Rick Osborn | Life Coach, Nutrition Consultant & Graphic Designer

Many times, small decisions can have big consequences. Living without understanding, moving beyond boundaries, operating without knowing the truth, making choices without conviction - all can get you into trouble. Up front and out loud, let me get straight to the point -

Look before you leap!

Watch your step!

Guard your heart!

There, enough said. If I thought that just mentioning these clichés would keep someone from making stupid decisions, I’d stop right here. Unfortunately, most of us are hard headed and willful, myself included. The cruel truth of the matter is that many times it’s the bad choices that we make, along with their unpleasant consequences that teach us the best and most valuable lessons in life.

We’ve got to be vigilant, watchful, careful, guarded, etc. with the decisions that we make every day. One misplaced step - one wrong decision - one unfiltered calculation can land us in the mud and even destroy our lives. So, how do we know? How do we keep from falling into a pit in the midst of life?

The answer lies in our filter. My question for you is - what kind of filter do you have?

Picture for a moment the best cup of coffee that you’ve ever had. Pouring hot water through savory, fresh, roasted coffee grinds produces a rich aromatic brew of coffee that engages the brain and body. If you’re like me, there’s nothing like enjoying a great cup of coffee in the morning. But, imagine for a moment what that cup would taste like without using the right filter. It would either be too weak, too strong - full of grounds and taste like gritty mud - not too appetizing.

This is much of what our lives are like when we don’t use the right filter. A filter is used to keep out the bad stuff. It’s that simple. If we simply allow anything in, then our lives become polluted, sludgy, messy, stinky, filthy with severe consequences that we’ll have to struggle to overcome. Even worse is the fact that our bad decisions and involvements can negatively affect others, especially those whom we love.

Now, I’ll ask you again. What kind of filter are you using for your life? Do you even have one? Have you ever even thought about what you’ve allowed into your life? Furthermore, how is it affecting you? How’s it affecting the ones that you love?

Even if you have a filter, it’s a worthy question to be asked. Examine it, try it and test it. Make sure it’s the right one for you - the best one that will help you move positively forward from this point onward. It may be that you’re dealing with circumstances as a result of not having a filter or of using a faulty one.

Use God as your Filter

The first step towards putting the right filter in place is to understand the truth about yourself and your situation in relation to God’s wisdom.

Christ stated in John 8:31-32, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

My Suggestions for Adjusting Your Filter:

1. Ask God to reveal His truth to you on a daily basis.
2. Seek to know God in a personal way through prayer and studying His word.
3. Pray that God will transform you with His truth and wisdom.
4. As you learn more about God, allow Him to transform your life, creating the right FILTER for you.
5. Rest in the fact that you’re protected daily, because your choices and decisions are in line with God’s truth - a filter that He created because He knows what’s best for us.

Before your life leads you somewhere you don’t want to be, check your filter. Learn God’s truth, apply it to your life and live in freedom.

Bookmark to:

Descartes wrote it long ago - this philosophical statement designed to describe how the very act of thinking indicates the existence of self. Many quote it today, myself included, almost in jest as a means to sound like an erudite. In my estimation the statement, “cogito ergo sum - I think, therefore I am” is nothing more than one philosopher’s pursuit to understand reality. That’s pretty much all I care to say about it here. In fact, the only reason I even mention it is because the phrase “I think, therefore I am” is easy to remember and can be used to positively move us in the right direction if we keep in mind, with a couple of adjustments. With that in mind, let me delineate how this phrase can be used to keep ourselves on track in the midst of making difficult and right decisions.

What we think about ourselves makes us who we are.

Labels and words - we all use them - for everything. Using labels and words to categorize and compartmentalize things gives us a sense of comfort and wards off ambiguity. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that labels have a proper place in our lives, helping us to identify things and people and to put them in proper perspective.

However, words and labels can also be very detrimental with regards to successful and joyful living, as well as towards achieving our full potential in life. Let me explain. For the purpose of brevity, I’m going to get right to the point. We’re all guilty (at one time or another) of using names and word descriptions to degrade or insult others. In fact, the very words that we utter do one or two things - they can either edify or destroy. In my opinion, words and labels have the power to create or to kill. My purpose here is not to reiterate the obvious - that words and labels (wrongly used) can hurt others. My point here is to show that our thoughts, which become words which become labels, applied to ourselves, can either help or hurt us. They quite literally, create who we are. With this in mind, let me just give a couple of biblical references about the power of thoughts/words/labels.

It really comes from the heart. Christ stated in Matthew 15:18-19,

“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”

How do you talk to yourself?

For a moment, imagine how the above verses apply to the way that you talk to yourself, that is, the thoughts, language and words that you use to label or describe yourself. And, I don’t necessarily mean the way that you describe yourself to others, but to you. More to the point, ask yourself this question,

What do I tell myself about me?

Let me rewrite Descartes’ phrase “I think, therefore I am”, and make it more applicable and practical. If you will, think of it this way:

“I think _________________, therefore I am ___________________.”

How would you fill in that phrase? Maybe it’s something like this:

“I think I’ve made so many mistakes, therefore I am a loser.”

Or, maybe you don’t say things like that, but maybe you’re constantly down on yourself saying things like,

“I’ve made so many mistakes, I’ll never get any better.”

My point is this - your thoughts, your self-talk, the words you use internally about yourself, become your actuality, your reality.

If you want to succeed, if you want to get past your current circumstances, if you want to be a winner, an overcomer, a survivor, a thriver, then you must begin to change the way you think about yourself.

“I think I am capable and smart, therefore I am a success and a winner.”

“I think (GOOD, POSITIVE THOUGHTS), therefore I am (A SUCCESSFUL, HAPPY, THRIVING PERSON).”

On the other hand, when you constantly are focusing on the bad, the negative, on what’s wrong with you, you’ll continue to have a bad, negative, pathetic reality.

When you think of yourself a certain way, when you label yourself a certain way, when your self-talk is a certain way, your actions will become what your thoughts already created. This was very much the point of my last blog entitled “Begin Each Day with the End in Sight.”

Before you act, before you react, before you respond, before you even move in any direction, stop and already see yourself in a positive light, where you want to be. Visualizing yourself in a good positive light will lead to actualizing yourself in a good, positive, successful light.

Next time, I’ll write about how to make an inward change (the heart), which will make the outer you - your reality, much better - how to clean up your act from the inside out and positively affect your future.

 

 I Think, Therefore I Am [5:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Bookmark to:

If you want conscious, positive change in your life, it has to begin with you.

Open your mind and imagine a bird prior to flight. A bird cannot fly until it lifts its wings and slices the air, moving them with a downward thrust to propel its body skyward. Yes, there are a series of movements that must be engaged prior to flight, but taking flight never occurs until that bird makes the conscious decision to fly.

How about you? Do you want to fly? Or better yet, do you want to soar – soar beyond your current situation, well above the discomfort and pain of the here and now?

Imagine for a moment you’re that bird. And the ONLY thing that’s keeping you out of the sky is a choice – a decision. Perhaps your problems, whatever they may be, seem as impossible to you as the reality of actually flying. But remember – you’re a bird. God has equipped you to fly, to soar far beyond where you are right now. It starts with the single decision to do so. Until you make that conscious choice, you will never move beyond where you are right now.

Just like a bird that has feathers, wings and a tail to fly like a champ, so God has already enabled you to surpass your current situation. You may not yet know exactly how, but look around at your current resources. God has already provided the solutions. You just have to look for them. If you’re uncertain, ask God for the answers and He will reveal them. If you’re scared, make the decision for change, look upward and trust God to provide the air to lift you. It takes FAITH:

F orsaking

A ll

I

T rust

H im

Forsake all the doubt and the fear. Quit groaning about the hows, the whys and the wherefores. Lift your eyes to Him. Leave the rest and trust Him to give you what you need to get there while you proactively do your part. Having faith in God is like being that bird who fixes its eyes on the sky, DECIDES to fly and does its part (running and flapping of wings) to become airborne. God provides the air and has already ordered the laws of physics to make it happen. It may seem simplistic, but you must do the same thing in life.

Your desire to change may be one of the following:

• Lose weight
• Gain muscle
• Get healthier
• Find financial freedom
• Improve relationships with others
• Improve your marriage
• Career change or get a better job
• Defeat anxiety or depression
• Overcome addiction (alcohol, drugs, sex or pornography)

No matter your situation, if you want to change for the better it still comes down to one decision – and it’s yours.

Remember, you’re like that bird. Flying represents improvement, change and the freedom from your difficulty.

Make the choice to change your situation, trust God to empower you (FAITH) and take flight!

 

 Choose Change, Trust God & Take Flight [4:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download