{"id":24778,"date":"2021-05-30T19:52:51","date_gmt":"2021-05-30T23:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=24778"},"modified":"2021-05-30T22:03:16","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T02:03:16","slug":"take-care-of-your-mind","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Care of Your Mind: Garbage in, Garbage Out"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why is it important to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-take-care-of-your-mind\/\">take care of your mind<\/a>? What can you do to protect your thoughts from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/negative-influences\/\">negative influences<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your thoughts have an impact on what you create in your life, so whatever is influencing your thoughts is important. To take care of your mind, you need to be vigilant about what you allow in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read about how to take care of your mind by limiting your exposure to negative outside influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to Take Care of Your Mind<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>We are all responsible for the choices we make, but it\u2019s important to realize that those choices are influenced by powerful outside factors. We\u2019re often unaware of the subtle influence of these external forces, but understanding and governing them can help us maintain our trajectory toward success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Control Your Mind\u2019s Input<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Controlling what our brains consume directly impacts our productivity and results. For example, reading a tabloid won\u2019t help your brain function at its peak, but reading something educational and inspirational will nourish your brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What our brains consume is difficult to police, however, because we absorb so much unconsciously. Even if eating junk food is easy and mindless, at least you have to put it in your mouth yourself. In contrast, we can hear, feel and absorb irrelevant and destructive input without even knowing it\u2014for example, switching on the radio on our way to work can flood our brains with terrible news, leaving us with fear and negativity to start our day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You are the gatekeeper of your mind, and you must be vigilant about protecting it from worrisome and destructive input\u2014and being very particular about what you allow in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Guard Against Negative Input<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>You can\u2019t lock yourself in a bubble; negative info bombards you on billboards and at work, and friends, family, and even your own thought process can let negativity seep in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While you can\u2019t control everything, you can take care of your mind by limiting your exposure to \u201cdirty water.\u201d For example, you can\u2019t avoid the tabloids at the supermarket register, but you can cancel your subscription. At home, you can turn off the news and instead record inspirational and educational programs that benefit the whole family\u2014and skip the commercials. You can turn off the radio on your morning commute and listen to a book on tape or something uplifting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another way to limit your exposure to negative input is to go on a \u201cmedia diet.\u201d The media is savvy; it knows that sensationalism appeals to our basic nature as humans. This would be easy to tolerate if there were only a few media sources. Today, however, the news is everywhere and runs 24\/7. As media outlets compete for our attention, they try to outdo each other with shock value. The result for us is a warped, dismal view of the world. The millions of good things that happen each day don\u2019t make it into our minds. This is crippling to creativity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why is it important to take care of your mind? What can you do to protect your thoughts from negative influences? Your thoughts have an impact on what you create in your life, so whatever is influencing your thoughts is important. To take care of your mind, you need to be vigilant about what you allow in. Read about how to take care of your mind by limiting your exposure to negative outside influences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":771,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,43],"tags":[195],"class_list":["post-24778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-the-compound-effect","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Take Care of Your Mind: Garbage in, Garbage Out - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your mind and your thoughts have an impact on what you create in your life. To take care of your mind, you must filter what you allow in.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Take Care of Your Mind: Garbage in, Garbage Out\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your mind and your thoughts have an impact on what you create in your life. To take care of your mind, you must filter what you allow in.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-30T23:52:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-31T02:03:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/blink-what-is-priming-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"774\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"473\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"Take Care of Your Mind: Garbage in, Garbage Out\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-30T23:52:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-31T02:03:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/\"},\"wordCount\":506,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/blink-what-is-priming-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Compound Effect\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Self-Improvement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/\",\"name\":\"Take Care of Your Mind: Garbage in, Garbage Out - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/take-care-of-your-mind\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/blink-what-is-priming-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-30T23:52:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-31T02:03:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Your mind and your thoughts have an impact on what you create in your life. 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