Even though I have wonderful friends who encourage me with words like, “your relationship with God is my goal,” I’m quick to remind them that we all have the same struggles. In fact, we’re all vulnerable to getting stuck inside our head! In a culture where the narratives pouring into our minds are dominated by our enemy, it should not surprise us that many of us are easily stuck inside our own head. It’s part of his diabolical plan. He wants us distracted so he can destroy us and subvert God’s glorious purpose for us. That’s why the Bible warns us:
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
1 Peter 5:8
Our enemy wants to destroy us—from the inside out—and what more effective way to do it than to invade our mind. And today he has ample opportunity through our ever-present electronic devices. Most of what we hear and see is NOT healthy for our mind. We are by and large a sedentary culture, and we have a lot of time to feed our mind—with useless, mindless content—which is making us even more mindless and useless. We are constantly connected—while driving, while working, and even when pumping gas! 99% of this content is not designed to satisfy our soul; rather it makes us more dissatisfied. Instead of becoming more “sober and vigilant” we’re becoming more checked out and more mentally fragile.
It’s a pandemic that’s disconnecting more and more folks from having real joy in the present moment.
In fact, many people are even too distracted to hold down a simple job, take care of their children, or even keep their home clean—much less focus long enough to do anything extraordinary or brilliant!
And consider this—have you ever heard anyone say that being stuck inside their head is a GOOD experience?
It’s NEVER been a place of joy for me! In fact, I’ve wasted more time stuck inside my head than I care to admit. When I’m stuck inside my head it’s ALWAYS a negative experience! I lose sleep AND time that I can never get back.
So I decided to tackle this problem and ask God for a Biblical solution. First, I wanted to see what secular mental health professionals were saying about how to get outside my head. Wow—did I discover a startling realization!
Secular mental health professionals say that the key to getting outside of our head is to deactivate the “me center” in our brain.
As a Christian, I believe I do a lot of good things for others and don’t generally think of myself as “me centered.” So this was a shocking discovery. In fact, I didn’t want to believe it was true about myself because—I try to be a good person and work hard to do good for others. But my friend, I want the truth more than I want to be stuck in my own mind, so I plowed forward with my research and read this interesting quote in Forbes Magazine:
“From the earliest exchanges between infants and parents, a SELF grows in relationship with those around them,” says Todd Essig, PhD, fellow Forbes contributor and practicing psychologist in NYC. “So too is the case in adulthood. We come to know ourselves in dialogue with others.”
Wow—secular mental health professionals recognize not only that “self” is the natural center we’re born with, but SELF also tends to DOMINATE HOW each experience and interaction with life affects us. Children see everything and every person—only as it relates to making their life better or worse. So, for example, when we’re stuck inside our head, our thoughts center around how people or events have affected us like—why a neighbor was a jerk to us, how to handle our unpaid bills, how unfair it is to us that someone we love died, why we don’t have more friends, etc. Note that when we’re “stuck inside our head,” we’re not typically stuck on thoughts about how tragic life events affect OTHER people.
Most would agree that adults are supposed to grow out of this self-centered approach to every personal interaction and every event in life. But we are seeing a cultural clash of epic proportions where individual feelings are becoming the ruling “truth” for society and creating confusion and manifest injustice. This crisis is creating some consensus even among secular mental health about how to get people outside their own head and back to functional reality.
Many of the secular scientists and mental health professionals are now actually agreeing on science-backed ways to get out of your head.
At the center of the recommendation is deactivating the “Me Center”of our brain; or the areas of our brain that are active when we’re having self-referential thoughts. Interesting, isn’t it?
As a method for deactivating the “me center,” they suggest solutions like meditation, which by the most basic definition, is simply engaging in a mental exercise for the purpose of reaching a heightened level of spiritual awareness. But what they don’t tell us is WHAT we are to think about in place of SELF in order to find this healthy level of spiritual awareness.
In addition to meditation, secular mental health professionals suggest learning to take the focus off self by helping others. Interestingly, their approach acknowledges the conundrum in this approach which is created by secular humanism:
“Lots of people have said that helping others is actually a selfish deed because it’s such a good way of helping yourself.” Forbes Magazine:
Another recommended solution for deactivating the “me center” is to encourage mindfulness. “Mindfulness” is supposed to allow us to examine our thoughts and decide what is true and false so we can get rid of the lies and dismiss them from our thought bank. However, the success of this therapy is necessarily determined upon what we determine is truth, right? If the truth is based upon what WE feel is true—won’t this take us right back into the “me center?”
So, can the “me center” be effectively deactivated by meditation, helping others, or mindfulness as prescribed by secular experts?
Well, it may provide a temporary fix. But, if I were to try these solutions (without engaging Biblical principles), I would need answers to the following questions:
WHAT do I MEDITATE on that will provide adequate satisfaction to replace the “me center?”
HOW can GIVING to others ever satisfactorily remove “me” from the me center if my giving, is in fact, FOR me?
HOW can MINDFULNESS help me deactivate the “me center” when spiritualism is whatever I think it is and I must rely upon MYSELF to discover MY own version of spirituality?
Without answers beyond “me,” don’t these solutions seem cruel? And for Christians who subscribe to secular solutions rather than looking for solid Biblical principles—we are playing right into the enemy’s plan. Understandably, there is great disenchantment with these “expert” solutions. The results are tragic. Rather than becoming more “sober and vigilant” like warriors in a battle, even our christian culture is becoming more checked out.
Because when we get stuck inside our head, we desperately NEED an escape!
We use methods to temporarily escape from our mind. For example, we “check out” by binging on entertainment, or ingesting substances to alter reality. Unfortunately, neither solves the problem. In fact, they make it worse. We inevitably find ourselves stuck all over again, and the more this cycle continues, the more dug in we get with this unhealthy pattern of thought. We’re simply thickening the prison walls of our mind.
Being stuck inside my head” is becoming such an accepted cultural excuse that it’s often being equated with having an incurable disease requiring radical treatment just to provide the individual with a modicum of functionality.
This is so scary!
In my office, I meet more and more people who are falling off the mental cliff because they are so stuck inside their own heads that they finally check out and engage in behavior causing irreversible consequences. Christians are no exception! Marriages are destroyed, relationships ruptured, and children are attempting suicide, addiction, increased crime, and every imaginable form of wasting a God-given life.
Learning to permanently get unstuck from inside our head is VITAL if we desire to experience the magnificent joy God promises us—isn’t it?
And so, after all my secular research, I turned my attention to God’s Word. What does HE say about how to get out of my head? Is it possible to break the cycle?
My friend, I’m so excited to share what God is teaching me. The truth breaks through and brings light! God makes it clear that IN THIS LIFE we CAN experience the “fullness of joy” as HE promises:
“You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Psalms 16:11
Tomorrow we will discuss what God’s Word says about breaking the cycle and living in true joy. We do NOT have to stay stuck inside our head!
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We must trust in God with all our hearts and lean not to our own understanding.