Why You Must be the Gardener of Your Mind

I used to watch the show 24, where the main character Jack Bower was a CTU agent. He was always up against the clock with the well-being of the world weighing on his shoulders. He would race around, shoot the bad guy and be the hero.

After I would watch an episode of 24 my driving behavior would change, I would take corners sharply like I was chasing a terrorist or like I only had 60 seconds until a nuclear bomb went off! I had this seed planted in my mind after watching the show that I could be the hero like Jack was.

Be careful about what you put into your mind.

Your mind is the perfect place for a thought. Thoughts can have great power over your actions, emotions and behaviors.

Your mind is like a garden; you have to be careful what seeds you let get planted. Proverbs 4:23 says “guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life”.

If every action is the result of a thought, than every thought is the result of a seed we let take root in our minds.

Every thought is a seed, every song, movie, conversation you have all blow seeds into your mind that can plant and take root. This also includes things we don’t really thinks about – such as books we read, advertisements we see, and other interactions we have. They all wisp seeds into our garden.

Like a dandelion in the summer, the seeds blow everywhere. Just as living out our daily lives seeds will blow seeds into our garden.

It is important that we take control of what we allow to take root in our minds. If we don’t, the culture and environment will do it for us and going with the flow isn’t going to set you up for greatness.

Have you ever watched a scary movie and that night aren’t able to fall asleep? Maybe you have a bad dream or get scared when entering into a dark room?

This is because you have allowed certain seeds to plant and take root in your mind (and I would propose your soul as well).

What type of fruit do you want to grow in the garden of your mind? Do you want to be wise, confident, well spoken, kind and full of good judgment?

If so, what seeds need to take root?

What do you want grow in your garden? Start here and then as seeds come blowing into your garden you can more easily decide if they should stay.

Do you desire positive, constructive growth that draws people towards you?

Or do you want sour, bitter growth that will isolate you and cause you to offend others?

The choice is yours. If you fail to make a conscience decision you will naturally bend towards the undesirable. Sort of like a field or garden unattended that grows wildly with anything that blows by.

If you want to grow in a way that leads to good growth you are going to have to do so intentionally.

You can garden you mind in two ways. The first is to uproot unwanted seeds, and the second is to plant the seeds you want to grow.

What are some ways we can be the gardener of our minds?