How Do You Keep Your Thoughts High?

There is an old saying: “You are known by the thoughts you hold, the company you keep, and the food you eat.” To keep your thoughts high you need to let go of bad thoughts, and avoid bad company and bad foods. Sounds too simple to be true, but in fact it is very simple and very true.

So, what are ‘bad’ thoughts, ‘bad’ company and ‘bad’ foods? ‘Bad’ is that which is not conducive to ‘good,’ and ‘good’ is that which is conducive to your well-being, which just so happens to be same as everyone else’s well-being. Some people may argue that ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are subjective—that ‘good and bad’ are ‘in the eyes of the beholder.’ This is simply not true.

Fresh air, clean water, and nutritious foods are universally beneficial to everyone’s physical well-being. Similarly, the company of unselfish, noble-minded people, and inspiring, uplifting thoughts are conducive to everyone’s psychological well-being. Conversely, polluted air, dirty water, and foods lacking in nutritious value are detrimental to everyone’s physical health, and the company of mean-spirited, vicious, and cruel people is dangerous to one’s well-being. Holding on to selfish thoughts, grudges, prejudices, and animosities pollutes the mind and makes it both vile and violent.

Maintaining good health and peace of mind is necessary for ‘optimum living,’ just like maintenance and fine tuning are necessary for the optimum performance of any instrument, tool, or piece of machinery. As human beings, we wash our bodies, our clothing, our cars; we brush our teeth everyday, we wash our floors and windows, we remove ‘bugs’ from our computers and dust from the lens of our cameras and TV screens—but how many people ‘wash their minds’ everyday with introspection, deep reflection, and meditation? Many people are brainwashed by the daily propaganda of materialism. Many people are mesmerized by the constant chant of ‘me, my, and mine.’ This needs to be offset by the daily purification and fine tuning of the mind.

Mental purification is not possible if the seat of the mind is ‘dirty.’ The brain (a part of the body) is the seat of the mind. The brain, being a body-part, is composed of the foods eaten. Chemical changes in the brain can induce sensations and thoughts. Thoughts in turn lead to actions.

High thoughts lead to the association of high people. High people are selective about the thoughts they hold, the company they keep, and the foods they eat. They do not engage their minds in shallow thinking, they do not seek solace in the solicitation of the selfish and self-involved, and they do not consume foods which are the product of violence and which produce violent reactions leading to both ill-health and ill-will.

If this blog post sounds ‘out there’ to some of our readers, my humble suggestion is that you perform your own experiments to test the validity, or not, of what I am saying. For example, try the following experiment for 1 month, or even just one week, and judge for yourself whether there is any truth in the adage, “You are known by the thoughts you hold, the company you keep, and the food you eat.” Try this experiment for one week, or better yet, for one month:

1. For 10 minutes after rising and before retiring, sit quietly and empty your mind through meditation. At first, you may only be able to spend the 10 minutes in reflection or introspection (inspecting the inner workings of your mind). That’s okay—this will eventually lead to meditation in which the mind rests in a conscious non-thinking state.

2. Limit the amount of time you spend watching TV or listening to the radio. When you are watching TV, you are in effect inviting the characters portrayed in the TV show (the ‘good, the bad, and the ugly’ characters) into your living room (or bedroom) and you make yourself their audience; you are devoting your mind to listening attentively to what they say, how they say it, how they think, feel, and act. Cut back on the amount of time you spend with this mostly shallow company.

3. Become a vegetarian, and do not consume any alcoholic beverages.

After the experiment is over, judge for yourself whether or not there is any difference in your peace of mind, mental equilibrium, and all-round health. If you discover any change, then you should consider exploring this matter further.