Dealing with Disordered Thinking
Self-brain surgery® when your thoughts are jumbled
“The Self-Brain Surgery Sunday™ letter is the best five minutes spent on the Internet all week.”
🧠 Paid Subscribers: Scroll to the bottom for this week’s video self-brain surgery training. I give you an operation to take this week’s letter into daily practice!
Hey friend,
As I read through the hundreds of emails, YouTube and Instagram comments, and book reviews we receive every week, the one recurring problem I see is that people are struggling with disordered thinking.
I don’t mean that most of us have disorders of thinking; that is, most people do not have clinical mental illness or a diagnosis, but we struggle with thinking about the wrong things in the wrong order.
Aaron Beck, the founder of cognitive behavioral therapy, observed that we all struggle with “blindspots, blurred perceptions, and self-deceptions.” When this happens, we slip into brain management mode, and we find ourselves reacting to whatever automatic thoughts or feelings our brain serves up next.
Today I’m going to give you ten years of therapy in five minutes. Practice these two self-brain surgery procedures and you’ll learn to recognize when your thinking is disordered, restore the right order, and move from brain management mode back into self-brain surgeon mode. That’s where your mind is in charge of your brain, and you’re directing your brain to think about right things in the right order.
Let’s get after it!
Disordered Thinking Is a Default, Not a Diagnosis
We all do it. We focus on the problem before we remember the promise. We let the fear or the feeling speak first and then scramble to find reasons that justify our reaction. This isn’t because something is fundamentally wrong with us; it’s because an un-operated brain defaults to old patterns, threat detection, and self-protective stories that often aren’t accurate. (That’s neuroplasticity working like it’s designed to, but not being directed by a renewed mind)
Neuroscience nugget: Your brain is a prediction machine. It constantly fills in gaps using past data, emotional tags, and efficiency shortcuts. Without deliberate intervention, it tends to prioritize speed and threat over accuracy and truth. This creates the very blindspots and blurred perceptions Beck described.
Self-Brain Surgery Procedure: Right now, pause and ask yourself out loud: “What am I thinking about in this moment?” Don’t judge it yet, just name it. Do this several times today whenever you notice tension, worry, or reactivity rising.
Scripture: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is- his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2
The Order Matters More Than You Realize
The biggest problem is often not what we’re thinking about, but the order in which we think it. When the feeling or circumstance leads and truth comes later (or not at all), we stay in reactive, brain-management mode. When we deliberately put truth first, everything downstream (emotions, decisions, relationships) changes.
Neuroscience nugget: The brain’s threat-detection systems can activate in milliseconds. The regulatory networks that help us think clearly and choose wisely come online more slowly, unless we intentionally engage them. A short, deliberate pause gives those higher networks time to participate in the sequence.
Self-Brain Surgery Procedure: When you notice your thinking or emotions feeling disordered, stop for ten seconds. Take one slow breath in for four counts and out for six counts. Then say (out loud if possible): “I am the self-brain surgeon here. My mind gets to lead.”
Scripture: “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” James 1:19
These two procedures give you a simple, repeatable way to audit and re-order your thinking the moment you feel it slipping into disorder. The more you practice naming what you’re thinking and intentionally putting truth first, the more natural self-brain surgeon mode becomes (because of the ninth commandment of self-brain surgery, “What I’m doing, I’m getting better at”).
Where We’re Going This Week
In today’s bonus video for the paid subscribers, I give you four more ways to handle disordered thinking.
On tomorrow’s podcast episode, we’ll take these lessons even deeper, and explore how science and scripture help us operate our minds to stay ordered. And then on Friday Self-Brain Surgery® on YouTube, I’l give you a tactical operation you can use to get out of brain management mode whenever you need to.
I’d love to hear how these work for you this week. And if you like these “Ten years of therapy in five minutes” posts, hit reply and let me know you want more of them.
With you on the journey, friend!
If this resonates, share it with someone who needs it.
You can get the training you need to master self-brain surgery in my new book. You can go even deeper in The School of Self-Brain Surgery.
The good news is, you can start today.
Be sure to check out the archive of previous posts if you missed last week’s letter.
Dum spiro spero (While I breathe, I hope),
Lee
II Timothy 1:7, “For you were not given a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.”
From the banks of the North Platte river on Moon River Ranch in Nebraska, USA
Disclaimer: This letter is for informational purposes only. It contains general information, drawn from my experience, research, and best practices. It is not health care advice, and is not intended to replace the counsel of your health care provider. Consult your provider before starting any new treatments or making changes to your health routine. This message does not constitute a doctor-patient relationship between us.
