We’ve all experienced the results of a bad choice. Most of the time when it happens, our resolve is to “not do that again.” But so many times we fail to realize what caused the bad choice in the first place.

As Andy Andrews puts it, “Our thinking determines our choices and decisions; choices and decisions decide an action; the action always, always yields results.” (At the end of this article there’s a You Tube video with Andy explaining this process.)

We all choose the thoughts we think. We sometimes overlook just how powerful and indeed life changing our own thoughts really are.

A couple of years ago I posted an article called Toxic Thoughts. In that article I wrote, “Thoughts of anger and bitterness are indeed toxic to our lives, and not just mentally. The Bible talks about how bitterness affects our physical body.”

I included a quote from an article by Ian Fletcher: “When harboured for a long time, says Professor Wrosch, bitterness may forecast patterns of biological dysregulation (a physiological impairment that can affect metabolism, immune response or organ function) and physical disease.”

“Biological dysregulation and physical disease” from our own thinking patterns!

I recently read a very interesting article about what happens in the brain when someone habitually complains. In fact there are a number of articles about this topic. If you know someone who constantly complains, are they happy and prosperous? How devastating their complaining really is!

Meanwhile, in the Book of Life, the Bible, there are many verses that address our thinking. You can read things like, guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life – your life! Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks; as he thinks in his heart, so is he; the power of life and death is in the tongue.

God cannot make us think right thoughts, just as we cannot make someone else think right thoughts. But He sure gives lots of direction in His Word about what thoughts will benefit us and help us to keep moving forward so we can enjoy this life. Every single day, we decide how and what we will think.

We cannot eliminate bad choices by simply resolving to “never do that again.” We eliminate bad choices by going back to the root cause: wrong thinking. Find out what thoughts are producing those bad choices and decisions. If we eliminate and replace those thoughts, we will make better choices and decisions, which will result in actions that produce better results.