Karen D. Wood is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice as a Brain Trainer and Behavioral Counselor (karendwood.com), and is author of Brain Prayers: Explore Your Brain, Expand Your Prayers.
What inspired me to write this book? I read a great book on brain processing, which included the concept of praying. But there was no clue how to pray for that brain function the book just presented. So, I began to be curious about what that book would look like? I quickly saw the concept: full graphics, quick information about the brain for fellow ADHDers and visual learners in a 30 day reading format. I developed the concept, and my computer was stolen the weekend before I sent the draft to a publisher. I experienced anger, despair, loss of vision, and then thought. Wait! Pray for all those functioning areas in the brain, and I then rewrote the whole book with more clarity and creativity. In doing the final edits, I fell and broke my back, and couldn’t see the end of the project. Wait! I know where that happens in the brain in injury and trauma and so prayed again. Finished the project and am so excited about inspiring others to learn about their exploring their brains, and expanding how they pray.
Summary of Brain Prayers: Explore Your Brain, Expand Your Prayers. We all make sense for where we have been in life, as it has created our brains and reactions. Yet, most of know little about our brains, let alone how pray for them. This book a graphic presentation introducing ten systems in the brain, with prayers to pray for self and others.
The overall theme of the book? The brain is why we exist. To learn more about it, and how it impacts our behavior, then allows us to understand more about who we are. When we add prayer to that understanding, we are allowing ourselves access to much clearer thinking about ourselves, and our life situations.
• It is visual, so instantly invites, as It is not 300 pages of words to process.
• There is a range of information on each page: different graphics, brief information on the brain area, a verse, a quote, and prayers. Can be a one minute grab-n-go read, or can be a longer learning experiences.
• It helps connect the behavior with the brain. Great relief comes when the reader can learn more about getting to their best states of mind very quickly.
• It opens up the world of how to pray for other people in their life situations.
• The topic appeals to both men and women, and is a great gift.
• It is different, and not another in a string of books that look and feel the same.
•The information is relevant for a very first introduction to neurology, or for a skilled neurologist to learn to pray for the brain.
• It is for a wide range of ages from one young enough to look at pictures, to anyone still able to have eye site to read in old age.
• Could be used in a book club, Bible study, or class learning setting.
How is this book relevant in today’s society? Brain information is just arriving for the average person on the street, and in the church pew. Anxiety and mental disorders are skyrocketing with PTSD being a commonly known issue. Yet, we don’t pray for the source of the processing, where it happens in the mind and tissues of the brain. To learn where anxiety starts, and which parts of the brain remember it, and how to pray for that source is very life changing. On the left side of each open page is a quote from current writers and famous people in neurology addressing current topics and brain functions: Dr. Daniel Amen (Change Your Brain, Change Your Life), Dr. Earl Henslin (Your Brain on Joy), Mary F. Holley (Crystal Meth, They Call It Ice).
Are there any subjects currently trending in the news that relates to your book? Brain plasticity, brain scans, web sites that promote increasing brain functioning, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in military at higher rates than ever, panic and anxiety attacks, alzheimer’s awareness & prevention.
How is this book different from other books like it? There isn’t any like it. There are only a few graphic books on introduction to the brain (mostly for children), and none on how to learn about the brain functions and how to pray for them! It also has a color coded bibliography, to allow the reader to have more specific information about future reading for more learning about the brain.
What do I want readers to take away from your writing? A curiosity about learning more about how they function and operate, and how to move past just surviving to thriving to see how they are part of what the Lord is doing on the earth.
How did I learn about the topic? My life crashed when my 16 year son was unexpectedly arrested, and spent a year in juvenile hall. Panic attacks and trauma became common vocabulary for me. It was finding a counselor for him coming out of juvie, that I met a man who started teaching me about trauma by teaching me about my brain. I began to voraciously search for any information on brain and behavior, and began teaching the foster kids and foster parents I was working with about basic brain processes, and how to process tension differently. The kid’s behaviors improved, as did the parent’s compassion for these kids. I moved into behavioral counseling, to share with more people about their marvelous brains, and what they could do to pray for improved behavior. I began to get requests for putting it in a book, and so here it is!
These pages are for you whether:
– you have a minute, or
– you have an hour
– you didn’t even know you have an amygdala, or
– you are neuroscientist
– you are not even sure how to pray, or
– you have prayed for years
Background/Education:
– B.A. in Fine Arts, California State University Hayward
– Masters in Social Work, California State University Fresno
– Licensed Clinical Social Worker
– Worked as social worker in foster care and group home, where the clarity came that teaching brain and behavior allowed kids/parents to achieve more success.
– Became certified in Outcome Based Thinking, and continued exploration of incorporating brain functioning in counseling.
Current Work:
– Co-founder of the Clear Thinking Counseling Alliance (CTCA), a group of therapists and counselors committed to training together to help clients discover how to access their best states of mind.
– Developing concept of “art thinking,” using drawing to explore reactions, brain processing and viewing of self in the future.
– Co-facilitator for five years of a weekly support group for parents with addicted children/adults, through Prescription Abusers in Need (gotPAINUSA.com). – Writing more books on Brain Prayers (for specific topics, i.e., brain on drugs, PTSD). – Speaking on brain, breathing & behavior.
Personal:
– Married to Russell for thirty years, with two adult sons, Drew and Parker.
– On national Board of Directors for Assemblies of God Marriage Encounter (you deserve a weekend! agme.org).
– Voracious appetite for dark chocolate, reading anything about the brain, and biographies of the journeys of people doing faith, trauma and joy.
