Deliberate Thinking

I came across this ad in our local newspaper. No source was given. A strong message particularly in these challenging economic times:

The quality of our lives is directly influenced by the quality of our thinking. If we spend most of our time fretting about the future or regretting the past, it will be nearly impossible to enjoy the present. On the other hand, if we fill our minds with positive thoughts and really work at savoring life as it unfolds, we will undoubtedly have a much happier and more satisfying life. And, because our mind is truly where we live, it is important to be deliberate about how and what we think.

Just as we try to fill our homes with good and pleasant things (and periodically take out the trash), so too should we fill our minds with good and pleasant things, and discard the garbage of our minds as soon as it comes in; or even better yet, not let “rubbish” into our minds in the first place.

It is all too easy to be a victim of random negative thoughts, whether these are uncharitable thoughts about our neighbors or self-defeating thoughts about ourselves. Sometimes we have to tune out negative thoughts as well as negative people in order to take control of our thoughts and emotions.

The mind is the ultimate locus of our free will. And although we can’t always control our bodies the way we would like, we should have control over our minds, even in the worst of circumstances.

So, we should be deliberate in our thinking and work at keeping things positive, banishing sin and evil from our mind and our life and refuse to let our mind be a home to negativity.

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8