Think good thoughts

Experts estimate that we have 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts a day. So let’s use 60,000 as a happy medium. And let’s observe four important things about our thoughts: (1) Psychologists say that 98 to 99 percent of our thoughts are habitual. In other words, they are basically the same thoughts we had yesterday and the day before yesterday and the day before that. Your mind must be renewed day by day (see Romans 12:2). You can’t keep thinking the same things and expect a different outcome or a different outlook. What’s the answer? Take on a learning mindset! “In all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you” (Proverbs 4:7-8 NKJV). (2) Only 12 percent of our thoughts are focused on the future. But faith, by definition, is future oriented. “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for” (Hebrews 11:1 NLT). (3) A Harvard University study found that the average person spends 46.9 percent of their waking hours thinking about something other than what they are presently doing. And psychologists say, “A wandering mind is an unhappy mind.” Of course, the most obvious culprits are the digital devices that keep us disengaged. Nothing dumbs down our ability to dream like our so-called smartphones! (4) The Cleveland Clinic estimates that 80 percent of our thoughts are negative. That’s 48,000 negative thoughts per day! And when we verbalize those thoughts, it compounds the problem. What’s the answer? “Whatever things are…noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things” (NKJV).