Purify

 . . . how much more will the blood of Christ . . .  purify our conscience from dead works . . . !

 - from Hebrews 9

I wonder how many people struggle with controlling their own thoughts.

Do all people wish they could think only good things? Surely, people of faith (who live a philosophy that emphasizes this) aren't the only ones that realize they have a thinking problem.

There's a current fad called "mindfulness." It's just the latest renaming of something that goes back to ancient times. Every ten years, we re-brand the idea of the Golden Rule, as though no one had thought of it before. You can go purchase "Mindfulness Journals" at Barnes & Noble. 

The idea is to be fully aware of yourself, your thoughts, your surroundings. You pretend your on the outside, looking in, to your own behavior towards others.

This is very good advice. But again, it's not new. 

The writer of Hebrews, probably the Apostle Paul, suggested that a root cause of our evil and impure thoughts is our own "dead works." We feed our mind with what we do. If we read trash, we think trash. If we go to trash, we think trash. If we do trash, we think trash. 

You can even say things that are impure . . . . and this permeates your mind, and your thinking. 

Our conscience is troubled because of what we think. And we think troubling things, because of what we do. 

If you want to control the lousy stuff coming into and out of your mind, consider doing different things. Drop what's not helpful. And add what's good.