Mental Nutrition – You Are What You Think

Whatever you allow into your mind will shape the way you think and the way you act. Make sure your mental nutrition is positive and powerful.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”

Philippians 4:8

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

Romans 12:2

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Colossians 3:2

What you allow into your mind will define you in life. Everything you allow into your mind develops the way you think and alters your perception of the world. Whatever consumes your regular thoughts determines what you are as an individual. 

The man who consumes the news in the morning and evening and ingests it throughout the day becomes an outrage addict and ends up depressed about the state of the world. That man will almost never develop a positive mindset as a result of the constant consumption of mainstream media. He built that negative mentality with what he fed his mind. 

The man who fills his thoughts with social media becomes a man who never lives his own life and who wallows in an inferiority complex. The man who fills his mind with “junk food” will develop the corresponding level of mental fitness. He will be fat and lazy in mind even if his physical body is in decent shape (which usually will not happen because an out of shape mind almost never produces a fit physical body).

The man who listens to effeminate music becomes effeminate. 

The man who listens to aggressive music becomes aggressive and can harness that aggression.

Whatever we think about is what we become. It follows that the man who consumes positive mental nutrition is a man who becomes a more respectable, successful and mentally fit individual. The man who fills his mind with positive stories and anecdotes of success or motivational speeches about perseverance and work ethic is a man who will eventually embody those characteristics. 

The results of mental nutrition accumulate in their effects just as the results of physical nutrition accumulate over time.

No one instance of positive or negative mental nutrition will change you in a notable way because results are always gained over the long-term. The results of your thoughts are not seen until they compile into a mass. No single donut results in morbid obesity if you are already fit. No single training session will transform you if you are already out of shape. 

For this reason you must commit to a long-term mental diet of positive thoughts. You cannot constantly put the negativity of the world into your mind and expect to be any better than the world. You are what you think, therefore, control your thoughts. Control what goes into your mind because that will determine what you think about. A positive mental attitude results in positive self-esteem which is the foundation for success.

Mantra

You are what you think.

Application

Start a habit of consuming a positive visual diet every day. Fill your mind with motivation or knowledge. Cut back on the visual garbage foods that you enjoy eating like the news or reality TV (if you watch reality TV as a man, you need to go outside and chop wood right now). 

Staying up to date with the state of the country and knowing how you are going to vote is good, but becoming increasingly depressed and negative as a result of watching the news for hours a day is not good. If you already know your political position then why are you concerned with what other politicians are doing? Is constantly calling the other political party “stupid” really doing anything for the country?

Replace the time you would normally spend consuming garbage with a positive diet of strong thoughts.

The internet has put dozens of mentors, positive thinkers and motivational speakers at our fingertips. Do not waste the extremely valuable resources that we have been given. 

You have free access to all the positive material you could ever consume in a lifetime and much more. You are certainly more likely to hear something that would change your thinking and life through a positive speaker or mentor than you are to hear it through the local news station. 

Just type “motivational speech” into your internet search bar and you will have millions of results.

You need to listen to at least one of these a day. You also need to reduce your consumption of social media and other assorted mental feces. Men do not waste their lives by scrolling through the lives of other people. You must have the strength of mind to reject these common trappings of life. 

Control what goes into your mind and you will have a much easier time controlling your thoughts. Through your positive mental diet you control the soil of the mind from which the fruits of correct thinking will grow. 

No man improved himself through facebook. 

No man grew his character scrolling down on instagram. 

Nor was a great man developed through the daily consumption of the news. 

Men improve from strong thinking and from learning from other men. You can improve your life or waste your life through what the internet has to offer. 

So learn and grow like a man. 

Improve yourself. 

Do not misapply the virtue of contentment to your character. 

Feed the mind with the thoughts of a champion. 

Conduct yourselves like men.