Deadly Emotions

posted by Nikie

Hello everyone,

I'm listening to this audiobook. (I use Audible :-) It's fascinating. Check it out.

Nikie

=> Deadly Emotions <=

by Teresa McBean

These message notes are largely the inspiration gleaned from Dr. Don Colbert, M.D., author of Deadly Emotions, an excellent book on this topic that I recommend you read. I haven’t sited each page reference, because it would be awkward as a speaker to do so, but you need to understand that much of this is a quote or a paraphrase from his writings.

Three scripture passages that I used to challenge the audience: Matthew 11:28-30, Ezekiel 11:19-20 and Philippians 4. If you study them, I think you get the sense of where I was headed: Jesus didn’t come to make life tougher on us, but to give us rest. We don’t know what he’s talking about in this area, so we need to learn from him what this means. God told us that our old heart needs a transplant, and He promises to do so – for those that believe. Finally, Paul is telling us in Philippians that we are a people who are to learn how to: rejoice, be grateful, experience peace, and, if all that isn’t enough for us – have our hearts and minds guarded by Jesus himself! Folks, when we come to believe IT IS SUPPOSED TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!

But too many of us, claiming to believe, live lives of quiet desperation, filled with anxiety, anger and depression. Something is wrong with this picture. At NorthStar Community, we recognize that life is messy. So please don’t hear me saying we’re supposed to get all straightened out and walk around in a state of perpetual tranquility. But let’s also not get complacent, and come to accept a “less than” life. God has made some promises to us. He’s asked something of us too. He’s told us that the key to accessing the promises comes in the believing. Do you have your key?

Now, some rough notes on the physiology of anxiety…

“Your body is the living reality of everything you are, and everything you experience happens to all of you, not just to your brain.” Dr. Don Colbert

What we feel emotionally often becomes HOW we feel physically. (What if we don’t know what we’re feeling, or how to respond appropriately to those feelings?) In fact, a person experiences an emotion in the form of chemical reactions in the body and the brain. These chemical reactions occur at both the organ level, and the cellular level.

Dis-ease is emotional and spiritual discomfort. It is disharmony in the soul. We are in a state of dis-ease in our country today. We consume 5 billion tranquilizers, 5 billion barbiturates, 3 billion amphetamines, and 16 thousand tons of aspirin every year.

Mind and body are linked. Stress is the body and mind’s response to any pressure that disrupts normal balance. It occurs when our perceptions of events don’t meet expectations AND WE DON’T KNOW HOW TO PROPERLY MANAGE OUR REACTION TO THE DISAPPOINTMENT.

For example:
1. When we live in opposition to how we were created to live – God’s design. (See Matthew 11:28-30) – this is Jesus’ intention for us.

2. Habituation – stress, tremendous stress, even when we desire to stop bad habits…remember, our bodies get used to living a certain way – even if it is bad for us. So making any decision to change will put us, physiologically, in a state of dis-ease. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t change. But what it does mean is that we need to recognize that when we do change, it is stressful on our bodies, and there are always consequences for that.

Certain emotions release hormones into the body that impact our bodies all the way down to the cellular level.

Stress, anxiety, anger – all release hormones to signal the body that it is under duress. The body does not know or care what caused the stress. All the body knows is that it’s stress. (Marathon – scary movie – sleep deprivation – doing drugs – exercise-induced stress – watching your dad and mom duke it out in the den – same stuff – all produces a stress response in the body. Even good things, that are new and different, produce a stress response.)

Stress expresses itself as resistance, tension, strain or frustration, throwing off our physiological and psychological equilibrium and keeping us out of sync. Long Term, it becomes disabling. Please refer to the bullets in the message outline for February 18 th, 2007.

Let me talk to you about neuropeptides. Our cells have these teeny tiny neuroreceptors that are a perfect fit for neuropeptides. The brain produces the neuropeptides and sends them flying along the nervous cells through the body. Think of these as keys. Essentially, according to Dr. Pert, these are “bits of brain floating through the body.” So the brain rushes down to the cells and the immune system receives the keys and the cells know in nanoseconds what your brain is experiencing emotionally. If your brain interprets a physical event as anger, fear, or depression, every cell knows instantly. These cells also have a memory. So if you have a history of anger, fear, and depression, your cells are like oh yeah, that again. I know this. This is comfortable. This message is easy to receive. Technically speaking our memory lies in the cells of our body as much as in our brain!!!!

Fear triggers more than 1400 known physical and chemical stress reactions and activates more than 30 different homones and neurotransmitters.

Stress calls the hypothalamus, pituitary gland and adrenal gland into action and they shoot our adrenaline also called epinephrine. Heart rate increases, colon is stimulated, you sweat, your bronchial tubes dilate, and so on.

Elevated levels teach the body to produce too much of these hormones. Initially, this makes a person feel great – wired. After all, the body thinks it’s under attack, it gets alert, etc. eyesight sharpens, digestion shuts down, muscles fire away, brain is focused. This is good for a short period of time but not sustainable. It is costly.

This leads to high blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, increased triglycerides, elevation of blood sugar, insulin, bone loss, salt retention, fat retention, reduce muscle mass, and gals, make your skin age before its time. It also impairs memory and learning and destroys brain cells.
The perpetual release of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol can sear the body in a way that is similar to acid searing metal. (Again, a quote from Dr. Colbert.)

People habituate to these levels, and get addicted, and we develop a state of dependence on stress neurohormones – a workaholic gets sick on holidays and weekends, sleeps all weekend – withdrawal. Stressed families get used to being stressed, so if things are calm, someone has to stir things up.

Hostility, in addition to all this, actually causes everything in our body to constrict. Leading to heart attacks if prolonged.

So why am I telling you this? Because coming to believe requires us to take this information seriously, and consider this: I could be going about my life all wrong. It’s possible that we have said we believe when in truth, we’ve merely acknowledged the existence of God. At a minimum, living life stressed should give us pause for concern. We need to ask ourselves – do we really believe????

One other thought: Perpetual stress could kill us. Scriptures indicates that perpetual stress is not what Jesus was intending when he invited us to believe. His expectation is that coming to believe will provide rest for the soul. How is your soul?