When Your Thoughts Run Wild

Anyone who struggles with anxiety needs to get a grip on the concept of “rumination”. Here’s how Oxford defines the concept: “a deep or considered thought about something.” The alternative definition is more graphic: “the action of chewing the cud.” Rumination is when your mind chews on something over and over, like a cow constantly chewing the cud. And it’s a classic symptom of anxiety. 

Maybe that’s what Paul is addressing in his famous “anxiety chapter” in the Bible:

Philippians 4:8 (NLT) And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 

This is healthy, godly rumination – the kind that leads to peace. The opposite is worldly rumination, and that’s the kind that leads to anxiety. But before we drill down on the difference, let’s take a detour to learn how the mind works.

A Beautiful Mind

The brain is a complex organ. God designed it, and scientists are still trying to figure out how it works. When it comes to its impact on anxiety, authors Catherine Pittman and Elizabeth Karle make an interesting observation:

Many people believe that certain situations are the cause of their anxiety, but anxiety always begins in the brain, not with the situation. Anxiety is a human emotion, produced by the human brain, and emotions are caused by the brain’s reaction to situations, not the situations themselves.

So how exactly does the brain react to fearful situations? There seem to be two pathways. The logical pathway involves the cortex. If your anxiety is connected to a conscious memory or thought, the cortex is where it starts. Once the information hits the amygdala, that’s when you actually feel anxious.  

But for some types of anxiety there’s a shortcut. Amygdala-based anxiety skips the cortex altogether, traveling the pathway from the thalamus directly to the amygdala. This type of anxiety can be especially frustrating, because you’re not sure where it’s coming from or how it got triggered. 

This information helps us to understand panic attacks. They’re essentially an overreaction of the amygdala that makes no sense to your cortex. Pittman and Karle explain:

Basically, a panic attack is your body launching into the fight, flight, or freeze response at an inappropriate time due to an overreaction by the amygdala, often in response to some sort of trigger that poses no real danger.

So what happens in your brain during a panic attack? You ruminate. Your mind just keeps playing that ruinous thought over and over, like a cow endlessly chewing the cud. 

Redirect Your Thoughts

Enter the biblical solution. Long before science understood the cortex and amygdala, Paul offered a solution to the rumination that can drive us all crazy. Let’s look at it again: 

Philippians 4:8 (NLT) And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Paul is offering a solution that even modern psychologists would approve of: redirect your thoughts. Recognize the overreaction of the amygdala, and engage your cortex to activate the solution. Paul tells us to fix our thoughts on better things.

“True” refers simply to factual thoughts rather than the false narratives that perpetuate the anxiety cycle. Many anxiety-producing ruminations don’t even make logical sense! 

“Honorable, right, and pure” refers to the things that honor God. So much anxiety for Christians is rooted in a sinful lifestyle, often hidden from view. Paul says to stop ruminating on sin. Come clean, and train your mind to fixate on godly things.  

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NLT Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.‬‬

“Lovely and admirable” are two words that appear only here in the New Testament (prosphilē and euphēma). They speak to things that build up rather than tear down. Think of it as the mental counterpart to Paul’s command to the church in Ephesus: 

Ephesians 4:29 Let everything you say [think] be good and helpful, so that your words [thoughts] will be an encouragement to those who hear [think] them.

The verse concludes with Paul’s summary statement: “Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” His point is to be mindful about letting your mind run wild. Be intentional about your thought life, and discipline yourself to think about the right stuff. 

Practice, Practice, Practice

Then what? What happens after your get your thoughts right? Paul gives a simple answer: 

Philippians 4:9 (NLT) Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

This was more than a philosophy for Paul. He was actually living it, and he’s inviting you to live it too. When you win the battle in your mind, you can win it in your everyday life. God made your beautiful mind, and you can learn to bring it into submission to him. “Then the God of peace will be with you.”

 Pittman, Catherine M.; Karle, Elizabeth M. Rewire Your Anxious Brain. New Harbinger Publications. Kindle Edition.