Battlefield: The Mind

I know we've all heard it said before. Some have heard it to a degree where, to the person, the sentence loses its power. But have you ever taken the time to actually look into how much the mind affects your body, and your character? Your emotional self, your physical self, your character, your overall health are, in fact, affected by your mind. This might be why it's phrased as "Mind-Body-Soul". What affects the mind, affects the body, what affects the body, sometimes can affect the soul, or in this case, I mean the heart of the person.

Now, slow down! I'm not going to reprimand you, or tell you how wrong you are, or that you need to change. I'm trying to, not so much preach, as I am trying to talk to you. My goal is to simply give you, what I think, is crucial information on how the brain works, and how you can help yourself in this regard. Throughout you'll find some information which may be on the mature side so read on with caution if you're between the ages of 15-17 years old. I'll talk a little about addiction, a little science behind the mind, and body, although not much, and I'll use a few Bible verses to center my focuses throughout. I hope you'll find that this information is helpful, as well as useful for you.

Are you ready? I hope so. Okay, here we go!

The Battlefield: The Mind

"...As a man thinks, so is he."

-Psalms 23:7

The above verse speaks about when a man is keeping an internal account on the external actions/living of others. As I understand it, it's like the person is saying one thing, but truly, the want things another way. As we can understand it, it's one way of making the illustration for us to be true to who we are on the outside, as well as the inside. Mean what we say, say what we mean. Keep it simple. Reason why is because our whole character is generally based on what we think internally, and the last thing we want to be is hypocritical. That's just a short clarification on the partial verse above, but that's not the main focus. For now, we'll lean more toward the side of, what we think, and how our thoughts shape us, for this one. Cool?, Cool!

In cooperation with your experiences, what you fill your mind with, like this blog, music you listen to, what you read, movies, or shows you watch, what you meditate on (things you think about a lot). This all helps to shape your mind, and in turn, shape your character. Not getting too into depth, your mind responds to all the information it is being fed. In that, your mind is shaped over time to react a certain way in your everyday living, due to what you feed your mind throughout your everyday living, as well as in your private life. I theorize that what you feed your mind in your private life, may have a more dramatic effect than certain other times, but I digress. Try thinking of feeding your mind as feeding your body. Your body reacts to that sustenance, and as your body develops over time, you'll either become healthy, or unhealthy, depending on your regular diet. Well, guess what, the human mind has a diet as well, and depending on that diet, your mind can either become healthy, or unhealthy too! One more thing you wanna take into consideration is, unlike the sustenance we feed our body, our mind is always consuming information. Our mind is always eating!

I'm not exactly a fan of black & white thinking, but we cannot get around the reality that there is good information, and bad information that your mind can consume. As it's 2019, and society, perhaps not as a whole, may be leaning toward that first statement as being subjective, it is true that some things your mind consumes does hurt your mental state. Let's make an example for you:

Adult themed content: Pornography. Some of you may have immediately left this blog after reading that last sentence, but for those of you who have stayed, I'll not go into details on what that is, or describe any kind of content in graphic detail. We all know what pornography is, many, if not all of us, have seen our share, but hopefully some of you haven't. Still, let's get into this specific arena, and let's see what our mind does with that, and really any information it is regularly given.

To start off, let's go back to the Bible.

"Your eyes are the lamp of your body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light."

-Matthews 6:22 NIV

Jesus was a carpenter while he was here, but that sounds a lot like something a Medical Doctor would say, doesn't it? Jesus is speaking about something that affects the body of the person. Also, remember back when I said your brain is always consuming? The above verse touches on that matter, as well, it just doesn't say it directly. Jesus making the example of the lamp tells us what? That there is light present. Where there is light, there is the absence of darkness. Where there is darkness; the absence of light. Your eyes being he lamp of your body means that it is critical to take caution on what you visually take in visually. Essentially Jesus was saying that you can fill your whole body with light, or darkness. It's up to you. Immediately we can understand two things Matthews 6:22:

1: If we're taking it in visually, we're taking it in mentally.

2: If we're taking it in mentally, we're distributing that new information throughout our whole selves. Meaning, that information affects your Mind, body, and Soul (heart)

The heart of the person, can really be thought of as your conscience. That inner man, or woman that feels the motivation to do good, or to do bad. To help others, or to take revenge. Let's do a little critical thinking here. Do you realize that your brain functions to a degree where you cannot feel it, you cannot see it, and you cannot physically arrange it, or adjust it to do what you want? We feed our body with our hands, our own body controls what we put into our body physically. However, your mind will take in whatever you are looking at, or listening to, and by it's natural functions, distribute that all throughout the rest of you; the whole person. That means, like the Bible verse describes above, as your mind takes in information, it is creating health, or sickness in your body, in your character, in your emotions, in your "whole self", and there are only a few ways to control that.

On to our example:

Pornography. What does it do? Does it give you pleasure? Give you an emotional rush? Give you a desire to seek-out someone to practice those things with? Does it make you wanna see it more and more? For anyone who has seen this kind of content, or for those who have struggled with an addiction to it, the answer would be "Yes" to all of the above. I want you to go ahead, and say "Oh-My-Damn" if you've ever snuck around to watch this kind of content, and then after you see the content you find that you're a little on edge. You feel a flutter in your heartbeat, heartbeat is elevated a bit, you might be breathing fast. For some, your hands shake a little, for others you might feel a slight elevation in your body temperature, you're a little hot. Guess what, you were aroused. Why? The content that you've placed into the "lamp of your body". The visuals, the sounds, all information passing from your inlet sources. What flows into your eyes and your ears will all flood your mind with information. Your mind turn that information into a "STIMULANT" (Remember that word), and creates a base [foundation], on this new information, on how your mind will now begin working.

Ready? Repeat after me: "Oh-My-Damn"

Hold on a sec! Take a second, take a few deep breaths, and just relax for a bit. Think back on all you've just read, and let it sink in for just a minute or two. Don't worry, I'll be right here when you're ready to continue.

You good? Nice! Let's roll out a quick Q & A!

Q: So, how does the brain work in this regard? What does it do with information we feed it, and how does it affect the rest of me?

A: You know how, when you're driving down the road, and you see construction workers paving a portion of the road? They're breaking up the old road, and pouring in the concrete, or the asphalt to replace I, or they're building a whole new road, and pathway altogether? It's kind of like that.

We call it a synapse. A synapse is the tiny gap across which a nerve cell, or neuron, can send an impulse to another neuron. Whats in that impulse? Information! The Neuron is a specialized cell that transmit nerve impulses. A nerve impulse is the progressive physicochemical change in the membrane of a nerve fiber that follows stimulation (Remember that word?) and serves to transmit a record of sensation from a receptor or an instruction to act to an effector. Okay,

we're done with that now! Whew, what a mouthful!

Q: So what does all that basically mean in simpler terms? A: Simply put, this is saying that the adult themed content you're putting into your brain, is now causing your brain to set out a new pathway for it to work, in accordance to that content. It is mapping out your brain to function in a certain way. You're telling your brain, "This is what you will stimulate me with." "When I want pleasure, I'll refer to this so I can get it." With this being the new stimulation, it is now harmful to you.

You might be wondering why this is harmful. Let's take a stab at it, yeah?

-Firstly: Intercourse was created to be between two people, a man and a woman. With porn, and the type of stimulation your creating your brain to adjust to, you're teaching yourself to become aroused by sitting in front of a computer, laptop, or television alone. (re-read that last one if needed).

-Secondly: You'll notice that the content you're seeing doesn't stimulate you after while, not like it did at first. So, you need to look for new content, perhaps more in depth content to create that stimulant. You might find that you're feeling bored with the same videos you've seen before, etc. Now you're on the search for new ones, or "better" ones. In these cases the user will begin to look into more intense content to create the stimulation one needs to satiate the "desire". What's really going on is the brain is developing, as it always is, and needs something more to get that rush that it's now so used to. This is where we see the terms "Porn" and "Addiction" come into the same sentence. The brain isn't getting the same thrill from this repeated or old information, so it's saying "I need more", because the body doesn't get the same input from the stimulant. You're used to the regular stimulant when you started, now it's not enough, now one runs the risk of going even deeper.

-Thirdly, since this is now the case with the case, you'd find, little by little, that human interaction doesn't affect you the way a pornographic video does. All those visuals, the sounds, everything creating that brain-stimulus reaction for you to become aroused. When you're with an actual person, who doesn't look anything like the people in the video, doesn't make the same sounds as in the video, you'll notice that you're not exactly as turned on as you would be if you were "sitting in front of a laptop alone". Some find that they aren't turned on at all! YIKES!

-You'd also want to know that the people in those videos are mainly actors, or hired hands to put on a show that is nowhere near based on reality. Intercourse is nothing like what you see in a pornographic video. There are many bodily enhancements done to the men and women's bodies, the visuals you see are all staged, the bodies you see are usually modified (I'm talking intimate parts), the positions are all practiced and done over and over to get the video just how they want it. Even the sounds the people make are all practiced. As unbelievable as this may sound, a single one of the images that you see has the ability to stay in your mind for 10 years before it's completely forgotten, and It's not real.

Say it again "IT IS NOT REAL!"

Now do you get it? You're feeding your brain unreal information, like you would feed your body genetic food. It's just not good for you, and if you consume it long enough, your cells will begin to develop abnormally, and that's where cancer comes in, unhealthy cells, you feel sick. Same thing you're doing to your brain! I think thats another Oh My Damn moment, huh?

Feeding your brain all these sounds, visuals and images is now developing your brain and character to only activate when these, or something similar are experienced. There, is where you'll see that marriages struggle, or end. Relationships struggle and end. The users personality and normal functions become abnormal, because the person who is only able to stimulate in certain ways is no longer reacting to their partner the way they should, now this begins to affect their daily living.

But wait, there's more!

Pornography users side effects include, but are not limited too...

-Anxiety

-Depression

-Agitation, or becoming easily agitated

-Hyper-sexual drive or activity

-Feelings of guilt or shame

-Hot flashes, or cold flashes

-Mental Health issues

Which can lead to...

-Insomnia

-Unwanted thoughts

-Manic symptoms (look these up for reference)

-Panic (Not the same as anxiety)

-Suicidal thoughts or actions

It's a personality killer, a mental confuser, en emotional wrecker, a mind trapper, a person destroyer. It is, as I said before, bad information to feed your mind.

Ladies and gentleman, who I hope are only reading this if you're 18 years of age or older, I present to you the strongest tool to reshape the human psyche; Improper audio and visual input!

All of this is true, but I use it as an example of what happens to the mind when it is fed information at all, and how it creates a new person in you over time. You're thinking, and you're meditating on what you see and what you hear; they don't just stay in the moment of when you experience it and immediately go away. That audio and visual information stays in your mind, well after you've witnessed and experienced the event, and it begins to create a whole new character in you altogether due to the brains natural functions.

I have to make a mention of this, as this is a reality too. The spiritual aspect behind participating in these things, such as watching porn on a regular basis, can hurt you in that arena as well. Well, not so much "CAN" hurt you, but "WILL" hurt you. Keeping it short, we pray to God, ask for help, ask for God to bless us, fill us, lift us up as a person, heal us in certain ways. However, the door, that spiritual door, does function as a door. A person looking at things from a Hawk's eye would easily say, "Doors open from both sides, right?" and yes they do. Things like pornography, audio and visual content that are, plainly put, bad to watch; those are certainly not motivated by God, but are motivated by the enemy. If you think that the enemy just does stuff that won't affect you in some way, you are wrong. You can either open the door to let God in, or you can open the door to let the enemy in.

Take another look at Matthews 6:22

"...If your eyes are HEALTHY, your WHOLE BODY will be full of light."

Jesus was saying that, like what I am telling you, what you witness creates a reaction in you that begins to change the heart of the person

Two things we can take away from this now:

-The first, Our eyes and our ears are very important tools in creating health or sickness within us.

-The second, it shapes our thinking, and "as a man thinks, so he is"

And now we know why that is, it's because the mind is creating the new pathways which shape out who he, or she is to become over time. Neural transmissions, synapses, stimulants. It all starts with the brain. The more we seek-out information, the more we focus our mind and thoughts on a certain thing, the more we become THAT thing. Have you ever heard these words before? "The mind is a terrible thing to waste". The reason why is because it shapes who you are throughout your life.

Ever had a thought that makes you angry, or sad? Ever had a memory that ruins your day, or makes you feel happy and excited? Maybe a thought that you're afraid of, or a thought of something you're looking forward to? That's right! All reactions of the brain affecting the whole body/affecting the whole person. Think negatively long enough, and eventually you're going to get depressed, find yourself tired, groggy, or nervous, anxious, start to find trouble eating too little, or eating too much, sleeping too much, or too little. The mind, in this case, will have a lot to do with that.

As a disclaimer: There are times where we have a medical issue, which can-too create the above mentioned reactions, so never be hesitant in seeking out medical and professional help to assist you in getting passed these. In fact, I recommend it! God gave doctors and specialist the ability to withhold the wisdom they need to help us when we need it.

So, THAT was a lot of heavy information, wasn't it??

By now you're thinking, "What do I do to fix this up?", and I'm so glad you asked!

First, the bad news. There is not a "Bad Memory" delete button. If there was, I'd be the first on Amazon to buy one!

Now, good news! There IS a way that the Lord did create, which works perfectly in getting us passed these issues. Let's take a look at the book of Romans.

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.."

-Romans 12:2 NLT

The above Bible verse, from the New Living Translation, describes perfectly what we need, so we can break loose from all of what I was describing above. In Christianity today, we call it a Mental-Stronghold.

See in the above verse where it says, "BUT LET God transform you..."? That "Letting God do it" in you is crucial to the renewing of your mind. The way we do this is over time. At this moment, any moment of your choosing, you can elect to let God do this. First thing you need to know is that just because you elect to "Let God" do the work in you, doesn't mean that your mental map is going to be fixed up that same day, might take some time. Remember when I told you that a single pornographic image can take approximately 10 years to erase from your mind? Yeah, things take time. With God, it may not take a whole decade, God does work miracles, but it still takes a journey to get yourself to that victory of having a freed mind.

Don't get discouraged, and don't become overly excited. God mapped our genetics in a way to self heal. Remember when you scraped your knee as a kid and you developed a scab that itched like crazy, and finally it stopped itching, one day it was all healed up. Our mind also can heal as well, and it's not too dissimilar to that scabbed knee you were just remembering.

Sleep is one great way to help you. As you sleep, your brain cells shrink up by around 60% to make space for your brain to begin to clean itself out. Without getting too much into the science of this, You are using more brain power as you sleep. While you are sleeping. The amount of brain power is usually up for debate, but when you're awake, you're using around 10% of your brain power, and when you're asleep, you're using around 90% of your brain power. As you sleep your glial cells are hard at work, and they are cleaning up dead neurons. Getting all that garbage out, so you can function crisp and clear the next day. Have you ever had a night where you just cannot focus and you put the task on hold? That college paper that you were just too foggy to keep working on so you sleep it off, and you wake up the next day, and you can finish the paper, focus and get the work done. That's what I'm talking about. Your brain, while you sleep, works extra hard to clear out all the mess, all the overload, all the useless junk so it can work better the next day. Thank you, Glial Cells!

Q: What if I'm one of the people who struggles with sleep?

A: Talk to a medical professional, one who specializes in this area, not just your local PCP, and get a full evaluation done. Then, after a thorough analysis has been made, you'll be prescribed something to help you sleep at night. Then just follow through with the regiment. DO NOT BE ASHAMED of this, even if you're a Christian. Christians are allowed to have these issues, and to seek out medical help for them. God won't get mad, I promise.

Along with getting proper rest, here's a big step to take...

STAY AWAY from anything, any content, any music, even people, or places that cause you to take in bad information, or participate in harmful activity. Please not that harmful activity doesn't stop at fighting, or using illegal drugs. A harmful activity can be walking into a bar if you were once an alcoholic, or going to a club if you have trouble controlling a promiscuous tendency.

If you're issue is found on a laptop or cell phone, get someone to put a block on that content, with their own passwords in place so you cannot access it. If it's a place, do not go there, if it's music, stop listening to it, if it's a person, sadly, you may need to limit your interaction with them, or even stop interacting with them either for a while, or completely.

What's it like when you put a stop to participating in these activities? Good question! Let's use porn addiction to answer this one.

those with an addiction to pornography, after they begin to stop watching that content, may feel what I simply call withdrawal symptoms. They can feel an urge to go back to the content, become increasingly angry without motivation or prompting, may have brain fog, trouble with focus or being still, completing tasks may be an issue. The list goes on and on. What's happening here is your brain is calling for the stimulant to be prompted. That stimulant of course affecting your whole body, you begin to want it some, want it more, want it a lot, and then your emotions get involved, they display through your character, and it's not very pretty because you're not getting what your brain and bod are so used to. Some people have whole breakdowns throughout this process, kind of like breaking a substance abuse habit. It is incredibly hard to get through, but it is doable.

When one is going through these hardships in trying to put an end to bad audio, visual and mental intake, and bad habits, it does feel terrible at first, it's just the truth. But believe it or not, despite how bad it feels or gets, you're not getting worse, you're getting better! Where your brain was once mapped to work in accordance to harmful content now your brain is healing!

Through the process, some might say,

-I can't take it

-I can't sleep

-I've got no peace

-I feel anxious, angry, or on edge all the time

At times you could lose your appetite, lose your focus, lose even some of yourself. Some have claimed to feel confused, or lost altogether. To a degree, you're losing yourself, yes. Truly your brain is REMAPPING ITSELF!

Here is where you want to strike while the iron is hot! Here is where you want to pray, pray, pray. Start feeding your brain The Word of God. Listen to preachings, go to Church, talk with your pastor, or a trustful, and Bible based source to begin filling all those new roadways, and neural pathways in your mind. As the brain always does, it will distribute this new. healthy, life giving, and spiritual reviving information all throughout your whole self.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!"

2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

You, getting the rest you need, getting the prayer you need, getting the new content you need, is now creating in you a whole new self! Except this time, you are a whole new being in Christ the Lord! All those withdrawals you went through, all that brain fog, all that agitation, that worry, that pain, that sadness, that "I can't rest or be still." Those are all symptoms of the old person dying away.

I feel that Ephesians says it best:

"...that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth."

Ephesians 4:22-24

Did you see all those key words? "Lay aside your old self", "that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind", "put on your new self, which is the likeness of God."

Hey look, it's a 2 step process!

Step 1: Laying aside the old self (Whatever you're doing, STOP IT!)

Step 2: Put on the new self (Reading the Bible, hearing to Gospel preached, and letting that influence you little by little, just like the former content did, only this content gives you goodness, liberty and life)

To elaborate, that "new self", again comes through time and practice. Sure it may seem difficult at first, but it's not unlike doing anything you've done your whole life. You're just taking up this new practice, and making it your own now. You may not even enjoy it at first, because your mind isn't accustomed to responding to this new way of life at first, but those feelings are just natural and need to be processed out.

As your mind is not getting the old information it used to get, that information, all those porn videos, all those harmful activities will become useless to the brain. Your brain will begin to look at all that as old information, useless information, as garbage. Here come those Glial cells to pick up the garbage and toss it out. Hallelujah, you're a new man, Hallelujah you're a new woman!

Do you see now, how the mind is a terrible thing to waste?

Or, let's say it this way,

"The mind is not a place for waste."

This is the most important battle that you can partake in; The Battlefield of The Mind. If we do not protect our minds, we run the risk of losing. Here's a more direct way of saying this. If you lose the battlefield of the mind...You've just lost your mind. No one wants to lose their mind. So protect it, don't think that it's just one video, one song, one party, one club scene, one photo. All it takes is enough of "It's just one..." to get you hooked. Your mind is precious, you are important to God. Protect your mind, and your body and soul will follow.

-Kazel Cordero

01/10/2019

#BattlefieldOfTheMind #HelmetOfSalvation #HeadGear