Do Your Best To Not Let Your Mind Go To Waste

Day 6

Let’s spend some time talking about keeping your mind clean and clear. This is something you and I both must strive to do.

What do I mean by “keeping your mind clean and clear?” I’m saying it is important to do certain activities that promote having a healthy mind. There are many ways to approach this...and we all know how much negativity we cross in our lives.

We have negativity at home, at work, on our radios, in news headlines, etc. You know about these “dark traps” out there. I’ve been prone to take sojourns along the roadway of dark traps and the result is I go into the ditch.

The goal is to have a healthy mind for most of your waking hours. For those of us with depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, or some other mental health issue, we have to seek this higher place and nurture it.

I know it might be hard to comprehend the power of nurturing, especially when it comes to your mind. Knowledge and wisdom gained do count toward healthy mental states. You have those emotional spaces to hit, too, on a regular basis.

Let me ask you something. What do you do to keep a healthy mental state? Is there some action that you take to assure your own mind that everything is OK? We have brought up the subject of triggers for discussion. These triggers in our lives will only want to dominate our souls if we let them do it.

Sure, I know that there is an element of powerlessness in some people around thoughts. But you and I have to take a step or two in regard to them. Our thoughts can take us to more than one dark trap. Ever been so filled with anxiety or depression that you cannot physically move? I’ve seen that happen with family members. That is a harrowing event to see.

Decide To Be The Victor Of Your Thoughts, Not The Victim

But it does happen. Therefore, you and I can decide to be the victim of our thoughts or the victor. Can we put those negative thoughts into a sharpshooter and get the submission in our wrestling match with them? Or do we fall down on the mat, wiggle around in despair, and throw our hands up in fear?

A spiritual teacher and speaker named Mike Dooley said, “Thoughts become things. Choose the good ones.” Dooley is famous for his “Notes From The Universe” emails people can receive every day. This might make no sense to you, but take his statement at face value. If we choose good thoughts, then do good things come our way? Or must we get into the muck and battle with them? Both can be true, I believe.

Yet let me tell you that we can sit around, eat food, watch TV, and have all the good thoughts come out of our minds. What makes the difference is taking action with those thoughts. The good ones, mind you.

We all know that tending to our thoughts also can help us tend to our souls. Jesus once said, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul?” Think about it for a while. “Forfeits the soul” might mean forgetting that the sweet, innocent, tender side inside your mind truly focuses on good things. When I “forfeit my soul,” then I’ve been letting bad thoughts, bad ideas, and apocalyptic outcomes lead me in weird ways.

Thus I know that working on keeping my mind fresh and not letting it go to waste matters.

Undertaking this road of a clean mind does take work. Imagine waking up every morning and not appreciating the sunshine. How about appreciating the rain when it falls? This is difficult to do when traumatic thoughts or actions are so entrenched in the fabric of our being. They get in there and build a mansion. They’ve decided that they are going to become “squatters” and haunt us.

Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? Believe me, it’s not.

Take The Weed-Eater To Those Thoughts And Mow Them Down

Imagine looking out at a freshly mowed lawn. There is a sense of beauty around seeing the trail marks left by mowers. If you go outside near it, then maybe you can smell the fresh-cut grass and just take that aroma into your body. It does smell good.

Now take that image and use it when looking to clean up your mind. You and I have to take this and go to work. There is no one out there who will be able to do this for you. Yes, you can get help from a therapist if you need it. Get it. Get help. Once you have, though, there is work for you to do.

Take the suggestions of the therapist and start pulling up those weeds. There probably are strands of grass too tough for a mower to completely cut off. 

Get your hands, metaphorically speaking, busy and KO the pesky grass. See each weed or piece of grass as a thought. Pulling it up means you take control over it and put it in the garbage. That’s where those negative, nasty thoughts belong.

You and I are not going to be able to have this done in one sitting. Because we’ve let this go on for so long, our work will take a bit. 

Remember the goal: Do your best to not let your mind go to waste.

When we have cleared out a ton of negative thoughts, then what do we put in the mind? Healthier thoughts, behaviors, and attitudes. Read a book on something that inspires you. It does not matter whether it’s about a topic others might find stupid.

This is about you and your mind. It also is about getting better thoughts in that mind of yours bit by bit. You and I have a long road ahead when it comes to having healthy mindsets. Exercise is a good way to change your mental health. Those endorphins flow and away you go into a different mind.

Are we going to be living the dream life once we take a step toward healthy minds? Not at first. You and I will see changes happen when we diligently take action. 

Yes, some of us will resist doing anything about these thoughts. We have lived with them for so long that, well, we’ll just not address them when something happens in life. Imagine having thoughts or memories so entrenched that they appear years later in different life situations. What to do...what to do.

If you need help, then get it. Do what you need to do today, at this moment.

Tell yourself, “I am doing my best to clean my mind.” Take this mantra or phrase and claim it as your own. Remind yourself that you’re working on this. You are doing your best. Keep moving forward and we will help one another.