A Sound Mind

Introduction:

Welcome my friend,

As you already know, it's always with great pleasure that I come to you with these words, as we hangout for a little while each weekend; to rub minds.

How are you doing really?

I hope that you're fine because you've learned not to let circumstances, moods, or emotions determine that for you.

Since you now know that both the good and bad times are different sides of the same coin; life, with each one readily fleeting.

It's this mindset that allows us to find joy or hope in every moment, knowing that even the most difficult situations come with them lessons that make us better.

All we have to do is pay close enough attention.

Remember, we're able to adapt this mindset because we have this strong belief that everything indeed works together for our good.

Having been proven right by the fact that we're still here despite everything that life has thrown at us.

This indeed, reassures us that in due time, anything we're currently going through would eventually fade away like the ones before it.

So if we're going to chill out by then, we can as well do that now.

Breathe my friend, worrying never solved a thing in the past and it wouldn't start now.

Discussion:

When we think of ‘A Sound Mind’, what exactly comes to mind?

Most likely, we'd have thought of it as a healthy mind with the clarity of thought and calmness to show good discernment when faced with decision making.

Quite simply, a sound mind is a mind that can show good reasoning and proper judgment.

This therefore, makes it quite critical for our self development and growth since our realities are products of the decisions we've made and our actions and inactions that have backed them up.

Which also means that if the mind isn't sound, then it becomes unfit to make the right decisions to move our lives forward.

■ How To Develop A Sound Mind

Just like we go to the gym to work the body, just as we sharpen the sword with a whetstone, the mind too is worked and developed into health and soundness intentionally.

As we mature, we may notice that our approach to things begins to get calmer, wiser and less risky having learned from past experiences.

This is the relationship between experience, time and maturity.

However, this is just one way and doesn't necessarily mean every older person has a sound mind or would pass a better judgment than a younger person.

This is because a sound mind is developed and kept improving by the helpful activities and lifestyle we intentionally adapt as it's also impacted and left chaotic and distressed by some others.

On this self help and development side, we have behaviours that include:

▪︎ Reading Good Books

A learning mind is a sound mind and when we read good books we learn things from others experiences without paying the price they did to do so.

Reading sharpens the mind as we begin to learn tolerance and patience, having now recognized that there are always different perspectives to things; which is enough reason not to take things personally.

Most importantly, reading is a way of learning new soft skills like marketing and writing that we can get paid for.

This is critical because we're more likely to be at ease and calm when we know where the next meal is coming from rather than when we're uncertain about it.

▪︎ Tuning Our Minds To Positivity And Abundance

When we ignore negativity for too long it begins to steer clear of us.

Naysayers and detractors strive off the attention we give them so when we don't respond they eventually tire out.

To tune our mind to positivity is to open our hearts to folks that think and speak possibilities, not small minds that see our dreams as far reaching.

When we hear this for too long we may begin to doubt ourselves.

▪︎ Improving The Quality Of Our Discussions

After we've spent time reading, learning and improving, it's important to spend time sharing insights with other readers and deep thinkers who are more interested in discussing facts and logic than they are discussing other people.

Gossips spend their time analyzing others' lives when they should be building theirs until they're finally caught up by the sadness of regret from wasting one's time.

When we improve the quality of our discussions we begin to form better social bonds so that while we're hanging out we're not just chit chatting and wasting time but refining our minds and learning from each other.

Who says fun and entertainment must be harmful and unhealthy?

▪︎ Improving The Quality Of Our Relationships 

Quality relationships bring us peace of mind as we interact with friends that love us enough to respect our boundaries and exhibit the emotional maturity to understand them.

When we have quality friendships we're not worried about betrayal or backbiting because we're with solid folks who genuinely want us to succeed as much as they do themselves.

If we're not at rest when we're with our circle of friends because there's distrust, striving or competition then it's time to reevaluate our circle.

Quality friendships are based on love, honour and mutual respect.

▪︎ Improving Our Environment

Cleanliness is next to Godliness and if the body is dirty then the mind can't think clearly.

We need to be in environments that inspire us to step up our game, not places where we have to dim our lights so it doesn't get into other people's eyes.

When we can't fully express ourselves we shrink the mind because we don't use it to its full potential.

▪︎ Protecting Ourselves From Peer Pressure 

Self confidence comes from understanding our own unique journey and purpose as we learn to focus on improving ourselves according to our own timeline rather than comparing ourselves to others.

Peer pressure is good when we hang out with folks whose values, principles and standards of excellence inspire us to behave and act better by adapting more disciplined habits.

However, if it makes us feel inadequate, ashamed or desperate to acquire material things to prove ourselves or boost our ego then we've missed the point and limited our self worth to perishing and irrelevant things.

■ Common Obstacles To A Sound Mind 

The same way some things build the mind, other things tear it down and it's our responsibility to protect ourselves from those things by limiting or regulating our interactions with them.

They include;

▪︎ Social Media 

The nature of the contents we expose our minds to can become detrimental to our general well being.

Many of us via Instagram, Facebook and other such platforms have become privy to some exotic and luxurious lifestyle of different celebrities, that we've now become dissatisfied with our own decent means of livelihood.

We want to desperately make money even if it involves crime because we want to live a lifestyle that is clearly more than any human needs to thrive.

This is greed and poor judgment.

Social media is not a true reflection of reality and if we allow ourselves to be caught up with the information overload, hype and frenzy of it all, we begin to compare our entire life with the selected highlights of others.

▪︎ Social Culture

It's difficult to think right in a social setting that promotes immorality and profanity as cool and morality as boring, uptight, weird or even cringe.

When truths have been distorted to adjust to political correctness and woke culture, how do we stand against pervertedness without offending the next man?

These are the things that mess with our mind yet as believers we know that the instructions of God concerning these issues are very clear as written in His words.

▪︎ Music and Entertainment 

When the songs and movies we watch everyday promote the use of hard drugs and some other vices, we begin to see those things as the new normal.

Most people lack the courage to stand alone and would easily join the bandwagon; so it's difficult to convince them otherwise when their mind is already set on these things it's been exposed to even subconsciously.

▪︎ Wrong Belief System 

If our belief system asks us to “do it yourself” our mind will go into panic mode every time we feel we're losing control.

This is why the right attitude is to replace our worries and fears with faith; trusting God to come through for us.

This confidence allows us to approach every circumstance with calmness knowing that there's something within us that is greater than it instead of trembling hopelessly.

Summary:

Bad food destroys the body the same way negativity destroys the mind.

What we feed the mind is what it gives back to us.

So just like algorithms on social platforms begin to suggest more of our likes to us, life's algorithm is run in the mind as we begin to attract more of what we're focused on.

This is why it's important for us to train the mind healthily by intentionally tuning ourselves to contents that point us to positivity, self belief, growth, purpose and fulfillment.

What better content for all these than the word of God, as we spend our days intentionally creating time to pray, meditate and read his words.

This is how we build a sound mind, calm in spirit and wise in discernment.

Master Apprentice.

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