23 – Bodies, Brains and Motorcycles. (A Formula for Gratitude)featured

MOTORBIKES!

When I decided to buy a motorbike a couple of years ago, I asked my good friend what bike he liked and why, then I bought that model for myself. Since getting one, I am always looking for and noticing a Honda ST-1300 when one is near. Even when I am not looking for them my mind is now conditioned to bring them to my attention if one is there. It’s not that there are more on the road now, but because I have started noticing them, I see them more frequently. Maybe you have had the same experience after buying a vehicle.

I really enjoy riding the bike. Every time I would get on for the first couple of years, I felt like the kid at the amusement park who had been waiting in line for the roller coaster and it is finally his turn. Fun as it is, it is also dangerous, and mistakes can be costly. One of the big hazards is losing focus on the corners. I am blessed to live in a beautiful part of the world, but if I pay too much attention to the views, or anything other than the upcoming corner, the bike will start going where I am looking instead of following the road.

In a previous post (Blog 9) I shared how that bike played a part in my healing. Every time I went for a ride, I would start with a prayer for safety, and inevitably, that prayer turned to one of gratitude for things I saw blessing my life. Today I am feeling guided to share my discoveries on ways we can increase our happiness through gratitude, by identifying what might be holding us back.

SPIRITS BODIES AND BRAINS

We are eternal spirits in mortal bodies with physical brains. It’s fascinating the ways our spirits,  brains and bodies interact. When our spirit starts to focus on something, our brain learns that is what we want and helps us get more of it. When successful, the brain is proud of itself and celebrates with a little physical chemical reaction, and we feel good. It works great until the brain and body are allowed to run unchecked and start commanding the spirit, trying to run the whole operation. The spirit starts following where the brain and body want to go.

If the body is left to call the shots, we are less likely to maintain health. It’s not that the body doesn’t appreciate feeling good, but it gets tired and sore and would rather sit down. It needs either the spirit being motivated to get up and move or the brain applying the knowledge that pushing through the tired is sometimes necessary.

If our brain is left to call all the shots, it can become lazy and look for the shortcuts to the dopamine hit that makes it feel rewarded. When life gets hard and the problems are mounting, our brain looks for easier solutions to relieve the pressure. Television used to be the easy way out, but now it’s more likely to be phones and computer screens. This is also how so many today get hooked on pornography. These distractions may be used to deal with stress or other problems. Really our brain is just ignoring a problem that will only get bigger.

Our spirits are eternal in nature and Godly in heritage, and our spirit is here to learn to take charge of the body and brain it is given. But even it needs discipline in order to grow. Any parent knows that each child they have, be it one or many, comes with their own spirit. Some come calm and trusting, while others seem to fight against everything asked of them. Each one has a life to live and challenges to face relating to its nature. Each spirit is unique, valuable and loved unconditionally by our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

WHICH ONE IS IN CHARGE?

Our spirit can have such a hard job ahead of it if the brain or body is allowed to have its own way. It’s even more challenging if our brain or body came with physical or genetic abnormalities. Whatever the package of spirit, brain and body, you can have an amazing experience here on Earth and make it a better place for people around you. 

Ultimately our spirit is responsible for what happens with our brain and body. The Spirit is what brings with it the spark of divinity.  It is what is influenced by the Light of Christ and the Holy Ghost.  It’s not that we must become Gospel scholars or Ironman athletes, but we are expected to control them. When all three are progressing in positive ways, life is good, and in the words of an old song by Asia, “Days like these I feel like I can change the world”. When one of the three starts struggling, the two others can help buoy you up, when two or more struggle life can get harder than it already is.

Have you had many of those internal struggles since losing your membership? Has it affected your mood, and consequently your relationships with others? Are you more negative towards yourself, others or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – or maybe even God Himself? Has it affected your energy or physical activity in a negative way? 

Perhaps your body is the one influencing how you cope.  Maybe you are over-eating or spending all your spare time on the couch. Or it could be that your mind is troubled and you can’t fall asleep at night because it is overthinking everything. Perhaps your spirit is drained and you have simply lost your drive and energy to care much about anything.

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

What will you do? Some do nothing. They allow their minds to focus on thoughts of a dark future and are willing to take whatever life throws at them.  I suppose it somehow feels easier. This is when negativity and pessimism can distract them. Remember how my brain learned to notice ST-1300s because I taught it that ST-1300s were important to me? It can work against you if you let it. Your brain can notice everything negative and depressing for you if you train it to. Your hurting and frustrated spirit can permit your brain to start identifying every last injustice and disappointment. Once your brain gets the idea that is what your spirit wants, it snowballs, and serious depression can develop.

I found that preventing this downward spiral required a fight on my behalf. It took concerted effort and determination to control both my thoughts and my behaviour so that I could start focusing on things that were more positive and helpful. Gratitude was the biggest change agent for me.  It just worked. I (my spirit) retrained my brain to look for the positive by identifying things I was grateful for.

I started journaling right after the membership council. As part of that process, I listed the people and experiences I was grateful for at the end of each daily journal entry. As I look back now, I can see how often some of the seemingly insignificant moments during the day became highlights. Every night my brain was learning from my spirit what I wanted it to consider important. This allowed my brain to continue going down that path as I drifted off to sleep.

Soon my spirit and my brain came up with another idea. I was a snooze button guy at that time. I would set my alarm clock early enough that I could hit snooze several times before getting up. My body liked that routine. The plan was that after I hit the snooze button the first time, I would reflect on all the blessings, positive people, and good experiences I could think of – particularly relating to the things that I was experiencing at that time. There were some days I had to reflect back further and remember the positive people and experiences from years gone by, but it was 9 minutes of positivity. Then on the second snooze, I would actually snooze.

PRESIDENT NELSONS EXAMPLE

In the middle of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, President Russel M. Nelson reached out to the world and offered a prayer for and on behalf of all of us. As part of his message in that video, he encourages us to “flood social media with a wave of gratitude that reaches the four corners of the earth”. He asked to use the hashtag #GiveThanks. 

A year later, Mary Richards reported in the Church News on the effect that campaign had on many people’s lives. The algorithms reset people’s social media feeds from a focus on negativity to one on gratitude, and people began taking more notice of the positives in their own lives. People not only became happier, but they also found major life trials easier to manage. You can read more about it here.

THE POWER OF GRATITUDE

Finishing off every night and starting every day with my spirit teaching my brain to look for positive things to be grateful for turned out to be incredibly powerful. My brain caught onto what my spirit was looking for and soon started doing it all the time. It became a habit. Everything from the friendly banter with a salesperson at the checkout to a sunny day became something noted and appreciated. It was akin to being outside somewhere lost in thought and when an ST-1300 passed by my brain would say “Hey spirit, look at that beauty!” Like a small child trying to impress its parent, my brain was now working to show my spirit it could find the positives in my day all by itself.

It took some time, but with effort, it changed my outlook and my mood.  I felt happier and more optimistic. I have never been a grumpy guy, but being positive in a very dark time in my life became easier as it became a daily routine. Even my body got on board. At the time, I was living on the 12^th floor and parking 4 floors underground. I began walking up all 16 flights of stairs at the end of my workday, almost every day. While my body grumbled at first, it started to like it. It was good and good for me.

CONNECTING THE DOTS

Then something else came to my attention that was not anticipated.

As my spirit and brain were focusing more on the positive, they started connecting the dots between the good that was happening in my world, and the role Jesus Christ had in it. I started to see that the friend calling me each morning to say ‘hi’ was emulating Christlike attributes. His actions were Christlike actions. His reaching out to check in on me was Christ checking in on me – in a very physical way – to see how I was doing and let me feel He cared. We really are doing the work of Jesus Christ when we minister to others.

Just as buying an ST-1300 helps us notice ST-1300s all around us, striving to live the way Christ would have us live helps us notice the work Jesus Christ is doing in our lives and in the world around us. The ST-1300s are out there on the streets and highways whether you have taken the time to notice them or not. Jesus Christ is out there looking to help you and me – with unconditional love – through all life is throwing at us, whether we take the time to notice or not.

WHAT ARE YOU FOCUSING ON?

Losing focus on the road ahead while riding a motorbike can lead you into danger. You can inadvertently stray from the safety of an enjoyable afternoon ride and unintentionally crash. It is much easier to be safe on the road if your focus is not on the enticing albeit beautiful distractions. In the same way, it is much easier to be happy in life if your focus is not on the negative and depressing things; especially with how easily they can grab our attention. Happiness and joy in life are out there and available – through gratitude; but staying focused on the negative can make you think that happiness is no longer an option. 

I hope that if you are struggling to stay positive and optimistic through your experience, you might be inspired to think about how to implement a practice of gratitude in your life.  Above all, I hope you can identify at least a few of the ways Jesus Christ is reaching out to you through other people and through the world around you. There is no doubt at all in my mind that He unconditionally loves and is working to bless each and every one of us on this big and beautiful planet. We just need to train ourselves to see it and then embrace it.