were recently echoed by a group of prominent British psychiatrists, led by Pat Bracken, who published an article in the British Journal of Psychiatry arguing “that psychiatry needs to move beyond the dominance of the current, technological paradigm.” [13]
Dr. Leaf, following a similar research path, has also demonstrated, using her research on the power of mind-action in changing the brain, and the bible, that mental disorders are primarily based in the mind (see the section above). Since the early 1980s (when the DSM-3, the first diagnostic manual to promote the diseased model of metal health, was in use), Dr. Leaf has demonstrated the effectiveness of mind action techniques (which are thought-based) in overcoming the negative effects of disease labels such as TBI, dementias, movement disorders, autism, aphasia, and learning disabilities (see the section above).
Even though medication has its place, Dr. Leaf has shown, both scientifically and biblically, that
the mind is where the action is determined and focused, and that persistent mind-action, especially when coupled with God's Word, is able to stimulate the brain and the rest of the body, leading to increased health and vitality. As it says in the New Testament, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” (3 John 2). Everything relies on your soul, which is your mind, prospering. Indeed, the World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health as “…a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.” [14] God gave us an incredible mind, one that is able to cope and prosper with all of life’s circumstances, and it is His hope that we realize the potential for health inside all of us.
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C-reactive Protein and How Our Bodies React To Toxic Thought
Written by Dr. Caroline Leaf
Watch this VIDEO clip
"Do not be anxious about anything..." Philippians 4:6
This biblical admonition does not just have spiritual and mental implications, but physical as
well. In fact our bodies react to physical attack, whether it be by trauma or infection, and
mental alarm in a similar fashion by a process called inflammation [1]. Inflammation involves different types of white blood cells and various substances including many different types of cytokines [2]. Inflammation, if short-lived, is beneficial, however if it is prolonged it can
physically damage the brain and body.
Among the substances first released in the inflammatory process is the appropriately named C-reactive protein, a five-part protein produced in the liver [3]. Researchers have found that worrying about a past stressful event, known as rumination, is associated with persistently high levels of C-reactive protein in the blood, indicating chronic inflammation in the body [4].
Chronic inflammation is associated with mental and physical disorders.
We cannot control our circumstances; however we can control our reactions to those circumstances. It seems our reactions can be measured by C-reactive protein. If we react the wrong way, we can damage our brain and body. We have to take heed to what St. Paul goes
on to say from the scripture mentioned above:
"...but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to
God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus". Philippians 4:6b-7.
References
1. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2014 Nov;49:244-52. Post-stress rumination predicts HPA axis responses to repeated acute stress. Gianferante D, Thoma MV, Hanlin L, Chen X, Breines JG, Zoccola PM, Rohleder N.Health Psychol. 2014 Dec;33(12):1606-9. Differential effects of poststressor rumination and distraction on cortisol and C-reactive protein. Zoccola PM,
Figueroa WS, Rabideau EM, Woody A1, Benencia F. Stress Health. 2014 Aug;30(3):188-97. Cardiovascular and affective consequences of ruminating on a performance stressor depend on mode of thought. Zoccola PM, Rabideau EM, Figueroa WS, Woody A. Clin Schizophr Relat Psychoses. 2014 Jan;7(4):223-30. C-reactive protein levels in schizophrenia: a review and meta-analysis. Miller BJ1, Culpepper N2, Rapaport MH3. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2000 Apr;30(2):133-43. Review: Biology and relevance of C-reactive protein in cardiovascular and renal disease. Westhuyzen J1, Healy H.
2. Immunobiology: The Immune System in Health and Disease. 5th edition. Janeway CA Jr, Travers P, Walport M, et al. New York: Garland Science; 2001. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10757 / 3. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2000 Apr;30(2):133-4
3. Review: Biology and relevance of C-reactive protein in cardiovascular and renal disease. Westhuyzen J, Healy H.
4. Health Psychol. 2014 Dec;33(12):1606-9. Differential effects of poststressor rumination and distraction on cortisol and C-reactive protein. Zoccola PM, Figueroa WS, Rabideau EM, Woody
A1, Benencia F.
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Males, Females, the 6th sense and Money!
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
Watch this video clip THE MYSTERY OF HE SAID/SHE SAID (60-mins)
I want to remind you that a difference between a man and a woman is not a value judgement;
it does not expose weakness between males and females, rather it celebrates uniqueness.
So now let me tell you about a great structure that we (males and females both!) have in the brain called the insula. The insula is designed to help translate physical sensations and thoughts in our subconscious mind into conscious thoughts with attached emotions. So working with the
rest of the brain, the insula helps us anticipate what something will feel like before it happens,
like the proverbial “gut-feel” or “6th-sense”.
The insula is larger in the female, which makes ladies more sensitive to existing and anticipated situations. A woman will quickly, for example, draw on past memories of financial situations (or any situation for that matter!) and bring them into the present scenario, which almost collapses time, making it more difficult for her to take risks. The male insula, on the other hand, is more geared to strategically reading the environment and actions, making it easier for him to take
risks. These are complementary ways of thinking things through, so neither males or females alone will have the full answer; together we are exponentially better! A woman predominately provides the emotional colour and details, while a man predominantly provides the strategy
and action.
Another area of the brain called the Anterior Central Gyrus (ACG) is designed in men and
women to shift between thoughts, weigh up options and make predictions. The ACG is bigger
in a female, which enables her to integrate and consider many scenarios; this is assuming she is not harboring toxic thoughts, in which case she will get “stuck” in an event or thought pattern. Men’s ACGs are smaller and operate in a more focused manner, getting “bottom-line-big-
picture” information quickly. If a man is operating from toxic thoughts, he will not weigh up options sufficiently and will act too quickly. Thus, the smaller ACG helps men see reason and
logic quicker, and the larger ACG in women helps them see detail and emotional nuance quicker–both are important in any decision making and in life!
So when we combine these two opposite, but nevertheless equal, types of thought and apply it to financial investment–whether it is between husband and wife or business colleagues–the best investment can be achieved.
In my book SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN - the Mystery of He Said/She said, I show how men and woman have been created to compliment one another through their own inique strengths.
You can also order that book as a Digital Download or order the AUDIO CD or save $6.99 and get the COMBO.
DR LEAF'S NEW BOOK COMING OUT SPRING 2016 - around April 5th 2016
THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART
A Neuroscientific Approach to a Sharper Mind and a Heathier Life
Raw, vegan, gluten-free or paleo?
Rather than getting caught up in the latest food fad, let Dr Leaf help you understand that each
of us has unique nutritional needs, and we have the power to impact our health with the right thinking!
Anyone who is tired of diet plans, struggling with emotional eating, or who simply isn’t satisfied with their level of health will find in this book the key to discovering how they can begin developing a healthier body, brain, and spirit.
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Formation Of Long Term Memory - The SOWER AND THE SEED - 4-Types of Listeners
What kind of listener are you?
Watch THE SOWER AND THE SEED shorter version video clip (33mins)
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf.
As we form long term memory, the structure of the brain is changed, right down to the cellular, molecular and even the level of quantum physics. Here we shall examine how long term
memory is formed at the level of cells and molecules.
The reason it takes about 63 days for habit formation is because habit formation depends on
long term memories which goes through a process to be fully established [1]. It takes time for
the cellular and molecular structures to be fully formed.
As we learn, nerve cells (neurons) fire and release neurotransmitters in the small gaps (synapses) between them and other neurons, which cause them to also fire. These neurotransmitters therefore relay the electrical impulse from one neuron to the next neuron across the synapse between them. As we continue to learn, this connection (synapse) gets stronger chemically and structurally making it easier for the impulse to be relayed and therefore nerve networks to be established [2]. This is short term memory.
However, research is now showing memory is not just shown in strengthened synapses, but
also by intracellular changes in microtubules. Microtubules were once thought to be merely cell scaffolding- now it is realized that they actually form the 'brain' of the cell. In fact the
microtubule network in the dendrites have been likened to mini-computers [3].
As we learn a molecule called, CAMK 2, is activated in the dendrite [4]. CAMK 2 has been nick-named the 'nanopoodle' because of its molecular shape. As we persist in learning, activated
CAMK 2 'walks' on the mircrotubules depositing phosphate groups thereby imprinting memory
in the dendritic mini-computers [5]. As this process of memory imprinting continues, the
dendritic spines, which form part of the synapse, changes shape- from a bump, then a lollipop, and eventually to an umbrella shape [6].
Microtubules have even been implicated in how consciousness is expressed through in the brain by a process of quantum computing operating at fantastic speeds of 10 to the power of 27 operations per second for the whole brain [7].
As long term memory is fully established in our brains, our thoughts become automatized into habits . It is then that God's word is firmly 'implanted' and can 'fully save our souls' (James 1:21) leading to godly behavior (Matthew 7:20) and life giving words from our mouths (Matthew
12:34).
Want to develop a disciplined renewing of the mind lifestyle?
Sign up for the 21-DAY BRAIN DETOX program
or get the BOOK or the COMBO
References
1. Mol Brain. 2012 May 14;5:14. The molecular biology of memory: cAMP, PKA, CRE, CREB-1, CREB-2, and CPEB. Kandel ER. Nature. 2000 Aug 17;406(6797):722-6. Fear memories require protein synthesis in the amygdala for reconsolidation after retrieval.Nader K, Schafe GE,
Le Doux JE. Nature. 2013 Nov 7;503(7474):115-20. Dendritic spikes enhance stimulus
selectivity in cortical neurons in vivo. Smith SL, Smith IT, Branco T, Häusser M. Nature. 2015
Jan 8;517(7533):200-4. Calcium transient prevalence across the dendritic arbour predicts place field properties. Sheffield ME, Dombeck DA. Fodor, J. The Modularity of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT/Bradford, 1983. Science. 1999 Nov 26;286(5445):1745-9. Building neural representations of habits. Jog MS, Kubota Y, Connolly CI, Hillegaart V, Graybiel AM. How do habits guide behavior? Perceived and actual triggers of habits in daily life. Neal, DT; Wood, W; Labrecque, JS; Lally, P; (2012) How do habits guide behavior? Perceived and actual triggers of habits in daily life. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY , 48 (2) 492 - 498. European Journal of Social Psychology. How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world.
Phillippa Lally, Cornelia H. M. van Jaarsveld, Henry W. W. Potts and Jane Wardle .Article first published online: 16 JUL 2009 Br J Gen Pract. 2012 Dec;62(605):664-6. Making health
habitual: the psychology of 'habit-formation' and general practice. Gardner B, Lally P, Wardle J.
2. Physiol Rev. 2004 Jan;84(1):87-136. Long-term potentiation and memory. Lynch MA. Mol Brain. 2012 May 14;5:14. The molecular biology of memory: cAMP, PKA, CRE, CREB-1, CREB-2, and CPEB. Kandel ER.
3. University of North Carolina School of Medicine. (2013, October 27). Neuroscientists discover new 'mini-neural computer' in the brain. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 22, 2015 fromwww.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131027185027.htm Spencer L. Smith,
Ikuko T. Smith, Tiago Branco, Michael Häusser. Dendritic spikes enhance stimulus selectivity in cortical neurons in vivo. Nature
4. Nature. 2009 Mar 19;458(7236):299-304. Activation of CaMKII in single dendritic spines
during long-term potentiation. Lee SJ, Escobedo-Lozoya Y, Szatmari EM, Yasuda R.
5. PLoS Comput Biol. 2012;8(3):e1002421. Cytoskeletal signaling: is memory encoded in microtubule lattices by CaMKII phosphorylation? Craddock TJ, Tuszynski JA, Hameroff S.
6. Magic Trees of the Mind: How to Nuture your Child's Intelligence, Creativity, and Healthy Emotions from Birth Through Adolescence k – January 1, 1999 by Marian Diamond, Janet Hopson. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2007 Nov;88(4):445-50. Epub 2007 Aug 27. Morphological changes in dendritic spines of Purkinje cells associated with motor learning. Lee KJ, Jung JG,
Arii T, Imoto K, Rhyu IJ.
7. Biol Phys. 2010 Jan; 36(1): 53–70. Published online 2009 Jun 4. A critical assessment of the information processing capabilities of neuronal microtubules using coherent excitations Travis John Adrian Craddock and Jack A. Tuszynski Phys Life Rev. 2014 Mar;11(1):39-78. doi: 10.1016/j.plrev.2013.08.002. Epub 2013 Aug 20. Consciousness in the universe: a review of
the 'Orch OR' theory. Hameroff S, Penrose R.
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THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART!
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
You have probably heard that our global food system is deeply flawed. You're are right. In fact, it's probably worse than you imagine. Fortunately there's hope. It is possible for us to vote with
our forks for better practices that respect our health and the health of our planet.
To begin voting for a better way, we need to increase our knowledge about food and food practices. We need to improve our shopping and cooking skills. And, most importantly, we
need to change our attitudes towards food, health, healing and nutrition. Once we have
opened our minds to a new, healthy way of approaching food, and have started removing unhealthy foods and habits from our everyday lives, we will have entered a culinary world
bursting with magnificient smells, tastes, sights, sounds and feelings that will bring joy to our mouths and stomachs.
My new book, 'THINK AND EAT YOURSELF SMART - A Nueroscientific Approach to a Sharper Mind and healthier Life,' which can be pre-ordered from your favourite bookseller orAMAZON is an attempt to reintroduce the culture of thinking and effort back into eating, one based on diligently stewarding the bodies, and world, that God has entrusted to us. In the spirit of renewing the mind, it is a lifestyle book that seeks to reimagine what we eat within an integrated spirit, mind and body framework (Romans 12:2; 1st Thessalonians 5:23).
Thinking, as you will see, plays a dominant role in eating. Toxic thoughts can negate the
positive effects of good nutrition. Healthy thoughts can enhance the effects of good nutrition,
and
mitigate the effects of bad nutrition - to a degree. In fact, healthy thoughts lead to better food choices. Eating and thinking are so intertwined that what you are thinking about before,
during and after eating will impact every one of the 75-100 trillion cells in your body, including
the cells of your digestive sytem. Your state of mind will have a negative or positive influence
on your digestive health, and your digestive health will also have a negative or positive
influence on your state of mind.
There is always someone new telling us that they have the solution to everyone's dietary and
or exercise habits, suggesting that if we don't follow their advice we will surely drop dead. Even
a lot of nutritional advice from so-called "experts" is often based on overblown correlations and inaccurate interpretations. And that is not even mentioning the $50 billion supplement industry. If I had to follow the advice of just one company, i worked out I would be taking up to 65
different tablets, three times a day!
The fact is that we are all unique, which means that a way of eating, exercising, and sleeping
that works for you may not work for me, within a context of a healthy lifestyle and a diet of real, naturally produced foods. Rather than getting caught up whether you should go paleo, vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, plant-based, raw vegan or follow the blood type diet or even genetic typing (to mention just a few diets that are popular today), it would be much better to understand the fundamentals of eating, the completely entangled relationship between
thinking and food, and how our uniqueness spreads throughout our spirit, soul and body.
Bon appetit!
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STEP INTO YOUR PERFECTLY YOU!
"Does anyone out there understand me?" God says:"I do; do you?....."
God tells us we are made in His image (Genesis 1:26) with a sound mind that operates in love
and power (2 Timothy 1:7). Science proves we are wired for love, for the positive. This is called the optimism bias. Therefore both science and scripture demonstrate we are wired for healthy thinking, choices, emotions and health.
Once you know how you are made, you can know your purpose and fulfill your destiny. You are on your way to ‘Becoming the Perfect You’.
You are uniquely you and adding to your uniqueness is the expression of your uniqueness through your maleness and your femaleness.
God created you for uniqueness and for perfection. In fact the scriptures instruct us to become perfect as He is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Becoming the Perfect You is a lifelong walk - but - it begins with recognizing what it means to be made perfect: "I made them perfect BUT they
choose to go down their own pathway" (Ecclesiastes 7:29).
The way in which you think and choose is the road to becoming PERFECTLY YOU.
We are thinking beings made in the image of a thinking God, Who is perfect and Who is Love.
But we have to think and choose to follow God and His way of thinking. This is free will.
Einstein so accurately once said: "I want to know God's thoughts, the rest are details."
God gave each of us the ability to think and choose as well as a unique way in which to do this. The way that we use our unique ability to think and choose determines how we stay on the
road of "The Perfect You". Stepping out of our perfect thinking happens when we don't listen
to God; when we do our own thing. This is a bump in the road, and by admitting, quitting and beating, we can get back on the road again.
Each of us is a set-apart designer babe! There is something you can do that no one else can do - and - if you don't do it: the whole world suffers because we are entangled in each others lives. This is called the Law of Entanglement in Quantum Physics and can be seen in Ephesians 4:16,
as well as many other scriptures.
What do you have inside of you that no one else has?
Maybe no one ever told you that you are unique.
You have a divinely pre-wired Perfect You - a unique way of thinking and seeing the world that God has placed within you - a divine sense of purpose, a piece of eternity! (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
What is your piece of the Puzzle?
THE PERFECT YOU: WIRED FOR HEALTH
The fact that you are wired for love is reflected in all the bodily systems. When you don't think
and choose well, when you step out of your PERFECTLY YOU, it affects the whole body. 75 to 98% of all mental and physical illness is a result of the thought life. If you are functioning according to The PERFECTLY YOU, you remain in good health and your body heals a lot faster. You are wired for health.
Nervous System- Healthy thoughts literally causes the brain to grow, making you more
intelligent. Since the brain is connected via the rest of the nervous system to all the rest of the body, total health increases.
Endocrine System- Healthy thoughts positively affect the hormonal balance, which in turn positively affects all the rest of the bodily systems. Even fertility can be affected by the thought life.
Immune System- Thoughts affect the functioning of the defenders of the body- the white blood cells. Healthy thoughts lead to robust white blood cells which can fight off infections and even devour cancer cells.
Intestinal System- The gut has a brain of its own. A ‘gut feeling’ is real. Healthy thoughts enable proper food digestion and therefore leads to good general health.
Integumentary System-This system includes the skin, the largest organ in the body. Healthy thoughts leads to better skin- the first line of defense against for the rest of the body.
Muscular System- When your thought life is healthy you are motivated to exercise. Exercised muscles in turn released substances that increase brain health. This an example of an upward spiral.
Cardiovascular System- Healthy thoughts are involved in proper communication between the heart mini-brain and the skull brain, leading to the promotion of well-being by the heart’s orchestration of the whole body’s electromagnetic rhythm and harmony. Good thoughts also enhance the vascular system, thus preventing hypertension.
For nearly 30 years Dr. Caroline Leaf has researched the science of thought. She discovered that "The Perfect You" is reflected in the unique structuring and functioning of our brains. In other words we are are wired differently according to our unique way of thinking.
Watch this video clip as Dr Leaf addresses this at a recent SundayMinistry session:
WANT TO STEP INTO YOUR PERFECT YOU? JOIN US AT THE AUGUST 21st and 22nd 2015 ANNUAL SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN CONFERENCE - DALLAS TX
REGISTER NOW.
There are special rates for Conference delegates. RESERVE your room now. An Organic breakfast and refreshments will be provided on theSaturday. The hotel provides shuttle services. Delegates at the Conference will each receive a signed copy of Dr Leaf's hardcover bookThe Gift in You and after completing their Gift Profile will develop an understanding in Maximising their Gift and overcoming Gift Blockers.
Read more about the online program PERFECTLY YOU. Order the online program. or the hardcover book or the Digital Download to understand your Gift from God, your Perfect way of thinking.
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THE POWER of THE BRAIN AND QUANTUM BIOLOGY
Written by Dr Caroline Leaf
From the pioneers of the development of the computer such as Alan Turin [1] to Hollywood films[2], artificial intelligence in medicine [3], contests between computers and humans [4] and the more recent singularity movement led by Ray Kurzweil [5], the notion that artificial
intelligence would soon become more powerful than the human brain has captured the public imagination. Since Hal the computer in ‘2001, A Space Odyssey’ [6] we have imagined robots
and computers as eventually becoming sentient beings- a logical conclusion of a materialist mindset that asserts that the mind (soul) only emerges from complicated brain computation [7].
In contrast the Bible states that the soul was created when God breathed His Spirit into a
human formed from physical dust (Genesis 2:7). Interestingly, recent scientific research is
pointing to the fact that a world taken over by super-intelligent sentient robot beings is actually a total fantasy - the brain is much more powerful than we once thought by many orders of magnitude [8].
The position of the status quo has been that information is processed by weighted connections (synapses) or nodes [9]. Therefore it seemed it was possible to reproduce brain function using computer simulation. A human brain was estimated to operate at 10^9 bits per second at the synaptic level, however there is now evidence of information processing taking place at the microtubular level inside the cell [8]. Microtubules were once thought to be just cell scaffolding - now it is clear they form the nervous system of the cell. After all, single-celled animals which do not have synapses have been shown to have intelligence [10]. Dendrites, which are the
branches of single nerve cells (neurons), are now been compared to mini-computers rather
than binary switches, as once thought [11]. Taken together, therefore, a whole human brain
can conceivably operate at 10^27 bits per second [8]. That is more processing power than all
the computers in the world put together [8][12]. Therefore it is inconceivable that attempts to simulate the Human Brian, like the epic Billion Euro Human Brain Project [13], a progression of Henry Markram’s Blue Brain Project [14], will ultimately succeed. However such projects will
yield and has already yielded useful information about brain structure and function that can be applied to medical informatics [15] as well as computer technology [16].
Additionally there is also evidence that the brain is operating at the quantum level in the microtubules [17]. Interestingly biological processes such as photosynthesis, bird navigation
and olfaction (odor detection) have been shown to take advantage of quantum effects such as superposition as proposed by as Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle [18]. It seems biological process are tapping into the ‘spooky’ (as described by Einstein [19] world of quantum entanglement, where information transfer is not limited time or location. A whole new discipline termed ‘Quantum Biology’ is emerging. It is therefore conceivable that more biological
processes operate at a quantum level. The brain actually may be acting like a quantum
computer at the microtubular level as proposed by Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose’s
Orch-OR Theory [17]. In fact there is growing experimental evidence for this theory which is
also implying that the brain is processing information using fractal resonance frequencies not
just electrical action potentials- akin to songs within songs in an orchestral arrangement [20].
We are truly ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’ (Psalm 139:14). The above-mentioned research is showing that the brain is much more powerful, functioning at a more profound manner than was once thought. This surely points to the infinitely powerful and innovative Mind of The Creator, The God of the whole Universe described in the His Living Word, the Bible.
References 1. Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2012 Jul 28;370(1971):3273-6. The
foundations of computation, physics and mentality: the Turing legacy. Cooper SB, Abramsky S.
2. ‘Blade Runner’ (1982), ‘The Terminator’ (1984), ‘The Matrix’ (1999), 'I, Robot’ (2004), ‘The Machine’ (2013), ‘Chappie’ (2015). 3. Ramesh AN, Kambhampati C, Monson JRT, Drew PJ.
Artificial intelligence in medicine. Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 2004;86(5):334-338. 4. Chess: Garry Kasparov vs Deep Blue (Computer) (1997), Jeopardy: Watson (Computer) vs Humans (2011) 5. The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology- Sep 26, 2006 by Ray Kurzweil. 6. ‘2001, A Space Odyssey’ (1968) 7.The Emerging
Mind: The BBC Reith Lectures 2003 – September 20, 2003 by Vilaynur Ramachandran 8. J Biol Phys. 2010 Jan;36(1):53-70. A critical assessment of the information processing capabilities of
neuronal microtubules using coherent excitations. Craddock TJ, Tuszynski JA 9. Connectivism: Learning as Network-Creation, Learning Circuits, November 2005. 10. CELL INTELLIGENCE Guenter Albrecht-Buehler, Ph.D. Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago. Website-http://www.basic.northwestern.edu/g-buehler/FRAME.HTM 11. Spencer L. Smith, Ikuko T.
Smith, Tiago Branco, Michael Häusser. Dendritic spikes enhance stimulus selectivity in cortical neurons in vivo. Nature, 2013 12. Ars Technica- World’s total CPU power: one human brain by John Timmer.http://arstechnica.com/science/2011/02/adding-up-the-worlds-storage-and-computation-capacities/ 13. The Human Brain Project-https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/
14. The Blue Brain Project -http://bluebrain.epfl.ch/page-52063.html 15. Human Brain Project- Medical Informatics- https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/medical-informatics-platform 16.
Human Brain Project- Neuromorphic Computing-https://www.humanbrainproject.eu/neuromorphic-computing-platform 17. Phys Life Rev. 2014 Mar;11(1):39-78. Consciousness in the universe: a review of the 'Orch OR' theory. Hameroff S, Penrose R. 18. Quantum Effects in Biology – September 22, 2014. by Masoud Mohseni ,Yasser Omar, Gregory S. Engel, Dr Martin B. Plenio. HFSP J. 2009 Dec;3(6):386-400. Quantum
physics meets biology. Arndt M, Juffmann T, Vedral V. 19. Spooky Action at a Distance By Brian Greene 09.22.11 .NOVA http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/spooky-action-distance.html
20. Information 2014, 5(1), 28-100. Design and Construction of a Brain-Like Computer: A New
Class of Frequency-Fractal Computing Using Wireless Communication in a Supramolecular
Organic, Inorganic System. Subrata Ghosh, Krishna Aswani, Surabhi Singh, Satyajit Sahu,
Daisuke Fujita and Anirban Bandyopadhyay
Upcoming speaking schedule
Dr Caroline Leaf will be talking about God, Quantum Physics and the Brain in many of her upcoming speaking events.
See http://drleaf.com/schedule to see if there is an event near you.