Reader,

One of the first questions I ask new clients is, "Why are you coming to see me?"

While each person comes to me with unique challenges and life experiences, I often receive a variation of this answer: "I feel stuck."

This feeling shows up in a variety of ways:

• They feel like their faith is stagnant, and they're not sure how to rekindle the vibrant connection they once felt with God.
• They've achieved a lot of professional success, but the awards and accolades haven't filled the emptiness inside them.
• Their marriage has turned into a roommate situation where each spouse walks on eggshells to preserve the peace.

What I've been learning recently is that when somebody says they feel stuck, what that actually means—nine times out of ten—is they're caught in a mind trap.

For the past several years, I've taught a great deal about heart and soul—two systems in our spiritual anatomy that are often overlooked and undernourished. Many of you on this list have gone through our Living with Heart and Discover Your Soul programs that strive to correct this. But for the past year, I've been researching and developing our next program: Renew Your Mind. Because as important as it is to reconnect with your heart and discover who you really are, those elements are not enough on their own. God gave us heart, soul, mind, and strength because we need all four of those parts to be emotionally and spiritually healthy.

When our minds are impaired, we get trapped in our thoughts and can't live as our true selves. We lose the ability to make decisions and move forward decisively. We find ourselves reacting in ways that actually perpetuate suffering in our relationships instead of resolving the problems we're facing. We become convinced that the issue is insurmountable, that nothing will ever be better, that there's no way for us to get unstuck.

None of that is true.

In cognitive behavioral therapy, these mind traps are called "cognitive distortions." That reflects what happens when we get ensnared in one of these traps: we lose the ability to see the world clearly. But here's the good news: our minds are powerful enough to break free from these traps.

Over the next several weeks, I'm going to share some of what I've been learning about the mind and common mind traps people fall into. You'll get to learn what they are and also what to do if you get caught in them. And as you learn, you'll start to see Paul's exhortation in a whole new light:

I'm excited to share this material with you.

You are loved.

I am for you.

You've got this.

Jake