Switch on Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health (11 page)

that gives us perspective and wisdom and the opportunity to

connect with God. This is a state of mind in which we switch

off to the external and switch on to the internal.

In this deeply intellectual state, involved networks remain

active, and the shifting between them remains active, but it is a

different kind of activity. It is more focused and introspective.

So when our brain enters the rest circuit, we don’t actually

rest; we move into a highly intelligent, self-reflective, directed

state. And the more often we go there, the more we get in

touch with the deep, spiritual part of who we are. I believe

God has created this state to directly connect us to him and

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Entering into Directed Rest

to develop and practice an awareness of his presence. As the

Scripture says, “Keep awake (give strict attention, be cautious

and active) and watch and pray, that you may not come into

temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”

(Matt. 26:41 AMP).

The DMN is a primary network that we switch into when

we switch off from the outside world and move into a state of

focused mindfulness. It activates to even higher levels when

a person is daydreaming, introspecting, or letting his or her

mind wander in an organized exploratory way through the

endless myriad of thoughts within the mind. It’s a directed,

deeply intellectual focusing inward and tuning out the out-

side world. It is a cessation from active external, which is

like the Sabbath when we switch off from the world and

focus on God.

In this directed rest state, you focus inward, you introspect,

and you appear to slow down; but actually, your mental re-

sources speed up and your thinking moves onto a higher level.

When you think in this way, when you pause your activity

and enter into a directed rest, you will emerge far ahead of

where you would have been if you just operated within the

realms of a shifting, shuffling, limited conscious, cognitive

mind. This is the state of being still and knowing that he is

God (Ps. 46:10).

The DMN, which used to be thought of as
dark energy
in

the brain, is activated into ever-higher states when we engage

in self-referential activity. Brain imaging experiments show

that there is a persistent level of background activity when

a person is in a state of directed rest.4 This includes recollec-

tions, ruminations, imaginations, and self-perceptions; and

it involves the ability to focus on a specific memory, thinking

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HOW TO SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN

through things from different angles while still being solu-

tion focused. It is very important in planning future actions.5

In fact, miswiring of brain regions involved in the DMN,

leading to all kinds of ups and downs in the DMN, may even

be part of disorders ranging from Alzheimer’s to schizophre-

nia to other neuropsychiatric disorders. Research is starting

to show that, for example, brain areas that atrophy and die

in Alzheimer’s overlap with major centers of the DMN. Pa-

tients with depression show decreased connectivity between

certain regions of the DMN and the emotional areas of the

brain. And in schizophrenia, many areas of the DMN showed

increased activity levels.6

Regular meditators—by this I mean those who have ad-

opted a disciplined and focused, reflecting thought life in

which they bring all thoughts into captivity—show that their

DMN is more active and that there is more switching back

and forth between networks.7 This means the brain is more

active, growing more branches and integrating and linking

thoughts, which translates as increased intelligence and wis-

dom and that wonderful feeling of peace. God also throws

in some additional benefits such as increased immune and

cardiovascular health.

When we pray, when we catch our thoughts, when we mem-

orize and quote Scripture, we move into this deep meditative

state. This great state of mind is also activated when we intel-

lectualize deeply about information—perhaps what we are

studying or a skill we are developing in our job. We are highly

intellectual beings created to have relationship with a highly

intellectual God. We should never underestimate how brilliant

we are and that we are only limited by how we see ourselves.

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In His Great Mercy

In his great mercy, God has wired into the design of our brain

these circuits that are spearheaded by the default mode net-

work (DMN) we need to regularly access to keep connected

to our spirits and to be able to follow the leading of the Holy

Spirit—a time of ceasing from our own activity, ceasing from

our own efforts (Heb. 4:9–10). Our minds need time to under-

stand what our spirits already know.

In the busyness of life and the flurry of everyday activity,

we expose ourselves to the possibility of developing a chaotic

mindset with the net result of neurochemical and electro-

magnetic chaos in the brain. This feels like endless loops and

spirals of thinking that can easily get out of control. When

we activate the DMN, however, it is almost like a Sabbath

in the brain, which is a cessation from the conscious flurry

of work and a withdrawal into the depths of our mind. It is

like a mental rebooting process to reconnect with who we are

and with our Savior to bring perspective to the issues of life.

The Sabbath in the Brain

In fact, when we don’t frequently slow down and enter this

rest state, this
Sabbath
in the brain, we disrupt natural func-

tions in the brain. Research shows that when we don’t en-

gage in this disciplined and focused self-reflective pattern of

thinking that activates the DMN, we may experience negative

self-esteem, depression, worry, anxiety, and health issues, and

over-focus on generalized and short-term memory issues. We

may get stuck, unable to cope, and have a tendency to focus on

the problem and not the solution. In fact, as things go wrong

in the processing of information in the default mode network,

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HOW TO SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN

the mishandled data is passed on to other networks in the

brain where it creates additional problems.8 These additional

problems can be experienced as memory issues, cloudy and

fuzzy thinking, anxiety, depression, and many other mani-

festations including neuropsychiatric disorders.

The Task Positive Network

In line with the amazing order and balance God created in

everything, we find this default mode resting network is bal-

anced by the task positive network (TPN). The TPN supports

the active thinking required for making decisions.9 So as we

focus our thinking and activate the DMN, at some point in

our thinking process we move into active decision-making.

This activates the TPN, and we experience this as action. In

my 21-Day Brain Detox Plan (discussed in part 2), I call this

action an
active reach
. Brain research—specifically the sci-

ence of thought10—shows that action completes the cycle of

building up and breaking down thoughts. We see this in the

Scriptures as well: “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).

What is very interesting, and sobering, however, is how our

DMN and TPN networks, as well as the balance between the

two, are thrown off when we choose to be toxic. Toxic negative

thinking produces increased activity in the DMN, and activity

in the TPN decreases. This results in maladaptive, depressive

ruminations and a decrease in the ability to solve problems.

This makes us feel foggy, confused, negative, and depressed.

God is a God of order and balance, and he has fashioned

our spirit, soul, and body this way. So it is quite simple; when

we don’t follow his ordinances, there will be consequences.

The brain moves into an unbalanced state, producing neu-

rochemical and electromagnetic chaos. “For where you have

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Entering into Directed Rest

envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every

evil practice” (James 3:16 NIV).

Our Brain Follows Our Mind

Studies using imaging techniques show that the DMN ac-

tivates abnormally in individuals with depression.11 Other

studies show that in depressed individuals, the front middle

part of the brain (anterior medial cortex) has increased activ-

ity.12 This means that although their ruminations increased,

this good sign was thrown into disarray by decreased activity

in the middle-back part of the brain (the posterior medial

cortex). When there is decreased activity in the posterior

medial cortex, a pattern of dissociation occurs and there

is a tendency to move away from being clear and specific in

thinking about memories toward focusing on overly general

memories.13

What this means is that when rumination turns into un-

productive brooding and negative issues are blown out of

proportion, it is detrimental to the brain and to good life

choices. When this happens, healthy focused introspection

activating the DMN turns from a coping-and-solution focus

to a passive-and-maladaptive focus, which can result in wor-

rying, anxiety, and depression.

This gives us scientific proof that we need to have the mind-

set expressed in Philippians 4:8: “Finally, brothers and sisters,

whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever

is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything

is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (NIV).

By following this perfect advice from God’s Word, you can

bring back the balance between the default mode network

(DMN) and the task positive network (TPN).

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