We need to be careful about everything we consume

Diverse diets abound and are adhered to by many for a variety of reasons.

While we may take great care with our food choices, being equally discerning with what we feed our minds is essential.

Our diet isn’t only the foods we eat. It’s also the many other things we often mindlessly consume throughout the day. It’s the programs we watch, the things we read, the people we spend time with.

Our attention is a hot commodity in the marketing world. Being a discerning consumer is important as every company studies our choices and offers us more of the same on a consistent basis. It’s called ‘programming’ for a reason, as what we pay attention to changes in the way we feel, think and see the world. We become programmed by the media we consume.

Researchers remind us neurons that fire together wire together. Our attention, whether on what’s real or imagined, has consequence in our brains and bodies.

Like anything we regularly partake of, what we practice grows stronger, and consuming violence and negativity can become an addiction.

It’s important to know that our bodies do not know the difference between what’s real and what’s imagined or taken in via the media. We bear a personal consequence for what we focus our attention on.

Researchers also find that watching disturbing scenes increases anxiety, desensitizes us to caring about violence in the world and has the potential to create traumatic memories. I certainly experienced anxiety and felt traumatized after watching the film Silence of the Lambs years ago.

It was the last horror-thriller movie I watched because of the mental and emotional price I paid.

Have you ever struggled to get a negative thought out of your head? The challenge is that what is negative causes a greater reaction in our minds and bodies than what is positive and good. What’s challenging is stickier and can easily consume our thoughts.

I’ve seen people’s personalities who have hardened and become more aggressive by the programming and games they have come to love. I’ve also seen the opposite be true.

Our health and wellness are as affected by a steady diet of what’s negative and alarming as they are by a steady diet of sugar and junk food. It’s important to be mindful and aware of where we spend the coin of our precious attention.

Every search we make on the internet causes an influx of corresponding information as savvy marketers vie for our attention It takes awareness and discipline to correct the balance.

Our thoughts create a chemical cascade inside our bodies, as though what we’re seeing, reading and hearing is happening to us personally. Take care to consume what’s nutritious your mind. I’ve learned to be discerning where I spend my precious attention, because it’s worth something to me.

I smile as I see the suggestions for preferred programming offered to me via Netflix, as it’s far different than it would have been years ago. I’m glad, and my mind, body and experience of life have benefited from these dietary choices.

Be a savvy consumer with your attention. Spend your mental coin wisely. Your mind, your body, and the people in your life will thank you.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.