Focus

Thought patterns can become habitual. They can also be changed with intentional effort Responding in joy, reacting in negativity, answering in content, or retorting with frustration… they can all come to mind so easily with the snap of a finger. It often seems like you can’t control what thoughts come into your mind. You can, with lots of focus and effort. But you can always control what you do with  those thoughts. The mind is a powerful thing. We need to train our minds, our thoughts, our ideas to be more focused on who we want to be, on our goals, and on something bigger than ourselves.

Focus is “The ability to keep your attention where you consciously want it to be. It’s the art of disciplining your imagination to achieve your desired outcomes.”

By changing our thought patterns it is ultimately changing our mindset and perspective. We all have some sort of self talk whether it is positive, negative, helpful, harmful, encouraging… etc. What story are you telling yourself? Are you your own worst enemy? Do you believe in yourself? Do you give others the benefit of the doubt? Are you focused on yourself, others, God? Take some time this week to think about your own self talk.  What are your initial reactions? What do you think when you go throughout your day? Who do you want to be? All your thoughts should be channelling towards the person you want to be. If you want to be a grateful person, you will be grateful about the every day things in your life. If you want to be filled with joy, your initial reaction needs to be filled with joy. If you want to be a happy person and your first reactions are angry, there is going to be some conflict in what is going on in your mind and body experience.

• Think about your habits
• Think about alternative habits you would like to have
• How can you change your mindset?
  • self talk
  • focus
  • body language

It is time to start making changes that will actually start lasting change. Break old habits, create new ones, and change your mindset.  But it takes focus and determination. Are you up for the challenge?

Have you seen the new movie Inside Out?  What a great picture of what goes on in our minds and how it affects us.  There is not only a war going on with our emotions thoughts and our behaviors, there is also something bigger.  2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says  “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” So it is time to realize the battle we are in of our mind, take our thoughts captive, have a strategy, and engage in the battle. Focus your mind on who you want to be. Live like you want to be that person. And create lasting habits to have healthy perspective. 

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