Reset: A 7-Day Plan for Building Positive HabitsSýnishorn

Own Your Thoughts

Second Corinthians 10:5 admonishes us, “Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Catch your thoughts. Recognize them. Grab them before they get out there and take control. Own them before they own you.

Default Mode

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body” (Ephesians 4:22-25).

Paul encouraged the Ephesian church to put off their old way of life and to be made new in the attitude of their minds. This truth extends to us and our thought life today. In default mode, we tend to follow our thoughts instead of leading our thoughts. Honestly, it’s just easier. Because our default thought processing happens so naturally, so automatically, it takes deliberation and intentionality to take ownership of our thoughts and make sure we’re thinking in a healthy way.

What creates our default thought process? Well, to put it simply, our past experiences. The events that we’ve lived through, the responses and behaviors we’ve seen modeled, and repeated exposure to circumstances all play a primary role in how we think in the present. For most of us, the biggest factor in our default thought process is our family of origin—the way we grew up, the family we grew up in, and the way they interacted with us. We learn so much about life based on how life was modeled to us from a young age. So much of what we think and believe about ourselves and about life comes from our default patterns of thinking that we develop from childhood. For example, take the thought, I have to be good in order to be loved. Unintentionally, these harmful and untrue beliefs get integrated into our thought lives as well as our interactions with others.

Put Off Your Old Self

If thoughts lead to feelings which lead to behaviors, this is where real change begins. It takes intention to recognize the thoughts that are on replay in your mind and change the playlist to something better, something healthier, something true.

Be Made New

Spend some time today recognizing your default ways of thinking and replacing them with truth. But remember, this isn’t a once-and-done process. It took years to develop your current mental playlist of thoughts, so expect that it will take some time and energy to create a new playlist. But little by little, one thought at a time, this new way of thinking will become the norm. You’ll learn to change your default.

Before you know it, you’ll own your thoughts before they own you.