"As a man thinks, so he is"

This little piece of wisdom is from Proverbs in the Bible (chapter 23 verse 7, if you want to check it out).

After studying to become a life coach (and a whole lot of reading and learning to improve my own thought life), here's my perspective on this biblical wisdom:

You are not your thoughts.

You are not your emotions.

However, we all have thoughts. And we all have emotions.

What's more, both our thoughts and our emotions affect our choices and our behaviour. In this sense, "As a man thinks, so he is."

So, what do we do if our thought life doesn't lead us to be who we want to be? If our thoughts and feelings are leading us to be less than the best version of ourselves? If we're reacting to circumstances and others in a way that doesn't reflect the God-given identity that was "fearfully and wonderfully" made in us and intended by our Creator, even before we were born?

The first step to creating a thought life that supports the person that we want to be, is to pay attention to our thoughts and the feelings that stem from them.

Secondly, we can choose whether to agree with the thoughts that are flitting through our mind or adopt an alternative, more positive and empowering thought. As a Christian, we can also look to the Bible to find out who we are and what we are worth.

So, instead of those thoughts that tell us "we are not good enough", for example, we can choose to accept God's biblical truth that we are instead "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139) and that we are so loved by God that "he gave his one and only Son to die for us" (John 3:16).

If we believe in God and his word, then we can choose to believe his thoughts about us and our worth.

So, the next time our mind drifts into thoughts of not being good enough or loveable - the next time we feel as if we are not good enough or loveable - we can choose to "Take your thoughts captive to Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:5). We can choose to reject the lies that our minds have chosen to focus on and instead claim God's truth about who we are.

If you'd like support with this process, whether or not you're a Christian, then please drop me a line. This is exactly the kind of thing coaching can help with.