SLP012 - Challenging the Status Quo : 7 Steps to a Transformed Mind

2020-01-13

On this episode, we will be talking about ‘Challenging The Status Quo: 7 Steps To A Transformed Mind’. Someone once said, “people act in accordance with the ‘truth’ as they believe it to be”. You see, the beliefs that you hold to be true in your life literally govern the direction, the choices, the decisions, and the outcomes in your life. Whether you are successful or whether you fail depends entirely on your core, heart-level beliefs. The mind is a very powerful force. It receives information in the conscious mind, but then compares the ...

On this episode, we will be talking about ‘Challenging The Status Quo: 7 Steps To A Transformed Mind’. Someone once said, “people act in accordance with the ‘truth’ as they believe it to be”. You see, the beliefs that you hold to be true in your life literally govern the direction, the choices, the decisions, and the outcomes in your life. Whether you are successful or whether you fail depends entirely on your core, heart-level beliefs.

The mind is a very powerful force. It receives information in the conscious mind, but then compares the ‘new’ with what is already on the hard drive of the heart. Your experiences, your relationships, your hurts, you perceptions; they all contribute to the formation of your beliefs. How does one go about identifying limiting beliefs? How do we challenge, unseat, and even replace those beliefs with truth and life-giving faith? That is what we will explore in this episode.

Scriptural Principle

“As a man thinks within himself, so is he … – Proverbs 23:7

“Whatever the mind of man can conceive or believe, it can achieve” – Napolean Hill

God gave man a MIND; a mechanism and a process of thought He created within each of us the power to imagine or dream a thing. He gave us the power to create and to produce in time and space, the thoughts and ideas conjured and fostered in our minds. The HUMAN mind has the capacity to change the world. When that which is held in our mind does not meet our potential that we limit ourselves to a life that is less than God’s plan. It is what your heart believes that determines the direction and outcome of your life and situation. We actually move toward our most dominant PICTURE of how you see yourself and your future. The image or belief we hold in our mind concerning a thing, produces an outcome that resembles exactly what we believe, SO, I must CHANGE my thinking, my beliefs, and my image.

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved on the same level we were on when we created the problem” – Albert Einstein

FACT: You cannot rise above the plane of your mental conditioning. To change your life, you must change your mind. We are what we THINK, and we become what we continue to think.

Some Thoughts by Dr. Myles Munroe

• There is nothing more powerful than a thought or an idea, however, there is nothing more important than the SOURCE of our thoughts.

• Our thoughts are products of what we have heard or learned.

• How we deal with information, or how we process things in life is a result of what we believe, which is the result of a pattern of thoughts.

The Process of Thought:

1. A source (good or bad) transmits its ideas through words and images

2. Words and images transmit thoughts and ideas into our mind

3. Thoughts (being seed), when conceived become ideas

4. Ideas conceived become ideologies

5. Ideologies conceived become beliefs

6. Beliefs conceived become convictions

7. Convictions conceived become philosophies

8. Philosophies conceived become lifestyles

9. Lifestyles determine the outcome of life, and ultimately our destinies

When your philosophy of life, beliefs, thoughts, and convictions are based on the way you were CREATED by God to THINK, you will naturally rule over you environment, and fulfill your purpose and destiny with joy. When these are based on erroneous thinking and attitudes, you will feel frustrated, trapped, and hopeless while constantly living life “on your heels” rather than moving ahead.

We act in accordance with the truth as we believe it to be, whether it is true or not!

Effects of Mindsets:

A negative mindset causes a perpetual posture of DOUBT
DOUBT creates HESITATION (or paralysis)
HESITATION leads to failure
Mindsets are what creates your expectations
Your expectations are self-fulfilling prophecy
What you EXPECT, you get
A mindset LOCKS you into a realm, thereby limiting your level of result and achievement

The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking. – Albert Einstein

Challenging the Status Quo

The status quo is that which has become NORMAL; that from which we resist deviating; that standard or pattern to which we have been conformed; average; and a state whereby we maintain sanity

Thoughts form beliefs
Beliefs form our mindsets
Our mindsets … SET us on a particular trajectory
Our trajectory produces certain results or outcomes
The outcomes we experience AFFIRM our beliefs
The affirmed belief becomes our NORMAL
What is NORMAL becomes and is the status quo
To deviate from what is normal based on our truth is to create conflict
We do not like conflict, therefore we create for ourselves something called … COMFORT ZONES

What is a Comfort Zone?

A comfort zone is a limited area of perception and association wherein the individual or group can function effectively without experiencing uneasiness or fear; a limited defined physical or psychological area in which a person feels at ease; self-regulating mechanism; anxiety arousal control.
In my terms, a comfort zone is an invisible bubble we create for ourselves for one of several reasons; we feel safe; we feel we belong there; we feel we deserve to be there, etc.

“Discomfort brings engagement and change. Discomfort means you’re doing something that others were unlikely to do, because they’re hiding out in the comfortable zone. When your uncomfortable actions lead to success, the organization rewards you and brings you back for more.” – Seth Godin

7 Steps To A Transformed Mind

1. Ask questions:

a. What are my comfort zones?
b. Which ones are keeping me safe?
c. Which ones are holding me back?
d. Which comfort zone areas do I need to expand in order to arrive at the fulfillment of what God has said concerning my life
e. What mindsets or beliefs must be addressed to accomplish this?

2. Identify faulty and limiting mindsets (Look at fruit)

3. Take every thought captive (arrest, do not entertain)

4. Control your SELF-TALK (don’t affirm limiting beliefs)

5. Examine the Word of God; reflect and remember every ‘Word’ God has spoken to you or about you; Record every proclamation of truth about your identity, life, and future)

6. Create summarized ‘affirmation’ or ‘confession’ statements that REPLACE limiting beliefs, and expand your comfort zone concerning that area of life – 1st Person; Present Tense

7. Develop and engage the HABIT of reading/affirming/confessing these ‘I AM’ statements … every day … UNTIL

WRAP UP:

1. As a man thinketh in his heart …
2. Confession is great, believing is better (Confess and believe)
3. Challenge the status quo
4. Create a new normal
5. Re-define what is acceptable and good enough
6. SAY – I AM
7. Change Your Mind … Change Your World

Resources Mentioned:

I have created two resources that provide you the information and instruction on how you can ‘Transform Your Mind’. In these series, I will teach you some of the following principles and skills: