Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

This technical term comes from the field of neuroscience. Cognitive bias is the tendency of people to view reality according to the lens of what they expect to see. The brain filters the enormous input of information and sensory experience which it receives, interpreting data according to the neural pathways that have been established by previous thoughts, emotions, and expectations. A person who has struggled for a long time with fear or anxiety is far more likely to perceive the world as full of danger than a person who does not share those struggles. Groeschel encourages his readers to see beyond their own cognitive bias and to construct a new cognitive bias which sees the goodness of God in the circumstances around them.

Declarations are one of Groeschel’s main methods for implanting new habits of thought. His recommended process, laid out in multiple chapters, is to discern negative, unhealthy thought patterns; find Bible verses that counteract those patterns with positive truths; and write personal declarations based on those verses. These declarations are simple statements, usually just one or two sentences in length, and are meant to be repeated on at least a daily basis. As