Change Your Mind

Change Your Mind by Sister Hazel.

It’s all about changing our minds.  The thoughts that go through our minds can make us feel miserable.  And some of us have learned to be masters of misery.  Is that God’s intention for us?  I don’t think so.  We’re encouraged in Scripture to:

“Be joyful always.”  1 Thess. 5:16

“Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Rom. 12:2

“Let the mind of Christ be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.”  Phil. 2:5

“Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”  Phil. 4:8

“Set your mind on things above…”  Col. 3:2

And as it says in A Course in Miracles, Lesson 338, “I am affected only by my thoughts.”  Not by what others say, or what they do or don’t do, but by my thoughts about it.  We think that we’re affected by everything else in the external world, except our own internal thoughts.

So we’ve got work to do.  It sounds like mind training is something we do and something we have to learn to do.  It’s not that things out there in the external world make us feel.  It’s the thoughts we think about those things that make us feel.  So by changing our thoughts we can change the way we feel.

Change your mind, change your thoughts.

Change your thoughts, change your feelings.

Change your thoughts and feelings, change your life.

Take a moment to listen to this song, feel it and be inspired to change your mind.  I believe it’s not something to ask God to do for us, but something God asks us to do for ourselves (with his help of course) but for our benefit and joy and for the good of the world.

This song written by Sister Hazel lead singer Ken Block at the time that he was dealing with overwhelming personal struggles, he says, “My thoughts are that it’s not your life; it’s all about perspective and how you choose to look at your life.”

“It’s not always easy,” he explains, “but it is just as simple sometimes as changing your mind. And it is so powerful how we attract things into our life. Two people can walk into the same room and see the same things, and they are so vastly different. Even in our own lives, we take ourselves everywhere we go, so when we come in with a bad attitude or a bad day, or views of life or whatever, we take all of that with us. And if we can manipulate that a little bit…”

And by keeping the message simple, he hit a resounding chord with his listeners.

“With this song, we got e-mails from quite literally tens of thousands of people. I really didn’t know it was going to resonate like that. I knew that it meant something to me, and that I was trying to live that more, that it worked when I could do it. And I started getting these e-mails from people who said, ‘Man, I heard that song, and a switch went off for me.’ And someone would say, ‘I lost 50 pounds. I started listening to that song on my headphones and walking every day.’ Or somebody would say something as simple as ‘I was just having a bad day,’ and it’s like, you know what? I can start my day over at any moment. I don’t have to have a bad rest of the day because of a bad early day. Something that simple, to someone saying, ‘Man, I got out of an abusive relationship that I’ve needed to do for years.’ Or, ‘I’ve always wanted to start this business, and I’m swinging the bat. I’m so much happier.’ Or, ‘I got clean and sober.’ I mean, countless, endless things. And it was incredibly gratifying to me, seeing where all those ripples went, and still go, with that particular song to this day. It’s turned into a pretty powerful and simple mantra for a lot of people. And that’s pretty gratifying.”

LYRICS:

Hey, hey
Did you ever think
There might be another way
To just feel better,
Just feel better about today

Oh no
If you never want to have
To turn and go away
You might feel better,
Might feel better if you stay

Yeah yeah
I bet you haven’t heard
A word I’ve said
Yeah yeah
If you’ve had enough
Of all your tryin’
Just give up
The state of mind you’re in

If you want to be somebody else,
If you’re tired of fighting battles with yourself
If you want to be somebody else
Change your mind

Hey hey
Have you ever danced in the rain
Or thanked the sun
Just for shining, just for shining
Or the sea?
Oh no, take it all in
The world’s a show
And yeah, you look much better,
Look much better when you glow

Yeah yeah
I bet you haven’t heard
A word I’ve said
Yeah yeah
If you’ve had enough
Of all your tryin’
Just give up
The state of mind you’re in

If you want to be somebody else,
If you’re tired of fighting battles with yourself
If you want to be somebody else
Change your mind

Hey hey
what ya say
We both go and seize the day
’cause what’s your hurry
what’s your hurry anyway

Yeah yeah
I bet you haven’t heard
A word I’ve said
Yeah yeah
If you’ve had enough
Of all your tryin’
Just give up
The state of mind you’re in

If you want to be somebody else,
If you’re tired of fighting battles with yourself
If you want to be somebody else
Change your mind

And since I love the energy of this live version, especially the electric guitar – here you go.