21 Day Mind Detox Prayer
Why 21 Days?
This is a prayer meant to be prayed for 21 days, taking each step moment by moment, and not rushing ahead until you have allowed for reflection in each moment.
After 21 days, you will experience a great healing. Scientifically, your brain will have unwritten the negative thought in step 1 and replaced it with a positive one, rooted in Christ’s truth, in step 4. Step 5 will help you carry this positive truth into your life.
Why pray instead of simply meditate?
This is not a passive prayer, but one that requires meditation and concentration on the penitent’s part. It is based on the process outlined by Dr. Caroline Leaf in her book Switch on Your Brain.
It is not better than her method. I just, being a naturally meditative person, personally find it easier to invite Christ into the entire process of her 5 steps, and thus I have written this prayer. He knows the depths of me better than I know myself. Dr. Leaf herself emphasizes that using a scripture verse as a positive thought to replace a negative thought is one of the best ways that you can experience healing through this encounter. However, it is not necessary that you pray during the experience. Some personalities may find a more contemplative approach distracting, and thrive better on Dr. Leaf’s more organized, practical method.
I offer you this prayer as a guide, but please feel free to adapt it however you like, so long as you make sure to follow each step. If you would like to learn more about this process, you can read the book by Dr. Caroline Leaf, which I highly recommend, Titled Switch on Your Brain: A 21 Day Brain Detox.
5-Step Prayer
Dear sweet Jesus, I beseech you to come to me now in this moment of quiet. Help me to be alert in all my senses. To what I smell, taste, see, feel, and hear. With a deep breathe, as I bring my negative thought into the forefront of my mind, (Fill in the blank [my anxieties, fears, health issues, etc.,]) I reflect on specific moments when I have allowed this thought to govern my reality.
Both consciously and unconsciously, I have allowed this untruth to take root in my day-to-day living. I beseech you to help me to change this thought. To turn them from negative to positive – to a deep trusting in you, and a rejoicing in your healing strength.
I take this moment to write down a map of my fears, hopes, desires, and setbacks. (Write your primary fear in the center of a page, and in branches stemming from this word, write any thoughts or feelings, positive or negative, that spring to your mind)
I offer You the things I have just written. Both negative and positive, all my life experiences are Yours, each and every moment. I rejoice in You, and thank You for the insight to be able to recognize my limitations and strengths. Guide me to Your truths, both in scripture and in good advice, and help me to recognize the truth that will unseat and uproot the insidious lies that I have believed, which are contrary to the beautiful image of You that You have created in my heart. I take a moment to write down the words you have given me.
Taking these words that you have sent me, I resolve to think on them and pray on them throughout the day, rooting them into my mind and resolving to give no more thought and no more development to those negative thoughts that have, until now, governed my life. I embrace your freedom, Lord! Thank you for the grace to live in your truth. Amen.