“Remember that stress doesn’t come from what’s going on in your life. It comes from your thoughts about what’s going on in your life.”
Andrew J. Bernstein

Happy Monday! 

I hope you had an enjoyable weekend! I purposed to rest a bit and let go of stress on Saturday. It’s funny how the harder we try to reduce the stress in our lives, the more difficult it becomes to access peace. As I was ruminating about the things that cause tension, I began to get caught up in the downward spiral of negativity. For a few minutes, I thought the day would be a total pity party when I found this quote:

Photo by Kellen Riggin. No copyright infringement intended.

Mind blown – again – such a simple reality. We know many ideas to be accurate, but we lose sight of the truth and often buy into the story that we have no control over our thoughts. It’s then that we need a change in perspective.

If you’re interested in what Scripture has to say about thoughts, just do a quick word search, and you’ll find things like this:

“…all day they twist my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather together, they hide, they mark my steps, when they lie in wait for my life…” Ps 56:4-5 (NKJV)

These are just a few lines from Psalm 56, but the entire passage talks about how our thoughts try to take us out. But God promises to rescue us. He wants to give us a future and a hope, as we’ve learned in Jeremiah 29:11. He thinks good thoughts about us. So what’s going on?

According to the University of Minnesota:

Thoughts are mental cognitions—our ideas, opinions, and beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. They include the perspectives we bring to any situation or experience that color our point of view (for better, worse, or neutral). (online, 2023)

We have to ask ourselves what’s going on in our heads – in our thought lives to flip the switch on negativity and reprogram our minds to think about the more positive aspects of our work, family, emotions, and mental health so we can gain the best possible outcomes and ensure optimal wellbeing.

Life has the potential to consume us with stress. It’s everywhere we turn, and the temptation to engage is enormous. We do have a choice, however. We can choose to look at our circumstances and become overwhelmed, or we can decide that what’s going on is manageable if we look at them from a different angle, a change of perspective. Then, we can choose to think differently and color our points of view the way we’d like to see them, even if we color outside the lines!

Consider what’s going on in our thought lives this week. Make choices to control our views about any situation that’s causing stress. Then, look at our palettes and select some new colors. I’m excited to learn about how the choices change to rainbows!

Be Well & Be Blessed!

Lucinda