4:8 Principle -- What's your focus

"The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell; a hell of heaven." -- John Milton.

Does your mind wander? Does your mental train derail ever so often? Mine does! Sometimes I wonder where my mind is at. For example, the other night I pulled the milk out of the fridge to put some in a cup of coffee. However, the milk didn't make it back into the fridge....somehow I managed to put the milk in the cupboard with my remaining coffee cups.

We all have those moments when are minds tend to drift, taking with it our focus. Metal discipline is the ability to keep your thoughts consistently focused. In the words of the beloved Mr. Miagi from The Karate Kid -- our "focus needs more focus."

If we could get control of our minds, we can eradicate doubt, fear, worry and destructive negative thinking. The benefits of exercising control over our thoughts are numerous: you can reach your goals faster, experience more joy and have more fun in life.

The secret conversations you hold in the privacy of your own mind are shaping your destiny, thought by thought, little by little. Every thought either brings you closer to believing what God says about you or closer to what the world wants you to believe about yourself.

Have you ever met that person who can never be happy -- even if they won the lottery and scored buckets and buckets of cash, they wouldn't think of the blessing found in those bucks....no, all they could focus on would be the amount of taxes paid on their winnings.

Choosing to discipline your mind to think on good, positive things is a must if we want a joyful life.

Today's exercise:

Think of one area in your life that you tend to have a negative focus. Maybe it is your finances, your health, your relationships....  Identify this area of negative thinking. Make a choice to stop...every time you start to have a negative thought in this area...stop, correct your thought to focus on the positive.