What we take in makes us who we are. There is no doubt about this. Our body is created by the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Given that we understand this as it is straight forward, why is it we don’t extend this out to our other sensory input?
Other input makes us who we are much the same as our food intake. All sensory input has some affect on our attitude, our way of processing information, and our behavior in return. Our underlying belief system is affected through conditioning. Conditioning is simply repeated input. So I think it vitally important to look at the sensory input we take in on a day to day basis.
Are we spending too much time on the internet? Are we watching mindless TV as a distraction? Are we reading too much political claptrap? Are we living in ugliness? Are we in high-stress jobs where we multitask with many open-gated input streams coming in all at once? Is our life bereft of deep philosophical consideration, intellectual discipline, beautiful and stimulating art and powerful storytelling?
I write this because I see how the input I am taking in is affecting my sleep, my dreams and my attitude during the day. When I read too much political commentary, I spend my day full of angst. When I watch violence or scary TV my dreams are filled with violence and horror. When I spend too much time in front of the computer, I lose awareness of my non-visual senses and feel my frontal lobe working overtime to process all the visual stimulation and ideas being thrown at me at light-speed.
We get to decide to some degree, the input we receive. All our senses require a healthy diet. To that end, I am challenging myself to seek out the healthy things in life. I need to spend more time looking at the night sky, listening to the wildlife and wind through the trees, reading writings filled with deep consideration and elegant prose, listening to music carefully and not as background noise. So many ways to bring health into my being. I am going to seek something healthy each day, not let it just be by chance.
What can you do to change the stimulus you receive on a daily basis? What stimulus do you think should be limited? What kind of person do you want to be and what will it take in terms of input to become that person? All sensory input is fuel for the soul. What do you need to fuel your life?
Interesting post. Also the distinction between sensory input and nutrition/nourishment is an important one. Many things have plenty of one without the other.
A world of YES. 🙂
Wise words, it’s all too easy to forget that everything around us nourishes and nurtures us or depletes and diminishes us. There are so many different sorts of inputs these days that the ancestors never had to contend with, and we have not yet learned very well how to discern what is or isn’t really healthy.
Very true much food for thought here
Thank you
Makes you think a lot more about how to help yourself and helps you find a new way of looking at things with a “Fresh pair of eyes” from this comes a more rested mind and indeed food for the Soul and a new way of just “Being”
I am constantly being asked “What is it you seek?”, and my reply is always the same….anything that feeds my soul. Good food, good drink, good music and art, good company….things that bring me joy and help my soul to flourish.
You continue to inspire my friend. Your insight into the path astounds me. Thank you for sharing your mind with us.