What Do You Want Me To Do, Fake It? - Apples of Gold - May 27, 2009 -vi-

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Apples of Gold
 

Radio Script for May 27, 2009

“What Do You Want Me To Do, Fake It?”

 

Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.

“What do you want me to do, fake it?”

“Yes, fake it.”

That’s what I told my daughter, who is working for me now that she’s done with high school.

I told her I want her to be positive at all times.  No whining.  No complaining.  No negativity.  I told her to be happy at work every day.

That’s when she said, “What do you want me to do, fake it?”

Okay, let’s break this down.  What exactly would she be faking?

Let’s say she comes into work one day and it’s raining and she’s tired and her car is acting up.  But since I want a positive attitude, she can’t walk around with a long face all day. 

So she doesn’t.  She reaches inside somewhere and flips the channel.  She smiles instead of frowns.  She laughs instead of cries.  She adopts an attitude of victory instead of defeat.

Yes, at first it’s like she’s faking it. 

But listen to this.  Faking it means changing the channel.  You literally change the path your mind is going down.  Instead of letting your mind continue down that negative path, you switch it to a positive path.

And it doesn’t matter if you think you’re faking it or not, your mind still changes.

Plus, it’s not really a matter of faking anything.  It’s just a matter of what you decide to focus on. 

For example, instead of thinking, “My stupid car was acting up on the way to work this morning,” you can think, “Thank God I have a car and a job.”

I’m not saying you ignore your car’s problem.  You still get it fixed.  But getting it fixed is not tied to being negative.  You can move forward and solve problems without letting them turn you into a sour pus-pocket of doom.

Yes, you can always find a downside, but you can always find an upside.  And finding the upside puts you in a better frame of mind for improving the downside.

Now back to this idea of faking it.  There’s an interesting new book out called “Management Rewired” by Charles Jacobs.  I’m not promoting the book, but I was fascinated by his studies of the brain.

He said the brain has 100 billion neurons that connect to one another in 40 quadrillion ways.  Whenever we think about something it causes synapses between neurons to fire. 

If you think, “Wow, another great day!” you’ve just built a neural network.  Now if you think that over and over again, the network becomes more deeply ingrained. 

Now listen to this.  When you think about something repeatedly, it actually changes the synapse structure of your brain.  Jacobs said it this way, “The threshold for firing at those synapses is lowered.”

So the more you think about something, the easier it is to think about it.  It’s like it digs ruts in your brain, and the deeper the ruts, the more likely your thoughts will go there.

And no matter where your ruts are now, you can change them.  Jacobs says, “The brain is very flexible.”  He says, “Physical exercise develops different parts of your body; mental exercise develops parts of your mind.  We are not victims of the neural networks we’ve inherited.  A pessimist can train himself to be more optimistic.”

Now listen.  The first thing that came to mind as I read this is Bible memorization.  If you know me at all, you know I am big into memorizing the Bible.

And now just imagine what that does to the synapses of your brain! 

Right now I’m memorizing the book of Colossians.  Over and over I’m running it through my brain.  Those same synapses are firing repeatedly with pure thoughts straight from the word of God.  I’m digging deep ruts in my brain with God’s word, and I believe that changes my thought patterns.  More and more my thoughts tend to slip into those ruts, which are actually the truth of the word of God.

I find that fascinating – and thrilling!

Now think about the power of this to change your life.  You decide what you will think about over and over, and it will actually change the way you think.

I think most people don’t take control of this.  They just let random thoughts dig their own ruts, or whatever thoughts are on the magazine rack or on TV or in their music.  They think about those things over and over, and it affects the way they think.

Well it’s time to take control of your thinking! 

And of course this is quite scriptural.  Philippians 4:8 tells us clearly what to think about.  It says to think about whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and whatever is admirable.  “If anything is excellent or praiseworthy,” it says, “think about such things.”

So choose to think on positive things.  Do it often and you will actually change the structure of your brain.

And yes, to get started you might just have to fake it.


Comments?

E-mail me:  dougapple@wave94.com.

May God bless you today!  With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.


© 2009 The Arrow’s Tip 
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)

Why “The Arrow’s Tip”?  Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold.  Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.”  I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.

Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL  32315
(850) 926-8000
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