Have you ever had absolutely nothing going wrong at a particular moment…and still managed to stress yourself out?I have. 😝 All it takes is one thought. What if this doesn’t work? Then another one joins it. What if I mess it up? And apparently those two thoughts invite friends because suddenly we’re mentally solving problems that haven’t happened, defending ourselves in conversations that haven’t taken place, and preparing for catastrophes that may never arrive.
Our thoughts are powerful.
Not because every thought is true but because our brains and bodies can respond to what we are thinking about. And interestingly, Scripture was telling us to pay attention to our thoughts long before neuroscience started studying them. Romans 8:5 speaks about setting our minds on what the Spirit desires, and the next verse gives us a beautiful picture of why that matters “The mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. Romans 8:6”
Cortisol sometimes gets a bad reputation. We hear the word and immediately think, Bad. Must get rid of it. But cortisol isn’t the enemy. It is an important hormone produced by our adrenal glands. It helps regulate our metabolism, blood pressure, immune activity and sleep-wake cycle. It also plays an important role in helping us respond to stress. When the brain perceives a threat, our stress-response system can release hormones including cortisol to help prepare the body to deal with it. Very useful when there is an actual danger.
The interesting part is that our stress response isn’t activated only by something happening right in front of us. Anticipating something stressful, repeatedly worrying about a problem or mentally revisiting a distressing experience can also contribute to physiological stress responses. In other words, the body can sometimes become involved in a situation that currently exists mainly in our thoughts. That doesn’t mean one negative thought sends cortisol skyrocketing or that we can simply “think positive” and eliminate stress. Human biology is far more complicated than that. But it does mean that what we repeatedly dwell on matters.
Imagine waking up and immediately thinking: I have so much to do today. Then: I’ll never get everything done. Then: I’m already behind. Nothing about your circumstances has changed in those few seconds. But internally? Your brain has already received the message: We’ve got a problem. Your muscles may tighten. Your breathing may become shallower. Your heart rate may change. You might feel restless, irritable or overwhelmed before your feet have even hit the floor. And here’s where things can become interesting. We notice those physical sensations and think: See? I knew today was going to be awful. Now the thought reinforces the physical response, and the physical response reinforces the thought. Around and around we go. Paying attention to our thoughts does not mean denying reality. If something hurts, it hurts. If you’re grieving, you’re grieving. If you’re angry about something that genuinely needs addressing, slapping a positive affirmation over it isn’t necessarily going to help. Sometimes the healthiest thought isn’t: Everything is wonderful! Sometimes it’s: This is difficult, but I can handle the next thing in front of me. Or: I don’t know what is going to happen, so I’m not going to treat my worst-case scenario as though it already has. Or simply: God is with me here. That’s very different from pretending. It’s choosing truth over turmoil. Taking Our Thoughts Captive Scripture repeatedly encourages us to be intentional about our thinking.
Romans 8 doesn’t tell us that difficult thoughts will never enter our minds. Instead, it points us toward where we set our minds. That’s an important distinction. A thought appearing isn’t the same thing as inviting it to move in. We don’t control every random thought that wanders through our brains. But we can learn to notice a thought, question it and decide whether it deserves our continued attention. When you notice your thoughts spiralling, try asking: Is this actually happening right now? Do I know this is true, or am I predicting an outcome? Is this thought helping me respond wisely—or simply keeping my body on high alert? What is a more truthful thought?
And then bring your attention back to the present. Take a slower breath. Relax your shoulders. Look around you. Pray. Move your body. Go outside. Call someone who helps you regain perspective. These aren’t magic cortisol-lowering tricks. They’re ways of helping the mind and body recognize that every difficult thought doesn’t require an emergency response.
I love that Romans 8:6 doesn’t say the mind governed by the Spirit is a life where nothing goes wrong. It says: Life and peace. Peace isn’t necessarily the absence of difficult circumstances. Sometimes peace is being able to experience uncertainty without mentally writing the disaster movie before the opening credits have finished. 😝 It’s noticing when our minds are heading down an old familiar road and realizing: I don’t have to follow that thought. We can redirect our attention. We can challenge assumptions. We can remind our bodies that we’re safe in this moment. And as Christians, we can bring those thoughts to God rather than trying to wrestle every one of them into submission by ourselves.
Our thoughts are powerful. But they are not all facts. They are not all predictions. And they certainly don’t all deserve a coffee, a comfy chair and permanent residency in our minds. “The mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” — Romans 8:6 Maybe today, peace begins simply by noticing what we’ve been allowing our minds to dwell on.