When you are dealing with situations, you have 2 categories in your mind: This is good, or this is bad. Everything you encounter is subconsciously placed in one of those two categories. Either this is good, I like it, this feels good, I’m happy about it … or …. this is bad, I don’t like it, I’m worried about it or stressed about it. And for my sisters who tend to be a bit of a control freak, I bet anything you don’t fully know, see, understand, or have complete control of tends to promptly be put in the “this is bad” category as well. We go through our whole lives sorting our experiences in this way. As we’re coming to the end of this month of life, we typically compile the experience into a packaged deal and label it good or bad. Was this month a good month or a bad month? For most of us using this natural sorting system, the month gets labeled as bad. Why? Because negative memories are stronger than positive memories. Bad days are remembered in bold with tremendous detail and emotion. We can replay a conversation that hurt us word for word, but the conversation that encouraged us is quickly forgotten. Sadly, when we pile up enough of these labeled bad months, we end up with a bad year. And with an accumulation of bad years, we’re left feeling like we have a bad life. But goodness gracious, don’t we really have a good life? I mean really, isn’t it even far better than good? There’s so much more that it right, that is good, and that is working than that which is wrong, bad and not working. The problem is, the things that are not working for you are so darn magnified. Your entire body can be working perfectly and you never notice what doesn’t hurt. But if you have a tiny tooth that is hurting, it’s absolutely all you can feel. You could be surrounded by a hundred excellent drivers, but that one idiot on the road is the one you’re talking about. So, it really has me thinking … our categories for life aren’t really working for us. If everything is either good or bad, and bad gets so much more weight than the good, we’re truly in danger of a depressing, overwhelming, sad and disappointing existence. I love studies on how our thoughts work. I’m absolutely amazed by the complexity of all that is happening inside our brains that make us either feel happy or sad, excited or fearful. One study was done on mice tracking two distinct circuits of neurons involving positive and negative memory association. Scientist found that electrical signals among one group of neurons actually strengthened as the mice learned to associate a certain sound with sweet sips of sugary water. A different circuit responded when the mice were taught that another sound preceded a little electrical zap. Eventually, the mice were responding to the different sounds with either excitement or fear, all based on their previous experience. It was either good or it was bad. Two categories. But here’s the really cool part that reaches beyond the mind of a mouse and affects our entire life experience: Neurotensin. Neurotensin is a signaling molecule found in brain cells. Less neurotensin means more fear and stress based responses. More neurotnesin means more the opposite with more excitement, joy and happiness. Neturotensin is WHY the mice responded the way they did. Why is this important? Because FAITH can change the way we process current events and store memories. Faith can actually change the unseen things happening within our brain and totally change our experience! Faith leads us to a new way of categorizing the things that happen in our lives.