I read something awesome yesterday
that I’d like to share with you today.

It came from an app on my phone, and is an excellent write.
Sharing it with you should enhance your view and that would be my delight.

Alright, I won’t reprint the entire essay, for it is too long
but for what I learned from this excerpt alone, I could write a movie, a book, and a song.

TRANSITION: What are your thoughts on Behavior Modification? Do you think that you need it? Most of us do because our human behavior is on display every waking moment of our life. None of us are perfect and we all have something that we’d like to better, i.e., modify about our character.

According to Winning The War of The Mind author, Craig Groeschel says,

“The problem with how we attack our problems is that we go after the problem. We focus solely on the behavior by making a commitment to start or stop doing something. Whatever your vows have been, (new years resolution, weight loss goal, quit a habit, etc) how did it go?

I would guess not well.

Why? Behavior modification doesn’t work, because the focus is only on the root of the problem, which is the thought that produces the behavior. To be more specific, the problem is the neural pathway that leads to behavior.

The analogy is absurd. You would never try to kill a tree by just removing a branch. Because the branch obviously isn’t the problem. The tree is the problem. Actually, the root system of the tree is the main culprit. If you don’t remove the root system when you cut down the tree, it could grow back. Just sawing off a branch is ignoring the real problem; this is a mental rut that we fall into.”

Winning The War of The Mind suggests in order to be our best self, we must learn to go deeper than the issue that we see on the surface or the issue will return. Unless we:

1. Remove the issue at the root of the behavior; discover the WHY. Why are you eating, drinking, shopping, creeping, etc…
2. Replace the neural pathway the leads you to the behavior. In other words, when you find yourself stressed to do “whatever it is that you normally do,” instead do something new. Start by making a plan to do XZY in the event that you are stressed out, and then follow through with the plan.

Pretty strong stuff from Groeshcel, right? You cannot go wrong when you are mind strong. So, BE it.

As world news reveals more and more acts of war and rumors of war, we want to strive to not lose ourselves in the moment but take the opportunity to thank God for peace in your life and pray for help for those in need of peace. If you’re interested in removing the root of an ugly bad habit, I recommend asking God to:

Change your mind.

Change your heart.

Change your life.

Emerge a stronger version of yourself and avoid all temptations to cut off one tree branch, now that you understand how to accomplish lasting change.

In order to be the strongest you,
it may require looking at some old roots.