What are You Thinking?

Have you ever stopped to think about what you’re thinking about?

Maybe that sounds like a ridiculous question. Or maybe your first thought in response is, “Who has time for that?”. But we think a lot of thoughts, all day, every day. And what we think drives how we receive, interpret, respond to, prepare for, and experience life. How we think shapes what we believe, which triggers our feelings, which fuels our actions. So maybe it is worth thinking about what we think after all!

For example, if you think that your value is determined by your performance, you will believe that anything less than being perfect is unworthy of love. When you fail (spoiler alert, we all do), you feel less-than and incapable of being loved, which then fuels actions of pulling into yourself, holding back, and giving up. That is no small thing and is tragically how we so often live. And sadly that is only one of countless examples of the dangerous power of our negative, broken thoughts.

But here’s the good news! You can change your thoughts. You can challenge your thoughts. You can sift through and reject thoughts that are lying to you. It begins by paying attention to what you’re thinking. When you catch yourself reacting out of fear, shame, insecurity, or despondency, take a step back and listen to what is being spoken in your mind. Odds are you will hear some pretty ugly things being uttered. Thoughts of inadequacy, rejection, inferiority, not stacking up to others, being the sum total of other people’s opinions of you; the list goes on. Maybe you hear names you label yourself with: stupid, a failure, ugly, unwanted, incapable of stepping out and doing that thing you’ve dreamed of doing. When you begin to pay attention to your thoughts, you’ll start to realize that you are often very mean to yourself. And unfortunately when you just let the thoughts play over like a record in our minds, you live out of those thoughts as if they were unequivocally true. But are they?

As you begin to notice those thoughts, snatch them out of the air and challenge them with a very powerful question - “Is this true?” Don’t just believe everything you hear in your mind. Examine it. And when the thoughts pummel you with fear and doubt and insecurity, challenge them. Rise and stand up to them. Speak truth back to them. The truth that you are priceless, strong, and loved. The truth that you have inherent worth that is not determined or measured by the opinions of others. The truth that you have faced and overcome countless challenges in your life and have lived to tell about them. The truth that there is always a reason to hope, to smile, to keep going, and to try again. Stand up under the weight of heavy, dark thoughts and declare truth back at them! You’ve given them your time, attention, and focus long enough. It’s time to kick them out and cultivate a mind that speaks truth, hope, courage, strength, grace, and love. Doing so will change your beliefs which will change your feelings which will change your actions.

And it all begins one thought at a time.