I appreciated Christina’s post about how important the thought life of a leader is. As Christina mentioned this idea is biblically based (CCBEAU, 2018) as found in Proverbs 23:7a “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (New American Standard Bible). This idea is further substantiated in scripture through ideas such as the one Allen seemed to draw on (Watson, 1951, p.170) that “every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit” (Matthew 7:17).

Beyond being supported by scripture, this idea, that our thought lives have implications for our actions, is supported in the study of psychology as well. “Just as new learning and stimulating environments promote the production of new neurons, they also produce the greatest increases in synaptic complexity” (Diamond, 1993; Greenough & Anderson, 1991; Greenough & Black, 1992; Rosenzwieg, 1984 as cited in Wade, Tavris, Saucier & Elias, 2007, p. 113). Furthermore, pruning of synaptic connections occur when they are unused (Wade et al. 2007). To put it simply “neurons that frequently fire together form stronger linkages” (Horvath, Misra, Epner & Cooper, n.d., para. 2). An analogy that is often used to illustrate this is to think of hiking through a forest. The more often you go along the same path, the easier that path becomes to travel down; likewise treading a new path is more difficult, though not impossible (Horvath et al., n.d.). The neurological pathways in our brains physically change due to our thought lives. “What you think directly influences how you feel and how you behave” (Morin, 2016, para. 3) and “our virtues are derived from our actions, and our actions manifest our virtues” (Frankena; Pojman as cited in Northouse, 2016, p. 336). This should cause us, especially as leaders, to pause and consider our thought lives because the implications are substantial.

In lieu of this, I think we need to be willing to fight to protect our minds, even when close family do not understand. It has been my experience that at times throughout my life, whether with family or with friends, that I have had to remove myself from certain situations due to not wanting certain content to enter my mind. As an example, I can be quite sensitive to watching media that contains violence; it affects me quite negatively. Upon learning this about myself, I would sometimes try to “push through” so as to not be the “prude”. In time I realized that the benefits of doing this did not outweigh the cost. I made an effort not to impost my personal preference on those around me, but I would simply remove myself from the room if the media was too violent for my liking. Doing this is definitely not easy, and I think when it comes to a close family member, especially if residing at the same home, it can be even more difficult. I would suggest that dialogue about refusal to participate in consumption of content that is not wholesome or righteous may help bring understanding.

References:

CCBEAU. (2018, November 3). Light of many lamps – Unit 6 [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://create.twu.ca/ccbeau/2018/11/03/light-of-many-lamps-unit-6/

Hovrath, T., Misra, K., Epner, A. K., & Cooper, G. M. (n.d.). Addiciton changes the brain’s communication pathways. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/addiction-changes-the-brain-s-communication-pathways/

Morin, A. (2016, June 15). This is how your thoughts become your reality. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/amymorin/2016/06/15/this-is-how-your-thoughts-become-your-reality/

Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice, Seventh Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Wade, C., Tavris, C., Saucier, D., & Elias, L. (2007). Pyschology (2nd Canadian ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Pearson Education Canada.