Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. 1 John 3:18 (NLT)
PRACTICE LOVE – PART 1
The Message translation of this verse ends it well. “Let’s practice real love.” Reading this, the word “practice” really popped out at me.
I'm an amateur psychology buff. I’m not credentialed in any way except for my love of reading, especially about neuroscience.
One of the discoveries in this field is how our brains form “neural pathways”. These are much like highways or freeways that our thoughts travel on. The more we repeat a particular action or thought, the wider and deeper that pathway becomes. Neural pathways help our brain delegate a lot of mega-processing to the subconscious and therefore improve the efficiency of our mental function. I guess it works just like a freeway designates the flow of lots of traffic to major regions and cities.
Studies revealed that by moving a monkey’s finger back and forth, certain regions of its brain would light up. Interestingly though, if they stitched two of their fingers together and moved them, a different part of the brain would light up; a new neural pathway would occur. They also discovered that they could intensify the pathway by constant repetition.
How can this help us?
Repetition (or practice) of a new behaviour helps us build strong neural pathways. Neural pathways, in turn, make it easier for us to continue that behaviour or thought process. Think about a habit or a daily routine… When I first learned to drive a car I had to think carefully and deliberately about changing gears and checking mirrors and turning on indicators. I’ve been driving for 20 years now and I can’t remember thinking about any of those at all in the last 19! The neural pathways are so embedded that it becomes automatic.
Imagine if we practiced love (read: built a new neural pathway) so that over time, it became an automatic response.
That begs the question: What responses have you been practicing?
I guess the answer will reveal itself through your responses… the ones that happen automatically, that is…