Where should we be focusing our attention?

“You bring about that which you think about.” I couldn’t find a single person who this quote is attributed to, but every great teacher in human history has been quoted saying something with a similar meaning. The idea that quotes like this are trying to convey is that thoughts have energy and they are creative. They have power to unify, inspire and heal as well as isolate, destroy and wound. In fact, a thought can work much like a virus. A virus looks for a weak point from which to infiltrate a potential host. Once inside, it uses the host material to multiply until the host is destroyed. It then moves on to the next cell looking to do the same. Thoughts can creep into weak points, multiply and spread in the same way.

Among many other problems in the world right now, there seems to be a cognitive pandemic. A rapidly spreading epidemic of mental unhealth, driven by fear. Fear itself can create a cascade of physical, mental, emotional and spiritual problems. The emotion of fear was designed to be felt intensely for a short period of time. Chronic or prolonged fear destroys your health. Fear energizes your limbic system (making you more emotionally reactive), makes your heart work harder, tenses your muscles, spikes your blood sugar, and quickens your breathing. All good things if you need to run or fight for your life, but not good if you want to be happy and healthy. Fear suppresses thoughtfulness, healing, digestion and immune function.

There’s a bible quote that's been going around social media lately...“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timorthy 1:7). I think it’s important to note that St. Paul wrote this from inside a prison cell. Some of us might feel like we are in a type of captivity right now. It can be easy to focus our attention on the fears of restrictions, cancellations, shortages and infections. So how can one who is imprisoned connect to their spirit of power, love and sound mindedness?

Conflict has a powerful way of inviting us inward.  It can intensify our presence and pull us into a deeper place within our hearts. We cannot grow without challenge or crisis. Sometimes we need a bit of an ego beatdown in order to make room for higher thoughts. However, these challenges can be a fork in the road. Each challenge can be an opportunity for growth if we embrace “power, love and a sound mind.”  Or we can choose the more destructive and isolating path of fear.

It’s easy to be fearful in times like these, but it’s important to not be. Times like these call for wisdom, revelation, love, peace and a balanced mind. All of which you already have. It’s time to do the deep work. Go inward.