What Are You Feeding Your Mind?

Nichole Brewer, JD, CPC, NLP, Co-authored with Jason Schneider, Master trainer of Neuro-Semantics and NLP

In today’s society, it is very easy to give in to the temptations of different mindless activities to fill your day. Just like the saying goes, “You are what you eat,” the same applies to your mind. Your thoughts are feeding your body. Are you giving yourself the ‘nutrition’ you need to lead a life full of meaningfulness and vitality?

As information from the world around you enters your neurology through your senses, it elicits different types of emotions. For example, looking at a photo of something that makes you happy will elicit joy, whereas looking at a photo of something upsetting will do the antithesis. Roughly 45% of the world’s population uses social media, with an average of 2 hours and 23 minutes spent per day using it.

An activity that may seem harmless scrolling through a plethora of different posts, consistently elicits different emotions, taking your mind on an emotional and exhausting roller coaster, throughout the entire day. Two hours and 23 minutes is the exact amount of time it would take to drive from Tampa to Daytona, the exact time of most movies, and the exact time it takes to fly from Tampa to New York. How would you feed your brain with extra time added to your day?

How do we know what to feed our brain?
In Neuro-Semantics, a field which studies the embodiment of meaning, we use the Meaning Scale and Index created by Dr. Michael Hall, to check the quality of our ‘thoughts’/meanings that we are embodying. This leads to improved Emotional Intelligence and uses your uniquely human power of Self-Reflexive Consciousness (your ability to think about your thinking) as a resource to improve the overall quality of your life.

The lowest quality of thoughts that you can embody are thoughts that are meaningless. These are ‘thoughts’/meanings that lead to despair and hopelessness. “I will never be able to be independent”, “I don’t deserve to have a happy life”, “I am a nobody.”

Beyond meaninglessness, we move up to trivial beliefs/meanings. These lead to states of blandness and cynicism. “That’s just the way things are, why should I expect more,” “That will never work.”

Beyond triviality, we can take on conventional meanings. These meanings deny you of your personal individuality and function to allow you to ‘fit in.’ “I’m 35, I should be married with kids by now”, “Everybody else is doing it, so that makes it ok,” “A 9-5 job is the only way to make a living.”

At a higher level of meaning comes your unique and personalized meanings. These lead to higher states and emotions aligned with your personal values and individuality. “You all may think that, but I believe…”, “I am a magnificently, unique individual!” “I have never failed, I have successfully found 1000 ways that didn’t work.” – Thomas Edison

At the highest level on this scale comes rich, robust, and enlivening meanings. These lead to the sacredness of life and its component parts, and states like fascination and being in the zone. “Doing the dishes gloriously shows how powerful I am as a meaning-maker.”, “Every breath I take is a blessing,” “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious”

Next time you find yourself reading or hearing information, ask yourself 3 questions:
• Are these ‘thoughts’/beliefs/meanings. serving me?
• Do they bring me closer to the life I am striving for?
• Do they contribute to the sacredness of life?

In some ways, the quality of information you put in your mind is equally as important and perhaps even more important than the food you put into your body.

One reason for this is that when we put low-quality food into our body, we feel sick almost immediately. In fact, we can smell bad food a long time before we would even consider putting it into our bodies.

On the other hand, we don’t have this automatic “throw up” response that we get when we get presented with ‘spoiled’ ideas.

How different would your day look if you replaced that time on social media with healthy nutrition for your brain? Imagine a life where you accomplish everything you set your mind to, by low quality thinking and replacing it with high quality thoughts and ideas that empower you.

If you are ready to change the way you use your free time and achieve your highest goals, contact Nichole, JD, CPC, NLP at
nichole@mycoachnichole.com or Jason Schneider, Master trainer of Neuro-Semantics and NLP at jason@perceptionacademy.com

Nichole Brewer
Tampa Bay’s Premier Confidence Coach
mycoachnichole.com
1228 E. 7th Ave. Tampa, FL 33605