I don’t know if this has ever happened to you, but yesterday, I found myself in, what is commonly referred to as “A funk.” You know, the inability to move in a positive direction, your thoughts in negative “overdrive.”
It seems that when I get this way, the harder I try to break free of the negative mindset, the greater control negative thinking has over my life. The late Zig Ziglar referred to this kind of thinking as “Stinking’ Thinkin’.” I guess because Stinking’ Thinkin’ always leads to rotten results!
The question for me is, “How does one control negative thinking?” I like what Dan Millman says about controlling one’s thinking. He states, “you don’t have to control your thoughts, you just have to stop letting them control you.” But, again, “How does one keep negative thoughts from controlling him or her?”
The Apostle Paul writes, in Romans 12: 2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Now the question becomes, “How do I renew my mind?” Ritu Ghatourey, a writer from India, gives some insight; she states, “Our mind is a garden, our thoughts are the seeds, you can grow flowers, or you can grow weeds.” The writer of Proverbs states in Proverbs 23: 7, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”
The final question is, “What am I allowing to enter my heart?” Do I intentionally seek an environment in which God is honored, or do I permit those things that dishonor God to become a natural part of my usual pattern of living?”
The bottom line is, I have a free-will, and I decide what I will read, watch, listen to, and relate to in life. The battle of the mind is won, not in the heat of the struggle, but rather in the preparation that happens in the minutes, hours, days, and years before the battle begins.
So, today, as an act of my free-will, I will decide to read, watch, listen to, and relate to all that honors God. because GOD IS GOOD. AND GOOD IS POSITIVE!
