Don't Let Your Mind Bully Your Body

"Don't let your mind bully your body..."-Astrid Alauda

This is a quote in a picture that I saw while I was searching for a desktop wallpaper. (Apparently I've deleted the picture so I got another picture from Google instead.)The choice of words and the meaning of the statement rang a bell in my ear for it was something that I, and most people especially women, can relate to.

Digging Deeper

Digging deeper into this statement, I was able to see 2 perspectives in this, 1 is general and one is spiritual. 

1. We overthink or keep our minds busy and occupied with things, or life in general, and forget how this can drain our body.

2. We let our thoughts be influenced by the world which affects our actions, resulting in us bullying our body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Let's go and dig deeper in both perspectives until we mine the learning nuggets.

Overthinking

I think (pun not intended...maybe)that most people (especially perfectionists) overthink every day. We tend to overthink because we are not satisfied with the current knowledge that we have regarding a situation or matter. And so, we dive into endless branches of possibilities and try to find the "perfect solution or decision" or the "most reasonable outcome of a matter", only to find ourselves frustrated when we reach the tip of the branch. We don't just stop with a dead-end though, we continue on and dig holes just to find that golden apple that we think will satisfy us. If you want to know how you can stop overthinking, let me throw this question to you, "Why do you overthink ?"

You know what the answer is? It's because we worry that if we don't find the perfect solution/decision/possibility, we will make a mistake that won't be erased and will haunt us for the rest of our lives. So to put it simply, we overthink because we worry or fear of the unknown future before us. Well if you want to pull the roots of overthinking, you need to also pull the roots of worrying. So I shall ask you another question, "Why do you worry or fear?"

Do Not Worry (Matthew 6:25-34-NIV)

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

If you know that you have God who will supply your needs; if you know that you have God who will take care of you; and if you know that you have God that has great and wonderful plans for you to prosper (Read Jeremiah 29:1), then why worry and fear about life?

Temple of the Holy Spirit

Our thoughts are influenced by what we see, hear, and feel; our thoughts affects our actions. So if what we see, hear, and feel are that of the world, then our thoughts will be that of the world too. And if thoughts affect our actions, then our worldly thoughts will turn our actions into that of the world.

Let me give you a specific example so you can get what I mean. A distorted view of beauty may lead to insecurity. A distorted product of a distorted view gives birth to distorted actions. Anorexia and bullimia are 2 disorders that must not be romanticized. It is a product of insecurity, which is a product of a distorted view on beauty. 

When the world says that you are ugly, God says that you are beautiful. When the world says that beauty is when you have a slim, tall, sharp, and curvy body; God says that TRUE BEAUTY is when you are loving, joyful, patient, kind, and gentle. You are who you are. You are FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY MADE by GOD.(Read Psalm 139:14).

The learning nugget that we can get from this perspective is in this 1 Corinthians 6:19

18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Life Nugget

After getting the learning nuggets in both perspectives, I want to remind you of the life nugget that we must hold dear to our hearts and apply in our lives. It is found in

Philippians 4:8New International Version (NIV)

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

So will you let your mind bully your body?