Who Switched Off My Brain?: Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions Hardcover – January 1, 2009

This is a MUST read. Christian, if you aren't experiencing victory in some area of your life (anger, anxiety, stress management, whatever it is...), this has answers for you. Read it & APPLY what you learn.

This book "Who Switched Off My Brain" is a very insightful, spiritual and scientific book on how your thoughts and emotions can affect your physical health. Dr. Leaf writes about the scientific reasons for why it is so important to detoxify your inner thoughts, and also references scripture passages that back up her scientific research. She discusses the importance in confronting repressed anger, unforgiveness and any other form of toxic thinking. She also discusses the importance of expressing emotions appropriately in a safe, non-judgemental environment. It is important "to acknowlege your feelings, face them, and deal with them in a positive way as soon as you can...adopt a policy of admit it, quit it and beat it." Another interesting topic she addresses is the importance of integrity, "What you do and say on the outside must reflect what you think on the inside." She goes on to discuss the "Dirty Dozen", twelve areas of toxic thinking that need to be addressed, and at the end of each chapter, she offers a way to do a "Brain Sweep" to clear your mind of these toxic issues by gathering information, reflecting, journaling, revisiting, and reaching beyond the negative thought patterns.Words cannot express how much this book has helped me. I am in a stage of my life where I have some incredibly amazing things happening in my life at the same time as some very incredibly challenging situations. I was looking for a way to really be present in the good moments, and not let thoughts of the challenging situations put a damper on my happiness. This book has been an answer to a prayer, and has really provided me with the tools I need to clear my mind of the toxic thoughts and emotions, and reach beyond them to what is next. I am looking forward to a contented, healthy future!I HIGHLY recommend this book. It is extremely informative, thought-provoking, and life-changing. My heavily highlighted copy is sitting on my nightstand, and I have been referring to it quite regularly. Thank you Dr. Leaf for really making a difference in my life though your wonderful book!!

I saw Dr. Leaf on an interview with Sid Roth and was very intrigued. I ordered her book and found out a few days later that our pastor had plans to read "Who Switched off My Brain?" and watch the videos that go along with it as our next teaching series. I was thrilled! My friends and I can not get over the depth of information that Dr. Leaf shares. She has been a brain scientist for around 25 years, yet she presents the information in such an easy to understand way. And guess what? Science is finally catching up with what God has been telling us in His Word for thousands of years!!! We are all so excited to get to each class! I am extremely grateful to the Lord for leading me to this very helpful information. In our current culture there is such information overload that we can go years "maxed-out" and not even realize how amazingly stressed we are! Dr. Leaf's "Brain Sweep" exercises at the end of the later chapters are very challenging but well worth the effort! It's incredible what toxic thoughts, emotions,and words, etc. that we have lurking in the dark recesses of our conscience and subconscience. These harmful toxins need to be removed so that we can be restored to optimal mental and emotional health.I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone interested in de-stressing their thought life, and clearing away the emotional clutter. I also recommend the accompanying videos, they really help. Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...". Don't be destroyed due to a lack of knowledge on the amazing, scientifically proven, working of the brain. We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Dr. Caroline Leaf's message is about how thoughts and emotions physically affect the brain and about her plan for healing and reversing toxic thinking in 21 days. Her explanations of brain science are quite fascinating, and her presentation of the prospect for detoxifying the brain is exciting. Dr. Leaf's enthusiasm for her subject is contagious, especially if you are fortunate enough to see her interviewed on TV. Certainly, Dr. Leaf is teaching a process that can be accomplished, but, as this concise book reveals, it will not be without a good deal of devoted mental work."Thoughts are basically electrical impulses, chemicals, and neurons," we learn. Inside the brain, thoughts look like trees. A scraggly, black, exfoliated neuron/tree shows the effect of toxic thoughts. A full and flourishing tree represents a healthy thought/neuron. These thoughts/neurons that have been established in our brains have a tremendous effect on our personalities and upon our physical and spiritual health.Dr. Leaf sorts the types of negative toxic thinking into 12 categories that she calls "the dirty dozen": These are toxic thoughts; emotions; words; choices; dreams; seeds; faith; love; touch; seriousness; health; and toxic schedules.The first step in Dr. Leaf's 5-step process of correcting toxic thinking she calls GATHERING. This has to do with making conscious decisions about whether you will let a thought become a part of you. This decision is more important than it may sound because unless we deal with all sensory information that we experience, it will set off chemical reactions that will affect WHO WE ARE, one way or another. A second step called REFLECTING also has to do with taking responsibility for thought life, especially applying wisdom in recognizing negative thoughts. When you bring thoughts into conscious awareness, they become "labile" and the process of protein synthesis that your body uses to make and hold new thoughts can actually be interfered with by means of your own conscious willed decisions about whether or not you choose to change your thoughts. One's goal should be to work toward deep, intellectual, non-toxic thought. In a third step, Dr. Leaf explains JOURNALING and encourages the use of a special diagrammatic type of exercise. Next, one REVISITS what one has written down and asks oneself some questions that Dr. Leaf has designed to help you actually change and rewire your thoughts. At this point, you "neuroplastically retranscribe" your thoughts. This step Dr. Leaf compares with the "renewing of your mind" in Romans 12:2. She says, "It's exciting and empowering to know that we have the mental and intellectual capacity to do this process ourselves, with the help of God's grace and His unfailing wisdom. We have been given a divine gift--an opportunity to break free from the chains of toxic events in our past or lies we have believed about ourselves and our potential." It is by consciously becoming aware of our thought lives that we can re-transcribe and change neuronal networks that have become toxic or will become toxic.The last step called REACHING is about lining up your thought decisions with your "confession" and actions. Dr. Leaf's explanation of this step sounds a lot like she is describing a free-will Faith-decision, a decision to believe and act upon the now firmly implanted healthy thoughts in the brain. She speaks of how we are not controlled by our genes, rather, the power of a thought--an epigenomic process--can change our genes. She cites Proverbs 23:7, "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he."In trying to implement Dr. Leaf's 5-step process, I encountered difficulty which I felt was possibly due to the too-generalized quality of her explanations of the process and especially of her "Brain Sweep" questions in the exercises.Also, I found that carrying out just one 5-step exercise with regard to a dream that I'd had was very time-consuming. Just journaling and diagramming my dream took me over an hour. (At one point, in passing, Dr. Leaf seems to suggest that the journaling can take as little as 15 minutes. Probably if you are dealing with a non-dream category of "the dirty dozen," like thoughts or feelings, you could do one of these complete diagrams and the other steps within 15-20 minutes, or less.)Dr. Leaf states on p. 80 that one must work intensively 7 to 12 times a day with the 12 categories of toxicity in order to see definite brain change within 21 days. This seems to contradict her statement on p. 63 where she says that research has shown that about 7 deep-thinking exercises over a period of 21 days helps create long-lasting change with regard to changing protein synthesis, which is to say, change with regard to making any one thought become consolidated, synthesized, and a part of you. (Maybe she means 7 deep-thinking exercises daily?) I'm a little confused by these two statements as to what amount of time will be needed for getting results. In any case, I can't imagine how anyone could find time to carry out the 5-step process 7 times a day (amounting to at least more than 2 hours time altogether), much less 12. To make time for one 5-step exercise once a day would be quite possible, however, for most people who have work and other responsibilities of one sort or another. It seems that progress can be made slowly, if necessary, over a period of more than 21 days.I think Dr. Leaf needs to provide some more concrete and explicit instructions and illustrations for the 5-step process. The presentation she gives of how the inter-related thought and brain processes work is very adequate, but it is the HOW-TO aspect of Dr. Leaf's brain control and detox METHOD that seems described in a too sweeping way.Dr. Leaf's book presents exciting information and useful tools. For the sake of mental health, everyone could benefit from learning what she has to teach about thought processes in the brain. Just working with her exercises as often as possible would surely have some positive and curative effects. NOTE that she has a lengthy teaching tape package available from her web site that would probably provide additional helpful illustrations about how to apply all her teachings.

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You must read this book. Get more and give them to friends and relatives. It will help them a lot in Doctors' bill.Everyone should know the value of your " God-given " brain and use it right.

Questo è uno dei testi più innovativi che ho leto negli ultimi anni, spiega in modo semplice e chiaro il funzionamento del cervello, inoltre regalandoci spunti interessantissimi su come lavorare sopra e con i nostri pensieri.

I found this book absolutly amazing! I have always had trouble with controlling my thoughts, because I am ADD and also suffer from Clinical Depression. This book has really helped me to catch those thoughts before they get toxic! My body has truly suffered because of the depression and the thoughts that go with it and now I understand why my body has suffered and I hope I'm not too late to do something about it. The author is an amazing writer, scientist and Christian. I've also read her other book called "The Gift in You" and that has taught me so much about myself as well. I would recommend both these books to others.

I highlighted every page! Such a good read!As a Christian Counsellor it was good to read the science behind God’s truths! Great hands on exercises in the back of the book to start your clients on!! (Or yourself) We are fearfully and wonderfully made! Awesome book.