What a thought can do to a life …

What can a simple thought do to a life?

Probably immensely more than you’ve ever taken time to imagine!

So let’s work through it together and see what a thought really can do to a life.

In 2005, the National Science Foundation published an article summarizing research on human thoughts per day. It was found that the average person has about 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts per day. Of those thousands of thoughts, 80 percent were negative and 95 percent were exactly the same repetitive thoughts as the day before.

That’s a lot of thoughts!

The first thing to note is that with as many as 60,000 thoughts per day, most of those thoughts are not a part of our conscious mind. Neuroscience has shown that most of our decisions, actions, emotions, and behavior depend on the 95 percent of brain activity that lies beyond conscious awareness, meaning that 95 percent (or as much as 99 percent) of your life comes from the programming in your subconscious mind.

Our self-awareness is usually very low because we’re often not very conscious of what we’re thinking!

But here’s the first major point of why a thought is so important, so powerful in our lives. It’s this:

Our thoughts create our emotions, and the combination of our thoughts and emotions create our behavior.

This is shown in the cognitive triangle below (“cognitive” or “cognition” simple means thoughts):

Our emotions only come from our thoughts. Put another way, our thoughts create emotions that correspond with what we’re thinking. From that combination of thoughts and emotions comes our behavior. Consider that while recalling that research tells us about 80 percent of our thoughts are negative! Negative thoughts will only generate corresponding negative emotions, and the combination of negative thoughts and emotions will usually be behavior that isn’t very positive!

Let’s gain a little more understanding of how this works by looking at the “ABCs” of rational and irrational thinking. It works like this:

A for “Activating agent” – A situation or triggering event occurs.

B for “Belief” – What one thinks/says to oneself about A.

C for “Consequences” – The resulting feelings and behavior.

Let’s look at a couple examples of the ABC’s of rational/irrational thinking:

A – Activating Agent: While Sally was shopping in a busy grocery store, another shopper bumped into her shopping cart with their own cart while attempting to step in front of her.

B – Belief: “What a rude person! There’s no need to be in such a hurry. I could have been injured if she would have hit me with her cart instead of hitting my cart.”

C – Consequence: Sally is angry, causing her to be physically tense and mentally distracted, and begins to verbally complain about the rudeness of shoppers around her.

What Sally felt, and how she responded, to the woman bumping into her cart was not caused by the woman’s action, but by what Sally said to herself (her self-talk or what she thought). If Sally would have had a different thought, such as, “That lady must be embarrassed that she accidentally bumped my cart, but it didn’t cause any harm and ‘those things happen,'” then her emotions and resulting behavior would have been very different.

One more example:

A – Activating Agent: John has started a new job and when the Human Resources representative was showing him around the office, none of the regular employees introduced themselves or took notice of him.

B – Belief: “People don’t seem to be very friendly here. Maybe I made a mistake taking this job!”

C – Consequence: John now fosters a negative first impression of his co-workers and doesn’t initiate to introduce himself or start a conversation with anyone in his office.

If John would have thought something different, like “People are very focused on their work here, I don’t want to interrupt them,” he wouldn’t have started his job with a negative first impression of his co-workers. It was what he said to himself (thought or “self-talk”) that created corresponding emotions and the resulting behavior.

Putting it all together, the impact of a thought can look like this:

All of that from a thought!

From a thought to an attitude …

The significance and power of our thinking doesn’t stop with just how a single thought can craft a corresponding emotion, and how that combination generates behavior — our thoughts also form our attitudes. The concept of attitudes can be better understood by looking at the structure of an attitude through a different ABC model:

A – Affective component: This involves a person’s feelings and emotions about the object of an attitude. For example: “I am scared of snakes.”

B – Behavioral component: The way the attitude we have influences how we act or behave. For example: “I will avoid snakes and scream if I see one.”

C – Cognitive component: This involves a person’s beliefs and knowledge about the object of an attitude. For example: “I believe snakes are dangerous.”

Thus, our attitude about a snake isn’t created by the presence of the snake; rather, it is formed by our “ABC’s” regarding the object, in this case, a snake. At the root of this is first our thoughts.

It gets more serious …

Everyone believes something.

In fact, we all believe many things, but many of those beliefs are inconsequential like whether you think Ford or Chevy is better, whether pizza should be cut in triangles or squares, or which season of the year you think is best.

Some beliefs don’t matter much … but some beliefs do.

Some beliefs impact us to the core of our souls, and those beliefs are aptly called “core beliefs.” Someone once described core beliefs like this:

“Core beliefs are basic beliefs about ourselves, other people, and the world we live in. They are things we hold to be absolute truths deep down, underneath all our surface thoughts. Essentially, core beliefs determine how we perceive and interpret the world.”

Because we don’t all share identical core beliefs, we can interpret things (even the same experiences) very differently. Imagine core beliefs to be like everyone selecting a set a eyeglasses through which to view their life. Because we all choose different tints of lenses, we don’t always view things the same way other people do … our core beliefs are different. Just like the ABC’s of rational or irrational thinking, what comprises our core beliefs also has consequences for us.

For example, you may have a core belief that says, “I’m unlovable.” Applying that to your life as a core belief will directly affect your efforts at engaging with people, or even thinking you should. You might have a core belief of, “I’m ugly,” causing you to shun others for fear of being rejected, or you might have a core belief of, “I’m special,” leading you to act like you’re too good to interact with some people.

Just like our thoughts and attitudes, core beliefs can be rational or irrational, meaning they can be positive or they can be negative, even harmful. To challenge irrational core beliefs so they can be changed, you have to first identify what your core beliefs are.

Core beliefs can be negative or irrational, like:

• • I’m not good enough.
  • I’m not lovable.
  • I’m bad.
  • I’m worthless.
  • I can never do anything right.
  • I can never do anything wrong.
  • The world is a dangerous place.

Or core beliefs can be positive or rational, like:

• • I have some talent.
  • I’m lovable.
  • I’m capable.
  • I’m smart.
  • I’m able to learn.
  • I’m not perfect but I’m persistent.
  • The world is a wonderful place.

On to habits and patterns …

Whether our thoughts are subconscious or conscious, we can develop habits or patterns of thinking. And since so much of our thinking is subconscious, much of it can be irrational. So, it can be common to develop habits or patterns of irrational thinking, commonly referred to as “cognitive distortions.” Below is a chart of the 10 most common cognitive distortions:

Finally, add the spiritual component …

So, if our thoughts create our emotions, and the combination of our thoughts and emotions create our behavior …

And our thoughts are the key components to the attitudes we develop …

And our thoughts craft our core beliefs …

And our thoughts can be habitual and consistent patterns, often cognitive distortions …

… then just imagine if those thoughts were sinful!

James explains what can happen when we entertain sinful thoughts:

“And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, ‘God is tempting me.’ God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death,” James 1:13-15.

Is it any wonder the starting point of God’s transforming work in our lives is to change our thinking?

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect,” Romans 12:2.

“With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes,” Ephesians 4:17-23.

God wants to renew our minds so that we have the “mind of Christ.” Imagine how that can transform a life!

The greatest problem you’ll have in life is what you do with your thoughts. A competent therapist trained in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy can help you change your thinking to be more rational and healthy, and your pastor or a mature Christian can disciple you in the truth of God’s Word which can transform your mind.

Scotty

NOTE; Portions of this blog post are taken from my workbook, “The Temperament and Cognitive-Behavioral Workbook: Revised and Expanded Edition.” Find out more about the workbook here.