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If you are struggling with mental health issues, if you're struggling in general,
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it does not mean you're not smart.
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It does not mean you're not capable.
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It does not mean you are weak.
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It just means you are human.
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Welcome to Renew and Transform, a podcast to renew and transform your
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mind and cultivate your leadership to live a life worthy of your calling.
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I'm your host, Mindset and Leadership Coach Moussa Mikhail.
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Let the renewal begin.
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Welcome to Renew and Transform.
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Thank you for tuning in.
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This episode I want to talk about one of the greatest issues in our
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society that's plaguing humanity across the globe, especially our
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youth, especially here in America.
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We're seeing a increase In mental health issues, an increase in
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violence, an increase in suicide, amongst many other things.
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And I want to talk about our peace of mind.
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As you probably realize for yourself, and myself as well, there are
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many things that steal our peace.
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Some of the main things are personal experiences, whether that's our
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relationships with people, our spouse, our loved ones, friends, co workers,
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whoever those are, it could be traumatic experiences, it could be even those
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experiences that are not very substantial but can affect us emotionally at, you
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know, driving in traffic, getting cut off, someone saying something that
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disrespected you or a co worker, whatever.
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Not acknowledging you or a boss or whatever the case is
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you can fill in the blanks.
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You have enough examples on personal experiences that steal
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your peace Sometimes the greatest deception is that we don't even
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recognize how unpeaceful we are.
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We don't take the time to reflect and look at it and ask ourselves, like,
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What really is stealing my peace here?
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And is it worth my peace?
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Is this worth my peace?
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Is that person cutting me off because they think they're in a hurry and
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they're going to get somewhere faster really worth my peace?
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Is what somebody said worth my peace?
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Is my, whatever my boss said really worth my peace?
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Depression is a big thing in our society.
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We, a lot of us have Experience a part of it to some extent, maybe the feeling
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of it, but not in the elongated state of depression, but there's depression,
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there's anxiety, there's stress, there's panic, there's so many things
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that can affect our mental health.
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Your mental health affects how you think.
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That's the biggest thing that our mental health does.
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This is a cycle.
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It affects how we think.
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And our thoughts and how we think affect how we feel.
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Our feelings and our emotions.
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Our thoughts influence this.
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Until you, realize this, you can start directing your thoughts rather than
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saying, these are just my thoughts.
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These are just my feelings.
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I have no control.
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That would be more of the victim mindset where you're powerless,
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but that's not the truth.
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That's not what the Bible says.
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That's not what God says.
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That's not what you need to hear.
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And that's not what you need to tell yourself.
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How you feel, your emotions will then affect how you act and what you do.
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Your mental health affects how you handle stress.
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Your capacity to handle stress.
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Your mental health affects how you relate to people.
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Whether that's your intimate relationships or just people
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in general, wherever you go.
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Your mental health affects how you bounce back or how you don't bounce back.
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Your ability to be resilient.
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Your ability to weather the storm.
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When you're in a dark, depressed place, your capacity to
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have resilience is lessened.
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It's thin.
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Easily breakable.
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Your mental health affects how you make choices and what choices you make.
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Your mental health affects how you cope.
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And your mental health affects how you choose your friends.
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And then we know our friends have a great impact on our brains and our
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mindsets unconsciously and consciously.
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We begin to behave like the people we spend the most time with.
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And here's a myth.
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Here's a myth that has been circulating society for a long time.
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And this is something that inspired me to want to talk about it and
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why this podcast is going to be about mindset a lot of the time.
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It's because.
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Mental health, and if you're struggling with mental health, you shouldn't be.
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If you're, even if you're a strong Christian, if you have the Bible,
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if you have Jesus, you shouldn't struggle with mental health.
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Or if you're a man, you're supposed to be strong, you shouldn't be, you shouldn't
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be struggling with mental health issues.
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Or if you're an adult, you should be able to just overcome any
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issue you have because of your age or whatever the case is.
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Or in some way that if you struggle, especially with mental health, that it's
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a negative thing or it's a bad thing.
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And that is a complete lie.
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With mental health, there's a lot of things that could be wrong.
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Improve them.
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There are many, it could be many things that we need, but the main things I
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found are first we need better friends.
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We need friends that encourage us and help us and guide us and speak life into us,
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that are able to pray for us, that are able to just weather those storms with us.
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More often than not we need more sleep, but the challenge is when you're
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already dealing with mental health issues That takes away from your sleep
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Which then affects your mental health even more because you're now deprived
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of sleep But a lot of times sleep allows things to come back online.
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That must be a high priority.
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We may need more exercise We know when we're in our head and we're
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dealing with a lot of things mentally, we need to activate our body.
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Get out of your mind and get into your body.
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Start activating your body.
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Start working out.
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Start moving as little as you can.
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Developed it over time.
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Consistency is the key.
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Just move your body.
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Get out of your head and move your body is the quickest way to I believe
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to get out of this habit or pattern of stress, depression, anxiety, you name it.
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A big thing is that society doesn't want to make as normal, but we are seeing
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efforts to make it more normal and more acceptable and more encouraged is therapy.
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If you've dealt with trauma in your life, it should be something that you
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definitely look into having some type of therapy where you can really dive deep.
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Into the history of your experiences, those traumas, those things, and
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how they affect your life now.
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And those coping mechanisms that you've developed when you were five
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years old, and younger or older, dealing with stress and dealing with
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trauma, those coping mechanisms might not support you now as an adult.
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They might only hinder you from having the intimate relationships that you really
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desire, and that you really deserve.
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It might hinder you from having effective performance in your career.
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It might hinder you in having the healthiest body you can have.
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Addressing these things from our childhood.
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Addressing our issues that we never fully grieved.
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Addressing those things, those losses, those pains in our life.
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Those suffering that we've experienced.
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That we never truly allowed ourself to grieve because society
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says you have to keep on going.
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You have to go to work now.
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You have to do this.
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You have to do that.
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You gotta keep moving.
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You gotta be strong for the family.
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And you never actually grieved.
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You never actually processed the pain.
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You never actually recognized or took a deep look and a deep
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dive into those things that are causing you to think a certain way.
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You those things that are making you act a certain way and feel a certain way, those
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things that have created your habits, and why you always produce the same results.
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Therapy can assist you with that.
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And even another thing that is definitely neglected in society today is nutrition.
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The ability to eat well can provide the nutrients we need for our brain to fire
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on all cylinders, to work properly.
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We need to feed our brain the things that it actually needs.
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If you are struggling with mental health issues, if you're struggling in general,
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it does not mean you're not smart.
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It does not mean you're not capable.
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It does not mean you are weak.
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It just means you are human.
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It is part of our experience.
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And it's most likely that you're trying to deal with it on your
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own, and you don't have to.
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Your life is always moving in the direction of your most dominant thoughts.
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The great news is, you, as a thinking human being, have been
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blessed with the ability and liberty to choose how you think.
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But so often, more often than not, We are reactive.
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We are operating from in a subconscious place on autopilot where Circumstances,
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life, people, our external life is Communicating to us and affecting
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how we think and what we think about.
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I think the average human sees 10, 000 advertisements a day on average.
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You are being conditioned to think about certain things Your life will go in the
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direction of your most dominant thoughts.
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Therefore, you need to start controlling what you think about the most.
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Intentionally choosing to think about what empowers you, to think
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about things that are above and good, like God, and morals, and your
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ethics, your values, your integrity.
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Start thinking about The things that will actually help you develop better habits.
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Start thinking about the people that you can serve and get out of your own
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head and get out of your own darkness and to serve someone who is even less
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fortunate than you start thinking about things that encourage you.
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Instead of the news, which might make you feel less than great.
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Start thinking about the quotes or scriptures or books or music, even movies
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and shows that actually inspire you to take action and learn more about yourself
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and your mind and why you do what you do.
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Your brain is constantly making connections and becoming
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efficient with those connections.
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It's like electricity creating a pathway.
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And once that pathway happens a few times, it starts getting easier
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and easier for your brain to pass.
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Those electromagnetic signals to each node in your brain, and you start developing a
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pattern, you start developing a habit, and because your brain is electricity, it's
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gonna follow the path to least resistance, the one that's so ingrained, the road to
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that there's already an engraved trail on.
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It doesn't want to go off trail.
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It wants to stay on the trail that you've been traveling on for the
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last 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, 50, 60 years.
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Because that's the same road it takes, the same thought pattern that your
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mind has been taking for decades.
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You have to intentionally choose, I'm going to take the harder way.
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I'm going to get off road.
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I'm going to get off this trail.
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I'm going to scale this side of this mountain because I
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don't want to think like that.
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And then what happens when you start taking a new trail over and over
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and over, you create a new trail.
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And then guess what?
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Your brain's going to take the path to least resistance.
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Once you solidify that trail, you're going to start
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habitualizing that thought process.
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You're not going to continue to think the way you used to think, but it takes
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that initial effort and intention to go off trail and fight the resistance long
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enough for you to not think the same way.
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If these negative thoughts are happening over and over and over,
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they become negative thought habits.
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Negative thought patterns.
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Those patterns then become negative feeling patterns.
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Those negative feeling patterns become negative action habits.
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Negative behavior patterns.
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Negative habits.
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And then that becomes negative.
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Produces your life, your habits produce your life.
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2 tells us to not conform to the pattern of this world, but to be
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transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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Do not conform to the patterns of this world if you're not
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intentionally creating your patterns.
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The healthy patterns that are written out and spelled out in the Bible, in
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Proverbs, in the way that we can think to live an honorable and righteous life.
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If you're not intentionally seeking out those patterns, you are going to
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be overcome by the world's patterns.
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Whatever the world tells you, whatever the media tells you, whatever social media.
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Tells you, whatever your friends tell you, whatever your family tell
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you, whatever your co workers tell you, whatever people say, whatever
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you see, and whatever you consume.
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Because those things determine how you think.
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Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed
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by renewing your mind.
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Your mind, one thought at a time.
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So I want to ask you, what are you fixing your thoughts on?
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What are you fixing your thoughts on?
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What are you fixing your mind on?
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The great thing about this neuroplasticity, you don't have to
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fix your mind on the former things.
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You have the ability to fix your mind on those things that can renew it.
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So you don't just stay the same, because if you do nothing, you'll get nothing.
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If you stay doing the same thing, you're going to get the same result.
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Before I wrap this up, one thing you can do to renew your mind is try giving your
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issues, try giving your troubles to Jesus.
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He can renew your mind.
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You have nothing to lose, but all to gain.
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Much love.
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Thank you for tuning in.
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Be a light and share this with someone you love and care about.
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And please subscribe and leave a review so we can reach more people.
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And remember, do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
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transformed by the renewing of your mind.
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Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is.
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His good, pleasing, and perfect will.