Four Simple Steps to Reset Your Focus

Where you put the attention and focus of your mind has a powerful effect on your emotions and your level of hope and expectation. I had been doing well with keeping my mind set on the Lord until a new set of challenges dragged me into a negative mindset.

A Wildfire that Gave Focus

Several years ago we went through a large wildfire that burned all around our neighborhood. We were blessed that our house didn’t burn, but many houses and most of the land in our area did burn. The result was that land that was previously covered in large trees was now covered with blackened tree carcasses, a constant reminder of the trauma of the fire. When we moved back into the house three months after the fire, some of the ash had washed away with the rains that had come, but nothing was moving those blackened trees that covered the landscape. As I walked every morning, I got to choose where I focused my attention; I could look at the burned trees or at the growth of flowers and new trees beginning to spring forth. That season was a stark reminder of what we have to do all the time: choosing where to fasten our focus.

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I thought I had learned the lesson fairly well, and even more so in recent months. I don’t know about you, but there are many people around me going through a variety of challenging things. People I love are facing health challenges, others have lost their jobs, and a number are walking through long-term financial hardship. There just seems to be a lot of crazy happening, and almost all of it is outside their control and certainly outside of mine. So what do you do when the whole world is going haywire, and you feel all kinds of emotions about all the craziness? 

Overthinking the Wrong Things

Here’s what I used to do: I’d worry about it all. I’d meditate on all the challenges I was facing, and out of my intense focus on the problems, I’d create an internal declaration that would echo around my head. Needless to say, this declaration was not filled with faith and hope and did nothing to help the situation. The more I focused on the challenges and how I felt about them, the more they grew. And the more they grew, the more terrible possibilities occurred to me about how bad this could all turn out. By the time I had meditated for a short time, my small problem had turned into a large, nearly insurmountable issue that was going to take me out.

Now I know that you would never do such a thing. You keep your thoughts on a tight rein and never let them get the better of you. But here’s how I got trapped back into meditating on negative stuff again recently and how I overcame it.

I was generally doing well keeping my thoughts on the goodness of God, and although I had lots of opportunities to worry, I was doing a great job of praying for the situation and simply trusting the Lord with the outcome. I had created a new normal in which worrying was no longer part of my process. Praying and releasing it to God was the new way of living. Then something slipped under my radar. Another area of concern came up, and I needed to focus on it because I had to come up with a strategy for dealing with the situation. Imagine finding out, for example, that a department you thought was making a profit is actually making a loss. You can’t just pray and ignore it. You have to investigate what is going on, do due diligence, and then take action.

Recognize Where You Feel Powerless

In my case, thinking through my options led me to focus on the problem beyond the scope of what I needed to do. I started feeling powerless. The change needed was entirely in someone else's hands, and I had little to no ability to influence the outcome. The more I focused on my apparent powerlessness, the more hopeless I felt. And the more hopeless I felt, the more I wanted to fix the issue and so the more I ‘meditated.’ I started reminding myself regularly how hard it was to live with this problem and how powerless I was. I started to feel increasingly discouraged, not just in this area but in other areas of my life. It wasn’t until I started to tell a friend what was going on that I realized how hopeless I felt.

Making the Change

As I woke up to where I was, I realized that I had changed my focus from God’s goodness to my challenge. I had fallen into the enemy's trap once again of setting my mind on the problem, not on things above (see Colossians 3:2) or that which is noble, true, pure, and lovely (see Philippians 4:8). I was now just wallowing in self-pity and feeling powerless to do anything.

Here’s the truth: You are powerless over many areas of your life. Other people’s decisions can have a huge impact on you, and you can only do so much to influence them. But you always have the power to choose how you respond to the circumstances and where you keep your focus. 

1 Peter 1:13 says to gird up the loins of your mind. This is a picture of what men did in biblical times to prepare to fight or run. They tucked the long robes they had flapping around their legs up into their waist so that they were free to move in a way that they could overcome. We, too, must take action in choosing what our minds focus on so we can overcome and be ready for battle.

Four Steps For You To Stop Overthinking and Regain Hope

Once I realized that I had let negativity win a round or two of the battle, I took a few simple steps to get back on track.

1. Repentance: I messed up. I was more impressed with my powerlessness than God’s ability. That’s called a lack of faith and trust in Him, which the Bible calls sin. I confessed to the Lord and asked His forgiveness.
2. Prayer: I brought the problem to the Lord again. This time I let go and began to speak out the truth: “You are able to change anything, Lord. Even if this situation doesn’t change, You will give me strength and grace to handle it, and You promise to work it for my good.”
3. Thanksgiving and praise: I broke the pattern of meditating on the problem by thanking the Lord for His faithfulness and grace. And I amped up the level of praise for who He is.
4. Choose your focus: I chose once again to set my mind on what the Lord is doing, His goodness aimed at me and His ability to give me strength. I stopped the negative dialogue and meditated on the truth of Scripture.

My circumstances didn’t change one bit, but how I’m experiencing them did a 180. I went from feeling powerless and hopeless to remembering that I always get a choice in how I respond. I went from feeling discouraged to joyful, all from changing the focus of my mind.

How about you? Has the enemy trapped you into a cycle of meditating on the negative circumstances you are faced with? Repent, pray, thank, and choose your focus again. Gird up the loins of your mind and run the race you are in in such a way as to bring glory to God.

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