Feeding Your Mind
There is so much information out there about feeding your body. Good healthy nutrients, lots of fruit and vegetables, plenty of exercise, and staying away from things like chips, too much alcohol, and smoke are all healthy things for your body.
That’s what we teach our kids after all, isn’t it?
But what about our minds?
How many of us are careful about what goes into our minds? And what difference will feeding our minds with good, wholesome, healthy information make over the course of 5, 10, 20, or 30 years? The difference, in my opinion, is greater than most of us will ever know or could ever imagine.
I have spent most of my life, but even more so in the last 5-10 years, researching, reading, and trying to discover the secret to a healthy mind. Much of my research was geared towards discovering why some people just seem to have it “together”. What are they doing that allows them to achieve a life so rich in all the areas that matter? Even more so, how are they capable of overcoming the most terrible obstacles and yet they find peace, comfort, and a sense of well-being? Something I’ve discovered that they all seem to have in common is their continuous search for knowledge and wisdom. They all seem to have the same continuous hunger to fill their minds with good, healthy information.
I’ve come to believe that a healthy mind full of positive, useful information will lead to good physical health, wealth, peace of mind, fulfillment, love and so much more. I cannot think of anything that can impact our own well being more than what we feed our minds.
So, what should we feed our minds with?
First, let me start with the things I believe you should avoid.
Avoid negative people.
Avoid filling your minds with pessimistic, useless information that is usually coming from pessimistic, less successful people. You know who they are; they never have anything good to say about anything or anybody. I challenge you to identify the people around you who are poison. The sad part is that they may very well be part of your group of friends and even your family.
Ask yourself this:
- What do they have me thinking?
- What do they have me saying?
- And more importantly, who do they have me becoming?
Be mindful of mainstream media.
Mark Twain once said: “If you don’t read the newspaper, you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper, you are misinformed.” No doubt this is still true today.
Ask yourself this every time you listen to the news:
So how do we stay informed if not by listening to the news?
I asked myself that question too and the best answer I have is to be mindful of what I view. I ask myself ‘what information did I learn that I REALLY needed to know?’ and if the answer is ‘none’, that’s not a media source I want to keep engaging in. Instead of going to news sources, I instead try to turn to information straight from bodies and associations I trust to be true and knowledgeable. I focus on changes in laws, rules, and regulations that come to me unbiased and unnarrated directly from rule makers.
What should you seek out?
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it is a start.
Books, podcasts, and documentaries.
One must still be careful with these, of course, because they do also tend to sometimes be biased. But being now fully aware that even many documentaries are also very biased and narrated, I’m careful with what I choose to listen to.
There are several authors I’ve discovered over the years who provide very healthy information. Biographies are often great, as it’s much less painful to learn from someone else’s mistakes rather than our own. Authors like Simon Sinek, Andy Andrews, Pat Lencioni, David Chilton, David Ramsay, and Dr. Henry Cloud (and the list goes on and on) are sharing what they’ve learned over the years to achieve better success, fulfillment, happiness, and true piece of mind.
Faith and spirituality.
I’m not a bible thumper. Not by a long shot. And admittedly, I do not read it as much as I’d like or should. I must admit that I find it to be a very difficult read. I was brought up thinking that the bible only provided guidance to our way to heaven, but I have noticed that MANY extremely successful, mentally strong, and happy people continually refer to it for inspiration, information on every aspect of life, business, and health. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised but I am, and I have come to recognize that it is far richer in content in all areas, not just spirituality, than I ever imagined.
Positive, happy people.
Surround yourself with people who you admire, who make your life brighter, and who you just have good laughs with. Fill your tank and you’ll be surprised how far you can go.
In summary, I challenge you all, regardless of where you are in life and regardless of your age, that you turn off the news and start filling you minds with information that will lead you to peace, love, health, fortune, and, of course, happiness.
Pay attention to what you feed your mind and discover just how great life can become.
Did you find this article helpful? There’s a lot more to this topic, including multiple videos I’ve made that you can find here:
If you have a question or something to add about this month’s article or want to share how you keep your mind healthy, you can reach out anytime.