Hi all,
Today, I am going to talk about food again, but a different type, namely mental food, aka thoughts. If you want to read my earlier post about food-food, check out this link.
We have all probably heard the phrase ‘We are what we eat’, right? That is why we should be careful about what we take in as food, because food we eat affects everything in our bodies. It also affects our energy and productivity levels. It essentially shapes our life patterns.
How about thoughts? Are we also not what we think? Should we not be careful about what we take in as thoughts in our minds?
We should. Because it also affects everything in our minds. It also affects our energy and productivity levels. It essentially shapes our life patterns.
Let’s say that we have accidentally taken in a bad thought (bad mental food). What happens then, usually? We feel sad or angry, right? Then, this bad thought tires our mind because the mind wants to get rid of it and uses its energy to do so. So, it cannot focus on the other tasks we aim to do. This way, we become not only much less energetic but also much less productive.
When these bad thoughts are consistently taken in, the mind keeps losing energy, eventually giving up. Imagine if you ate only cookies and many cookies for many days in a row. That would definitely make your stomach sad and you would possibly get sick. Just like that.
On the contrary, if we take in good mental food, that fuels the mind. Hope, for example, when taken in, is a great nutrient. Why not take it in?
It is of course not possible to always have good thoughts. But the goal should be to keep the bad thoughts at a minimum. Or let’s put it this way: good thoughts should be our default and bad thoughts may sometimes be integrated. After all, we can only know what is good if we know what is bad.
How do we make our minds oriented to favoring good thoughts? There are many ways. For me, meditating is one. Talking to people about my issues is another, because other people can tell me some good sides about the issue I am facing that I cannot see. Explicitly telling the mind may also work, a bit like affirmations. When the mind becomes used to using these techniques, it also becomes used to good food and likes it. Then, we do not really need to worry about bad food because we will not want it anyway.
How do you deal with bad thoughts? Do you have any techniques? Do you naturally tend to think positively or negatively? Let’s talk about food again, just a different kind this time.