What ideas consume me? What am I thinking about?

Today I woke up, and the first thing I thought about was the book I was reading. It totally consumed me. I started thinking about what I needed to do first, before I resumed reading. At least, I thought, I needed to go to the gym, eat breakfast, and then do some Scripture reading and some writing. I prayed before getting up, and then I started my day.

I went to the gym. I made breakfast.
And then I started reading the book. If I could just finish the book, my mind would be free to concentrate on other things. Two hours later, the book was done.

I needed to get ready for work.

Willard asserts, "what simply occupies our mind very largely governs what we do. It sets the emotional tone out of which our actions flow, and it projects the possible courses of action available to us" (324).

And so I was thinking about What the Wind Knows and whether Anne would stay in the past or return to the present. What happened to Thomas? How did Eoin decide to go to the United States? And those characters and their lives seemed much more important than anything I was doing.

I didn't think I would have to go to work, and when I learned I did, I regretted my choices.

Willard says we have "more freedom with respect to what we will think of, where we will place our mind, than anything else" (324). Do we? Did I have the power to control my focus on the Gallagher family? 

Clearly I need more training. Do I want to be like Jesus, or do I want to be like me?