By Sharon Campbell Rayment – Special to the Sydenham Current
In a time when COVID is adversely affecting our lives again how can we stay hopeful, happy, and feel harmony within?
When negativity seems everywhere, and we find it hard to be grateful how can we shift our attitude, emotions, and outlooks?
God has given us the power to be our own “brain surgeons” and “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)
My friends I know this to be true because I had to renew my mind daily after my horseback riding accident and brain injury.
My accident took my prefrontal cortex offline.
This is the “Captain” of the brain that allows us to have perspective, emotional agility, impulse control, make faster decisions with confidence, and flexibility to solve problems.
Honestly, I couldn’t make a decision if my life depended on it.
I once had a friend take me to Tim Horton’s and ask if I wanted to go in or go through the drive through.
She said I looked like a deer in headlights, panicked and unsure where to go.
I went from being someone who was a nurse, owner of the Good Life Fitness Club for Women, Minister, and running summer camps for kids to not being able to decide how to get a coffee at Tim Horton’s.
This led me to depression, severe anxiety, and an inability to leave my dark quiet room.
So how did I get to Wallaceburg and become a Minister at Trinity United Community?
By pausing frequently to shift my perspective, to ground myself, to be present, and to “be transformed by the renewing of my mind”.
First, I did the APB of Inner Harmony frequently throughout my day.
This is great for in the moment to pause the chaos but there is a process that relies on God’s wisdom of creation to rewire the mind to hope, happiness, and inner harmony.
Two unique ways I used to access this process was meditating with horses and using a labyrinth to rewire the prefrontal cortex.
It’s a wee bit hard to bring you a horse but I can share with you a finger labyrinth and a daily practice to open to God’s innate wisdom, hope, and harmony from within you.
This week just trace the outline and experience a moment of quiet, focus, and inner harmony.
And “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2) and “be anxious for nothing”. (Phil 4:4-8)
Until next time my friends remember every breath you take is a breath of God and a shared one with All my Relations United as One.
