In her new book, Courage and Confidence - A Bold Guide to Unboxing Who You Were Made to Be, Nicole O. Salmon presents four simple practices to help renew your mind.
Psychologists at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada released a study that suggests we have 6,200 thoughts a day, on average. That’s a potential of 6,200 votes daily in favor of what empowers you, or 6,200 votes in agreement with what enslaves you (or some combination of the two).
A shift to purpose led living needs to be positively and biblically reinforced daily, and we are physiologically rigged to enhance it.
That’s approximately:
6,200 opportunities a day
43,400 opportunities a week
173,600 opportunities a month
2,083,200 opportunities a year
The gravity is jarring, but the odds are in your favour. Your life will produce from its roots.
If you can shift it at its roots, you can produce a new kind of fruit.
If you can shift your life at its roots, you can produce a new kind of fruit. It’s time to bring your season of purpose into fruition. You have been empowered to work with the Holy Spirit to shift it.
If you have spent most of your life coming into agreement with your fears and insecurities, plus you have unhealthy, inherited thought patterns about money, marriage, trust, men, travel, church life (insert your dialogue here), then shifting it will take some work, but it is possible.
You need to retrain your thought life so that the work you are putting into walking in your created self is not compromised by old patterns of thinking. Here are four ways you can renew your mind daily and train your brain to think more like your created self.
If you have spent most of your life coming into agreement with your fears and insecurities, plus you have unhealthy, inherited thought patterns about money, marriage, trust, men, travel, church life (insert your dialogue here), then shifting it will take some work, but it is possible.
1. Use visual prompts. These are messages you leave for yourself in visible places. I have used sticky notes on my monitor, writings on my bathroom mirror, and even a T-shirt with the message I need reinforced.
2. Set mindset reminders. My coaching clients have raved about this one. Set a calendar event with the title of the message you are training your mind to think about. Set it as a daily or weekly recurrence. There is something amazing about having your day interrupted by a timely, personal, and encouraging message.
3. Use biblically based affirmations. I take two approaches to this one: (1) search for Bible verses that align with your mind training; or (2) use Bible verses that have already left you feeling like God was speaking to you directly. Personalise them by including I or mine where applicable. You can even insert your name for emphasis.
Here’s an example of one of my own: But the Lord said to me, “Nicole, do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Nicole, do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.
Read more on character development
I’ve had four flights cancelled and many delayed this year – here’s what God taught me
If you related to Netflix’s Wellmania, Jesus can definitely help you out
Challenge yourself to memorize as many of these affirmations as you can. Recite them, pray them, use them as declarations, and the Holy Spirit will bring them to your remembrance at just the right time.
4. Get an accountability partner. This could be a friend in your current circle or a coach or therapist. The goal is to share your mindset goal with someone you interact with regularly enough that they can lovingly call out your slipups. You’d be surprised how many times in the first fifteen minutes of a coaching session I catch new clients giving an atmosphere full of words that are negative, unbiblical, and unproductive.
I want to encourage you that you can change your thoughts about yourself, and in so doing, can change your life.
Taken from Courage and Confidence: A Bold Guide to Unboxing Who You Were Created to Be by Nicole O. Salmon © 2024. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
