Mind over Matter

We are transformed by the renewing of our minds! Romans 12.2

Here are some of the most common mistaken beliefs that trip us up:

1. We think way too hard about stuff.

2.  We tend to make things way more complicated than they need to be.

3. We have trouble battling the gremlins in our head that tell us “it doesn’t matter” or “I’ll do it later.”

4. Or, sometimes the voices in our heads tell us that we can’t do this, that we don’t have any self-confidence, or that someone else is doing it better. The bottom line is that our mind tells us that we’re not good enough.

5. Sometimes the voice is really really mean and goes so far as to invoke shame – “Who do you think you are,” for wanting x or y or z?

6. We question our decisions and doubt ourselves.

7. We worry about the stuff that’s either in the future or in the past, forgetting that life happens in this moment. Nope, I mean THIS moment. And then, THIS one.

8. We worry  because we think we have to stay excited about our dreams or they’ll never happen.

9. We lack self-assurance in our will, talent, and ability because we can’t get past our limitations and the mistakes we’ve made in the past.

Basically, we’ve let ourselves down so many times in the past we find it difficult to believe that “this time” it will be different.

Because it won’t, love.  Until we correct the problems with our thinking, we can’t begin effect right action, since all action begins in thought.

So, we barrel ahead with life unaware that is our habitually thinking that keeps us stuck.

10. We don’t believe that we’re worth it, or that we can do it. We feel like we're begin SELFISH to want more or like we're somehow cheating our families for taking something for ourselves.

11. We think we have to be sure of what we want before we begin, since we have lost faith in ourselves we doubt what we think we want, perpetuating the problem.

12. We tell ourselves that exploring the things we THINK we want is frivolous, and we feel guilty for wanting time to do that.

We still want it, though. And that gap between what we have and what we will allow ourselves to have causes all sorts of pain and chaos.

13. We have trouble keeping our focus on the promises we make to ourselves.

14.  We can’t sustain our commitments because we forget that if we, for example, go to the gym today we’ll be glad tomorrow.  All we can think about is how much we don’t want to go right now.

Oh, we yield way too often to the whimsy of the moment. Cause change feels hard, the results are “out there” in the future, but the sacrifice is happening RIGHT NOW and we’re not sure we really want that thing we said we wanted when we signed up for that gym membership … masters degree …. charity event… whatever.

Instead,

15. We think we need to know WHY we’re not ready and fix that problem first. This is such a flawed strategy, because we spend most of our lives navel-gazing instead of LIVING into the bigger reality we want for ourselves.
 
16. We think we need to see “the big picture” and all the steps involved BEFORE we begin.

17. We can’t allow ourselves to take comfort in the journey because we fear we won’t end up where we want to be. After all, look what happened the last time we didn’t have the whole thing mapped out.

18.  We have difficulty keeping the momentum and excitement as strong as it was at the beginning of the promise we make to ourselves; and, even worse, we think that actually matters.

19. We don’t understand that it is DEVOTION, not love or passion that takes us to where we want to go.

Basically, a whole lot of our thinking is Bass Ackwards.

Fortunately, this is a simple, yet not altogether easy, problem to address. Changing our minds takes time. It’s a process.

Anyway, something to think about.

Thank you Jen for pointing these out to me!
 

 Peace!!