A Battle in your Head

I'm still reading (and enjoying) Gabaldon's The Scottish Prisoner.  As John is walking to a place where he anticipates a confrontation, he thinks to himself, "Trying to fight a battle in your head was pointless and did nothing but fret the nerves and exhaust the energies."

It rang true with me, and, since I am reading this book on Kindle, I can see how many people have highlighted this passage -- 27.  Twenty seven doesn't sound like a lot, but in my experience, that is a high number of highlights for one passage of text.

Does it ring true with you?  I know that I often have battles with people in my mind.  I argue, I reason, I invite arguments that will never happen, and I plan what I would say.  Of course, I never (rarely) say those things except in my mind.

Christ warns us about committing sins in our minds.  We think that is ludicrous -- how can we control what we think?  And yet, I know that even though an argument with someone has only been in my mind, it still affects my relationship with that person.  It changes how I see them, it alters what they say to me. 

This is probably something I need to work on -- developing a place of grace in my mind rather than a place of confrontation.