Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

Overcome evil with good in the battle for the mind.

By: Art and Laraine Bennett

We tend to think that our life experiences or what other people say or do make us feel good or bad. We think that situations determine our moods and our reactions. On the surface, it seems like a reasonable assumption: Gary is depressed because he lost his job. I am angry and frustrated because my kids are misbehaving or my husband works too many hours.

However, psychological studies show this assumption to be false. It turns out that one’s circumstances in life, such as economic or health status, do not seriously affect one’s happiness. A devastating accident, a serious illness, or unemployment can temporarily cause one to feel blue, but surprisingly, people typically bounce back to their previous state of happiness. Even when faced with devastating loss, our feelings are uniquely our own and will differ from others. How we feel depends on our interior state more than our exterior circumstances. And—even more radical—how we feel sometimes depends on how we think.

As Fr. Basil Maturin wrote in Self Knowledge and Self Discipline, it is “in light of our thoughts that we see and interpret the people and things around us. By a change of thoughts we change our view of life.”

Put Your…