ļ»æHey friends. Welcome to the Catholic life coach podcast. I am Jenny Guinn, your host. It is finally fall in Tennessee. The leaves are slowly, beginning to turn colors. It's kind of hard to tell at first glance, but when you look closely, you can see the green starting to fade and fall colors appearing. I love the fall and it's not because of pumpkin spice. I bet that's what you were thinking.
I love fall because it means snuggling in a warm sweatshirts, bonfires and watching football with my family and friends.
In today's podcast, I'm going to share with you why it is important to recognize the thoughts that are in your brain. We are unaware of the countless thoughts that go through our mind each day.
Scientists have discovered that the average person has, are you ready for this 50,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day? In fact, some studies have shown it to be even more. Research has also shown that you only recognize 5 to 10% of those thoughts. That means you were only aware of a small percentage of thoughts bouncing around in your brain.
You may be wondering why this is important to know. Well, your thoughts are the guiding force of your life. In Life Coaching, I teach my clients that their thoughts are the foundation for the life. Your thoughts create your feelings. When you have a thought about the weather, your lunch, your spouse, or traffic, it is the thought that is creating how you feel.
You might have this thought about your lunch...my chicken is under seasoned so that thought could create a feeling of disappointment. You might have this thought about the traffic...people don't know how to drive so I am going to be late for my meeting. This thought may create a feeling of anger or frustration.
It is normal to believe that your feelings are the result of the things happening around you, but your thoughts about those things create your feelings. Have you ever had a feeling, but couldn't quite pinpoint why you felt that way? If your thoughts create your feelings, don't you think it's important to know what is going on in your brain?
When was the last time you examined your thoughts or were even aware of what you were thinking? When thoughts go unexamined, they can do a lot of harm. They can get out of control and cause negative cycles that lead to negative feelings and actions.
This past summer, my husband and I remodeled the downstairs of our house. We pulled up all of the carpet so we could put down hardwood. We painted every room and add a new countertops in our kitchen. Before we could start any of the work, we had to completely clean out our downstairs, including our bedroom. This was a huge task. As we began to move out furniture, I had to pack up what was in the buffet, the cabinets and the closets.
When everything is tucked away and hidden in its place, you don't realize how much stuff you actually have. As I began to pack, I was amazed at some of the stuff I found. There were things I thought I had gotten rid of years ago. There were quite a few things I had completely forgotten about like dishes, birthday decorations, mismatched gloves, and a million gift bags. Why do I always keep buying them?
As I pulled out items, I asked these three questions.
Is this item helpful or useful in my life?
Do I really want it?
Is it current or outdated?
Let me just tell you, I loaded my car and made several trips to Goodwill. I got rid of things that we no longer needed, or that didn't have a purpose in our lives.
It felt so good to purge and clean out. It is important to do the same thing with all of the thoughts in our brain, just like I opened cabinets and drawers and pulled out stuff. We can do the same thing with our thoughts. In 2 Corinthians, Paul tells us to "take all thoughts captive and make them obedient to God."
Taking your thoughts captive simply means gaining control over what you think about yourself and your life. What you think matters. It matters at least as much, if not more in your spiritual life, as it does in your daily life. What you think impacts your feelings and ultimately your actions. If you are aware and take your thoughts, captive, you take control of your thoughts and feelings.
This allows you to create a life that you love. To live in the present moment and to be your authentic self to those around you who mattered the most.
So here are three steps to take your thoughts captive.
Step Number One: create an awareness of your thoughts. To do this you have to step out of your brain. Instead of just thinking, you have to think about what you're thinking.
Let me say that again, to be aware of your thoughts, you have to think about your thinking. It's a subtle change and you can even ask yourself, what am I thinking right now? The answer to this question is like pulling out items from the back of the closet. Some thoughts you will recognize, but others may have been hidden and may be a surprise for you. Since your thoughts create our feelings. You will gain an insight into maybe why you feel a certain way.
Step Number Two: To take your thoughts captive is to question your thoughts. Just because you have a thought doesn't mean that you have to keep it. A thought is simply a sentence in your brain.
Here's how you question your thoughts. Ask these three questions.
Is this thought helpful or useful in my life?
Do I really want it?
Is it current or outdated?
Just like my car loaded up with items I no longer needed or wanted. You can also get rid of thoughts that you no longer need or want. You can decide that you don't want to think that thought. Get rid of it, tell it goodbye.
When my husband and I got married, my grandmother gave us a piano that had been passed down to her. I had taken piano lessons as a child and she hoped I would continue to play or at least encourage my children to take piano lessons. Well, all the piano did was collect dust. Every now and then someone would flip up the top and attempt to play chops sticks.
But in reality, no one took an interest in the piano. It was a beautiful piece of furniture, but it was never tuned or cared for. A few years ago, we wanted to rearrange our living room. We wanted to add a bookshelf and the only feasible place was the spot where the piano sat. My husband said, let's just get rid of it since no one plays it. My initial reaction was no. How could I give away a family heirloom?
Well, my desire for a new bookshelf, won out over my need to keep the piano. When I shared the news with my family, my sisters were upset with me. They could not believe I would give away something so valuable, yet not one of them would take the piano to their house.
After much thought we gave the piano to a student at school who wanted to take lessons. With the piano gone we were able to add bookshelves that were much needed. I was able to say goodbye to the piano in order to welcome a new piece of furniture that I've really liked and really wanted.
Step Number Three: Take your thoughts captive is to create thoughts you like and need.
Now that our remodel is complete, the fun part has been buying new artwork, pillows, and furniture that matches our new colors, but also in a style that we enjoy. We replaced an old much love to red sofa for a newer brown leather sofa. We found artwork that has colors we love, and that ties everything together in our downstairs.
We didn't get rid of everything, but we have combined the old with the new, we have the option to do the same thing with our thoughts. When you find thoughts that are outdated or that don't create the feelings you want in your life, you can get rid of them. Once you are aware of what you are thinking, then you can decide what to keep or get rid of.
Now you might be wondering how do you get rid of thoughts you don't want anymore? The first step is to be aware of the thought, the second step is to just stop thinking it. When it pops in your brain, say out loud, I choose not to think this anymore. It is possible to get rid of thoughts and create new ones.
This is one of the most important skills I learned in life coaching. I gained a sense of freedom and empowerment when I realized that I can take my thoughts captive. I get to choose what to think. So remember to take thoughts captive you follow these three steps.
Number one, create an awareness of what is going on in your brain. Step out of your brain and think about your thoughts.
Step number two, question the thoughts that you uncover by asking these three questions.
Is this thought helpful or useful in my life?
Do I really want it?
Is it current or outdated?
And finally, step number three. Began to think thoughts you like or need. You are in control of the thoughts bouncing around in your brain so why not make sure they are good ones?
This is the fun part, creating new thoughts and combining them with the old thoughts that you want to keep, you get to pick and choose thoughts that create feelings, you desire. You get to create thoughts that move your life in the direction you've always dreamed of.
It is possible to live a life aware of our thoughts and take them captive. God gave us the Holy Spirit to empower us.
Let's pray...in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear Lord.,Thank you for our amazing minds. Thank you for entrusting us with free will and allowing us to each live our unique life. Lord, we ask that with your guidance we take all of our thoughts captive so that we can see which ones are good and true so that they will guide our lives.
We ask that you reveal the thoughts that are false, or the ones that our lies from the enemy. Help us to discard those thoughts and replace them with thoughts that lead us closer to you.
In Jesus' name, we pray amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
For more information on Catholic life coaching, go to my website
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