Stress Happens in the Mind

I’m not the type of person that believes in mind over matter (in the sense that if you think it, it will happen).  I can say to myself that I’m skinny, but that doesn’t mean it will happen.  Yet on the flip side, there is some weight to positive reinforcement or negative repetition on the mind that affects the body physically.  Some girl will constantly think she is fat; when in fact, she is on the verge of malnutrition.  Some man will think he is a failure and drive himself into some mental breakdown, maybe even taking his own life; when in fact, he blessed beyond measure.  Some woman will convince herself that her husband doesn’t love her and the guy at work is so amazing, causing a family to fall apart.  On the other side, there are stories of people enduring the impossible by trusting in God and staying positive.  What happens in the mind can be a powerful and a dangerous thing.

This is what stress is as well.  This is what stress does.  It’s a battle in the mind.  The reason we do what we do is because we believe something about whatever it is that we are thinking about. Maybe we believe it will give us peace.  Maybe we believe peace will be happiness.  Maybe we believe sex will bring us happiness.  Maybe we believe our spouse can’t bring us that happiness and we need to be happy.  How we believe determines how we act and respond in situations.  If we didn’t believe it, we wouldn’t do anything about it.  It’s like how we can “talk” ourselves in or out of a situation.  It’s how we justify our actions. We become the law-maker, law-giver and that law-enforcer on our lives.  We become god to ourselves!

Pride (which I’m beginning to think is the root of stress in some form or another) and humility really happens in the mind.  We find this in the Bible such as in Romans 12:2 “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will”.   I love how Peter talks about stress and the mind in 1 Peter 5, in the midst of his talk on pride and humility:

7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

For some background to Peter and his letter, Peter says a lot about practical living according to this new life in Christ.  His writing is to-the-point and gets to the facts of life, the “here’s how it is so do it.”  As one of Jesus’ “inner circle” of disciples (Peter, James and John), Peter seems to understand the human nature and this struggle very well.  Maybe Peter is speaking from a background of learning humility after saying he would never betray Christ and then denying Christ three times the night before He was crucified?  Maybe Peter is speaking from a background of learning humility after Paul has to call him out in Galatians 2:11-14, for not associating with the Gentiles when the Jews were around? Maybe Peter is speaking from a background of learning humility as Paul clearly had an on-fire ministry that spread throughout the region and writes more letters to the churches than he does, a direct disciple of Jesus?   Peter even says that some of the things Paul writes are hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16). That had to be a difficult thing to admit for a guy who was so close to Jesus Christ for some 3 1/2 years!  I mean, after all, Peter got out of the boat and walked on water! If anyone had a reason to boast, it could be Peter.  But Peter understood pride and humility and the power of the mind for good and usefulness or for destruction.  Catch the connection of the mind with stress.

The word ‘Anxiety’ here conveys  “a feeling of apprehension or distress in view of possible danger or misfortune…the term may refer to either unnecessary worry or legitimate concern. The equivalent of ‘worry’ may be expressed in some languages in an idiomatic manner, for example, ‘to be killed by one’s mind’ or ‘to be pained by thinking” (Louw-Nida Lexicon).  There is something that we are afraid to put ourselves in. There is something that we are apprehensive about exposing ourselves to.  Seemingly, it’s something that will do us harm.  Anxiety is being created to block out the danger.  That seems like a good things.  It’s a defense mechanism as some would say  it.  But maybe instead of blocking the bad, it’s more like a thicker and harder smoke screen (my working definition of pride)? Maybe it’s just a way for us to fool ourselves from dealing with the real issues? Maybe it’s just a way for us to get what we want? Maybe it’s a way for us to keep our minds busy, so we don’t have time to think about that “other thing”? Whatever the reason, look at the harm it really is causing us.

Ouch! “to be killed by one’s mind or to be pained by thinking”? Ever been told “you think too much”? This over-thinking that is evident with stress, worry, anxiety and pride is killing you.  How crazy is that to think about? Don’t think about it too much, you’ll go crazy! It’s why Peter uses strong words like casting and alert and awake and sober (check out other versions of these verses). Casting is similar to throwing a saddle on a horse or throwing a trashbag in a dumpster.  It’s going to take energy, effort, aim, awareness, concentration, training, discipline and focus to grab a hold of it and toss it to God.  This isn’t going to happen by chance or by accident or through a trite prayer or doing it half way.  Tossing the whole bag out there like that isn’t going to be comfortable.  You’ll probably grunt and make some weird noises.  You probably won’t succeed the first time.  But the alternative is to allow the devil to devour you like a roaring lion!  That’s not pretty.  And the thing is, he won’t even have to try hard, because we’re already doing most of the work with the beliefs and thoughts that we’ve played over and over and over in our mind.