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How Heavy Is Your Backpack?

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Within our Wisdom Notes, we continue to explore our daily trek called life. The hills that we climb, the twists and turns on the paths that we face, and the steep slopes that we find ourselves on can be challenging and very interesting. If we are not careful as we trek through life, we will allow our backpacks to become full with cares and concerns that weigh us down and cause us issues. So, this week as we start up the trail let me ask you…

How Heavy Is Your Backpack?

Imagine carrying a backpack filled with rocks everywhere you go. Now that would be exhausting! It gives new meaning to the phrase “doing the heavy lifting.” If the weight of that backpack seems like too much to bear, just imagine the impact of the emotional baggage that we carry every day! Think about it…We fear getting fired, we complain about the service we receive, we express disgust over the politics of the nation, we envy the person “next door,” we worry about meeting deadlines, and we discredit our colleague for “stealing” the promotion. Emotional baggage? You bet.

Now ask yourself, “What do we gain by gossiping about a colleague, badmouthing politicians, or ranting about our frustrations on Facebook?” Answer: We get upset, with little to show for our efforts. It’s as though we believe that if we gossip, rant, and rave loud enough and often enough, people will accept our way of thinking. The truth is, besides being a colossal waste of time, nothing really changes — except that we’re not much fun to be around. Who needs that?

Even when we don’t overtly express our negative feelings of worry, prejudice, fear, criticism, guilt, anger, and envy, we play out these “dramas” in our heads like a chess master plotting his next few moves. These negative thoughts race through our minds like a whirlwind, making us more and more anxious each time we revisit them. In fact, some people get so overwhelmed and depressed that they worry themselves into a frenzy, making it tough to concentrate during the day and causing sleep issues at night. Taken to the extreme, emotional baggage can be absolutely debilitating if not controlled.

In days gone by in a labor-intensive society, hard work resulted in tired bones and sore muscles. In the Information Age, our bodies tell us that enough is enough by reacting with stress-related ailments ranging from headaches to backaches to anxiety attacks. And over time, these stresses add up.

The bottom line is that these “emotional tirades” are unproductive, unhealthy, and exhausting. They cause us to lose focus, snap at people we care about, and waste precious time because we’re stuck playing these ridiculous mind games. No wonder we’re exhausted.

Take a Load Off Your Mind

Here are some simple suggestions to reduce your emotional baggage masquerading as worry, prejudice, fear, criticism, guilt, anger, and envy.

Food for thought.

One of the first steps that people take when trying to lose weight is writing down the food they eat each day. It’s surprising to see it in writing and represents an important motivator toward changing eating habits. By listing the negative thoughts that cross our minds each day, we can use the same technique to reduce our emotional baggage.

Keep it positive.

Cautious thinking isn’t always bad. In fact, having some fear and worry keeps you on your toes, forces you to prepare early, and encourages you to anticipate future events by asking yourself, “What if?” That’s positive. On the other hand, when emotional baggage makes you angry, increases your anxiety, or overwhelms you, it’s a negative to avoid.

Is that a fact?

It’s very helpful to determine if the assumptions behind your fears, worries, prejudices, etc., are factual and realistic. When you’re tired, emotional, or stressed, negative thoughts can spiral out of control and ruin your day, even if the premise behind your anxiety is far-fetched. That’s a fact.

The sky is falling!

How often do your fears and worries actually come true? If they rarely come to fruition, why are you getting all worked up? The odds are that you’d have a better chance of getting hit by lightning.

Make it happen.

Many situations involve matters beyond our control. If you can’t affect the outcome, you may as well enjoy your day – because even a Herculean effort won’t make a difference. Therefore, if there’s a problem that’s waking you up at 3 a.m., and you can do something to make it better, even at that hour, DO IT. If not, it’s better to forget about it and get some sleep. Deal with it in the morning. And if it’s truly beyond your control, then all your worry and sleeplessness won’t change the situation. It’s time to put the worry behind you and move on.

Will it even matter?

Some situations appear larger than life, yet in hindsight seem inconsequential. The key is to gauge the issue beforehand. As a simple test, ask yourself whether you’ll remember the problem in a year or two. If not, it may be a trivial issue unworthy of your concern.

Break Free from Your Backpack

It’s unfair to assume that it’s easy to unpack the emotional baggage that we’ve accumulated over a lifetime.

Romans 6:8 tells us, “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” With this in mind, it’s vital to take control of our lives. But let’s be realistic.

The anxiety that we create in our minds is often worse than reality. We worry about impressing our friends when the truth is that real friends remain good friends in good times and bad. We worry about being late for a meeting. If we are, it won’t change mankind. We also get angry waiting home all day for a delivery person. And that too shall pass.

The truth is, in most cases, life goes on. You have the power to make yourself happy or miserable during your life journey. There are very few times in life when we hit a wall so hard that we don’t recover from it. So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on. The difference is if you take a pledge to be positive, and start lightening your backpack, you’re going to lead a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life. When you change your thoughts, you change your world.

Let me ask you, “How can you lighten your backpack today?” We need to learn to travel light and to leave all the unneeded emotional baggage behind. Next week in our trek, we will explore wandering in the wilderness of faith. So, encourage your friends and family to sign up for our weekly notes and also join us listening to our podcast for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.

Life Is Like Being a Farmer

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In today’s note, let us venture onto the trail in search of that hidden treasure called wisdom. This treasure is readily available, but few seek for it as if seeking for gold, silver, or precious jewels. If we desire to be joyful, we must seek for wisdom as Proverbs 3:13-15 tells us,

Joyful is the person who finds wisdom,
the one who gains understanding.
For wisdom is more profitable than silver,
and her wages are better than gold.
Wisdom is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.

Come along with me again this week in your mind and visualize our trail. We once again come across an overlook, and down in the valley, we see the farmers busy at the harvest. This scene reminds me of how wise it would be if we all would think like a farmer. The more we increase our ability to observe, learn, and understand, the wiser we will become.

Thinking Like a Farmer

One of the difficulties we face in our industrialized and technology-driven age is the fact we’ve lost our sense of seasons. Unlike the farmer whose priorities change with the seasons, we have become impervious to the natural rhythm of life. As a result, we have our priorities out of balance. Let me illustrate what I mean…

For a farmer, springtime is his most active time. It’s then when he must work around the clock, rising before the sun and still toiling at the stroke of midnight. He must keep his equipment running at full capacity because he has but a small window of time for the planting of his crop. Summer is busy, making sure that the crops are growing properly, but it is also a time of patient waiting. God is ultimately in control of the weather during the crucial growth months, so the farmer has to wait and pray. During the fall, it is once again a frantic time for harvesting within a small window of opportunity, hopefully resulting with an abundant crop. Eventually, winter comes when there is less for him to do to keep him busy.

Every farmer knows that you can’t sow and reap on the same day. There is a timetable for your harvest that requires both working and waiting. Patience is a small price to pay for what you will receive.

There is a lesson here. Learn to use the seasons of life. Decide when to pour it on and when to ease back, when to take advantage and when to let things ride. It’s easy to keep working 10-12 hour days, year in and year out, and lose a natural sense of priorities and cycles. Don’t let one year blend into another in a seemingly endless parade of tasks and responsibilities. Keep your eye on your own seasons, lest you lose sight of value and substance.

Proverbs 23:3-5 encourages us to be careful of the continuous pursuit of wealth.

Don’t wear yourself out trying to get rich.
Be wise enough to know when to quit.
In the blink of an eye wealth disappears,
for it will sprout wings
and fly away like an eagle.

As we consider thinking like a farmer, we must realize that most of us will not be farming full time. So let’s continue on our trail and consider another point which is how to overcome a great challenge on our trek of life.

The Great Challenge of Life

Here’s one of the great challenges of life…You can have more than you currently have because you can become more than you currently are.

I have found that income seldom will exceed your own personal development. Once in a while income takes a lucky jump, but unless you personally grow out to where it is, it will go back to where you are. It has been predicted in studies that if you took all the money in the world and divided it among everyone equally, it would soon be back in the same pockets. Regardless of whether that is actually true, on an individual level, you can have more because you can become more. You see, here is how the other side of the coin reads…Unless you change how you are, you will always have what you currently have. Creating a plan won’t work for you. It may be a good plan, but it won’t work without you. You’ve got to work it. It is the human effort that counts. The major thing that makes the difference is what YOU do.

Proverbs 21:5 teaches us to plan, but then to take action, “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.”

In order to have more, you need to become more. One person may say “If I had a good job, I would really pour it on, but I have this lousy job so I just goof off.” If that is your philosophy, you are destined to stay there.

You may have said, if I had a lot of money, I would be really generous, but I don’t have much so I’m not generous. See, you’ve got to change that philosophy, or you will never have an accumulation of wealth. Unless YOU change, your situation won’t change. Amazingly, however, when you throw out your blame list and start becoming more yourself, the difference is everything else will begin to change around you. An enterprising person is one who sees opportunity in all areas of life. Thinking like a farmer and overcoming great challenges of life are two great nuggets of wisdom to consume for this week.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life – Part 7

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The Final Trail of Thinking

We have nearly completed our current trek, as we are visiting the 12 waypoints on the Trail of Thinking where we have sojourned for the last 7 notes. So far, we have stopped by waypoints 1-11 and have only 1 more waypoint to visit.

I encourage you to apply each waypoint to your life so that you can become more wise and successful. If you have missed any of the previous Wisdom Notes, please go back and read them first. We certainly don’t want to leave anyone behind.

As when we ended each of the previous notes, I asked you to deliberate on two more questions:

  • Am I continually considering others and their journey in order to think with maximum cooperation?
  • Do I stay focused on productive thinking so that I can gain the maximum results and reap the full potential of my thinking?

Study these weekly questions, and then apply them to your life. Doing so will radically change your thinking and gradually change your life. Just like our trek in life, progress is usually slow and may be burdensome but is required to become wise and successful.

As we reach waypoint #12 today, we are switching our focus from how to think and are concentrating instead on what to think about.

12. Concentrate on What You Think About

As we consider this last waypoint, I am reminded of a quote I recently came across from Peter Lord that I feel is quite appropriate as we look at how to concentrate on what you think about.

“We have no control over how we feel, how we act — our attitudes, and actions — except as they are determined by our thoughts. All these elements are irrevocably tied together. But since we do have control over what we think, it is possible to control our attitudes and actions…All thoughts can be divided into two basic categories: true and false. The thoughts that come from God are true. He is the God of all truth and has sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and to guide us into all truth.  If I can receive God’s thoughts, I can think the truth. Therefore I will have the right attitudes and actions. How do you get the air out of a glass? By filling it with water.  How do you get rid of wrong and untrue thoughts? By filling your mind with true and right thoughts from God. The control of our thought life, then, comes by thinking God’s thoughts with Him,” Peter Lord.

“Since we do have control over what we think, it is possible to control our attitudes and actions.”

I recently reread a short book by James Allen titled “As a Man Thinketh” in which the core foundation is taken from Christ’s teaching in Luke 6:43-45,

 “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thorn bushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes.  A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”

Remember in Scripture that many times the word heart and mind can be used interchangeably as they refer to our internal thought process and reservoir.

“What you say flows from what is in your mind.”

In the chapter “Effect of Thoughts on Circumstances,” James Allen puts it this way, “Man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth (or produce).  If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein and will continue to produce their kind…

Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and beard its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good thoughts bear good fruit; bad thoughts, bad fruit.

Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results. Bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. This is but saying that nothing can come from corn but corn, nothing from nettles but nettles. Men understand this law in the natural world, and work with it. But few understand it in the mental and moral world (though its operation there is just as simple and undeviating), and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.”

While I don’t agree with James Allen’s entire premise, the core ideas of his book are solid. Our lives reflect and are a product of what we think about.

In God’s divine sovereignty, there are exceptions to these basic laws of humanity.  There are situations where seemingly bad things do happen to good and positive people. The book of Job illustrates this concept. Also, innocent people do suffer at times at the hands of those who are not. In most cases, though, our lives reflect what we have planted in our minds.

“A person does not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”

I would encourage you to read “As A Man Thinketh” by James Allen. It is available to read online for free on several websites and only takes about 30 minutes to read in its entirety.

Waypoint #12: Concentrate on What you Think About can be summed up in the letter written to the Church in Philippi by the Apostle Paul.

Philippians 4:8 reads, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me — everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”

We need to learn and then adopt the thinking habits described in today’s podcast. It is then we will become wise and successful people. Remember though, it is not enough just to learn something. We must also put it into practice for it to become effective.

Focus Question: “Do you concentrate on what you think about as much as how you think?”

Based on your answers to all 12 of these questions, where are you strongest? In what kind of thinking do you need to grow?

Develop in any of those areas, and you’ll become a better thinker. Master all that you can, especially the process of concentrating on what you think about.

As your guide, friend, mentor, and fellow sojourner, I encourage you to “keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me — everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you,” Philippians 4:9.

In our next note, we will take a hard look at life and realize that sometimes you just have to “Suck it Up and Deal With It,” especially with those events over which we have little or no control.

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life – Part 6

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Different Ways of Thinking

Life is a trek, and we are all in this trek together. Each day as we gain wisdom and insight, let us do all that we can to live life each day so that we are leaving a legacy.

We have stopped by waypoints 1-9 so far, so we only have three more to go.  I encourage you to apply each waypoint to your life so that you can become more wise and successful. Let’s continue on life’s trail until we reach waypoints 10 and 11.

As we ended our previous Wisdom Note, I asked you to consider two more questions:

  1. Am I consciously rejecting the limitations of common thinking in order to accomplish uncommon results?
  2. Am I consistently searching the minds of others to think “over my head” and achieve compounding results?

Consider these questions each day and apply them to your life. This will help you to change your thinking and start down the trail to a changed life. As we are on this trek of life together, one of the most important ways of thinking is found at our 10th waypoint.

10. Practice Unselfish Thinking

Unselfish thinking is beneficial because it enables personal fulfillment, adds value to other people, and increases the quality of your life. When you engage in unselfish thinking, you become part of something greater than yourself. It is only possible to create a long lasting legacy by thinking unselfishly and investing in others. Here are five ways to cultivate the ability to think unselfishly:

  • Put others first. When you think unselfishly you make a commitment, both mentally and emotionally, to look out for others’ interests.
  • Find situations where people have needs. One way to practice unselfish thinking is for you to find situations where people have needs and then do something about it. At first, the kind of giving you provide is not all that important; the goal is for you to learn how to give.
  • Give quietly or anonymously. After learning how to give, you must learn how to give when nothing is provided to you in return. Anonymous giving results in spiritual, mental, and emotional benefits.
  • Invest in people intentionally. Consider different people and their journey, and then work together with them. To possess the characteristics of an unselfish thinker, you must make sure the other person in a relationship wins first.
  • Continually monitor motives. It is in your human nature for you to put yourself first. This is true of everyone. It is important for you to examine your motives to ensure that you are not acting for selfish reasons.

As we look at unselfish thinking, it reminds me of verse 24 of Hebrews 10,“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” 

Focus Question: “Am I continually considering others and their journey in order to think with maximum mutual aid?”

“When you engage in unselfish thinking, you become part of something greater than yourself.”

11. Rely on Productive Thinking

In your life, being useful and productive determines whether you are succeeding or not. However, money is certainly not the primary measure of success. The primary measure of success is to determine if you are achieving the desired results in your life and if your life is positively impacting the lives of others.

Productive thinking provides clarity by providing a benchmark to measure activity. Decisions also become easier when the desired outcome is determined. Success in the future relies on recognizing if you have been productive today.  No matter what the desired result is for an activity, it can be improved through good thinking that turns ideas and dreams into results. There are five ways that you can learn to become a more productive thinker:

  • Identify the results desired. The results may be large or small objectives. Regardless of the size, the desired results must be as specific as possible.
  • Make the results the measuring point. All activities in your life should be consistent with your values, which should not be compromised.
  • Create a plan to achieve your results. Plans must be designed so that your smaller goals add up to your overall objective for the season of life you are in.
  • Ensure that family and friends help you towards your objectives. Your family, friends, and associates should know and understand what your life values and objectives are and what role they may assist with.
  • Choose a system that will help you with your objectives. The systems and methods in your life must reinforce achievement of your objectives and the results you desire.
Productive thinking helps us to grow in our character as mentioned in Apostle Peter’s 2nd letter in chapter 1 verses 8 and 9, “The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”

Focus Question: “Do I stay focused on productive thinking so that I can gain the maximum results and reap the full potential of my thinking?” 

We need to learn and then adopt the thinking habits of unselfish and yet productive thinking in our lives. These are traits or habits of wise and successful people. It is not enough just to learn something. We must also put it into practice for it to become effective. 

Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life – Part 3

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Thinking Differently

First, I want to apologize for the delay in this week’s Wisdom Note. On Saturday, July 8th I suffered an accident falling from a ladder that will change my life for weeks to come. In fact, I would say as a major life event, it will impact my outlook for the remainder of life. I am producing a series of podcasts on Tuesdays and Thursdays detailing the accident and my trail of recovery.

In our previous Wisdom Note, we continued with the 2nd of 7 week series about how you can change your life by changing how you think and what you think about.This week we will continue with Part 3.

I am excited to continue on our trek today as we visit waypoints 4 and 5 on our trail in our quest to change our thinking so that we can change our lives. There are 12 waypoints or rest stops plus a couple of planning discussions in all, so if you missed any of the past two Wisdom Notes, please go back and read them. This will give you the foundation for this week’s  Wisdom Notes.

Let’s start down the trail today towards the next waypoint or rest stop.  While I am very much an optimist in life, I am also very much a realist. I always believe the glass is completely full, either with liquid, air, or other substances, but I also know that I may not always want to drink what is in the cup.

So, let’s settle in at our first waypoint or rest stop for this week.

4. Employ Realistic Thinking

Realistic thinking is absolutely essential for success in life. It minimizes your risk by determining in advance what the consequences of different actions might be. By understanding and acknowledging consequences, it is possible to plan for them.

Realistic thinking is absolutely essential for success in life.

By developing contingency plans, you’ll feel and be more secure. Realistic thinking will also lead you to better define objectives or goals so that you can reach them. Through realistic thinking, you can create a solid foundation upon which your ideas can be built upon.
 

This reminds me of the parable that Christ taught us in Luke 6:47-49, “I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.  It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.  But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

To improve your realistic thinking abilities, here are five tips:

  • Develop an appreciation for truth. Realistic thinking requires you to face the truth and to take responsibility for its consequences.
  • Gather the facts. An important part of realistic thinking is for you to gather the facts connected to an idea. It can also be useful to study what others have done.
  • Think about the pros and cons. When you analyze the pros and cons associated with an idea, you can gain a more realistic view-point.
  • Envision the worst case scenario. One of the most useful traits of realistic thinking is to uncover, envision, and analyze the worst case scenario about your ideas and plans
  • Align resources with objectives. After analyzing the pros and cons and identifying the worst case scenario, you must then identify gaps between reality and your vision or plans. Once you do identify the gaps fill them.

Focus Question: Am I building a solid foundation on facts so that I can think with certainty?

5. Utilize Strategic Thinking

Strategic thinking enables you to take a long-term view of a situation. This type of thinking has numerous benefits. It can simplify your ideas by breaking them down into manageable pieces, and it also leads you to more precise thinking.You must move beyond a vague idea and identify specific ways to address you issue. By aligning actions with objectives, strategic thinking improves the odds that you are going in the right direction.
 
The following seven steps will help you with strategic thinking:

  • Break down the issue. To focus on your issues most effectively, strategically break them down into smaller parts that are more manageable.
  • Ask why before how. Identify all of the issues first, before jumping and trying to solve them.
  • Identify the real issues and objectives. Ask yourself and others probing questions to uncover the real issues. After you have identified the real issues, often the solution to a problem is simple.
  • Review the available resources. You must consider what resources are available. If this is overlooked, your strategy and plan will fail.
  • Develop a plan. Put the obvious elements in place first to initiate momentum, then build your plan.
  • Include other people if needed. As part of strategic thinking, include the right people to assist you.
  • Repeat the process. Strategic thinking becomes most effective, when you utilize it continuously.

Focus Question: Am I implementing strategic plans that give me direction for today and increase my potential for tomorrow?

We need to learn and then adopt the thinking habits of wise and successful people. It is not enough just to learn something, we must also put it into practice for it to become effective.

“Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty,” Proverbs 21:5.

Think about the two questions that were asked today. Reflect on them. This is an important step in changing your thinking and changing your mind.