Operating Your Life
Self-Brain Surgery™ Basics (Part 3 of 4)
“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!
Hello, friend!
Welcome back to our 4-part series on the foundations of self-brain surgery. Use this as a refresher if you’ve been around a while, or a place to start if you’re new. Share this with a friend and you’ll be starting your career as a professor of self-brain surgery!
In Week 1 we discovered what Self-Brain Surgery really is: the daily practice of making real, structural changes to your physical brain by intentionally reordering your thoughts.
In Week 2 we made the most important distinction of all: your eternal, immaterial mind is not the same as your physical brain. Your mind is the real you, created in God’s image, and it has authority over the temporary hardware inside your skull.
Now it’s time for the practical part: How do you actually do it? How you stop contemplating, and start operating?
Here is the simple, repeatable 3-step process I have used for years to get on top of my automatic thoughts and feelings, and get my mind in charge of my brain. It’s not complicated. It’s not mystical. It’s surgical, and your mind is the surgeon.
Step 1: The Biopsy : Spot the Lying Thought
Pause and examine what you’re actually thinking. Ask yourself: “What thought just ran through my mind? Is it true, or is it a lie that’s keeping me stuck?”
Most of us let automatic thoughts fire without even noticing them: worry, self-doubt, resentment, hopelessness. The biopsy is the moment your mind steps in and says, “Wait. Let’s name that thought and look at it under the light.”
Step 2: The Excision: Remove It
Once you’ve spotted the lie, you take it captive and cut it out. The Bible commands this exact action:
“We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
Your eternal mind has the authority to say, “No. That thought does not get to stay in my brain.” You refuse to give it any more attention or emotional energy. You literally stop feeding the old neural pathway. This is the removal phase; the diseased tissue is gone.
(The psychologists call this ability to think about our thoughts and feelings instead of just experiencing them “metacognition.” But it’s really just operating your mind like it’s designed- to be in charge of your brain)
Step 3: The Replacement: Install God’s Truth
You don’t leave the space empty. Immediately replace the lie with truth, usually a direct promise or declaration from Scripture. Speak it out loud if you can. Write it down. Dwell on it until it starts to feel more real than the old thought.
This is how neuroplasticity works in your favor: your immaterial mind is directing your physical brain to grow new, healthy pathways while the old ones weaken and die off. (Neuroscience: We’re leveraging Hebb’s Law to our advantage, neurons that fire together wire together, which is the basis of our 9th commandment of self-brain surgery, “I must remember that I’m getting better at what I’m doing)
Science confirms what Scripture has always taught:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)
The renewing happens one thought at a time, one surgery at a time, as your eternal mind operates on your physical brain.
Let me give you a quick example so you can start today.
Suppose the automatic thought is: “I’ll never get past this grief / anxiety / failure.”
Biopsy: “That’s a lying thought. It feels true, but it’s not.”
Excision: “I refuse that thought. It does not get to run my brain.”
Replacement: “God has given me a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11). He is close to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18). My mind is being renewed day by day.”
Do this every time the old thought tries to come back. At first it will feel awkward. That’s normal. Repetition is how new pathways form.
You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be willing. Your mind already has everything it needs; the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the incredible plasticity God built into your brain.
This week, pick one recurring thought that’s been weighing you down and run it through the 3-step process every single time it shows up. You will be amazed at how quickly your eternal mind can begin to retrain your physical brain.
You were created for this. You are not a victim of your wiring. You are the surgeon.
With you on the journey, Lee
Hit reply and tell me one specific thought you’re going to operate on this week using the 3 steps. I’ll pray for you by name as you do your first real Self-Brain Surgery operations.
Next week (our final letter in this series): How to turn these 3 steps into a daily habit that produces lasting change, even when you don’t feel like it.
See you then. Let’s get our minds operating.
If you want the free thought biopsy worksheet, or an expanded version of the Ten Commandments of Self-Brain Surgery, click here.
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.
