Your Spirit & Your Brain
Week 1: Flow
This week’s downloadable brain blessing:
Here are a few Week 1 blessings from past Brain classes. They all tend to come out differently, even though I’m using the same outline. You are welcome to use them as extra resources, or not, as you like.
Design reminder: Do you remember which Trinity type you are? It makes a difference in how you engage with everything, including your brain! Here is the resource page, in case you need a refresher:
2) Repletion exercise
At least once a week for each week of this class, I would like you to plan a time when you can arrange to enjoy something pleasurable for each of your five physical senses together at the same time. During the experience, focus on what you are feeling from your senses (not on texting or other distractions. FEEL it. Embrace the experience.)
You can post your intentional experience each week on the class blog site: (https://www.cynthiaharris.org/brainideas/repletion), and if you want to add any personal notes about how you enjoyed it, feel free to do that as well. My hope is to build up a large number of suggested experiences that others can draw from.
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3) Intentional Synchronization
Work on identifying & shifting areas where your brain is perceiving a reality that does not synchronize with God’s reality. (Meaning that you are FEELING something bad, either in the atmosphere, or relationally, in a situation, a place, and so on.)
Step One - See if you can identify in one or two words a “flavor.” Are you sensing Regret? Rivalry? Fear? Poverty spirit? Competition?
Step Two - Ask your spirit to work through your brain to show you God’s reality in the situation or place. Watch for any kind of understanding, a flash, a picture, a sense, or whatever your discernment tools are. Most of the time you will not feel better immediately. You’re just asking your spirit to get the ball rolling to shift the synchronization.
Step Three - Now reach for that divine reality emotionally. (This is the hard part!) Even though you are feeling the other, negative flavor, try to remember times when you experienced the good emotion strongly. Does God’s reality relate to Joy? Remember a vivid time that you felt Joy. Peace? Being loved? Ask your spirit to help anchor the emotional truth into your brain.
[It would help to sit down at some point & think of a whole set of memories & times that you can emotionally remember feeling wonderful, God-given emotions. Think of it as a tool kit!]
Step Four- Now ask your spirit to show you the deeper truth that is underneath this divine reality. Whatever the truth is, there is always a deeper truth, and it is pre-packed into your spirit.
Don’t stress if you aren’t getting anything, and don’t feel like you have to figure it out. We’re just developing the muscles for this! This is a game-changer.
EXAMPLE:
John is helping to plan a family reunion around the 75th birthday of his father. He is not close to his two older sisters, but the three of them are together now, at the home of their parents, working together to make the party happen. John is prepared to make a short speech in honor of his father when the party happens, and suggests that to his sisters, as they are planning the events for the party evening. One of the sisters makes a wry face, and says, looking sidelong at him, “Given your history with Dad, I don’t think you really need to be speaking about him in front of everyone.” Ouch. John is now off balance emotionally, and could respond a lot of different ways, as he is flooded with guilt, defensiveness, and lots of bad memories. He excuses himself to make a trip to the bathroom to regroup emotionally.
1) What is the flavor? Could be different things - I would identify it as Accusation, maybe Bitterness or Slander. Offense. Grudge-holding.
2) What is God’s reality here? John’s spirit helps to remind him that he is now clean of all his past, in Christ Jesus. He is a new creation in Christ, whose mercies are new morning by morning.
3) To reach for that truth emotionally, John remembers an intense worship experience he once had, as the congregation was singing, “I’m no Longer a Slave to Fear; I am a Child of God.” At the time, he was overwhelmed with a strong sense of being God’s son; of being clean and pure, and robed with the righteousness of Christ. Now, it’s harder to remember, but he plays the song in his head, and recalls the sense of dignity that he felt in identifying himself as a cleansed, righteous son of the most high God. He asks his spirit to help his brain anchor in THAT reality, rather than his sister’s “reality.”
4) What’s the deeper truth? John’s essence in Christ is unchanging since God created him, and he carries a facet of the light of the living God. This light remains, whether anyone else throws around petty accusations or not. He IS a living message from God, carrying a specific facet of God’s essence. Just by being present with his family, he is transmitting God’s gifts and messages to them, leaving a far greater deposit of God’s grace than any kind of speech would do.
By the time he comes back into the conversation with his sisters, he is at peace, and can make eye contact without flinching. He smiles, and helps out without either trying to defend himself or insisting on his right to talk. The whole thing becomes a non-event, and each of the three siblings give a little speech the night of the party, sharing their own perspective & love for their father.
If it had rolled differently, and John was still excluded from making a speech, he would still have maintained his sense of being a son. It wouldn’t have diminished him in any way. He would have finished out the family visit with dignity and peace, and gone home without having logged yet another family trauma. He has moved further into sonship and legitimacy in his own essence.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE:
Reba dressed more carefully than usual for work, looking ahead to the staff meeting. Her eyes sparkled as she applied an extra-careful makeup. Earlier in the week, her boss had stopped by her desk to commend her on a very successful project she had completed. “That was really good work, Reba,” he commented. Then he paused. “You know, now that Edwin has left the company, that office is going to be available. Do you have any interest in moving into his office?” Reba was thrilled. “The corner office with the big windows? I would love that!”
Now, at the meeting, her boss stood up to go through announcements. At the end of them, he paused. “Now that Edwin has moved on, his office is empty and ready to use again.” Reba took a big breath. Her boss continued, “So I have spoken with Nancy, and she will move into that office this afternoon.” He didn’t meet Reba’s eyes, and Nancy’s knowing smile showed that this had come out of a previous discussion. No one else on the team seemed to know about it, and they all congratulated Nancy, making conversation to finish out the meeting.
Reba felt her face flushing red, but worse, felt tears coming into her eyes. She scrambled for emotional balance.
Your turn. Think about 1) What flavor is Reba feeling? 2) What is the truth that her spirit might help to release? 3) How would you reach for that truth emotionally, in Reba’s place? 4)What might be a deeper truth?
Powerpoint from this week:
Just for fun:
This is a fun YouTube that has some nice visual beauty, and some good solid wisdom about running on the grateful side of life.
[If you use an ad-free browser like “Brave,” you won’t get the annoying advertisements.]