By Alison Greiner

“Reading is to the mind as exercise is to the body.” - Sir Richard Steele

Feeding your mind with nourishing information will keep you mentally strong and fit. Over 50% of adults will never read a book after they graduate from high school. Continually learning, improving your skills and increasing your knowledge is the key to success, yet the average adult doesn’t read more than one book a year; the average person does, however, watch 1,456 hours of television annually.

If you were to change what you eat it would change every cell in your body over time. The same is true with your mental health; if you were to change what you put into your mind, it would have an impact on your personality, your perceptions, your relationships, your health and your happiness. Changing your mental diet will affect every aspect of your life.

Monkey see, Monkey do!
A study at Pennsylvania State University observed the behavior of 100 children before and after watching television. Some of the children watched violent and aggressive cartoons, while others watched programming with no violent content. Argumentative and impatient conduct along with aggression and disobedience were more likely behaviors from the children who watched the violent programs than from those who watched the programming without violence.

What are you putting into your mind?
There is a computer term, GIGO, which means “garbage in, garbage out”. This same philosophy works for your mind; if you accept garbage into your mind, your mind cannot help but function haphazardly. It is possible, however, to control what goes into your mind by taking responsibility for your input acceptance.

What are you getting out of life? Could this be a reflection of what you are putting into your mind? Take responsibility for everything that goes into your mind. Just as what you eat influences your health, the thoughts you think, the music you listen to, the television you view and the people you converse with affect your mental health.

No more junk!
Feed your mind with mental protein instead of feeding your mind mental junk food. Continuously feed your mind with positive, nourishing information that is good for your life and for your future. Stay away from negative, time-wasting information that does nothing for you. As Zig Ziglar says, “you are where you are and what you are because of what’s gone into your mind and you can change what you are and you can change where you are by changing what goes into your mind”.

Your New Mental Diet
The average person watches more than four hours of television per day. Reading for just one hour a day (25% of the time spent watching television) would translate into 50 books read per year. Only 1% of the population reads this many books per year. Going on a mental diet that restricts hours spent watching television and increases hours spent reading educational material and listening to motivational audio would have a positive impact and would optimize your mental health and happiness. Continual learning will improve knowledge, self esteem, vocabulary, social skills and career opportunity. Continual learning also synergistically feeds the life improvement process.
 
Score yourself daily using the SPTS Daily Life Improvement Checklist as you move closer to a stronger, happier and healthier mental you. Learning and mastering Truestar’s Twelve Daily Success Habits will build your mind and get you in great mental shape.

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