Take Care Of Your Mind

Most of us are very conscious about our health and body. We are careful about what to eat and drink and when to eat and drink. Too sad, when it comes to what we are feeding our mind, we don’t care much about it. We forget that the body is just a container and the real thing is the mind.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” —Attributed to Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha

According to Wikipedia, the mind is a set of cognitive faculties including consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, and memory. The mind is the faculty of a human being's reasoning and thoughts. Some people think that the mind is the brain or some other part or function of the body, but this is incorrect. The brain is a physical object that can be seen with the naked eyes but the mind

"The mind is very powerful force. It can enslaved us or empower us. It can plunged us into the depths of misery or take us to the heights of ecstasy. Learn to use the power wisely." - David Cuschieri

Our thoughts have the power to affect reality. Science may not be ready to acknowledge that the physical can be changed through the power of the mind, but beyond every aorta of doubt the process occurs, nevertheless.

“Your body is precious. It is our vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.” - Buddha

According to Dr. Joe Dispenza, every time you learn or experience something new, hundreds of millions of neurons reorganize themselves in you. Your mind is not indestructible or incorruptible, and there is only so far you can push it before it start to fail.
Look around you, friend. Whatever you are watching and whatever you are hearing is your food for your mind. Whatever you feed it today will affect your tomorrow.

If your thoughts are pure, your intentions will be pure, and so your actions. If you are feeding negativity inside your mind, it will come out with every activity, eventually. You crave for positive life - remember this, a negative mind will never give you a positive life.

Nowadays, there is too much negativity around us, and you should always take care what to absorb and what to pass over. It's on media, in the street, in the family, I religious houses, infact it's around you. Those information - in words or pictures - go down in your minds to create a stronghold against your progress in life. For instance, many have fed themselves with information like, "witches in my village are chasing me", etc. So many messages from the pulpit have put allot of people in bondage of fear and defeat. There are lot of information about failures, defeat, evil etc, few or none on positivity, goodness, etc. There is information on the impossible. Someone once told me, "we talk more of what demons and evil can do and less on what God can do."
How much news you read or watch every day? How much information you get from your environment everyday? How junks have we received from negative people. There are many people today, who spent many hours in front of the TV, watching same and same news again. Some spend several hours discussing and criticizing those that are rich and popular. You know very well, what is the ratio of positive and negative news and information out there? Most of them are full of negativity. They instil fear, defeat, self-limitation, self-condemnation, etc. They may not affect you instantly, but surely come later in each of your thoughts and actions.

"What consumes your mind, controls your life." - Anonymous

You have to stop feeding your with a constant stream of junk if you want to succeed. A little downtime is alright, but don’t dedicate every free hour you have to watching realty TV, watching gossip blogs, listening to gossips or stupid talks, checking sports scores, and doing other stuff that requires little mental energy. Even the news can rot your brain with its constant barrage of negativity and biased sensationalism.
For example. What first thought comes to your mind, when one day your loved one does not come at home on time? Do you worry that something bad happened to him/her? There may be various possibilities he/she could not make it in time, but your first thought would be “Ohh! There might be an accident or other disaster.”
What first thought comes to your mind, when you hear "Breaking News"? What do you expect to hear?
This shows how it affect us in long term. The question is: Why at that time, these kinds of negative thoughts dominate all your other thoughts? Why? Well, it all comes because you have seen plenty of news or heard lots of stories where the reason for someone not coming on time is that something unfortunate happened to him or they are engaged in unholy activities. Or, when there is breaking news, something bad has happened.
I do not write against reading, listening or watching those content. There is nothing bad reading and watching such, but there should be balance. Too much of it, affects you deep inside, without your intention. They are like handful of pieces clay gradually moulding together into a rock of belief, dispositions, superstions and lifestyles.

"We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind. Mind is your only ruler, sovereign. The man who is not able to develop and use his mind is bound to be the slave of the other man who uses his mind." - Marcus Garvey

Some years ago my mind was corrupted - with negativity, celebrities gossips, news, "Impossibility" speeches, jeolusy, unholy beliefs and superstitions etc - before it became free and well today. It held me down for years. It determined my flow in life then. Remember as a man thinketh so he is - that's the word of my Master. I never knew that the outcomes I was having were as a result of my junk-fulled mind. Too bad my mind was filed with junks. There were no progresses. I was tied down by my own carelessness. There are so many information and belief out there today that can destroy the free state of your mind. Just be careful though.
I guess the reason it took me so long to become free is because I held onto the life of listening and watching junk information. I listened to statement from failures Who have allowed themselves to be drown in the pit. Some would say, "Who go better go better". "some are born to be rich or a success, while some are born to be poor or a failure. Maybe I am of the latter".
Fortunately, I realised that I was the architect of my misfortunes. No one was troubling me but me, myself and I. I have built the failure in my mind already so the overflow was what I saw as misfortunes. So I needed to break the stronghold in mind.

I spent nearly a year improving my mind health by changing my attitudes, activities, discussions and belief, being more mindful of the things I listen or watch. These things are ongoing, but I’ve given every little time to my mind. Today things have changed - how? - I only just listen and adhere to wisdom like this - the one you are reading.

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing
can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity
to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel
that there is something in them
To look at the sunny side of everything
and make your optimism come true.

To think only the best, to work only for the best,
and to expect only the best.
To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others
as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times
and give every living creature you meet a smile.

To give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear,
and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world,
not in loud words but great deeds.
To live in faith that the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true to the best that is in you.

By Christian D. Larson

Avoid Negative talks and people.
Research has shown that a lot people talk to themselves negatively. Whether you notice it or not, sometimes it's your own mind making you miserable. But if you keep mentally repeating positive words, you will feel a lot better about yourself and you will start to believe and become those things.
You should also keep away from negative people. Don’t spend time with negative people. Granted, it is difficult to stay away from people who are always around us. But you have to take care of the people who keep talking negative all the time. All they know about impossibities and negativity. They never see anything good in people. David elder brother was one. He tried to discourage him. Even King Saul too. They love to talk about other’s shortcomings, as in that way, they can hide their own for a while. Stop caring about those, who don’t need your care. They are happy with themselves. Instead, look inside of you, and work on it.
Now, when approach with a negative discussion, take a pause, think positively and then respond positively. If not what you will say at that point, will enter through your ears and become a thought. Or, don't we hear what we say? For example, if someone is talking about something negative with us, we immediately get out of control and start doing the same with him or her. Remember, he or she is doing so because of his or her thoughts. But it is not mandatory to go with the flow. It is always your decision how you respond. One negative response will create chains of the negative thoughts. Always take a pause, think positively, and then respond. Always be positive, think positive and act positive.
Don't blame negative people. They are yet to be emancipated from the slavery of the weeds they have allowed to grow in their minds.

Avoid TV programs, blogs, stories that are full of negativity.
When you go home from your work life, you are so tired to do something creative. Then, you switch on the TV and keep watching for rest of the time. Some turn to other media. Regardless of the useful information from them, you keep checking for the excited stuff. You like to hear about other people (and love to hear negative). Many look for breaking news. Stop feeding your soul with such. Stop doing that. Set a limit and leave those activities to do something different and something creative. Life keeps going, and time will never come back. Use it, rather than just passing it.

Don’t criticize others.
Of a truth, we all love to talk negative about other people. When some are complaining about any celebrity or politician, or even neighbors, we immediately join them. We even enter their personal life, virtually, and keep talking rubbish for hours. We know they cannot listen to us, and even do not give a damn about it. But, those wrong words while discussing is moulding a fortress in your mind not the object/person of discussion. Stop criticizing others and grow yourself. Learn from them and grow yourself. S
Talk about the lessons learned from them, meditate on that and enjoy the outcome afterward.

Keep yourself busy with something positive.
No matter how much we filter the information we are getting into our mind, we grab something negative from here and there.
Jesus illustrated this in His teaching: Matthew 12:43-45:
"When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out;...he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished...taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there:..."
If you leave your mind empty, weed will grow again because weeds are everywhere around us. But if filled with positivity, there won't be space for negativity.
If you have one hour to reach your destination, and you are sitting comfortably in a bus, why don’t use that time? Read some book you always wanted, or listen to some good and inspiring music which will sharp your skills or improve yourself.
For those driving, why don’t you play some podcast on your favorite subject? Any inspiring message not messages that spill fear and beef. In that way not only you are using that time to grow yourself, but you are also guarding your mind from the negativity around you. You will not feel anger, when stuck in traffic, or when a commuter drives roughly, because your mind will be focused on something else -something nice.
Why do you think you are stuck to that friend of yours? Inspite of the negative attitudes people say about him or her that sometimes are true, you still stick to your friend. Do you know why? You fed your mind constantly with the positive side of that friend. I charge you, the moment you start to focus on the negative side and your mind is fed with those negative attitudes of him or her, you will hate your friend. Anyway don't try it if you love your friend and don't want to lose him or her.

Imagine Happiness.
Imagine that all your problems have been resolved overnight, then think how you would behave and what you would do every day in your post-problem life. If you behave like your problems have all been solved magically, who knows what will happen. It's ancient secret known to men of old. You can walk into flame believing it's not as it seem but an air-conditioned arena. That's faith. No one can make you happy except yourself. It's all in the mind.

Find a Higher Power.
Religion is good. Get one and start praying. I know what you might be thinking, but even if you consider yourself an atheist or unbeliever you can bet that there are some things you believe in. So even if you are praying to Superman, wood, or the Almighty God - the Infinite Intelligence or Cosmic Guidance - that's your business, but I say get on it. Research has shown that believers live fuller and happier lives. I advise: believe in the Almighty God, the creator.

The way to control circumstances and life in general is to control the forces within yourself to make a greater man of yourself. The only way is to be the master of your mind. Guide against what you allow into your subconsciousness. Those informations are like seeds, when planted in the soil of your mind, becomes you eventually.

Good part of all this is that as you become greater and more competent in mastery your mind - guiding it - you will naturally gravitate into better circumstances. At this juncture, you should remember that like attracts like.
If you want that which is better, make yourself better. Think better! Allow informations that will better you. Use your time for better things.
If you want to realize the ideal, make yourself more ideal. Let no one tell you it's impossible.
If you want better friends, make yourself a better friend.
If you want to associate with people of worth, make yourself more worthy.
If you want to meet that which is agreeable, make yourself more agreeable.
If you want to enter conditions and circumstances that are more pleasing, make yourself more pleasing.
If you want to be rich, make yourself rich.
In brief, whatever you want, produce that something in yourself, and you will positively gravitate towards the corresponding conditions in the external world.
It all begins in the MIND.

Guard your heart,
Guard your mind,
Live life to the fullest,
Live Out Loud.

Apostle Julius Ikhide-Iyke Etaifo