My buddy Joe challenged me, "Jeff, Don't believe everything you think."

"Whoa Joe! That's really powerful! Did you make that up?"

"No, I saw is on a church sign."

I woke up mulling on those words. Imagine the potential of putting those simple words into practice? "Don't believe everything you think."

Our minds can be our most powerful ally, or our most deadly and deceptive enemy warring against our real potential. Our thinking enables us to soar to great heights of vision, creativity and confidence... or fall to destructive depths of destruction and doom. Our thinking enables our destinies, or steals it.

As I've experienced by coaching others, (it's easier to see it in them than in me!) thoughts have the power to enhance or to warp perception of reality about life, love, God, others ... us.

Having experienced some seasons of depression, I now realize I had lazily let my mind "do what it wanted" and repeated its mantras based in "stinkin thinkin." This became my outlook on life. It was if my mind had formed a dark rut deep in the mud that then hardened in the freeze of winter.

It's actually dangerous to allow our minds "freedom" to just think "what comes to mind." Particularly when we allow our mind to feed and fester in thoughts of

• Fear

• Self-condemnation

• "Life stinks" creep

• Comparison and Envy

• Worry (ongoing and persistent fear)

Like a snowball poised at the top of the hill, the best time to stop a bad thought is before it begins its momentum-gathering role. Instead of feeding bad thinking, the Bible teaches us that we can, "Take every thought captive." (2 Corinthians 10:5) The "we" in charge of our mind has power to notice, decide then change the "think." We can first act as spectator - then an active participant.

Paul encouraged the Philippians, "Finally brothers, whatever is good, whatever is noble, what 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." (Philippians 3:8)

Joe was right. Don't believe everything you think. If it's wrong, change what you think. If not you, who? If not now, when?