Today’s devotion explores the question “what is a healthy mind?”. It is part 2 of a three part series about being healthy body, mind, and spirit.
All three are important and make up a whole. If one part is out of whack, it will affect the others. If we want to be effective as a Christian and a light for this world then we need to be healthy physically, in our thought life and in our spirit.
Last week I focused on how our bodies are temple’s of the Holy Spirit. You can read that article here if you missed it.
Today, let’s start off with defining “mind”
The mind is defined as:
“the element of a person that enables them to be aware of the world and their experiences, to think, and to feel; the faculty of consciousness and thought.”
It’s Our Choice
What we think about is our choice to make every moment of every day. We can focus on our problems or we can focus on the solutions. We can focus on everything that is wrong in our life or we can focus on our blessings. What’s more important? Is it that ice cream sundae that is calling your name or losing that last 5 pounds and eating the salad instead.
It’s our choice and our choice alone.
No one can make that choice for us.
It says in Philippians:
“…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.”
Philippians 4:8
Bruce Lee said it well when he said, “What you think so shall you become.”
We can’t choose our past, it’s already gone but we can learn from it and use our past to make better choices for our future.
We can’t control what other people have done to us. But we can control how we respond now and in the future.
We Can Focus on Fear or We Can Focus on Faith
Whatever we focus on will take over. If we focus on fear, there won’t be any room left for faith. However, if we turn that around and focus on faith, there won’t be any room left for fear either.
Faith is a conscious choice of the will and the mind. It’s like a muscle and it has to be exercised.
You need to engage your mind. Don’t let life just happen to you. Make a choice to engage your mind every day. Make good choices for your future. It’s never too late to start making good choices instead of bad ones. It all starts with one little step at a time.
Focus on the Positive
Whatever you focus on will affect your outlook on life. For example, have you ever been around a negative person? I have. Whenever they start complaining about something, I find that I do the same thing. I don’t mean to and many times I don’t even realize that I am doing it. It sneaks up on you.
For instance, I used to be very negative as a kid and while growing up and it took making a conscious choice every day for a long time to get out of the habit of negativity. You can make that same choice too.
I began to focus on what I could do and not on what I couldn’t do. It takes just as much energy to focus on the positive as it does on the negative.
Once you’ve engaged your mind and made your choice, you need to take action and do something. Don’t overthink it. If you do, you will never get anything done. It’s way too easy to keep pondering something in your mind, trying to decide whether you should or whether you shouldn’t do something.
Make the Choice to Take Action
So, now if I ask myself “what is a healthy mind?”, I find that it is one that is focused on faith. A healthy mind is exercised, and it is focused on the positive.
Above all, don’t overthink things though, take action and make your dreams a reality.
If you like this post, check out my first post in this series called “What is a Healthy Spirit?”
Also, if you are looking for a great devotional, take a look at my newest book “My Heart, Christ’s Home: 100 Days of Joy and Strength in Jesus”. You can find out more by clicking the link below.
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