All of us have a mentality. Our mentality are the ideas, values and beliefs from which our minds interpret, appreciate and believe a certain reality. In other words, what I perceive and what I think about what I perceive, creates my reality.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, our mentality influences, shapes and directs us; it is reflected in our decisions and actions because it is the essence of who we are. And this is why it is so important for us to know and understand what our mentality is.
Our mentality is not always the same. It can change over time, strengthening or weakening as we form, or fail to inform, our minds. But regardless, we have one.
For me, my mentality is shaped by my greatest desire–to fully become who God created me to be, His beloved daughter and an embodied living image of Christ–a saint. This desire shapes how I spend my day, influences each decision I make, and determines the actions I take. My mentality is actually distilled down to one question “Is this going to help me become a saint?”–or at least that is what I struggle to be (and become) each day, with God’s grace.
Despite that, I know my mentality has gaps or holes that are filled with things that don’t help me fulfill my desire to become a saint–my pride, anger, judgment, and selfishness; my lack of love and mercy and forgiveness in the face of my own or another’s weaknesses and failings; or all the many times and ways that I fail to love others because it is either too hard or too inconvenient.
But it’s only in the knowing, and then examining, my mentality that I can become free to become who I was created to be because I understand why I think, say and do what I think, say and do. The why is important, because as I shared a few days ago, it all matters.
So what is your mentality?
Know of my continued prayers for each of you, and hope to see you on the Way tomorrow.
