What’s cooking in our minds….

We are what we think.

I think unhealthy thoughts are harder to displace than good thoughts. We need to work harder to get rid of unhealthy thoughts. In spite of that, we need to displace lousy thoughts and replace them with fruitful and loving thoughts.

Depending on the thoughts harboured in my mind each morning, my day will be shaped accordingly. Depending on my thoughts formed about a person, the quality of our relationship will accordingly be delimited. Depending on my thoughts about the odds of success, the extent of my effort will accordingly be set.

My thoughts can cause me to be angry with someone, to be uncooperative with another, to stir up dissension, to lose hope, or to be unforgiving and vindictive.

As Alcoholics Anonymous would say ‘the first bottle begins in the mind’, the first bad behaviour begins in the mind.

When a bad thought first appears in my mind, I noticed if I deliberately and immediately deal with it eg. when I was told of a gossip, I decided I would not repeat it, I end up forgetting about the gossip and I have no struggle with temptation to gossip.

When I notice a bad mood [can be a tat too frequent given the age :(], I choose to be alone or quiet to avoid unnecessary agitations. When I do lose it, I am thankful for the prompting of the Spirit of God to make me realise that the proportion of my reaction is too amplified for the cause.

The Holy Scriptures say to let God take capture my thoughts. My spiritual and emotional health will be in tip top form with a diet of ‘whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, and those things that are excellent or praiseworthy’ for my mind.

That means always giving people the benefit of the doubt – innocent until proven guilty. That is a norm in the Western culture or at least more prevalent but in Asia, the opposite is more prevalent ie guilty until proven innocent.

I realise more and more that if I choose to preserve and protect the peace within, I will live a much better life. That means choosing not to be worked up when served by a rude waiter, or when being scolded unjustly, being passed over for a promotion, being accused of wrong doing though innocent, and etc. Yes, it is not easy. But, if I don’t, I will lose my cool, lose my peace, work my body into a frenzy, worsen the situation and not change an iota! I know which of the two is the wiser choice.

I hope one day I will be naturally unmoved in the midst of adversity. Given my typical passionate and expressive personality, it would be a long journey.