What Do You Picture?

There’s a great little book affectionately called the “Blue Book” that used to be handed out as a collateral study to this life changing class I had just taken called, “Power For Abundant Living.” The study, accurately named “The Bible Tells Me So” begins with a chapter called “Release From Your Prisons.” The idea being that you have to first become free in your mind before you will ever hope to experience all that God has in store for you. And, after reading that small chapter a thousand times, you judge, a reality finally dawned on me. Our lives are the story of the pictures we play in our minds. The life we experience at this very moment is nothing more than an alignment to the pictures we have dutifully held in our heads. Poor, okay or excellent, all a product of our own making. Kind of scary, but much more than kind of true. Our minds work in images. Who we think we are is exactly who we are, at least for right now. If we imagine scared and nervous, we portray scared and nervous. How could we portray otherwise? We have already decided. So, lest I lose you in excess explanation, allow me to share a section with you that will impact your mind every time you consider it. “How have you mentally pictured yourself for the past week, month, year, ten years? The picture that you carry of yourself with clearness and with concern is what you are. This law works for positive and negative thinking alike.” Yeah, read that again. You, my friends, are making the choices. Indeed, what do you picture?

More and more, as life keeps moving forward, I am recognizing myself in circumstances I find myself in. I already saw the movie. In fact, I saw the movie a hundred times. But, it never came to my awareness that I was playing a movie. I was just thinking, you know? But, like all of life’s most precious moments, the moment of clarity came and I saw it for the first time. A saying, “dwelling on the darkness won’t bring forth the light” came to mind, conveniently planted in that same chapter. The reality being that you cannot persist in playing the pictures of the things you do not want in your mind, then acting surprised when you experience them. You ordered them from the menu. So logically, and this is rather good news, you have the capacity to play different movies. You can proactively at first, portray yourself as a different character, one you actually like. (smile) Remember, how have you mentally pictured yourself for the past…….? Honesty time. You were not “made” a certain way and there is nothing you can do about it. You are simply a compilation of the stories you have been telling yourself. Most of which are not true! What you are good at, you are good at. What you struggle with is what you struggle with. Why? Because that was what you decided. You drew a conclusion and trust me, the world did not help you. This old world has been chipping away at you (and me) for a very long time. All those rotten things you consider about yourself are not native to you. They are not your “dark side.” They are lies, cleverly woven in lies that made their way to your narrative. You didn’t know anything when you entered this world. All that you know, you learned.

Imagine what your life could be like if you starting writing movies where things worked out well for you. Maybe a short story about where you made a million mistakes and somehow you still finished gloriously well. It is your story. The difficulty is in the habits you have formed. You learned to think a certain way. You did not come from the factory that way. That would run at cross purposes with everything God said about free will choice. In your free will choice, you have to choose otherwise. You have to start playing different movies, imagination required, and chart a different course. Your old, well grooved habits won’t let go easily. You will find yourself conflicted as your former self is damn mad about the unfamiliar choices you are making. But, it is the only way. You have to change your expectations. Monday only sucks because you expect it to. Your life sucks because you expect it to. You are the architect whom heretofore has not been designing properly. You aren’t happy because you are living within a prison of your own making. YOUR OWN MAKING! No sane person willingly puts themselves in prison, but refusal to change your mind will get you there. You will find yourself complaining about the same garbage you were complaining about 5 years ago and will still be complaining about 5 years from now until you change that damn story you have been rehearsing. That is the reality. That is the truth.

You are not stuck with a terminal condition, no matter how old you are. If you can still think, you can still change. But, don’t you think it’s worth it? How liberating this is to discover. You’ve been spending so much time stuck in a dumb “B” movie, never realizing you were writing the script. If you feel you are not who you used to be and that is not a good thing, take solace in this. Who you once were you can be again and so much more if you will take the necessary care of your thoughts. Start small if you must. There’s no need to reimagine your whole life. But, there is some stuff you need to reimagine and you know that. Start seeing yourself differently. See yourself in a new light. Dwelling on the darkness won’t bring forth the light. Trust me on that one. How have you been picturing yourself for the past week, month, year, ten years? The image you carry of yourself with clearness and with concern is what you are. But, not forever.

Just some good thoughts…