Map
The map of connections
Nothing here stands alone. A brain that ruminates also worries, sleeps poorly, and snaps at the people it loves. This map shows all 36 passages, the twelve weeks of the book that group them, the four threads that run through everything, and how each week ties to the others. Click a week or a passage to follow the threads.
Highlight a thread
The same map as a list
- Week 1The Mind Can Be Renewed
- Renewing the Mind and Neuroplasticity Romans 12:2 · A R
- “Talk of Them When You Walk”: Scripture Memory and Spaced Repetition Deuteronomy 6:6–7 · A R
- “Train Up a Child” and the Neuroscience of Habit Proverbs 22:6 · T R
- Week 2What You Dwell On
- “Dwell on These Things”: Attention, Rumination, and Gratitude Philippians 4:8 · A
- “Why Are You in Despair, O My Soul?”: Talking to Yourself Psalm 42:5 · A
- “Observe How the Lilies Grow”: Nature and the Ruminating Mind Matthew 6:28 · B A
- Week 3Tomorrow Will Care for Itself
- “Do Not Worry About Tomorrow”: Worry and the Body’s Stress Response Matthew 6:34 · B A
- A Joyful Heart and the Immune System Proverbs 17:22 · B T
- “Bodily Discipline Is Only of Little Profit”: The Body in Its Place 1 Timothy 4:8 · B
- Week 4Be Still
- “Cease Striving”: Stillness and the Default Mode Network Psalm 46:10 · B A
- The Sabbath, Chronic Stress, and the Hippocampus Mark 2:27 · B R
- “He Gives to His Beloved Even in His Sleep”: Sleep as Gift Psalm 127:2 · B R
- Week 5Slow to Anger
- “Do Not Let the Sun Go Down on Your Anger”: Sleep and Emotional Memory Ephesians 4:26 · B R
- “Slow to Anger”: Why Venting Backfires James 1:19–20 · B A
- “A Gentle Answer”: Co-regulation in Conflict Proverbs 15:1 · B T
- Week 6Coming Clean
- Forgiveness Matthew 6:14–15 · B A T
- “When I Kept Silent”: Confession and the Weight of Secrets Psalm 32:3 · B A
- “Godly Sorrow” and “the Sorrow of the World”: Guilt and Shame 2 Corinthians 7:10 · A
- Week 7Not Meant to Carry It Alone
- “Two Are Better Than One”: Loneliness and Mortality Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 · B T
- “Perfect Love Casts Out Fear”: Social Regulation of Threat 1 John 4:18 · B T
- “Weep with Those Who Weep”: Empathy and Compassion Romans 12:15 · T
- Week 8The Company You Keep
- “He Who Walks with Wise Men”: The Company You Keep Proverbs 13:20 · T
- “Love Your Enemies”: Contact Across the Dividing Wall Luke 6:27–28 · A T
- “Singing with Thankfulness”: Music and Bonding Colossians 3:16 · B T R
- Week 9Walk the Other Way
- “Avoid It, Do Not Pass By It”: Fleeing Temptation Proverbs 4:14–15 · A T
- “I Will Seek Another Drink”: The Craving Cycle Proverbs 23:29–35 · B R
- “The Plans of the Diligent”: Patience and Delayed Reward Proverbs 21:5 · A R
- Week 10Enough
- “He Who Loves Money Will Not Be Satisfied”: Contentment Ecclesiastes 5:10 · A
- “More Blessed to Give”: Generosity and the Reward System Acts 20:35 · T
- “When I Consider Your Heavens”: Awe and the Right-Sized Self Psalm 8:3–4 · B A
- Week 11When the Pressure Comes
- “Tribulation Brings About Perseverance”: Trials and Resilience Romans 5:3–4 · B A
- “Pour Out Your Heart Before Him”: Lament and Naming What Hurts Psalm 62:8 · A T
- “Hope Deferred Makes the Heart Sick”: Hope and the Heart Proverbs 13:12 · B
- Week 12Finishing Well
- “I Press On Toward the Goal”: Purpose and a Longer Life Philippians 3:13–14 · B A
- “Do Not Exasperate Your Children”: Childhood Adversity and the Developing Brain Colossians 3:21 · B T
- “Teach Us to Number Our Days”: Wisdom and Age Psalm 90:12 · A R
Where the brain systems show up
Following one system through the weeks is a good way to see how the chapters connect.
| System | What it does | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Hippocampus | Forms new memories; helps turn off the stress response | 1, 3, 4, 5 |
| Amygdala | Detects threat and adds emotional weight | 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 12 |
| Prefrontal cortex | Planning, self-control, reappraisal, taking another's view | 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 12 |
| Default mode network | Self-focused thought, remembering, imagining, mind-wandering | 2, 4, 10 |
| Dopamine and the striatum | Learning, wanting, and reward | 1, 8, 9, 10 |
| HPA axis and cortisol | The hormonal stress response | 3, 4, 6, 7 |
| Vagus nerve and heart rate variability | The body's brake on stress | 3, 4, 6 |
| Immune system and inflammation | Defense against infection; linked with mood | 3, 5, 7, 10 |
| Sleep | Memory consolidation, emotional processing, and recovery | 1, 4, 5, 9 |
The week groupings, threads, and connections come from the book. Every passage page on this site has the full research and sources behind it.