Ah! What a beautiful, awesome and powerful gift God packaged into our heads – The gift of the mind! No other creature possesses such a complex and sophisticated sense of consciousness as God gave to man.
Have you ever observed a mad man walking across a street? Okay, probably just sitting at a corner, talking to himself? I mean a really mad man not just a destitute on the street. How do you feel towards them? Concern? Pity? You know, there is this sense of pity and then the sense of concern. If they are unclad, there is this loss of dignity you feel towards them and if probably you are of the same gender, you’d most likely feel a sense of shame on their behalf with their sensitive body parts all exposed. You become ashamed on their behalf. Most times you look away in shame and wish no one of the opposite sex gets to see it. If you have witnessed this scene, I bet you felt this way.
But we all know that despite all this feeling of shame, concern, pity; the individual we are sorry for doesn’t care. Why? In his mind, he has no shame, no pity, no worries; because his mind doesn’t communicate any abnormal feeling to him. He is in another world by the power of the mind!
I used to be very shy and this very understanding became a major breakthrough for me. I used to think everyone around me was always staring at me. I’d be walking down the street wondering who was looking at me. Whenever in public, while eating, walking, talking, I was always shy and overly conscious of the prying eyes around. Upon how gifted I was (as a kid, I did lots of recitations and dramas roles on stage), there was this sense of inferiority as compared with other kids. However, the truth, I soon discovered was that no one was really watching me that close. In fact, no one watches you that closely – except you’re about to be murdered or arrested. lol! It was all in my mind! And if a mentally derailed individual who was in a more pitiable state, could exercise enough liberty to do his own thing, not minding who was staring at him or not; why on earth should I, in a better state, fret myself over who’s staring at me and who is not? I realized the mind of a derailed individual has refused to accommodate the idea that he is mad and this has given him the ability to go about his own little activities irrespective of the environmental facts around him.
Moreover I realized I performed roles on stage so well, because I had taught myself how to put my mind in a state of “no one is watching”, once I climbed the stage. It helped me act out drama roles as though I were alone in my room just soliloquizing. It helped me act out those roles too by choosing to imaging they were actually happening to me. It made me very good actor on stage. Whenever I genuinely assumed that state of mind, I became a star on stage, even if actually people were watching. The power of the mind was at work!
It’s all in the mind! So I consciously began telling myself, “Nonso, no one is observing you that close” in public. And that was my freedom!
(If you are often very shy, it may just be your breakthrough too. Think it through.)
In a more general way, the state of our mind can make us do anything irrespective of our environmental facts around us. In fact our minds are responsible for all we ever do in life. As a matter of fact, if you can put your mind in the best state everyday, you’d live the best life.
Little wonder the Word of God, the Bible tells us in Phillipians 4:8
“whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Phil 4:8 (KJV).
That is putting your mind in the best state! Hallelujah! There wouldn’t be mass shootings if depressed minds were taught how to do this.
The Bible even teaches us that renewing our minds would make us transform our world. Romans 12:1
So I realized the following:
- The state of our mind determines the interpretation we make out of life and our environment.
- The state of our mind determines our activeness and effectiveness in all we do in life.
- The state of our mind determines to what extent we can even savour and appreciate life as a whole.
- The state of our mind determines our eventual satisfaction with the life we individually live.
Simply put:
“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…” – Proverbs 23:7
So, it is the state of mind that makes one man complain all day about “unemployment” while the mind of another unemployed man is creating solutions to the problem. They are in the same physical environment but are in different worlds upstairs. And they will eventually have different results in life. All because of the state of the mind. It was at an employment examination I forgot myself and for the first time became consumed with the passion to employ the job-seekers in my country. And I caught that vision because of the state of my mind then.
It therefore holds that a man who learns how to control his mind has learned how to stir his life in his desired direction. As such, the art of controlling one’s mind is about the greatest skill a man will ever learn in life. Little wonder, the Bible is all about getting the mind to this state.
Controlling The Mind
It’s however a pity that the mind cannot be directly controlled, it rather controls us. If the mad man had control over his mind, he would heal his insanity. But instead his insane mind controls him.
How then can we posses control over what controls us? We can control our minds by controlling the things that have power to control our minds. The mind, like a computer processor must be stimulated with inputs (raw data) to power it into production (processed information).
By exercising our power over the things that have power to control or decide our mind’s state, we can exercise indirect power over our own minds. That is the trick! I call it “Indirect Mind Control”
We must determine today, not tomorrow, to pay close attention to our mind’s state. Ask yourself, “What are the things which, whenever I engage in, make me act in manners that are coherent and productive towards achieving my life’s goal and purpose?” Decide to consciously plan these things into your daily, weekly and monthly habits. “And what are the things which, whenever I engage, pulls me away from a productive life?” and decide to consciously stay away from them.
It’s a pity today that most things in our environment, compete to reduce our life’s worth. An example of one very silent killer is pornography which can be so easily engaged in our day and time. But if we can pick up this attitude of indirect mind control, we would marvel how far we can go in life achieving our God-given dreams and soar into new realms of achievements this second quarter of the year, 2016.
It won’t be easy, the devil will try to tell you “it’s so difficult”. At times he’ll plant in fear (another mind strategy) to get you back to the floor. He’d try to make you believe you are so addicted, you’re in bondage, you can’t leave the wrong habits”. But there is no greater bondage than the fear itself. Yes, the real bondage of sin is that very fear of sin, fear of addiction, “Can I really walk away from this thing?”. Yes you can.
The Bible says, it is this very “fear” that devil uses as a tool to put people all their life time in bondage. Fear is in the mind.
15 …And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Heb 2:15 KJV
There is a way in Christ Jesus. You get empowered with a new programming of right-living. And the best the devil can do is try to plant the fear again, and your work is to keep it out! How do we do this? still “Indirect Mind Control”. Do the things that breed faith and love, and shun the things that bring fear and sin.
I will leave you today with the words of Paul the Apostle,
“…whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
Phil 4:8 (KJV).
And whatsoever things are opposite of these things, cast them out of your mind. In Christ, you have that power! (see: 2 Corinthians 10:4). And then replace them with the nice thoughts of Philippians 4:8.
Don’t fret however, if you fail again and again. You learn habits by repetition and practice. Bad habits came by practice. Good habits will be built by practice. When you decide to start exercising, you don’t see the good body shape after you first day at the gym, yet you celebrate yourself. Why? Success is not an event but a practice! That you practiced exercise that day meant you have had your bit of success for the day. The eventual success of having a great body shape is a summation of the daily successes you encountered via the practice of exercise.
So don’t fret when you see the ugly shape of wrong mind usage and habits still lurking around you. Be determinded to keep at your practice and soon, you’ll discover your mind, your life and your habits are taking on a new shape.
Remember, it’s all by indirect mind control. Control the things that have power to control your mind!
In my next article on this series, we shall be looking at these various forms of data inputs that control our mind’s state and how to harness them in exercising this indirect power over our minds. We’ll subsequently examine what Viktor Frankyln referred to as “The last Human Freedom” and how it affects the outcomes of our lives.
God bless you, and never forget to spend this week “living on purpose”!
PS:Just in case you don’t know Christ or you have broken your relationship with Him and you want it back, so you can exercise this power like never before, click on this link to pray a simple prayer that guarantees you that loving relationship!
Nonso Aniamaka,
Web Author, www.WiseWatchers.org.