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'My soul still remembers and sinks within me...' Lamentations 3:20
We have a small part of our brain called the hypothalamus. This part of our brain is where all our most difficult, scarring and traumatising memories are stored and I have spoken briefly of it before. When we have been through something painful, the physical residence of this memory is the hypothalamus.
It used to be a belief that our brains were fixed. Those with mental disabilities, illnesses or those who had experienced traumas were believed to be permanently scarred, affected or doomed to the chemical changes that these events or illnesses had marked on their brains. Of course, the Bible never bought into this, but always offered hope with the instruction, 'be transformed by the renewing of your mind.'
In recent years, scientists have made groundbreaking discoveries about the plasticity of the brain. That is, the understanding that the brain is not actually fixed but is moldable, malleable and wired to return to health. There are a number of books out there outlining these encouraging scientific breakthroughs (I would recommend The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge and Switch On Your Brain by Dr Caroline Leaf). These new findings offer hope to those with troubling pasts, emotional struggles and substantiate the Bible's assurance that personal, mental transformation is well within our grasp.
Amongst this emerging research is the new understanding that memories, too, are not fixed. Rather, they are malleable and subject to reinterpretation each time they are brought back to the conscious mind. This is significant for a number of reasons.
1. It offers hope for those scarred by trauma
2. It puts control back in our hands: we don't have to live and relive those most painful events
3. It confirms God's instruction to choose our thoughts carefully: we have the power to reinforce and re-traumatise ourselves by continuing to bring the painful memories to mind, or we can learn how to re-frame those memories in light of His love and receive God's healing *
In the verse from Lamentations above, we are given a hint at how the human mind operates.
Science recognises a thought as a cognitive event. A chemical impulse that marks a physical landscape on brain matter. In effect, we are continually shaping, inventing and reinventing ourselves based on what we choose to think, believe and meditate on. For those of us who struggle with negative emotional habits and thought patterns (depression, anxiety etc) we know all too well that the brain can reach a state of near perpetual negativity; a bias whereby we distort incoming data based on our pre-existing fears and disillusionment. Rather than seeing life for what it truly is, we distort it according to our fear, traumatic memories and subsequent pessimism. It can be a nasty habit and one that snowballs until our default setting seems to be misery.
Our Lamenting prophet demonstrates the pain that results from bringing back to mind those scarring events: as he recalls the pain of the past, his soul sinks within him. The more we bring to mind the negative events of our past; our perceived failings, our disillusionment, the darker and more depressed we will become.
But there is hope.
Neuroplasticity is God's proof that the redemption of the mind is scientific, tangible and attainable.
We can train ourselves back to peace.
The passage goes on to say:
'This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning.' vs. 21-23a
I want you to look closely at the sequence of mental events that take place in this passage. Following the recollection of the traumatic, afflicted memory, the writer's soul 'sinks within him.' As he moves to a new mental state, we witness the following:
1. Another recollection is brought to mind: the Lord's faithfulness
2. By switching his mind to the Lord and not the event, the prophet's soul goes from sinking to hopeful
3. Although the writer has experienced something very painful and real, there is the promise of something new. Something steady, available every morning: the Lord's compassions.
In these verses we are given a snapshot of how we can go about dealing with our own painful thoughts. How we can actually move from pain into peace.
The Lord is gentle and kind. It is as we recognise and translate His character into our traumas that we begin to be free of them. It's not easy. Life has hurt. And it has seemed to prove His lack of care. His unwillingness to intercept on your behalf. Perhaps you were abused as a child. Or witnessed the death of a parent. Perhaps you have been labelled with a mental illness. You feel that God has abandoned you.
Depending on the level of trauma you have endured, there may be what feels to be a unbridgeable rift between your pain and the belief that God is good. That's ok. Take your time. He will be gentle. He will bear with you. He can take your anger and your doubts. And He can show you where He was while you were suffering.
God has wired us for redemption and for healing. The brain's ability to change and heal itself has been scientifically proven.
You can be healed. Your pain can be replaced with the knowledge of the Lord's great compassion, which fails not. And as you learn to replace the painful thoughts; to turn your mind onto the mercy of God, you will experience healing and reclaim mental territory that you thought was lost.
God is good. He is for us. And His compassions never fail.
* It is here that I want to make a firm distinction between the natural (and often painful) process of working through the past vs being tormented by the continual reenactment of those painful events outside of the setting of a supportive, guided framework. Many victims of abuse have been suppressed into silence and a pivotal part of their healing is calling back the memories and speaking out. This is a necessary part of the healing process and not what I am addressing here.
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