thinking for a change

Right now at NewPointe we're in the middle of a message series called Thinking For a Change. It's been very good. The idea behind the whole thing is that we believe that if you change your thinking, you can change your life. We've tackled topics such as problems, life, God, and sex (money and stress are the last two).

And I've been thinking lately about how true that is: if you change your thinking, you'll change your life. But it's easier said than done. If you're like me, the tendency is to fall back into familiar patterns. Even when we know a particular habit or behavior is bad for us--even if we know for sure that it's going to cost us big-time in the long run--we do it anyway. Know why? Because we haven't truly changed our thinking. Oh, we can get inspired--motivated to 'buck up' and do better for a while. But until our thinking changes, we're destined to fall back into those cruddy old familiar patterns.

Did you know that the typical dissatisfied person who wins the lottery falls back into their usual level of dissatisfaction within a year of winning it big? Wanna know why? Even though their circumstances changed--in a hugely postitive way...their thinking didn't. That's huge!

Consider this: the typical joyful person who tragically becomes a paraplegic will also revert to their once joy-filled outlook within a year of the tragedy. Again, the circumstances changed but because their bent was toward joy, their thinking and outlook was healthy, they revert to that way of thinking. I think it's amazing.

I've personally found this principle to be true when it comes to weight loss. Maybe you're like me; you once lost a bunch of weight due to commitment and discipline. But within a number of months you gained the weight back. It's because you changed your habits for a while but you never really dealt with your thinking. Your true thinking about diet and exercise remained the same. So when the diet was over, you went back to what you were comfortable and familiar with.

What that tells me is that your circumstances don't have much to do with your outlook on life. So...want to change your life? Change the way you think.