Having a Heart in a Sometimes Heartless World
Day 189 – Week 27 at a glance
Scripture focus: Make no mistake – the enemy’s ultimate aim is to obliterate you. Rick Renner’s amplified translation of John 10:10
This week we looked at discouragement, depression, anhedonia, regret, temptation, shortcuts, and the neurology of emotion. Whew! We’ve been busy. Highlights include some essential definitions:
1. Depression – an empty state, not characterized by an emotional experience, an inability to experience a full range of emotions, decreased responsiveness to our environment emotionally
2. Anhedonia – inability to experience pleasure
3. Temptation - a suggested shortcut to achieve that which we believe will ultimately be for good
4. Amygdale – almond-shaped structure behind the mid-brain that controls the body’s response to emotion
5. Glial cells – virtual vacuum cleaner for the brain
6. Neocortex – the thinking part of the brain
7. Emotional hijacking – what happens when the amygdale runs wild and gains control of the brain
Of course, none of these definitions is the actual point of this week’s devotions. Each concept is an illustration of our personal vulnerability. The enemy has come to kill, steal, and destroy. And sometimes, we play into his hand. We were created to have a wide range of emotional expression. So when we find ourselves depressed and anhedonic – we’re ripe for the picking.
We were created to wake up each morning, feel the cool breeze on our face and think – “My, how God loves me.” Knockout roses, sunrises and sunsets, the kindness of a stranger – all are moments that should spark a highly charged emotional response of gratitude.
But if we’re cranky and crotchety, distracted and disconnected – we miss these moments of grace. Instead, we focus on bad drivers and inconveniences. We notice the slights and ignore the unmerited favors of others. Our brain attends to the bad, and soon, it’s all we notice.
Do you realize the implications? Truly, we’re rewriting history in our brains. We’re creating a memory bank that affirms our bad believing and supports our arrogant entitlement to behave badly. Soon, the only emotions we care about are our own. We feel entitled to tell people how we feel, but unfortunately, we really don’t have an accurate handle on that. Because all we’re feeling is what we’ve reinforced repeatedly.
The gratitude, grace, mercy, joy, peace, patience, and all the other blessings have been swept away by our eager beaver glial cells. Once the moments of gratitude are ignored, they are actually lost to us as memories.
My oh my! “A fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into Ollie!”
But wait. That’s only part of the story. More on the good news next week.
This completes the one hundred eighty ninth day of our three hundred sixty five day journey. May your journey draw you nearer to God, and closer to your true God-created identity.
Recommended reading: 1 Chronicles 5 in the morning; Acts 25 in the evening
This week we looked at discouragement, depression, anhedonia, regret, temptation, shortcuts, and the neurology of emotion. Whew! We’ve been busy. Highlights include some essential definitions:
1. Depression – an empty state, not characterized by an emotional experience, an inability to experience a full range of emotions, decreased responsiveness to our environment emotionally
2. Anhedonia – inability to experience pleasure
3. Temptation - a suggested shortcut to achieve that which we believe will ultimately be for good
4. Amygdale – almond-shaped structure behind the mid-brain that controls the body’s response to emotion
5. Glial cells – virtual vacuum cleaner for the brain
6. Neocortex – the thinking part of the brain
7. Emotional hijacking – what happens when the amygdale runs wild and gains control of the brain
Of course, none of these definitions is the actual point of this week’s devotions. Each concept is an illustration of our personal vulnerability. The enemy has come to kill, steal, and destroy. And sometimes, we play into his hand. We were created to have a wide range of emotional expression. So when we find ourselves depressed and anhedonic – we’re ripe for the picking.
We were created to wake up each morning, feel the cool breeze on our face and think – “My, how God loves me.” Knockout roses, sunrises and sunsets, the kindness of a stranger – all are moments that should spark a highly charged emotional response of gratitude.
But if we’re cranky and crotchety, distracted and disconnected – we miss these moments of grace. Instead, we focus on bad drivers and inconveniences. We notice the slights and ignore the unmerited favors of others. Our brain attends to the bad, and soon, it’s all we notice.
Do you realize the implications? Truly, we’re rewriting history in our brains. We’re creating a memory bank that affirms our bad believing and supports our arrogant entitlement to behave badly. Soon, the only emotions we care about are our own. We feel entitled to tell people how we feel, but unfortunately, we really don’t have an accurate handle on that. Because all we’re feeling is what we’ve reinforced repeatedly.
The gratitude, grace, mercy, joy, peace, patience, and all the other blessings have been swept away by our eager beaver glial cells. Once the moments of gratitude are ignored, they are actually lost to us as memories.
My oh my! “A fine mess we’ve gotten ourselves into Ollie!”
But wait. That’s only part of the story. More on the good news next week.
This completes the one hundred eighty ninth day of our three hundred sixty five day journey. May your journey draw you nearer to God, and closer to your true God-created identity.
Recommended reading: 1 Chronicles 5 in the morning; Acts 25 in the evening
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