You Are What You Think!

 "Okay, so your heart's broken. You sit around mopin', cryin', cryin.

You say you're thinkin' 'bout dyin'? Well, before you do anything rash, dig this."

Those are the beginning lyrics from a great song by Aaron Neville, called Everybody Plays The Fool. So, why am I starting this blog off with that? I'm about to tell you. Sometimes we, okay, I think too much. Just like the subject in that song I sit around mopin', cryin'. Well, maybe on the inside. But my point is this: We are always talking to ourselves. For some of us, it's an art form that makes us look crazy! But, most of the time the kind of self-talk I'm referring to is internal. I do it...so therefore everyone must. The truth is that we do. Sometimes the things we say are good and true, and other times that are damaging and false. Sometimes those thoughts are creative and sometimes destructive.
I had this very experience this morning. Hence, this topic this afternoon! I was sitting on my back deck, preoccupied and deep in thought. My thoughts brought me back to my past, reviewing some mistakes and choices that caused me pain. My mind was being quite creative. Unfortunately the creations were negative and not truthful in the least. When I realized what I was doing to my beautiful morning and my opportunities before me, I stopped. When I put a halt to this stinkin' thinkin", the realization came to me that the problem was not my creative mind. It was the focus of that creativity. You see, I realize that God gave me this mind and it's up to me to maintain it like my new Dodge Ram: according to the specifications. One of the specifications for maintaining my mind is to remember to tell myself the truth and use that truth to glorify it's Creator.
Obviously, that's not what I was doing this morning. So, I told myself to stop using that wonderful creative mind to do damage, but rather do some good. Then, I started thinking about the very deck I was sitting on. Below it was treacherous for little puppies, of which I have two. There is a big opening that they have already explored and nearly got stuck in. What to do...
My creative mind saw some old pickets in its memory, found them and installed them. Problem solved!! Now, what next? I have a writing lesson hanging over me that I have been avoiding because it is very taxing to my brain. Okay, creative mind. Tackle it! I decided that while I was thinking properly I might even finish this project that was annoying me. (even moderately gifted writers get annoyed with writing sometimes) I went inside, to my study and opened my one-quarter finished lesson and put my committed mind to the task. About an hour later I was finished and my lesson on the way by electronic mail to my mentor.
Phew, what I can do when I'm thinking correctly.
Does this principle strike a chord with anyone else? I think it might. You see, the Bible says that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. So, my friends, you and I are what we think. I was being creative, but to my detriment. I decided to use that same mind to create something positive. I believe we can all accomplish much more when we are in our rightly focused minds.
Think about it, okay.
Until next time,
God bless you
Vinny