The first self improvement book I ever did read was 'Battlefield of the Mind' by Joyce Meyer. The book fell short of changing my life, but certainly helped put a lot of things in better perspective through my teenage years. I have retained some of the overall philosophy from the book even as the challenges manifest themselves on a continuous basis.

Last year was my first real test with mental stress. I have been through difficult times before but never to the point of nearly resigning myself to my fate. It didn't happen either, but I definitely understood how possible it was to be sucked in. The mind really is the primary battlefield in our time of existence. Our mental game has to be strong enough for all seasons, including the ones that appear never ending.

Everyone goes through it

Nobody is really immune from sadness. There will be times we are concerned, overwhelmed or under one form of pressure or the other. As with most people, I have learned to only concern myself with things I can control. However, not having a feeling of control over my life to at least some extent was extending it a bit too far. In all these, there are times I have been grateful for being pushed to the wall.

With great pressure comes great ingenuity and strength. There is a sense of urgency and focus that comes from desperately seeking a way out of a bad predicament. A large part of my emotional maturity, discipline and physical resilience I owe to the unique experiences I have had. I consider myself quite tough mentally really, so I was taken by surprise just how progressively worse an attack on the mind can be if we prolong and let it foster.

The Lure of Inaction

I think everyday of how to translate thoughts into action, but I also think what many miss is just how much inaction can be drawn from the wrong thoughts. Inaction is really the thing we need our minds to be ready against. When it is pushed to the wall it firsts leads to inaction even before it can lead to wrong action. There are times when even getting up to clean up my house feels extremely difficult, but I've been very careful to resist this when it does happen because its a slippery slope.

Joy is coming.