Our thoughts are the building blocks of our lives. Our thoughts govern our actions. What we think can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. What happens if you believe your marriage will never get better? You often don’t bother putting in the work to get the result you really want: a healthy marriage. Because of your negative thoughts, you don’t put intention or action in that direction. You close off the door to that potential.
However, when you pray and believe it will get better, you open the door to the possibility of what could be. Your faith is set on what’s possible. You still have to put the work in to see the potential realized, but you are willing to do it because you know that all things are possible with God. Your thoughts are the starting point to get you going in the right direction. You can apply this concept to every area of your life: work, finances, family, health, spiritual life, etc. Your thoughts either propel you forward or hold you back.
Roger Bannister was the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Before 1954, it was believed that it was impossible for any runner to run a mile in less than four minutes. The prevailing mindset was that this was physically impossible and, if achieved, would lead to the death of the runner. It was thought that a human being simply couldn’t run that fast. “Experts” conducted profound studies to show it was impossible to beat the four-minute barrier. And for centuries, they were right. Nobody ever ran a mile in less than four minutes.
However, Roger Bannister believed he could break that barrier. He didn’t dwell on the impossibilities. He refused to let all those negative words form a barrier or stronghold in his mind. He simply began to train, believing he was going to break that record, and sure enough, he went out one day and broke the four-minute-mile barrier. He did what the experts said couldn’t be done. He made history. We know now that it wasn’t a physical barrier but a mental barrier.
Here is what is so interesting about the Roger Bannister story: Within ten years after Roger Bannister broke that record in 1954, 336 other runners had also broken the four-minute-mile record! For three thousand years, as far back as statisticians kept track-and-field records, nobody ran a mile in less than four minutes. Then, within a decade, more than three hundred people from various geographical locations could do it. What happened? Simple. The barrier was in the athlete’s mind all along. For all those years, runners believed what the experts were telling them. They were convinced that running a mile in less than four minutes was impossible. Roger Bannister had the right mentality. He refused to believe that it was impossible.
Now, think about your own life for a minute. What limits have you imposed on yourself because you believed what other people have said? Where have you allowed the limitations of others’ experiences to become your own? If you are not careful, you can become trapped by your thinking and develop what is called a mental stronghold. This is a mindset that becomes impregnated with hopelessness and causes you to accept something as unchangeable, even though change is possible.
“Your thoughts determine your future.”
In 2005, the National Science Foundation published an article summarizing research on human thought. It was found that the average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those thousands of thoughts, eighty percent were negative, and ninety- five percent were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before.
We can see that one of the strongest tendencies of our mind is to focus on the negative. It’s no wonder people often feel stuck. Whatever you allow filling your mind, whether positive or negative, will eventually show up in your life.
Your thoughts compound day after day, month after month, year after year. Here’s the good news: if you don’t like what’s happening in an area of your life, you can change it by changing your thoughts in that area. This is one of the most profound truths we can learn in life. It allows us to regain control of our lives. I don’t have to be a victim of my circumstances or the environment around me. It doesn’t matter what happens to me; I get to choose the course of my life by selecting my thoughts.
“The direction of your focus determines the direction of your life.”
We can either focus on what’s going wrong in life or on what God can do in the midst of our circumstances. But it’s very important where we choose to set our focus and which thoughts we allow ourselves to meditate on.
One of the most vulnerable times is when you are left alone with your unfiltered and unguarded thoughts. It happens to all of us, right? For me, that’s when I’m driving. One time I was driving down Benton Road at a railroad crossing, about to pass through the light. I wasn’t intentionally thinking about anything. (My wife tells me she doesn’t understand how that’s possible.) But then, something started meddling in my mind. I was frustrated at a personal conflict earlier that day, and, lo and behold, I started having negative thoughts in my head about the other person.
Those thoughts became so strong that I started having an argument with that person in my head! I was literally saying in my mind, “No, you don’t know what you’re talking about!” Then I mentally started telling the person off. My imagined argument was so real I could feel my blood pressure rising, and I started to get angry. My driving became a little more aggressive than before. I was frustrated. I was sitting in my car alone, but I thought I knew how this other person would respond. Then I decided how I was going to respond in return.
I had imagined a whole conversation in my head by the time I finally arrived at my destination. Then, as I arrived, I saw this person. Before thinking, I spoke to him in frustration—before he even said or did anything to me! I was all worked up because of my mental conversation before I arrived. I had to remind myself that the conversation I had in my head wasn’t real and then ask for forgiveness. My frustration was unfounded and unwarranted. It’s so important to guard your thoughts. You must choose the direction of your thoughts with intentionality.
Don’t allow yourself to live your life on autopilot. A recent study by Marks & Spencer determined that ninety-six percent of the three thousand people surveyed lived on autopilot. Ninety-six percent are going through the motions of life, day in and day out. There is an epidemic of non-engagement in our culture today. People have become comfortable going through life without much conscious thought, completely unaware of how they have relinquished their lives to the automatic programming of subconscious thought. Most people go from one situation to another, rarely taking control of life. They bounce around from one situation to the next, becoming victims of whatever circumstances impact them. This is living life on autopilot, with no intentionality, no goals, and no drive. It’s like a self-driving car that one might see driving around town. A person may be sitting in the driver’s seat but only go along with the program, passively observing the world going by. Someone is there, but merely as a disengaged passenger.
“You have no control over what happens to you, but you do get to choose what happens in you.”
Maybe as you read this, you recognize this is how you’ve been living. Although you are sitting in the driver’s seat, you have relinquished control. You are no longer engaged in the process but are simply along for the ride. Have you become nothing more than a spectator in your own life? If that’s you, it’s time to take back control, reengage, and go on a journey to discover the truth about yourself and ultimately achieve freedom.
By Jimn Kyles
