How to be happier in 10 days

Published September 5, 2007

As I have said in the past, the human brain works much like a computer works. If I design a program that reaches a conclusion that 1 + 1 = 3 then I will continuously get the same conclusion until I fix the problem with the program. So too, the thoughts that we have; they are the product of our programming. By changing your programming you will change the thoughts that your mind produces. This means that we can be happier without changing anything around us.
There is a word in the Bible that refers to the thoughts of a man or woman. That word is REINS. We today use the word reins to describe the bit and the leather straps that a rider uses to turn the horse’s head and thus turns the horse in a direction of the riders choosing. This is a good analogy of what we should be doing with our minds. We should be steering our thoughts. We should be choosing what we dwell on, meditate on and think about.
Psalm 7: 9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins (thoughts)
Psalm 26: 2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins (thoughts) and my heart.
3 For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth..
When you read the Bible one of the best things that you can do is to ask questions while you are reading. Questions like, who is it written to Israel, or Christians? I know what it is saying but what is it not saying? In Psalm 26:3 a good question to ask is, who is putting God’s “lovingkindness” before the eyes of David? Is God doing that? Yes, God did things to protect David, to feed David when David needed it, and to comfort David BUT, God didn’t keep a sign that said, God’s lovingkindness” in front of David pointing to a new sword or a sack full of food or the throne that David sat on. NO, David saw these things and recognized them for what they were, God’s lovingkindness, and thought about them and he was thankful. How do I know he was thankful? Because he says so in verse seven.
Psalm 26: 7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.
A few more verses on reins are:
Psalm 73: 21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins ( my thoughts were pierced).
Isaiah 11: 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins (thoughts).
Jeremiah 11: 20 But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins (thoughts) and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
Jeremiah 17: 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins (thoughts), even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.
Our thoughts are not unchangeable as a bar of steel in dried concrete. They are changeable and continually changing. We can change our thoughts by our programming methods and by our diligence. You may ask how am I programming my mind or I am old and my mind was set (fixed) a long time ago, wasn’t it? We change our minds by changing what we are looking at, what we choose to read, what we choose to listen to and what we choose to dwell on. No one is so old that they can’t change their thought patterns. When you change your thought patterns you will change your life.
I read a story a few years ago but I can’t remember who wrote it or where I saw it but the story goes that a man was transferred to a job in the desert of Arizona and naturally his wife went with him. She was from the east coast and was use to trees grass, cool temperatures and lots of friends. They moved from a nice house to a mobile home. The husband was gone from sun up to sun down and the wife sat in the trailer with nothing to do. She hated it. She hated the heat. She hated the trailer and she didn’t like any of her neighbors and she wanted to go home. After dwelling on her problems for a couple of months she decided get out of the house and see what she could find to do. She ended up studying the plants of the area the art of the local Indians and ended up enjoying her stay. What changed in this woman’s life? Was it her surroundings? Was it her husband? No to both questions. The only thing that changed was her thinking and by changing her thinking she changed her life.
Are you unhappy? What are you dwelling on? Change your thinking! Stop looking at the negatives and start looking at the positives. How many things can you think of to be thankful for? Do you have food? Do you have your health? Do you have family? Friends? Pets, clothes, yes clothes? Do you have a job? What things can you find to be thankful for in your job? Do you have time to do some of things that you would like? Do you know God? Do you know that you are a Christian? Do you know that you are going to heaven? If you don’t write me and I’ll show you how you can know. There are literally hundreds of things that a person could be thankful for in a day.
I’m thankful for you!
You decide what you think and you decide whether or not to be happy. You and you alone.
Stop looking at and dwelling on the negatives, the past and the problems and start being thankful. Write a list of all that you are thankful for add to it every day and read it every day.

Posted in Biblical