“What we feed our mind becomes the material with which we build our life.”
~ Bill Crawford
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What Are You Feeding Your Mind?
Originally when I used this quote/concept in the past, I was focused on “the news.” I put these two words in quotes because I don’t really believe it is the news, or what is new. Instead, the media feeds us what it thinks we are worried about and/or afraid of (“if it bleeds, it leads”). This is because our limbic system (the part of the brain that acts as a scanner, processor, and router) is hypersensitive to anything that it thinks is a problem or threat. This hypersensitivity served us well when we were trying to survive as a specie (dealing with constant physical threats to our survival), but does not serve us so well today when the challenges we deal with require that we access our best interpersonal skills, problem solving skills, clarity, confidence, creativity, etc. In fact, some less than scrupulous merchants aim their advertising at our worries or fears in an attempt to engage our limbic system and influence what we buy.
This week, I have chosen to redo the quote and comment, and expand the focus to what we feed our mind in general. One way to do this is to make a distinction between what it’s like to be an infant who doesn’t get to choose what he or she is fed, and an adult. Of course, I’m not talking about food here, but what we feed our mind. Basically, this is about what we are listening to and watching, and determining whether this “input” is congruent with the life we want to create. Of course, this doesn’t mean we should never watch a scary movie, or only spend our time ingesting “positive” messages and media. Escapism can be fun at times.
However when we constantly feed our mind from the trough of people arguing, hurting each other, putting each other down, and generally implying that “I’m right, and you are a stupid idiot!,” then this negative information will become the building blocks of our life. While seeing someone else behaving badly might help us feel superior by comparison, it is still focused on a view of the world that triggers the lower 20% of our brain and limits our clarity, confidence, and creativity.
Therefore, just as we are becoming more aware of what we feed our body, I suggest we also become more purposeful with respect to what we feed our mind. One simple way to do this is to ask if what we are watching/listening to on a regular basis is congruent with the life we want to create, and whether we would recommend this as a building block to someone we love? If so, great! If not, now we have good information about what we might want to do differently in the future.
The bottom line is that we are no longer in the powerless position of an infant who has no choice in what he or she is being fed. As adults, we have both the power and the responsibility to claim our authority in this aspect of life, and ensure that the material with which we are building our life has been chosen on purpose, and is congruent with what we would recommend to someone we love.
Take care and God bless, Dr. Bill