How To Achieve A Positive Mindset | Joel Osteen

I want to talk to you today about rewiring your brain. For years, scientists believed that once we reached adulthood, the brain was fully formed and couldn't be changed. There was no new growth or reshaping. But in the last few decades, they've discovered that the brain is constantly changing. That it's not set in stone, but it's more like plastic that can be molded and reshaped. Every time you think a thought, it's creating a neural pathway, like a roadway in your mind. The more you think a thought, the easier it is to think again, because the road is already established. Repetitive thoughts are making that path wider and deeper. It's not just mental, where you're developing a habit, but in your brain, something is happening. These neurons are creating pathways that accommodate what you're telling it. When that path gets so established, then it's like you're on autopilot. You just follow that path. Have you ever been driving home from work, and you start thinking about something else, daydreaming, and five minutes later, you come back, like, man, I wasn't even paying attention to the road. Well, you've driven that path for years. Those neurons have built a highway in your mind. Now they can take over without all the mental energy. Just naturally kicks in because of what the repetitive thoughts have established. This is what Proverbs says, as a person thinks, so he will become. The good news is, you get to choose which pathways your brain is going to establish. Well, Joel, nothing good ever happens to me. I always have bad breaks. I don't think I'll ever get out of this problem. Just imagine a big bulldozer starts to clear out that path. The foreman says to his crew, we just got an order from the command center, start building an I-can't-do-it highway, a not-going-to-make-it pathway, never-going-to-work-out roadway. Every time you think it, those neurons go to work. It's not just your thoughts, but in your brain, cells are creating what you're telling them to make it easier to think the next time. Over time, it's just who we are. Here's the key. You can rewire your brain. Some of us have all these negative highways, not good enough, guilt, I can't forgive, I'm not disciplined. We've been thinking this way for years. No, it's not a road. We got a four-lane highway, got the best lights, pavement, 80 miles an hour. Next time you're tempted to think those thoughts, recognize what's happening. You're building something you don't want. Yes, it's going to be easy to think them because the highway you built is so big. Now it's going to facilitate what you've been thinking. You have to put your foot down and say, no, thanks. I am not going to use my mental energy to build roads that are going to work against me. Best thing you can do is put up some road closure signs. That thought comes, nothing good is in my future, sorry, that road is closed. I don't need that path anymore. Build a new highway. Father, thank you that my path is getting brighter and brighter, that you're taking me from victory to victory. I can see that foreman thinking, what in the world is happening? He tells his workers, come off the can't-do-it highway. No more construction on the always-be-addicted roadway. Start building the something-good-is-going-to-happen freeway. It's not just being positive. It's not just quoting God's Word, which is all good, but in your brain, neurons are firing. Cells are working to create pathways for what you're repeatedly thinking. My father taught me when I was a little boy that when I got up every morning to say something good is going to happen to me today. I've been saying that all 39 years that I've been alive. Every morning, Victoria will tell you, this is going to be a great day. Lord, thank you for waking me up this morning. Something good is going to happen to me. I don't have to even think about it anymore. It's just autopilot. It's going to be a great day. I'm expecting God's goodness. God, let me be a blessing to somebody else. I know we all have different personalities. I'm naturally positive, upbeat. I've been this way my whole life. A pastor friend of mine told me that he's so negative, he can take a positive sermon and preach it in a negative way. Some of it may be natural temperament, but that can be overridden by how you choose to think. A man I know was always so down on himself, sour, expecting the worst. He said, that's just who I am. He started listening to our messages on Sirius XM. A couple of years later, he said, Joel, people don't recognize me anymore. They said, what happened to you? He's the most positive, grateful, joyful person you could meet. There wasn't anything wrong with him. He had just spent years building the wrong highways, creating all these negative paths and discouraging words. As you think, you will become. You're telling your brain how to function. These repetitive thoughts are giving the assignment. Your thinking is the command center. Like this man, you may have created something you don't want. You don't have to stay that way. You can rewire your brain. You can create new neural pathways that'll work for you rather than against you. Some people have built highways for guilt, shame, unworthiness. The battle is taking place in our mind. One reason the enemy worked so hard in this area is he knows your life is going to follow your thoughts. He'd love for you to wire your brain for guilt and can't do it and not good enough. You've got to close those roads off. You've got to put up some detours and no longer in use signs. Quit spending your energy building roads that are working against you. The more you think it, the deeper the road, the easier it is to go down the next time. It's a self-destructive cycle. Wake up in the morning and say, man, I don't want to go to work. Traffic's so bad. These people get on my nerves. Just imagine all those neurons building highways to just what you said. You gave the command. You've been doing that for five years, 10 years, 30 years. Your highway goes from here to Botswana. You could drive a house down that thing. No wonder when we get up, those thoughts come the easiest. You paved a beautiful road. Change what you're building. That's not who you are. The enemy has hijacked your crew. He's deceived you into believing his lies. Now your own cells are working against you. It's time to do some rewiring, some road closures. No more giving life to the negative. It's going to take discipline because when we've been thinking one way a long time, you're going to want to go back to the old habits like driving on autopilot. You don't have to think about it. You're used to feeling guilty, inferior, can't break the addiction, never get out of debt. Those are learned behaviors. You're going to have to dig down deep and take control of what you think.