Minding our Mindsets

In my book, Room Without Walls: A Transformational Journey, I briefly covered how we need to protect our minds from negativity. We know that while positive thoughts can motivate and inspire actions that drive progress and success, negative thoughts do the opposite. However, from my experiences I have found that negative thoughts can often linger longer than we intend if we are not intentional about counteracting them with positive ones.

Each of us has our share of challenges in this life, but do we focus on or memorialize them? No. Instead we harness our negative thoughts and be intentional about steering our focus on something that is positive that can propel us forward. Why? Because we have grown to understand that negativity does more damage to our wellbeing and therefore, costs more than we can truly afford.

Being mindful of our mindsets is a mental attitude and posture that begins with awareness. Our mindsets can essentially determine our responses or reactions in a given situation, and guarding our mindsets is critical in maintaining our wellbeing. If battles can begin in our minds, shouldn't we do all that we can to protect our thoughts?

Like me, you and many others have experienced challenges, whether pain - physical or emotional, setbacks, failures or some other situation that was bearing heavily on our thoughts. Maybe you are experiencing a situation that feels overwhelming at the moment, my advice is for you to pause and reflect. Reflect not just on the cause or the effect your present situation is having on you, but on what it is teaching you about yourself. Have you become bitter or better? Has the situation caused you to rely more on the One who knew this would have happened long before it did, and holds the future? How can you grow and heal from this? The answers lie within your desire to grow, and your level of faith and confidence in God.

Let's face it, with life comes the good and "bad" and we must learn to navigate each storm that comes our way. Recently, I had one of those weeks that was filled with bad news - the ones that can really shake us and cause despondency. If I allowed them to, I would have felt distressed for days and had sleepless nights, but I didn't. While I must say that I felt really saddened and discouraged, I began to draw on the strength that comes from having a relationship with my Heavenly Father. I was reminded that His grace is sufficient for me, for His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9) and I do not face my battles alone. I also recall some time ago after receiving bad news, immediately my response was to pray. At that moment, the words didn't leave my lips because I felt so troubled by what I heard, but I began to talk to God in my heart - no words, just an attitude of pouring my all to God quietly, from deep inside. 

So, I will share something else that works for me in counteracting negative thoughts: positive ones, as I alluded to earlier. Even in those challenging or distressing moments, remind yourself that God is still good and in control of your life, once you gave it over to Him. Also, remind yourself of all the things that are good in your life - the positive things. If you can't think of any positive thing in that moment, think about the love that you have experienced from God and how many situations He has brought you through already, when you felt like you could not get past them. 

We are reminded through scripture what to think on: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4:8). 

I therefore challenge you to think on those things that can strengthen your faith, protect your wellbeing and bring you closer to achieving your God-given purpose. By doing that, we are not ignoring that the negative things or thoughts exist, but we are simply allowing ourselves to go through a process of renewal.

So, what are you doing to change your mindset?