Di Bassinga Diaries: The Importance of Minding Your Thoughts

The mind is a very powerful thing, we all know this. There's this notion that "you become what you think about most", and as literally as you decide to take that, or not, I think it's an important notion to be conscious of -- it's certainly an idea that has some logical backing to it, your thoughts and actions tend to go hand-in-hand, one often leads to the other. As I've written about before, we live in an age in which the flow of information is at its highest; it's overwhelming, honestly. And it's all too easy to focus on the negative aspects of social media and the internet, or to simply decide to stay out of it entirely. I don't think that either of these is a safe course of action, though, for a few reasons.

First, it's incredibly dangerous to be uninformed these days, this is ignorance at its core -- and we're in a time in which ignorance is not easily tolerated. If I've learned anything in the last two or so years, it's that you simply cannot engage in discussions with topics in which you've got no understanding, it's all too easy to be torn down, or "canceled", and it simply isn't necessary to put yourself in such a situation. "So just stay away, right?" Well, no. Isolation is not the solution here. For believers and non-believers alike, most of the work to be done (outside of prayer/meditation) is done in collaboration with or through interaction with other people. I can't think of any great leader or visionary who made an impact on their own -- every great movement or idea requires the collaboration of people. It's very difficult to get anything meaningful accomplished in isolation. But more than that, it's seems impossible to engage with others in the first place if you don't take part in current events or controversial topics (at least if you plan on reaching the masses); and I happen to believe that we need a controversial conversation every now and then to keep us on our toes. Maybe it'd do us well to spend time simply listening to one another. (I've got reasons for this train of thought that I can get in to some other time, but I digress).

It's also dangerous to focus an extensive amount of energy on negativity, though it's impossible to escape all negativity. The thought that you can escape negativity is delusional, honestly. This all brings us back to that, first notion I mentioned. If isolation and delusional bliss aren't the answer, if we must engage with society to have an impact on society, then we need to be mindful of the things we choose to focus on, specifically the mindsets we adopt. And this isn't just for people looking to change the world, maybe you just want have a better tomorrow. Take note, often, of the dominating thoughts in your mind, write them down if you need to. Really look at them, and analyze them; a lot of the problems you have could be a result of you simply thinking about things the wrong way. Now, there's certainly a lot of nuance to this idea and the causes of the problems of the world or in your mind, all of which I can't get into. My point in all of this is simply to say this: The problems of the mind, and of this world, are very real, and things need fixing, but nothing good and lasting comes from a place of complaining, isolation, fear, or any other negative headspace. Mind your thoughts, go to the world in love rather than hate.

Verses to Look Back On:

Romans 12:2

Romans 8:5-6

Philippians 4:8