Christian life coach can help you clarify your thoughts

“Your mind is a door to your soul, and you are the doorkeeper.” Ginger Harrington

Are we just a victim of our thoughts and core beliefs or can we actually control them? Many people struggle with negative thoughts and core beliefs. And to be honest, have some core beliefs that affect my life too. A Christian life coach can help you clarify your thoughts by using scripture to show you what God says about controlling our thoughts.

My Faith and My Thoughts

The bible clearly tells us that we do have control over our thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Philippians 4:8 says, “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Colossians 3:3 says, “Set your minds on things that are above.”

I don’t think God would instruct us to take my thoughts captive and to think on things above and to think about true and honorable things if He didn’t give me the power to do so. After Jesus’ resurrection, he spent 40 days with his disciples. At the end of that time, he was taken from them. But before he left, he told his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came on them. And when he did, they would receive power. Ok – I have the Holy Spirit which gives me access to Christ’s power, so if God has called me to do something, I can do it.

Does this mean that God just takes away our unhelpful thoughts and core beliefs? He definitely could, but I find God usually likes me to go through the hard work and pain of change. Hard work and pain produce growth.

There is some good news. Instead of fighting our thoughts, we can learn some easy to use “thought stopping” techniques that will help us redirect our thoughts to something that is more useful. Here are three helpful techniques to get you started.

Tips For Controlling Your Thoughts

Interrupt your thoughts with talk. Try this simple experiment. In your mind begin a mental count from one to ten. At some point, start singing out loud. Anything will do, try “Mary had a little lamb.” Now, did you notice what happened? The instant you started singing your mind stopped thinking about counting. This is what thought stopping is all about. We do something that interrupts our thinking and places our attention on something else. If you don’t like to sing, don’t worry, talking out loud works just as well.
Just say no! Another easy-to-use thought stopping technique to mentally think, or say out loud, “NO!” or “STOP!” each time you have an unwanted thought. Here is how the technique works. When a thought comes across your mental screen that you don’t want to entertain, think or say an emphatic “NO!” Then, intentionally move the attention to something else, like a positive affirmation.
Thought Replacement A final, easy to use, thought stopping technique is thought replacement. This technique attempts to replace a thought we don’t like with one that we do.

Three Things To Keep In Mind

The first is that we should keep the replacement thoughts positive. When we find ourselves going back to that negative thought, we never criticize ourselves for going there in our minds. We just practice the thought stopping technique as quickly as we can and continue on. For all of us, it takes time to develop a conscious awareness of the thoughts that are coming across our minds. The important thing is to practice these techniques whenever we need to.
A second thing to keep in mind is that these techniques work best when we combine them with a physical action. It is easier to stop a mental process when we combine a physical action with something like speaking aloud, physically touching something, or listening.
A final thing to keep in mind is to be prepared. I encourage you to try these techniques and see which of them works best for you. All of them can be modified to suit your style of living. Thought stopping is an effective way of transforming your thinking.