How To Win The Battle Of The Mind

How can we win the battle of the mind? This is not an easy task because quite frankly we spend a lot of time protecting our thoughts from other people.

Now our minds can control us in a number of ways. Some days it may be just a restlessness, where we are not able to concentrate. You may not be able to listen to someone talking because of all the thoughts going on in your mind. Sort of like this:

Our Thoughts

Have you ever lied down in bed and your mind didn’t? Or maybe you are listening to something that you really need to hear, but you can’t really listen because of the thoughts going on in your head.

This is common. Not only in children but also in adults and that’s who we are talking about today, me and you.

You can do it, you can win the battle of the mind. It is only a matter of practice and learning the real truth about our brain. You can not always believe what you think about others or ourselves.

Battling Our Thoughts

The brain is a powerful organ. As a matter of fact, science does not even know or understand all that the brain can do. Our brains can actually prevent us from moving forward and can also give us the strength to change.

The way I think and the way I see something will eventually affect the way I respond. The real honest to goodness truth about everything we do is a result of how we view things. My inner thoughts are “my inner thoughts”. They can be scary, creepy, sweet, angry or whatever. No one but me knows what they are, yet my thoughts and views control most of what I do well or not so well.

Age Does Not Mean Control

I recently reread some scripture that made me think about this again. See, although I am getting older and should have total control over this by now, I don’t. I find there are many times when my mind is totally in a spin and it is annoying to me.

I know that the things I am thinking about can affect my actions. I also know they do not have to. King Solomon knew a lot about this and he says,

 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.

King Solomon, Proverbs 23:7

I am reminded that the things I am thinking about can overwhelm my daily activities and I don’t want them to. Thoughts that are out of control can make us say things we shouldn’t and don’t do things we should.

What Can We Do?

There are ways we can start to have self-control over our thoughts. You can win the battle over your mind, it has been proven over and over again. People bring themselves out of all types of adversities purely by the change in their thought process.

A year or so ago I talked about Self Talk and Self Coaching Here. I talked about how we can learn to change the way we think about things. Sometimes it is a personal attitude that we have carried around a long time. Maybe since we were in elementary school. Usually, the strongholds that are in our minds have been there a long time, from experiences or relationships we had.

Maybe we grew up in a home where affirmation was not part of anyone’s vocabulary or maybe we just were born with a personality that lacks confidence but is big in self-judgment.

Don’t Let Your Past Prevent You From Winning The Battle Of The Mind

How we were brought up has a lot to do with the way we handle life. It is not the only factor.

One of my daughters is a worrier. Worry can be a terrible stronghold in our minds. It can be crippling. Now her worry is not a result of her upbringing. She has always had a roof over her head and she has never missed a meal, unless by choice, but I remember when we moved into a new house.

Unrealistic Thoughts

The house was dark, dreary and smelly. No one had lived in it for about 10 years. She was sitting on the couch with a worried expression on her face. “Mom is this house safe.” Safe, what does a 7- year old know about safety? Why would a 7- year old be concerned about being safe? Over the years she has been my child that asks deep questions about death and what-ifs and all the things most adults don’t even think about. She is a worrier.

I have four children raised in my home and none of them are alike. I believe if we had 12 children all their personalities would be different. We all handle stress differently, don’t we? Worry and stress are part of everyone’s lives, what we do with it matters.

Small Steps Start In Our Thoughts

We have to change the way we think through small, deliberate steps. It is not something we can just wake up one day and say, “I conquered my mind.” It takes small steps and the first is recognizing the problem. Your mind is your mind and you will have to recognize the need for change.

I really believe that we allow ourselves to keep negative. Negative thoughts can sit in our mind waiting to present at the worst times in life.

A House Is Not Built Overnight

A house is built with one brick, one board at a time, right? Yet, we so often want things to be done quickly. Thoughts are deeply embedded. The steps it takes to overcome negative thoughts are small and slow. Negative thoughts often creep back in and when we think they were gone, reappear.

Remember who won the race, the turtle. He won because of being slow and steady. I would encourage you to think about that often while you are on this journey. Slow and steady will be necessary if you really want to overcome negative thoughts. You can do it though!

Recognize That We Can Win The Battle Over Our Mind

Times The Negative Thoughts Show Up Most Often

Negative thoughts seem to crop up at the most inopportune times. I will share some of the times I think they seem to show up.

• When we are busy
• When we are tired
• When we experience an extremely emotional trauma
• Divorce or any relational breakdown
• Death of loved family members

There are definitely triggers that cause our minds to go into overtime. Some weeks I lay in bed and 1 thought after another will start scrolling in my mind. It seems to be the perfect time for negative thoughts to bombard my sleep.

We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Saint Paul 2Corinthians 10:5

Start Saying The Thoughts Out Loud

Would you sit at your desk during the week and say out loud, “I am lousy, I am lousy, I am lousy”. No, of course not. So why do we let our thoughts do that to us?

Often times the thoughts and things we stress about are lies or even worse a fictional story created by us. These lies can swirl around in our heads and ruin our sleep, even our lives. Learning how to start to conquer the mind is a necessary part of maturity and growth.

Start To Prepare Now

So, the next time you have a thought that is ridiculous say it out loud and listen to it. See how silly it sounds. It might really be crazy and unrealistic. Saying something out loud makes it clearer. The words that are rolling around in your brain need to be said out loud so they can really be evaluated as truth or not the truth.

A lot of the times when my daughter came to me with fears or unrealistic thoughts I would make her say it out loud and let it fall on her ears. Sometimes that thought would make us giggle. They just were unrealistic. Here are some things we say to ourselves that are probably just not true.

• No one likes me
• I have failed, again
• I am ugly
• This goal is achievable
• I will never be able to do that
• People are talking about me
• Nothing I want is attainable
• I will never get this right
• I don’t trust God
• Everything I know about myself is a lie
• Usually, the thoughts that swirl in our minds are lies, insecurities, and unrealistic fears. They come to us as a result of our past experiences and how we learned to wage the battle against our minds.

Call Out The Lies In Your Mind

This is often where I like to do a little visual. After I say the thoughts that are plaguing me out loud I like to visualize them being held captive. Let me give you an example.

Let’s say you have spent all day with your girlfriends. It was fun and now you are at home. You start to think about the day and ponder is they Really like you or not? The more you think about it the more distorted the thoughts become. The more you sit and think the more the thought becomes negative and self-loathing.

Ask yourself when this starts, “Where did that come from?”. Why am I even thinking about these things? the battle of the mind starts with calling the thoughts out.

This is where I have a little cage that crazy thoughts go in. No, not a real cage, one in my mind. I literally think out loud, “that thought is crazy, it needs to be caged up!” 🙂

We Make Mistakes

Mistakes are part of life. You just can not go through life without them. As a matter of fact, mistakes help us develop and grow. So to think you can go through life without making mistakes, YOU ARE WRONG. We can not avoid mistakes, and we really should not want to.

How we look at mistakes can be the problem. If the mistakes lead me to the thought, “I am a failure” then that is a problem. A mistake is not a failure, it is an opportunity to grow. The thought is unrealistic and has nothing to do with the mistake. It is a lie that we perpetuate and it needs to be held captive. Call these lies out, win the battle in your mind, and hold the negative thought captive.

We Have Unrealistic Thoughts

Everything we think is not true!!! NEWSFLASH: We used to believe that a fat man in a red suit came down a chimney and delivered presents. When I think of all the silly things I believed over the years it reminds me of how our thoughts are not believable.

So if my negative thoughts are not realistic and not believable why am I letting them control me!! Stop it, step forward and change the negative thoughts you keep having. You can do it.

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”

Henry David Thoreau

Change From The Inside

It goes back to our minds and how we view something every time. The good news is you can change that. I used to hate Monday. Every Sunday night was ruined because of the way I looked on Monday.

One Monday morning on the way to work I decided this had to stop, today. I could not keep ruining my Monday every week just because of the way I thought about it. Mondays were not going anywhere and I wanted to also enjoy Sunday.

That day I decided to change the way I THINK about Mondays. I remembered a scripture that I love.

His mercies are new every morning. Lamentations 3: 22-23

Man, I love that. The fact that each day is new, including Mondays! We not only can absorb the truth in that but also take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

I think about that every Monday. I also think about my team that I am joining and that they need my “game face”. My best foot forward, my game face and the chance to have new mercies make me approach Monday mornings in a whole new light.

Now, do I have some Monday mornings that I missed the mark? Sure I do, but this does not make me a failure, a bad person or a mistake. Those thoughts are not realistic and not true. If I failed this Monday, well next Monday is a chance to get it right and having the proper thought will help to get there.

We Are Not Perfect

I know this is unbelievable, but the woman that you think is the most perfect wife, mother, room volunteer, teacher or any other role you have glorified her into, she is not perfect. Her life is not perfect and most of all her thoughts are not perfect. Even if she told you they are!

We all have blind spots. Some of us have bald spots, but we all have blind spots. We can’t always tell ourselves the truth, because we don’t stop to really think. Frequently we make snap judgments. We fail to notice important details. We all have more background biases than we realize. We jump to conclusions, and the Bible talks about this in Romans 2. We get trapped by categories — Are you this or that? — when whoever said there are only two categories or only three categories? We miss the big picture.

Rick Warren

The truth is we are all flawed, including our thoughts and we need to keep reminding ourselves of that when we start to believe the lies. No one is perfect. Comparing ourselves to those around us and envying their life, looks or strengths will never help us control our thought life.

So Where Do I Start To Take Control Of My Thoughts

You can do it, you can win the battle of the mind. Start by recognizing the thought as a lie. Ask yourself,

• Am I really lousy
• Have I done anything that makes ME a failure
• If that person really better than me
• Am I just comparing myself to the other person
• If there any truth in my thoughts, really

Recognize the problem for what it is. Our minds can deceive us. Remember our mind can be wrong. Say what you are thinking out loud and see if it sounds silly or totally wrong.

If a mistake has been made see it as a chance to grow not a failure. If there is something you are not good at, instead of just chanting some silly mantra-like, I can become a better writer just by saying it, take a class and learn how to really become a better writer. The change is the way you look at the problem and the response is the real chance of improvement.

I hope that you are encouraged by the truth that we really can think about our responses to our thoughts. I also hope you can implement a plan of action. If there is an area you know bothers you and causes some concern to choose to look at it differently and make a realistic plan of action. Address the real problem head-on and don’t let your mind deceive you anymore.

Remember, our mind is a battlefield. Every day we need to remind ourselves of that. Part of winning the battle of the mind is preparing for the battle. No one else can fight this battle for us. It is one we have to prepare for ourselves.

This podcast by Rick Thomas talks about the battle of the mind. It is very good and encouraging.

Answering the question of how to win the battle of the mind might seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Try calling the thoughts out as lies and remembering the truth. We don’t always get it right. With practice, we can win the battle.

Today is the day for change! You can do it. Honestly, Janet