Here are 16 guardrails to keep in mind as you walk the Christian walk with the help of the Holy Spirit, traveling down the road of life, expecting good things.

     Mind your mindset. Your mindset is a mental lens through which you interpret what goes on around you and affects how you respond. Rely on the Holy Spirit to help you to make practical and spiritual sense of what you need to do. He will connect you to the wisdom of the Father, a wisdom that will guide you in all the spheres of your life.

     Focus on the positives. When you dwell on negatives, you tend to generalize and use all-or-nothing thinking. You'll tend to emotionalize. This will wear you down. Affirm the positives, remembering they may be hard to find. Take time to explore specifics to find the “silver lining.”

    Be persistent. In the face of challenges, unsuccessful efforts, and the seemingly impossible, keep going. When you’re persistent, you are energized. Your dedication breeds confidence. Be patient, thinking for the long-term, doing the little things now, knowing there will be future rewards, even turning what seemed impossible into the possible.

      Monitor your self-talk. Millions of thoughts stream through your mind every day. Many are negative. They can burrow into our thinking, infect your emotions, become part of the fabric of who you are and how you interpret what's possible. They become part of the dialogue you have with yourself. Challenge your self-talk, especially the negative.

     Focus on solutions. Our default reaction is to focus on the problem. Instead of asking why or how something occurred, stressing over the problem, ask what can be done to solve the problem. When circumstances allow, take time to consider solutions. Brainstorm the problem. You’ll have a better chance of turning the impossible into the possible.

     Ask open-ended questions. Reset the way you think about your life as a conversation. Feel free to ask open-end questions. Part of living a Holy Spirit Lifestyle is opening your prayer life to consider what God wants of you in the face of decisions, regardless of how important they might be. Your prayers should be packed full of open-ended questions.

     Entertain different perspectives. When you confront a problem or a task that seems impossible, mentally walk around it, viewing it from different angles. Make sure you defined the problem properly. Compartmentalize the problem into more manageable parts. Conversely, explore if the problem is part of a bigger issue. Engage in constructive what-if thinking.

     See obstacles as opportunities. When you change your perspective, there’s a good chance you’ll discover opportunities. Instead of accepting the impossibility of the problem, give it some space. Time can help inspire. A new day can bring a fresh way of looking at the obstacles. When you discover opportunities, take advantage of them.

     Keep looking ahead, not backward. You can’t control the past, but you can control the current moment, the way you respond now. If you have negative past experiences that affect the way you perceive things, face them, and put them in their place, behind you and out of sight, out of mind. Focus on what needs to be done and rely on the Holy Spirit.

      Face your fears. No matter how positive you may be, no matter how anxious you are to prove something is possible, the fear of failure with its ancillary fears most likely lurk in the shadows of your mind. Acknowledge your fears. Once you've faced what could happen, put it in perspective. Call upon the positive inner strength the Holy Spirit provides.

     Embrace needed changes. When you think about what's possible, you may have to make difficult changes in your life. Regardless of a change being positive or negative, adjusting to the new realities can be challenging. You can accept and adapt to change, moving on, or you can fail to adapt to it, and even fight it. When you embrace the change, leaning into it with the help of the Spirit, you’re on the positive side of the possible.

     Recognize your weaknesses. It's good to stress your positives. However, it's useful to consider your negatives as opportunities for improvement. Understanding your weaknesses, seeking ways to improve them, can help you succeed in the all the spheres of your life, and align yourself with who God wants you to be. 

     Avoid pre-if and post-if thinking. Accept the fact that there is always a certain amount of uncertainty about the future, no matter how much planning you do. Put your worries about the future in perspective. If something doesn’t go as planned, what is the worst that will happen. Ask what damage "what-if" thinking is doing or has done in your life. Constructively use the past.

     Avoid poison-ivy people. As you journey down the path to fulfill your God-given life purpose, you will meet people who will distract you and negatively infect your efforts. I call these people “poison ivy people.” To avoid infection, make a conscious effort to surround yourself with positive and productive people, to stay positive and productive yourself.

     Be willing to endure naysayers. Family, friends, and

trusted advisers may try to discourage you. They may concentrate on what’s impossible while you see possibilities. They may have legitimate concerns, but if you've done your homework, be courageous and steadfast. Be willing to listen to wise counsel, but also willing to look beyond accepted “truth.” 

     Get and keep God involved. Whether you’re a God-fearing person or an atheist, you can be a positive possibility thinker. But the “God Standard” of possibility thinking is the person who realizes they need God, the creator of all possibilities, as their source of inspiration and hope. Center yourself in God’s Word and rely on the Holy Spirit, seeking to discern the Father’s holy and true will, to remain positive and expect good things to happen, even the impossible.One of the first things you do as you approach so