Thinking – what could be so simple? Or is it?
We all think – sports and peak performance coach Jim Fannin says we have anywhere between 2,000 to 3,500 thoughts a day. What distinguishes excellent performers in any field from sports to business to any aspect of life is the quality of one’s thinking.
James Allen has aptly stated,“you are today where your thoughts have brought you. You will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” The thoughts we have today lay the seed for our life in the future.
It is in the quality not the quantity of our thinking in our information saturated world that all future potential lies.
I’ve been struck how the opening verses of Genesis in the Old Testament imply this with the story of creation. God spoke – or, put it another way, He expressed a thought – and it was so from light to the heavens to dry land to the celestial bodies to the fish of the sea and animals.
Everything is created twice – first in the mind and then in the physical world. As human beings made in the image of God we see that outworking everywhere around us.
Just look around the room you are sitting in right now. Everything, apart from the people and plants in your room was once a thought in the mind of another human being – from the chair you are sitting on to the paper clip on your desk to the computer you are reading this from.
On one level so obvious, but on another level quite amazing.
I’d encourage you to stop right now and reflect on that for a minute. Thoughts are incredibly powerful and hold the key to so much we wish to desire and achieve. Not all thoughts have equal importance or potential – but each has a frequency or vibration that shows up on an EEG (Electroencephalogram). Quite simply change your thinking and you can change your life.
But thinking is not easy.
Winston Churchill has been quoted to say, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
We are taught all sorts of skills in life, but one I don’t think (pardon the pun!) we are taught is how to think. One of the downsides of our media saturated society is that a lot of thinking is done for us. The danger is to think that because a lot of people say or believe something then it must be right. Or the other problem is that we are so overloaded with information we feel we have no time to think.
We live in a distracting world. However, as someone has aptly said, your mind is not for holding ideas, but for having ideas.
Good thinking does not come in a hurry, but when we are relaxed and in an unstressed frame of mind. I’ve often been struck how great ideas have come to me at the strangest of times – in the shower or when swimming or on holiday. Some of my best insights have come when I have been relaxed.
There is something about how the mental work of thinking is so different to physical work. In physical work more effort leads to greater results. But in mental work, greater relaxation leads to deeper insight and quality of ideas.
So to summarise, to improve the quality of your life, you first need to improve the quality of your thinking. The apostle Paul writing 2,000 years ago from a prison cell to disciples of Christ in Philippi (in what is now modern day Greece) was able to say (this is from the Message translation of the original Greek):
“Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious – the best not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”
What are your thoughts on thinking?
What questions do you have about how to raise the level of your thinking?
When do you do your best thinking?
Do feel free to share your thoughts!
Dr Sunil Raheja
Many seasoned leaders realize they've lost their direction in life. Through my coaching program, leaders are equipped with a personalized plan for meaningful purpose and better days ahead.
I find that a good run or cycle ride can clear out my head and really allow my mind to relax. I’m then an awful lot more productive with my time. I’ve recently started cycling to work each day and I’m amazed at the effect this has had on both my mood and focus. I guess that this half an hour each way is exactly the relaxation time which I need.
Thanks Sunil,
Austen
Thanks Austen
Your example also illustrates how as holistic beings made in the image of God (mind, body and spirit) working on one aspect of us (that is the body through cycling), impacts another (the mind by improving mood and focus).
Dr S, Congrats on your new website, very nice! I agree with Austen’s comment, exercise really boosts my mood, not just in terms of the endorphins it releases, but psychologically you feel like you’ve done something ‘useful’, and obviously being in good physical condition gives you a good self-image, and I think if you have a good interal self-image, you project a good self-image externally to others, so then you will receive overt or subliminal positive feedback from others, which creates a positive cycle of feeling good/receiving good feedback.
Thanks Karl
Yes it is rather like creating a virtuous circle. Part of being whole beings -body, mind and spirit that are inter-related and inter-connected.
I have also been studying CBT (not in an official capacity, just my own research online). I found this fantastic page for CBT resources:
https://www.morninglightcounseling.org/healing-a-recovery/67-tools-for-recovery/132-handouts-on-cbt-skills
I printed them all out and read them every day. My favourites are ‘replacing the shoulds’ and the ‘gratitude journal’.
Just practicing these very simple exercises has transformed my thinking from distorted to more balanced and rational; this has in turn modified my external behaviour in terms of being a bit nicer to live with!
Thank you for sharing these resources Karl.
One simple exercise I have also found helpful is replacing the phrase in my mind ‘I have to’ or ‘I should’ with ‘I get to…’ It reminds me of the privileges I have and gets me out of a cycle of negativity or self-pity.
One last comment! I have to say that becoming a Christian has also helped me psychologically. Obviously it is completely faith-based, however, the act of praying to a higher power, giving your problems over to Him is theraputic, feeling/believing that God wants the best for you and even when things seem to be going wrong, trusting in God to make things work out for good is also uplifting. There is also the fellowship side, being with a group of people who believe the same things and have the same values as you makes you feel ‘connected’, and connection with others is very important; if you isolate yourself from others you begin to feel isolated, which will exacerbate isolation, and therefore breed a low mood. Also being with a group of people who admit that they are not perfect, that they have problems too but that they are trusting in God to make them ‘whole’ is also beneficial. Jesus did not come to save the ‘perfect’ people who ‘seem’ to have it all together, He came to save the broken ones. Putting my faith in Christ has definitely sent my life in a more positive direction.
Thank you for sharing your personal journey!
One of the other liberating truths from the Gospel is that God accepts us not on the basis of how we are doing, but on the basis of what Christ has done on the cross. That then takes away uncertainty as to whether God will accept me, because I have some ‘good’ days (when I can become proud) and ‘bad’ days (when I can get despondent). So knowing it not about me, but Christ takes the pressure off me, which is so liberating.
Very true. May God bless you and your work Sunil, may He use you more and I pray that this website will flourish and help many more suffering people around the world. Amen.
That is my prayer as well, Karl.
Much appreciated.
Sunil