Counsellors Corner 

Our Brains are Wired for Love

Dr Caroline Leaf, a Neuroscientist demonstrates how our brains are designed and explains their response to love and toxicity.

In her book, 'The Perfect You' Dr Leaf shares:

The default ingredients of our humanity are joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control, compassion, calmness, inspiration, excitement, hope, anticipation, satisfaction, and so on. When we are in our "love zone" as I like to call it, we operate in our Perfect You and move into positive stress, which is good for us as it makes us alert and focused; toxic stress has the opposite reaction. When we go outside of our Perfect You, we go into the "fear zone" and experience toxic stress. Out of this fear flows hate, anger, bitterness, irritation, unforgiveness, unkindness, worry, self-pity, envy, jealousy, obsession, and cynicism. Since whatever we think about the most will grow, we become what we think about, which in the fear zone can have dangerous health consequences.

Research showing that love mindsets are the norm and fear mindsets are learned is revolutionary for scientists, but not new if you look at Scripture. In 1 John 4:18, the author declares that "there is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear" (NIV).

An attitude is a cluster of thoughts with emotional flavour, and every type of emotion has one of only two roots: love or fear. How do these attitudes get a love or fear flavour? Through our thinking, feeling, and choosing.

Mrs Leanne Miller

College Counsellor