The power of your thought-train

I had a conversation with myself one morning last week.  It happened after a nasty little man in a nasty little yellow car wagged his finger at me and screamed at a closed window (his ears suffered, I might tell you, not mine) in protest to my driving.  His angry face had me shrink in my seat.  My only response to this man was a verbal, “Don’t do that” against my closed window.  His behaviour was unkind; I find unkindness surprises me, it bruises me. 

As I continued on I noticed that I was still shrunken and that the music that has been soothing my soul of late was not penetrating the cloud that had taken over.   Thoughts of failure and fear were dancing around my brain when it dawned on me that I had allowed the little man in the little yellow car to rob me of my joy.  The more I thought about it, the more I realised that this man had not robbed me of anything that I hadn’t freely given. 

I haven’t read any of Dr Caroline Leaf’s books yet, but I have listened through most of her podcasts.  One of the things she consistently teaches is the detriment of negative thinking and the power of positive thinking.   In one of the episodes, she discusses the need to stop the runaway thought-train (my interpretation of her words). 

You understand what I mean by runaway thought-train, don’t you? 

I have been in a funk for the last couple of weeks, I can tell where it started and each time the train has picked up speed as it careens down the hill on it its way off a cliff.  That is how I could explain the process to my husband.  The thoughts keep coming and if I allow them they seem to grow and become heavier.  They are like jumping in one of those unmanned “skips” on wheels in mines in cartoons from when we were children.  The brake snaps as you try to pull the lever…

It’s not really that bad, but it can be. 

It is so easy to become consumed by what is wrong.  We live in a country, in a world where daily the headlines preach death and destruction.  Our children are constantly faced with so much that children should never have to experience.  The cost of living keeps rising.  Please don’t get me wrong, I am the last person to call for rose-tinted glasses, but to add value, to enrich a life one needs to breath in clean air. 

I have sat with a number of different people in the last bunch of days whose lives and families have been irrevocably altered by the inability of a loved one to stop the thought train.  It is hard to listen to their stories and even harder to experience that same pain.  

My intention in writing this post is not to make anyone feel worse about how you are feeling.  I do not presume to know the circumstances of your life, nor do I know the villains in your story.  

What I do know is that you are worth the effort it takes to truly live. 

Do you ever wonder why some people can come from the rubbish dump yet live glorious lives, filled with beautiful people and so much love?  Do you ever wonder why some people from glorious lives with beautiful people and so much love live like they are in the rubbish dump?  

There are always going to be people who step on our toes or wag their fingers at us or break us or beat us, how we respond will determine whether we allow them to win or not. 

We need to live lives rich in laughter and people and love. 

It all begins and ends in the mind. 

So keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honourable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always.

Philippians 4:8 The Passion Translation