Auxiliary questions
As apart of my research journey for this topic I came up with 25 auxiliary questions in which I researched and learned a lot of valuable information for helping me achieve my goal with this project by educating others about things such as the chemical make ups of the brain and what the Bible has to say on the topic. These questions and the research behind them do obtain a lot of information but helped me along with the process and are fascinating to read and learn about.
- How the human brain handles failures.
- Often do the wrong things after we fail which tends to set other failures into motion.
- Allow ourselves to be thrown off by mistakes instead of learning from them.
- Opposite of the Winner Effect takes place. With success the brain produces dopamine and testosterone which chemically makes successful beings smarter.
- Failure impedes concentration.
- Dwelling on outcomes can strengthen our neuropathways.
- The definition of worth/ identity.
- Worth Definition: the value equivalent to that of someone or something under consideration; the level at which someone or something deserves to be valued or rated.
- Identity Definition: the qualities, beliefs, personality, looks and/or expressions that make a person or group, in psychology.
- What the Bible tells us about our worth. (More in depth on my scriptures page)
- Hebrews 13:5- ‘Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
- Genesis 1:27- “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
- Ephesians 2:10- “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
- Psalm 139:13-15- “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.”
- Colossians 3:23- "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for man."
- Symptoms of being in an unhealthy mental state.
- Suicidal thinking
- Excessive anger, hostility or violence
- Sex drive changes
- Major changes in eating habits
- Problems with alcohol or drug use
- Trouble understanding and relating to situations and to people
- Inability to cope with daily problems or stress
- Detachment from reality (delusions), paranoia or hallucinations
- Significant tiredness, low energy or problems sleeping
- Withdrawal from friends and activities
- Extreme mood changes of highs and lows
- Excessive fears or worries, or extreme feelings of guilt
- Confused thinking or reduced ability to concentrate
- Feeling sad or down
- Ways we can train our brain to think differently/positively.
- Observe your thoughts.
- Scan for daily positives.
- Pour into others
- Surround yourself with positive people.
- Take care and look after your body and mind.
- Subconscious retraining and inner healing.
- Give yourself time to do something you love.
- Some of the major distractions in this world.
- Toxic relationships.
- Drinking and drugs
- Sports
- Social media/electronics.
- Popularity and image.
- Sickness and death.
- The average human has an 8 second attention span.
- How our worldly distractions keep us from growing in our faith.
- Keep us from salvation
- Keep us from growing and living according to the life-giving truths of the gospel.
- Keep us from enjoying the Lord's presence.
- How we can comfort someone that we believe is struggling.
- Be willing to point out areas they can improve (procrastination etc.) and also be willing to help them grow here not by themselves.
- Remind them of their greater qualities.
- From personal experience I would say just being there for them even when they shut down, don’t give up on trying to reach them just you showing that you are there will help them feel a new sense of being worthy of love and friendship.
- The chemicals in the brain produce joy.
- Dopamine: A neurotransmitter the nervous system uses to send messages between nerve cells. Having too little dopamine or even too much can lead to mental health issues.
- Serotonin: Found mostly in your digestive system it can reduce depression and regulate anxiety. It is made of tryptophan an amino acid which enters your body through your diet. It is commonly found in nuts, cheese, and red meats. It is crucial that it is found in your diet to avoid any chemical imbalances.
- Oxytocin: Produced in the hypothalamus. “In the brain, oxytocin acts as a chemical messenger and has been shown to be important in human behaviors including sexual arousal, recognition, trust, anxiety and mother–infant bonding. As a result, oxytocin has been called the 'love hormone' or 'cuddle chemical'.”
- The chemicals in the brain produce sadness.
- It is all about chemical imbalance.
- The word SAD stands for seasonal affective disorder and is affected by your levels of Serotonin.
- Ways that different personalities handle disappointment.
- We are all unique and different and will handle disappointment and failure in a variety of different ways.
- Should we deal with disappointment by having no expectations?
- Is there a difference in placing our value in worldly things as opposed to merely having general expectations like every human being does and how can we decipher this?
- Why it is so easy to put ourselves down.
- A lot of times we put ourselves down without even knowing it or meaning to. Our words play a huge role in this by the way we speak to ourselves.
- We take for granted the complexity of our brains and our beings.
- Have a self-limiting belief that we hold onto. A lot of times we may think we are just joking, but the phrases we say like “I could never do that…” are actually turning into things that we believe to be true.
- Really liked… “We are never just one thing.”
- The possibility of training our brain.
- Our brain has the ability to grow and be trained. It is called brain plasticity.
- Just like anything else practice makes perfect. You must practice training yourself in order for your brain to grow.
- What the world says makes an individual happy.
- The best indicator of a person’s happiness is found within the quality of their close relationships.
- Having a job or hobby that they love.
- Helping others. (Prosocial behavior).
- “Moral molecule” is something we all have in common that releases a high level of Oxytocin when we think about someone we care about. Acts as a pain reliever.
- We need to feel love and connection through relationships with others.
- Relationships
- Old age
- Positive thinking
- Exercise
- Enjoying culture
- Having pets
- Volunteering
- Having sex
- Not overthinking
- The happiest generation.
- Millennials are thought of as the happiest generation based on how they save and spend their money.
- Live with a more positive outlook.
- Focusing on self care and growing their emotional intelligence.
- The amount of suicides when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began.
- Suicide rates increased in 1929 from 17.0 per 100,000 people to 21.3 in 1932.
- Temporary depression is a possibility.
- Depressive Reaction: Temporary and arises from a specific life situation. Could technically be called a stress response syndrome.
- Exposure to a stressor.
- The happiest countries in the world.
- Happiest countries...
- 1. Finland
- 2. Denmark
- 3. Norway
- 4. Iceland
- 5. Netherlands
- 6. Switzerland
- 7. Sweden
- 8. New Zealand
- 9. Canada
- 10. Australia
- Different ideas of success.
- Being financially stable
- Having a family
- Achieving what you set out to do
- Our perception of success can overall effect how we view our worth and our value in life.
- The definition of success is : the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
- You may be successful in what you are working towards, but are you achieving what will ultimately give you a healthy and fulfilling sense of your worth?
- One person’s idea of success may not be the same as another’s. However aren’t you both successful if you achieved what you were aiming for?
- How to teach ourselves and each other about how amazing we are.
- Look into God’s word.
- Not be afraid to speak out.
- Have confidence in your identity and who God says you are.
- The best way to fight this battle is either internally or externally.
- Externally.
- Talking to someone is proven to improve a person's productivity when it comes to healing and getting help.
- How simply talking helps better our mood.
- Talking therapy helps for people to be able to process out loud.
- Helps to dig deeper into an individual's range of feelings.
- Teaches how to manage these feelings more effectively.
- How our diet truly changes alongside our state of mind.
- Goes back to the levels of serotonin in our food.
- Treating our bodies as a temple as God has told us.
- Studies have shown the importance of good nutritional intake starting from a young age.
- Poor nutrition can lead to physical health issues such as obesity which can affect the brain's mental health.
- People with mental health issues tend to die 10-25 years earlier than the general population.
- What non-christian studies say about worth.
- An atheistic view of the value of life is sad, and that there is no purpose or value of human life. We are simply a combustion of molecules.
- Could look at all the different world views and how they view human lives.
- Answers the question “Why am I here?”
- How we can get ourselves out of bad habits.
- Choosing a substitute for the habit.
- Letting people around you know what you are trying to do so they can hold you accountable.
- Visualize succeeding breaking it.
- Bad habits typically have benefits to our lives. That's why it’s difficult to break them.
- Science behind why bad habits start.
- Building a habit has four key steps.
- Cue
- Craving
- Response
- Reward
- Your brain searches for cue which will predicting a future reward for us.
- Every craving is linked to a desire to change your internal state.
- The response is the actual habit being performed.
- Habit can only occur if you are capable of doing it. eg. wanting to dunk a basketball but unable to physically jump high enough.
- The response is about obtaining the reward.
- Rewards satisfy us and teach us. Teaches us by telling our brain which actions are worth remembering.