Just wanted to put it out there – how do you feed your mind? Do you have an idea of what you let in, do you have clear boundaries in terms of what you feel is right for your mind to be working on?
If we take the example of the body, there is lot of focus on what we eat. Walking down the aisles at the supermarket you pick the food you would like to eat. You also probably know how you feel after having eaten certain foods. Perhaps there are things you wouldn’t eat or drink before or after a specific time of the day, such a coffee before going to bed, or a heavy meal before your sports class. My point is, you have some “rules” for what you find okay regarding your food intake.
I would now like to challenge you to treat your mind with the same care you give to your body in terms of intake. Yes this is possible! That could mean not reading in details about all the disasters that are happening in the world, not going on and on about how stupid some politicians are acting, or reading every single article in a gossip magazine. Instead of feeding your mind with how horrible things are and how badly behaved people are, and look who’s done what to who, you could consciously choose to discuss all the amazing things that are happening around you, i.e. feed your mind with the good things. This does by no mean imply that you don’t care about difficulties people or nations are facing, however by changing how you feed your mind, you might become more and more open to how gorgeous life actually is.
This would give you more joy in your life!
A couple of years ago I made the decision to become more aware of what I would let into my mind. I had realised that it did not do anything for my happiness to feed it with negative things. At one point it became clear to me that I was in some way indulging in bad stuff, which was just giving me bad thoughts, and aches in my body. What was the point of feeding my mind with all this? Zero. I now read about things that interest me and that makes me happy to learn more about. I follow the news, but not in detail. I know what is happening in the world, however I don’t read the details about how someone did something horrible to someone else (I do not need those details).
Also, I don’t watch violent movies. It was funny the other day when I was watching an action movie with my children, one which we had already seen some years ago. I was covering my eyes with my hands on so many of the scenes, it was too scary for me! I could just feel how my body got triggered into fight/flight mode. Taking into account that thoughts, emotions and body sensations are linked, I would rather go for good thoughts, more positive emotions and increased wellness in my body. How about you?
