S8. Bonus 3 | Transforming Thoughts: Using Wise Mind to Align Your Thinking with Biblical Truth
Carla introduces the concept of "wise mind," a balance between the rational mind and the emotional mind. She explains that operating from wise mind allows you to acknowledge feelings and logic and make decisions from a place of balance. Using three key questions, Carla guides listeners in understanding the power of their thoughts and aligning them with the truth of God's word. Additionally, she emphasizes the importance of renewing your mind and developing a deeper understanding of the word of God to combat intrusive and anxious thoughts.
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Key Takeaways
Wise Mind:
CarlCarla introduces the concept of wise mind, which is the balance between the rational and emotional mind, helping individuals make decisions from a place of balance.
Three Key Questions:
Carla provides three questions to ask when confronting intrusive thoughts: Is it true? What else could be true instead? How does this align with the word of God?
Renewing Your Mind:
Understanding the importance of renewing your mind through the study of God's word to combat anxious and intrusive thoughts.
Practical Application:
Listeners are encouraged to apply the wise mind concept in their lives and explore further through the "Renewing Hope" program on Carla's website.
Connect With Carla:
Inquire about 1:1 coaching ---> carlaagreswellness@gmail.com
Renewing Hope Course —-> https://www.carlaarges.com/renewing-hope
Come hangout on IG with me @carlaarges
Check out the blog
TRANSCRIPT
Carla Arges [00:00:08]:
Hey friends, welcome to affirming truth. I'm your friend and host, Carla arches. This show is a safe place to share our struggles, grow in faith, and root our identity in Christ. My hope is that you will leave each episode feeling encouraged in your journey. It subscribe so you don't miss an episode. And it would mean the world to me if you would leave a review. I am so glad you're here. Let's get started.
Carla Arges [00:00:35]:
Hello friends. Welcome to this week's bonus episode. I am so glad you're here and I'm actually quite excited about what we're going to talk about on today's bonus episode. It's my version, my interpretation, my application of something called wise mind, and we're going to get into it in a moment. But I wanted to share with you why I chose this topic today, because I had a powerful conversation with one of my one on one clients in our session the other day. And seeing how wise mind has helped her so much with her anxious and intrusive thoughts has been so life changing to her. And maybe you'll identify with this, that you have anxious thoughts or fearful thoughts or depressive thoughts or just intrusive thoughts in general that are totally impacting your life. They are limiting your life, really, because they drive your behaviors and your actions, and they cause you to live a shell of really who God created you to be.
Carla Arges [00:01:45]:
Now, there are many techniques to bring about what Paul says in romans twelve two, to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. There are different techniques that we can do to bring that about. To take the thoughts captive like he instructs us to do, and put them into obedience from Christ. And what I have found is that not one method is always the go to for every client. Just like myself, I have many tools in my toolbox to deal with my thoughts and my feelings, but I have some favorites. And they may not be your favorites, but they work for me. And so I wanted to give you guys a practical tool right now called wise mind on how you can impact your thinking. And what's really cool about this is that it's one of the things I teach in renewing hope.
Carla Arges [00:02:40]:
My self paced course that is just incredible at helping you get unlocked from your trauma, from your core beliefs, from the struggles that you have, and live a life with more joy, more peace, more ease, more confidence. It truly is transformational. So let's get into it, wise mind. So here's the thing. There are two polar opposites in the way that we are driven in our behaviors. There's rational mind, which tends to be really judgmental, is void of emotion, tries to lean on logic and the practical, and often doesn't make the best decisions because it's lacking the intuition that comes with feeling. On the other hand, we have the emotional mind, which is totally driven by feelings. And that is not a great place to live either, because our feelings are not fact, and we often become reactive and do some damage when we're operating on emotion alone.
Carla Arges [00:03:53]:
Wise mind is this beautiful place where emotional mind and rational mind overlap, where we can acknowledge our feelings, where we can acknowledge the logic, and from there operate from a place of balance. And one of the ways that I like to get my clients to get into that wise mind framework is to get them to ask themselves three questions, and I'm going to share those with you right now. So grab a pen and paper. You're going to want to write this down and come and revisit it. So when you have that intrusive thought, when you have that anxious thought, when you have that thought that really doesn't belong there, I want you to first start off by asking yourself this question number one, is it true? Is it true? Is what I'm thinking true? When I have a personal interaction and I walk away and I feel like that person is hating me and judging me and all of these things, I have to ask myself, is that true? What evidence is there for that thought being true? Oftentimes when we challenge the thought, we find out that it in fact is not true, that we are operating based off of our fears, our anxieties, our core beliefs, rather than what is true. So that's the first question. What is it true? The second question I want you to ask yourself is, what else could be true instead? So if your initial thought or your initial fear is not true, what could be true instead? Here is where I want you to get curious. Be a detective.
Carla Arges [00:05:45]:
Is the opposite of what I'm thinking true? Is there something in the middle? What else could be true? If that person that I had that conversation with was less enthusiastic than I thought, does that mean that they don't like me? Or could it be true that they have something pressing on their mind? Is it true? Could it be true that maybe they're going through a difficult time and they're a little bit distracted? What else could be true instead of just believing that they don't like me? The third question I want you to ask yourself is, how does this align to the word of God? How does this thought align to the word of God? Oftentimes when we're worried about people judging us and not liking us, what it really comes down to is this root thought, this root core belief that I'm not good enough. And so we need to ask ourselves, how does that belief of not being good enough align to the word of God?
Carla Arges [00:06:51]:
Does that reflect what God says about.
Carla Arges [00:06:54]:
Me in his word?
Carla Arges [00:06:55]:
Does that reflect what God says about.
Carla Arges [00:06:57]:
Himself in the word?
Carla Arges [00:06:59]:
Does that reflect what God says about.
Carla Arges [00:07:01]:
The world in his word? We have to ask ourselves, how does this align to the word of God? And if it doesn't, then how do we need to change it to make it align? So if I believe that that person is judging me and not liking me because ultimately I believe I'm not enough, and I come down to this question, how does this align to the word of God? And I realize that God has not said I'm not enough. But actually God has called me chosen and loved and redeemed and blessed and holy. He has called me his daughter. I am a joint heir of Christ. I am more than a conqueror in him. He left his throne in heaven to come and live on earth and die a sinner's death so that I might be reconciled with my father. That sounds like someone he counts as more than enough and valuable in his sight. So what do I need to change to make it align? Well, I've got to declare God's truth.
Carla Arges [00:08:02]:
I've got to speak out my identity in Christ. And friends, if you want to know, and this is not old news, what I'm telling you, but I'm going to keep drilling it home. If you want to know whether or not your thought aligns to the word of God, guess what? You have to know the word of God. You have to know the word of God. You cannot rely on Sunday sermons as your meat in getting to know who God is. That's the dessert. Sundays, corporate worship, that's the dessert. The real meat and potatoes is what you do during the rest of the week.
Carla Arges [00:08:48]:
Are you getting into God's word? Are you getting to know him? Are you getting to know who you are in him? How can you use the Bible as a measuring stick to truth if you don't know what it is, right? So I want you to get in the word. And as always, if you don't know where to start, that's what my Bible study one and 101 course is for. You can find it on my website. But you have to get to know the word of God because the renewing of our mind, the taking thoughts captive the putting them into the obedience of the christ. Into obedience with Christ requires knowledge of the know. Words are our weapons. The word of God is our weapon. The sword of the spirit is our weapon.
Carla Arges [00:09:41]:
That is the word of God. How can we be more than conquerors in Christ in the battles that we're facing? And guys, the biggest battle we will ever face is in the mind if we don't know the word of God. So I want you to get into that. And then as you get an intrusive thought, as you get an anxious thought, as you get a thought of overwhelm, you're going to go to wise mind. And again, you're going to ask yourself, is it true? What else could be true instead? And how does this align to the word of God? All right, friends, if you want to go deeper on this, if you want to learn more about this, I invite you to learn all about renewing hope on curlareges.com. It is a program that is going to be transformational in your life, that I promise. All right, friends, I will see you Monday with another episode of affirming truth. God bless.
Carla Arges [00:10:48]:
Thanks for joining me today. I hope we're already friends on social media, but if we're not, come find me on Instagram at Carla Arges or at affirming truth. Can't wait to see you back here next week. Bye, friends.