The 8 Day Challenge Day 3

Thought of the Day
"A healthy mind produces joy like a healthy body produces energy."

Good morning 4:8 thinkers!

What do you think? So far, has it been easier or harder than you expected?

Regardless of how well you've done to this point, remember that living consistently with Philippians 4:8 is not just an 8-day challenge, it's a permanent pursuit, a way of life. Like the first two weeks of a famous diet, this 8-day mental fast was designed to eliminate unhealthy cravings for unhelpful thoughts.

Similar to the physical diet, you've decided in advance to reduce certain "High-Carb Thoughts" and increase other lean, healthy thoughts. Even better, this relatively short exercise allows you to make significant progress quickly so that you'll be motivated to stick with this mindset for the rest of your life and, of course, spread joy indefinitely.

If your goal is to lose weight, then you know what you have to do. You must change your diet. You have to decide in advance what kind of food and drink is consistent with your weight-loss goals and what kind is not. And for this change in diet to be effective in the long run, you'll probably need to remove the junk food and unhealthy snacks from your environment and replace them with healthy, energy-producing choices.

Likewise, if your goal is to experience maximum joy, you have to change your mental diet. If you are serious about making progress in this area, you must alter the exposures that trigger negativity in the first place. You must toss the junk thoughts that oppose God's promises, and instead, stock your surroundings with joy-producing inputs that encourage right thinking and discourage negative, lazy thinking.

Questions of the Day
How much joy do you think you can stand? How much junk are you willing to put up with? What do you really want?

The Challenge of the Day (for extra credit...or the extra mile)
To build awareness of your joy-producing inputs, make a very specific inventory in writing of the most constructive exposures in your life in a typical week. These are the influences that make it easier and more natural to live in sync with 4:8. Then do the same on negative side. For both lists, consider daily rituals, certain people, chronic conversations, TV habits, reading material, weekly traditions, news consumption, etc.

Constructive Exposures-
1. reading and meditating on Scripture and other Christian books
2. spending time in prayer and gratitude
3. spending time with people who build me up instead of bring me down
4. worshiping 
5. being outside in nature, reveling in God's creation
6. listening to sermons while i work out
7. Elisabeth Elliot's daily devotionals

Destructive Exposures-
1. gossiping or being exposed to gossip
2. watching TV
3. focusing on my feelings instead of on truth
4. looking through woman's or gossip magazines
5. comparing myself to others
6. certain websites

7. negative self-talk