The Brain Change Program: Healing Anxiety Through Stories — Carol McLeod Ministries

I am a worrier. There are the daily worries like obsessing about if I said the right thing. Could I have said something better? Work demands my time and attention – but am I still giving my kids my best?  Am I falling short as a parent?  Then there are the bigger situational worries – the rough storms in life.  I released a book, but my son was hospitalized at the same time.  Will he be ok?  Will my book be ok?

To combat these worries, I must continue to remind myself of how the brain works in order to put into practice “taking every thought captive” (2 Cor. 10:5).  The paths in the brain we use most often become highways that the brain takes automatically whenever life throws us a curveball.  So, I have some large highways for worry that the brain likes to travel.  I know telling myself to “stop worrying” does not work.  That still puts the word “worry” in my brain, and that strengthens the worry highway, making things even harder on myself.  I need to change my focus!  I must replace rather than resist through willpower.  I must deliberately turn my brain away from the negative and focus on the positive to build up some strong pathways for hope and faith.  If I repeat this enough, hope and faith will become the large highway that my brain will automatically turn to, and the worry highway will weaken and become a small, less-traveled path. 

And one way to replace worry with faith is by turning to stories, specifically, the stories of the Bible.  Brain research shows that the brain cannot tell the difference between doing something for real or just imagining doing it in terms of how it changes your brain.  

You can build up or tear down brain highways in your imagination!  You enter a story through the imagination, and your brain fires as if you are in the story itself.  This changes you.  And if you insert yourself in a Bible story, that story becomes part of who you are.  

My favorite story to insert myself into is the story of the widow and the two mites (Mark 12:41–44, Luke 21:1–4) where Jesus was watching people bring their offerings.  Rich people were bringing in large amounts, but then a poor widow came in and gave two mites, worth a couple cents, but it was all she had.   Jesus was pleased and said she gave more than all the others because she gave sacrificially.  Whenever I second guess myself and wonder if I am giving enough – to my work, to my kids, to God – I imagine myself as this widow, putting my efforts into the offering box.  I may not have been able to give large amounts like some around me, but I gave what I could – my two mites -- and I imagine Jesus smiling at this offering.  I brought my two mites to a conversation, to my kids, to work, to God, and then the rest is up to God.  I can let go this anxiety in the image of a smiling Jesus.  The more I repeat putting myself in this story, the more automatic letting things go to God becomes.  I am changed.  I am less anxious.  

Another good story to insert yourself into is the story of Jesus calming the storm.  Imagine yourself as one of the disciples struggling with the boat – your muscles straining and getting ever more frustrated at the napping Jesus, but then he wakes and everything goes calm.    This begins to create a highway in your brain for trusting God in the storms.

It is also important to share our stories.  Revelation 21:11 says that we overcome the devil through the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.  And what is a testimony?  A story.  I need to be listening to people’s stories about how God has come through in their lives, and I need to be sharing my stories of the same.   I also must take the time to notice and remember the good things God does in my life to make it part of my story so I can share it.    My son will be ok.  My book is doing fine, and I am hearing encouraging testimonies on how it has helped change lives for the better.  

Are we imagining worst-case scenarios and constructing highways in our brains for anxiety, or are we rehearsing stories in our imagination that encourage hope, joy, and trust in God’s love and faithfulness? If you insert yourself in a Bible story, the story becomes part of who you are down to the physical level.  And when you listen to other’s testimonies, you change your own brain.  And when you share testimonies of God’s activity in your own life, you help change someone else’s brain in a way that helps their spiritual life.  In this way, stories assist us to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2) and help us find freedom from anxiety.