Your habitual thoughts are like a worn path through jungle foliage that new thoughts automatically follow. To think differently, you must consciously forge a new trail and stick with it until that becomes the default route your mind takes.
Let's say in front of me is a jungle, unexplored. No one has stepped foot in this area. And I begin to slash and hack my way through all of the foliage, cutting away at vines and plants, moving aside sticks and shrubs and stones. And over time, I begin to form a path in the wilderness. And then those who come along after me begin to take that same path. Why? Because I already cut my way through it. Over time, as more and more people travel through, That path gets wider and clearer and more easy to travel. That is the thought pattern. The people coming along it, those are your thoughts. This is why when you go to try to think a different way, it seems like you're resisting because you haven't cleared that path yet. It's a whole new entry point. Now you have to kind of reestablish a path. So the next thought comes along and it looks at this path that you're trying to form, or the easy way. Where are you going to go? Easy path. So that is what it means to take your thoughts captive, to begin to fight for that new path. And yes, there'll be some resistance, a struggle to get through to this new pathway. But as you begin to form it, eventually the thoughts that come behind you will follow along. This new thought pattern begins to form as you stay committed to the truth.
