How to Keep Your Brain Young by H. Norman Wright

Author:H. Norman Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers
Published: 2020-12-16T00:00:00+00:00

PART TWO

CHAPTER 9

Worry on the Mind

The word worry comes from an Anglo-Saxon root meaning “to strangle” or “to choke.” When you experience anxiety, your body responds. Usually, your muscles tighten and your heart races. Worry has been defined as the thinking part of anxiety, as a series of thoughts and images that are full of emotion—all negative. These thoughts are rarely uncontrollable, but they focus on an event that has an uncertain outcome. The worrier is convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that the outcome will be negative.

There are many ways to understand or describe worry. Here are just a few:

•Worry is thinking turned into poisoned thoughts.

•Worry is a small trickle of fear that meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.

•A church billboard in Colorado described worry as “a darkroom where negatives develop.”

•Worrying about something is like having a brain cramp that won’t let go of your worry. The more you worry, the more you cut a groove in your brain, and the more worry finds a home in which to reside.

•Worry is like an invading army that creeps ashore at night and eventually controls the country.

Worry is actually a kind of fear—a special kind. To create it, we elongate fear with two things: anticipation and memory. We then infuse it with our imagination and feed it with emotion. And then we have our creation.1 And our brain wraps its arms around it.

There are many diseases in our world today, but worry is an old one—a disease of the imagination. It’s like a virus that slowly and subtly takes over and dominates our life. When that happens, our ability to live the way we want to is diminished. A Swedish proverb says, “Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.”

Many Scripture verses describe the effects of worry and anxiety. And many other verses reveal that a worry-free life reaps many positive rewards. Notice the contrast in the verses that follow:

•Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up (Proverbs 12:25).

•A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones (Proverbs 14:30).

•A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit (Proverbs 15:13).

•All the days of the oppressed are wretched, but the cheerful heart has a continual feast (Proverbs 15:15).

•A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones (Proverbs 17:22).

•Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts (Colossians 3:16).

Notice what we’re commanded to do with the message of Christ—let it dwell. Who or what do you dwell on in your mind? When your mind dwells on everything that could go wrong, your biochemistry is affected, leading to an adrenaline response. This adrenaline rush can make you prone to even greater anxiety!

This biochemical response is not a malfunction of the central nervous system; it is a completely normal response.

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