Finding Freedom: How Dr. Laurette Willis Combines Faith and Neuroscience to Transform Lives copertina

Finding Freedom: How Dr. Laurette Willis Combines Faith and Neuroscience to Transform Lives

Finding Freedom: How Dr. Laurette Willis Combines Faith and Neuroscience to Transform Lives

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 As someone who’s been a yo-yo dieter my entire life, I’ve tried every program imaginable. I count my calories daily, I’ve lost weight, gained it back, and spent decades riding that exhausting rollercoaster. So, when I sat down with Dr. Laurette Willis for my podcast, I knew I was in for something different. And I was right.Dr. Laurette isn’t just another weight loss coach. As a certified life coach, cognitive behavioral therapist, and ordained minister, she’s created something I’d never encountered before: a program that weaves together biblical truth with neuroscience. For someone like me who’s struggled with both weight and mental health issues, her approach felt like the missing link I’d been searching for.The Problem with Diet Culture“A lot of people look at weight loss just from the physical standpoint,” Dr. Laurette explained early in our conversation. “And that’s the diet mentality. That’s where diet trauma comes in. That’s where the yo-yos come in.”She hit the nail on the head. I’ve done that for decades myself. But as she pointed out, “we’re not dealing with the reason why we’re using food improperly for comfort in the first place.”This resonated deeply with me. How many times have I finished a diet feeling triumphant, only to find myself right back where I started because I never addressed the underlying reasons? Dr. Laurette’s insight cut through years of frustration: “Let’s look at the reasons why we go to the comfort food instead of to the comforter.”Understanding the Whole Person: Spirit, Soul, and BodyOne of the most powerful concepts Dr. Laurette shared was viewing ourselves as complete beings, not just bodies that need fixing. Drawing from Genesis 1:26-27, she explained we are “spirit, made in the image of God,” we “have a soul—your mind, will and emotions,” and we “live in a body, your earth suit, the temple of the Holy Spirit.”This understanding, she noted, comes directly from 1 Thessalonians 5:23, where Paul prays “your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”“If you want to make a difference on the outside,” Dr. Laurette emphasized, “we want to do it from the inside first.”The Balance Between Faith and ScienceI shared with Dr. Laurette about my mother, who was wonderfully spiritual and charismatic but relied more on the spiritual side of things. She would read books advocating prayer and faith, and less on the cognitive, psychological approach. I’ve learned through my own journey that we need both.Dr. Laurette confirmed this beautifully: “This is where a lot of believers have missed it.” She explained that many Christians love the Lord, love the Word, love prayer and church, and “we got the love walk down.” But the question remains: “Why do I keep going around this same mountain again and again and again? And that’s because the brain element is missing.”As a cognitive behavioral therapist, she looks for ways to “renew the mind on the Word of God and then retrain the brain using neuroscience principles and techniques based on scripture.”What sets her approach apart is her commitment to truth. “If I don’t see a correlation in the Word of God in scripture, I don’t use it,” she said, “because then it’s not going to be founded on truth.”Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern ScienceI love how Dr. Laurette combines wisdom that’s thousands of years old with what we’ve learned through scientific research. As I mentioned in our conversation, we’re taking the incredible wisdom that has lasted millennia and bringing it together with neuroscience discoveries.Her approach is grounded in Romans 12:2: “Don’t be conformed to this world, the world’s way of doing things, but be transformed. Your whole life can be transformed how? By the renewing of your mind... on the Word of the living God.”The goal, as she puts it: “We want you to be healthy, fit, and free. Don’t diet, live it. It has to be something you can live one day at a time.”The Power of Self-Talk and Neural PathwaysOne of the most practical insights Dr. Laurette shared involved understanding how our brains actually work. She explained that when we repeatedly tell ourselves negative things—”I can’t do this,” “I always fail,” “I’m not good enough”—we’re literally creating neural pathways in our brains.“We have to go to what is it that we’re saying to ourselves,” she explained. Our thoughts become neural pathways that get reinforced every time we think them, eventually becoming what neuroscientists call a “superhighway” in our brains.The solution? Interrupting those patterns and creating new ones based on God’s truth. She uses techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy combined with Scripture to help people literally retrain their brains while renewing their minds.Breaking Free from Self-Fulfilling PropheciesDr. Laurette shared a concept ...
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