Can We Control What Goes In?

We are what we are because of what goes into our minds and hearts. (Zig Ziglar)

One of the reasons I displayed it prominently (above statement) is that it's the best statement I ever found about the significance of an education. We are not talking about just formal education, but all education. We truly are what we are because of what goes into our minds and hearts. Almost everyday we were being deluged from all sides with a torrent of words. The pictures those words represent get into our heads and have a strong effect on the way we think and the way we talk. Obviously, we can't control all the messages we are blitzed with, but we have more control than we think. We can do two things to make sure our hearts and minds full of good words:

1. Screen out the thrash: Would we let someone come into our home and dump a big bag of thrash all over our living room? If we wouldn't let someone dump thrash in our living room, they why do we let them dump thrash into our minds and hearts? Simply paying more attention to our input (what comes and goes in), we can easily screen out much of the negative. For example, we can change TV channels and radio stations, we can close offensive reading materials, and we can avoid, at least to some extent, being around people who drag us down with their glum conversation. In other words, we can eliminate a lot of negative input.

2. Start the day with positive input: Words always reveal what is going on inside our minds and hearts. Start our day by putting something good into our minds and hearts e.g. we get up ealier than we needed to, before doing anything, we sit down in the quiet of the morning with a cup of hot coffee and something uplifting to read. It has a positive effect on us for the remainder of the day. It affects not only our thinking but also our talking for the rest of the day. It's one of the best habit we can have, if we want to. We must remember that a man's words will always express what has been stored in his heart.

I believe that if we are practising such habit then we will improve our well being, thus will improve our resiliency. Healthy medical students will produce healthy future medical doctors. Healthy medical doctors will result in better treatment for patients, and eventually it will make healthier society. Think, think and think!

reference

1. Hal Urban (2004). Positive Words, Powerful Results. Fireside Book, Simon & Schuster; New York.