Maintaining a Great Mental Space

Clean Your Space!

Each time that my wife and I travel and must stay in a hotel, it is Cindy’s duty to check the room for pests. I’m talking primarily roaches and bed bugs, but it could be anything. She will require all bags to stay outside the room until she has thoroughly checked every nook and cranny, opened the folds of the sheets, and screened with an ultraviolet light. Okay, she has no ultraviolet light but everything up to the ultraviolet light. There have only been one or two places that failed the inspection.

Our minds need constant attention and inspection.

Genesis 6:5 NIV

The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Deuteronomy 15:9 NIV

Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near,” so that you do not show ill will toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.

Mark 7:21 NIV

For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder,

Luke 1:51 NIV

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

You can imagine that we could keep on going. Adam and Eve fell into sin with a thought. David sinned with Bathsheba with a thought. Judas betrayed Jesus with a thought. Thomas doubted via a thought. Hey…here’s a thought. Let’s talk about thoughts!

God Gives Us the Key to Mental Victory Each Day

There are a lot of teachers that promote positive thinking. Many of them come from the secular business field. I’m not talking about positive thinking; I’m talking about seeing things from the right point of view. We will be talking about thinking about the right things from a Biblical foundation.

Isaiah 26:3 NIV

You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

This is home base for the Christian. It is a mind that is steadfast and trusting of God. This is the default position. Sure, there are many truths that we can learn but the home base is right here – a mind steadfast on God or, stated another way, “seek first the Kingdom of God”.

Principles for Maintaining a Great Mental Space

Begin Your Day Right – Focus

Boom, the rooster crows and you are awake. A new day begins and you are about to begin fresh. A flood of thoughts come into your mind – your boss, your responsibilities to your family, your job, your aches and pains…just a flood of thoughts come in but where should you place your focus? On the Lord. I’m not saying that you need to spend 3 hours in prayer. Maybe just say, “Good morning, Lord”.

Psalm 5:3 NIV

In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.

Psalm 118:24 NIV

The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad.

Where you place your focus is most often where you will go! I’m not saying that your boss, responsibilities, job, aches and pains will go away. What will happen is that you will take authority over your point of view. The Lord comes first and everything else falls in line.

Take Care of Some Simple Chores – Kill the ANTS

… there’s a terrible ANT infestation in our country that’s driving anxiety, depression, trauma, and grief. ANTs are the automatic negative thoughts that ruin your day, steal your happiness, and prolong grief. These days, ANTs are everywhere. Do any of these thoughts sound familiar?

“Nothing will ever be the same.”

“Everyone’s going to get COVID and die.”

“The economy is ruined. It’ll take years or decades to recover.”

“I’ll never get another job.”

“I lost my business. I’m a loser. I’m nothing.”

“My best friend died of COVID. I’ll never get over it.”

“The life I knew is over. I’ll never get used to this new normal.”

“There’s so much uncertainty, I can’t handle it.”

… mental hygiene is just as important as hand washing. It’s time to disinfect your thoughts and kill the ANTs to overcome anxiety, depression, trauma, and grief

What are ANTs?

(Dr. Daniel Amen) coined the term ANTs in the early 1990s after a hard day at the office, where (he) had seen 4 suicidal patients, 2 teens who had run away from home, and 2 couples who hated each other. That evening, when [he] arrived home and walked into the kitchen, [he] was greeted by an ant infestation. There were thousands of the pesky invaders, marching in lines on the floor, crawling in the sink, on the countertops, and in the cabinets.

As [he] wetted paper towels and began wiping up the hoard of ants, the acronym ANT came to me—Automatic Negative Thoughts. As [he] thought about my patients that day, [he] realized that just like [his] kitchen, they were also infested with ANTs that were robbing them of their joy and keeping them stuck in hurts from the past.

Why are ANTs so Harmful?

Negative thoughts cause your brain to immediately release chemicals that affect every cell in your body, making you feel bad. The opposite is also true—positive, happy, hopeful thoughts release chemicals that make you feel good. Your thought patterns can also have long-term effects. Repetitive negative thinking may promote the buildup of the harmful deposits seen in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease and may increase the risk of dementia, according to a 2020 brain imaging study in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

That is just the physical science. More importantly is the spiritual side. Paul told us that we must be aware of the fact that there are principalities and powers at work against us. We are always in a spiritual battle.

Why You Need to Eliminate the ANTs

Just because you have a thought has nothing to do with whether it is true. Thoughts lie. They lie a lot, and it is your uninvestigated or unquestioned thoughts that steal your happiness. If you do not question or correct your erroneous thoughts, you believe them, and you act as if they are 100% true. Allowing yourself to believe every thought you have is the prescription for anxiety disorders, depression, relationship problems, and prolonged grief.

You can learn to eliminate the automatic negative thoughts and replace them with more helpful thoughts that give you a more accurate, fair assessment of any situation. This skill alone can completely change your life if you embrace and practice it.

By killing ANTs you are effectively doing cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), ….which is an effective treatment for anxiety disorders, depression, relationship problems, and even obesity; and Byron Katie, a teacher, and author.

How to Kill the ANTs

Let me insert something here because what I believe Dr. Amen is saying lines up with the Word of God. The Apostle Paul wrote this:

Philippians 4:8 NIV

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Here are the simple steps to eliminate the ANTs. [You’ll find that many of them fit the Philippians 4:8 category]. Whenever you feel sad, mad, nervous, or out of control, do the following:

1. Write down your automatic negative thoughts (ANTs).

The act of writing down the ANTs helps to get the invaders out of your head.

2. Identify the ANT species.

There are 9 types of ANTs.

• All-or-Nothing ANTs:

Thinking that things are either all good or all bad

• Less-Than ANTs:

Comparing and seeing yourself as less than others

• Just-the-Bad ANTs:

Seeing only the bad in a situation

• Guilt-Bearing ANTs:

Thinking in words like should, must, ought, or have to

• Labeling ANTs:

Attaching a negative label to yourself or someone else

• Fortune-Telling ANTs:

Predicting the worst possible outcome for a situation with little or no evidence for it

• Mind-Reading ANTs:

Believing you know what other people are thinking even though they haven’t told you

• If-Only and I’ll-Be-Happy-When ANTs:

Arguing with the past and longing for the future

• Blaming ANTs:

Blaming someone else for your problems

3. Ask yourself if the thought is true.

Are you 100% sure it’s true?

In Mary Gautreaux’s book, Kingdom Minded, she writes about discipling our minds. Today’s world is filled with meaningless distractions that compete for our attention. Mary said:

We are what we think. When we spend all day taking in carefully packaged images (by someone with an agenda), we are putting our minds at risk for chaos and disorder. We are letting our minds dwell on what someone else wants us to think. Many times, it is a carefully packaged lie, but the more we look at it and listen to it, the more our minds will store that information as truth and normality. If something does not line up with what we know to be true, do not spend time watching or listening to that thing. Lies believed in the mind cause chaos and disorder in the spirit, as well.

4. Ask yourself how you feel when you have the thought.

Then ask how you would feel without the thought.

Make ANT-killing a daily habit.

Killing the ANTs takes practice. You can’t just do it once and think you’ve mastered your thinking patterns. When you make it a daily practice, you will feel freer, less anxious and depressed, and less trapped in past hurts or losses.

Craig Groeschel has written a book titled, Winning the War in Your Mind. He gives 4 strategies to fix our thoughts and win the war in our minds:

1. Remove the lie and replace it with truth.

This is why we need to continually study the truth.

Hebrews 4:12 NIV

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

2. Create new trenches of truth.

We have mental ruts that we have created by thinking the same thoughts over and over. We need to remove the lie behind them and replace it by renewing your mind in Christ.

Psalm 119:105–106 NIV

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. I have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous laws.

3. We need to reframe.

Joseph saw his circumstances and history as an opportunity to be a blessing for his people. We need to be able to trust that God can use all situations for His glory.

Genesis 45:4–5 NIV

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

4. We need to change our perspective through prayer and praise.

Philippians 4:4 NIV

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Feed Your Brain

Healthy people help healthy people. Part of Maintaining a Great Mental Space is simply feeding our brains the right things.

H2O

Our brains are 80% water. According to Dr. Daniel Amen

If you notice that your mood is low or your anxiety level is high, or you’re struggling to focus mentally or having trouble with recall, or are just generally feeling irritable, it could be that you need to drink some water. Even mild dehydration can dampen your mood and more, causing you to feel more depressed, anxious, tense, irritable, or antagonistic. That’s in addition to zapping your energy, increasing pain levels, and compromising your ability to concentrate, according to recent research.

Drink water!

O2

Breathe! 4 seconds in….8 seconds out.

Often when people begin to experience anxiety, their breathing becomes shallow, rapid and erratic. Since the brain is the most metabolically active organ in your body, any state that lowers oxygen will trigger more fear and panic. By taking slow, deep breaths you’ll boost oxygen to your brain and start to regain control over how you feel.

One way to practice deep breathing is by learning how to breathe from your diaphragm—the area of the body that tends to get “clenched” when we’re anxious.

To practice breathing from your diaphragm, try this:

1. Lie on your back and place a small book on your belly.

2. As you slowly inhale through your nose, make the book go up. Hold your breath at the top of your inhalation for 2 seconds.

3. When you exhale, make the book go down and then hold your breath for 2 seconds before inhaling again.

4. Repeat 10 times and notice how relaxed you feel.

Are You a Lucy or Charlie Brown?

It may be that you have already been having a war with the ANTs and are about to give up. I get it. Don’t give up! I read an interesting and optimistic thought this past week that can encourage you. This idea came from a book titled The Art of Hard Conversations but it is more about the way we think than a hard conversation. She writes…

“If you think about it, how we operate in this world comes down to one simple question: Would you rather be Charlie Brown or Lucy?

How can Peanuts characters teach us how to live out our call to bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, and endure all things? By always running to kick the football.

For over fifty years, Charles Schultz testified to us. Every fall, Lucy offered to hold the football for Charlie Brown to kick. Charlie Brown sometimes hesitated, but he always relented and went for the kick. Every single time, Lucy yanked the ball away, and Charlie flew through the air, landing flat on his back staring at the skies.

All of us who offer our love in these times know exactly how Charlie feels. The world abounds with Lucy’s. They seem like the smart ones in the moment of the fall. But what we must ask ourselves is this: At the end of the day, would we rather be Charlie Brown or Lucy?

We can join the smart ones who withhold their love, stay quiet, hide the truth in their breast pocket, smirk at Charlie’s gullibility and hope, toy with and deceive[…]”

Or, in our case today, we can allow our thoughts to go towards anger, bitterness, scandal, and rumor, or we can choose to think about the things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. We can lie down and be mad and quit or we can come back each Fall like Charlie Brown and try again. At the end of the day, would we rather be Charlie Brown or Lucy?

God calls us to love Him with our body, mind, and spirit. Using God’s principles, we can maintain a great mental space that is optimistic, Spirit-led, and filled with power.