“Think about what you’re thinking about,” Joyce Meyer in Battlefield of the Mind: Winning the Battle in Your Mind
There’s no saying “mind over emotions” even though there should be one to keep our emotions straight. People like me need a notice, a nudge, or maybe a brickbat. I doubt I would have listened, though, until I experienced it.
Before I practiced and praised “mind over emotions,” I needed proof that renewing my mind was more powerful than handling my emotions with kid gloves and trying hard to repair them … like I’d done for years.
In her book The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank said, “But feelings can’t be ignored, no matter how unjust or ungrateful they seem.”
It’s true that our emotions can’t be ignored. Try it and they’ll surface in all sorts of negative ways like discomfort, disease, and dependence on drugs. But “can’t be ignored” doesn’t mean can’t be controlled.
I gave into my emotions and reacted rather than telling them to stand down.
Decades ago, I majored in psychology, which makes me wonder why I didn’t give more credibility to the placebo effect. While testing the effect, patients took what they believed was a real drug, but it contained no active ingredients to cure anything. Positive or negative results from the treatment were attributed to the person’s expectations.
An article posted at the Association for Psychological Science, Mind Over Matter: Patients’ Perceptions of Illness Make a Difference, went so far as to say, “In fact, some research suggests that how a person views his illness may play a bigger role in determining his health outcomes than the actual severity of his disease.”
“Power of suggestion is always at work,” said Polly Campbell in her article at Psychology Today, “4 Ways the Power of Suggestion Can Change Your Life.”
Just like Anne Frank said emotions can’t be ignored, neither can power of suggestion that affects my emotions – mind over emotions.
Let’s revisit the quote at the beginning of this chapter, ““Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
In the place of giving into emotions, I needed to pay attention to how I got so emotional in the first place. I needed to think about what I was thinking about and replace it.
Our emotions stand down. Depending on what we put in their place, we stand a better chance of accomplishing our purpose – mind over emotions.
Watch our thoughts, they become our destiny.
In the place of news, get on our knees.
In the place of gossip, practice gratitude.
In the place of greed, give.
In the place of obsessing, obey.
In the place of worry, work.
In the place of fighting, forgive.
Can you think of other ways to renew our minds to keep us on track?
In This Together,
Kim
FYI: I’m blogging my book titled On The Other Side of Trying Hard: Healing, Happiness, and Holiness. Because these blog posts are a manuscript instead of stand-alone stories, some posts may leave you hanging. I hope you’ll hang in here with us anyway ‘cause a happy ending is coming. My blog post title includes the chapter title first. The phrase in parentheses is the subheading. I’m over-the-top grateful to have you here. I’d love to hear your reflections, questions, and comments.
