Kirk Ray Smith

Your brain doesn’t know what time it is. Every time you replay that conversation from last year, that mistake from last month, that moment you wish you could take back from yesterday, your brain treats it like it’s happening right now. Same stress chemicals. Same alarm bells. You’re not remembering it. You’re reliving it, on a loop you built yourself. That's because of two things: your brain doesn't know the difference between what's really happening and what you're just imagining, and neuroplasticity means that your brain automates things that you think about and turns them into programs that it runs without you having to think about them next time. So, the more you rehearse something from the past or something you're just imagining, the more your brain builds out a reality as if that thing is still here right now. The ninth Commandment of self brain surgery is, "I must believe that what I'm doing I'm getting better at." That means if you're doing things with your mind that are making your brain better at living in the past or worrying about imaginary outcomes, you're getting better at feeling worse. So knock it off. Here’s the shift: you can’t edit the past, but you can stop rehearsing it. Every replay is a rehearsal, and your brain gets better at whatever you rehearse. Let's make neuroplasticity work for us and not against us. We call that self-brain surgery. It's not easy at first, it's hard and holy work. But remember, you get better at whatever you repeatedly do Philippians 3:13 says it like this: forget what lies behind and strain towards what lies ahead. Not denying it happened, but refusing to keep performing it. There's better stuff in the future, but not if you keep building a brain that lives in the past. Follow me to connect neuroscience and scripture every day. Save this for the next time your mind hits replay. Share it with someone stuck on a loop. Click the link in my bio to learn more about Self-Brain Surgery. #SelfBrainSurgery #Neurosurgery #FaithAndScience #BrainHealth