Friday, March 21, 2014

Protecting The Fertile Garden Of Your Mind

So this morning my daughter's middle school was featured on a local news channel for some accomplishments that are pretty significant.  Kudos to them for being one of only about 130 middle schools in the US to be so focused on getting our kids ready for college at such a young age.  While that is a great accomplishment, that's not what the topic is for this post.  But it leads to it.

To have the chance to watch the spots that featured the school, I obviously had to watch the news.  Now to some people that's not worth mentioning, it just makes sense.  But for me, I almost never ever watch news programs. The only exception is for some sports or weather information.  After the first segment on the middle school, I left the news on while I did some work on the computer this morning.

Mistake.

We all know just how sensational they try to make news programs these days.  This program was no different.  As I sat and listened occasionally to the news reports, I was disgusted by the negativity I heard.  This person shot, this person arrested, child abuse, deaths, car accidents, war, and the list goes on. I cannot tell you how negatively it began to affect me.  When I realized how I was beginning to physically feel badly with that junk being poured into my brain, I immediately switched it off and put on some uplifting Christian music.

I talk all the time about protecting our minds, and the bible speaks to renewing the mind regularly.  When I think of renewing my mind, I think of what I allow into my mind.  I try to feed it with things that build me up, make me a better husband, father, chiropractor, friend and Christian.  Apparently I've been doing a pretty good job of that for a while, because hearing the news was like a shock to my system, much like when I eat very healthy, and suddenly have pizza or cookies and my body reacts to it.  I'm sitting here now typing this just 15 minutes after turning off the TV and I STILL feel the effects of the poison that was filtering into my mind.

Please make protecting the fertile garden of your mind a priority.  Find inspirational books to read.  Find inspirational people to follow on social media.  Find inspirational people to hang around.  Put your mind on a news fast for 21 days.  Don't worry about missing something.  If anything big is happening, you'll hear about it.  Spend time cultivating gratitude.  Try it. You may just be surprised.

Be inspired.  Be inspirational.

Until next time...be well!

Dr. Bruce