How choosing what you surround yourself with can change your life.
Written By Ashley Fortier
It’s the old saying, you are what you eat. Maybe you’ve grown up in a Christian/Catholic household and have heard this song by Colin Buchanan:
“Be Careful Little Eyes What You See…
Be Careful Little Ears What You Hear…
Be Careful Little Mouths What You Say…
Be Careful Little Hands What You Do…
Be Careful Little Feet Where You Go…
There’s a Father Up Above Looking Down in Love so be careful little eyes what you see…”
It sounds right. We all know our environments shape our outlooks and outcomes, but what many people may not understand is just how impactful what we choose to surround ourselves with, is.
It’s metaphysical…and not too many people know what that is. Consider the field of metaphysics as a bridge between quantum physics and what people recognize as spirit. According to Brittanica.com, only 10 percent of the human brain is used. That leaves 90% of it processing universal background noise and sensory information, creating spins and vibrations of our own quarks in a sort of cosmic, spiritual dance. It’s what kids today would call “a vibe”.
Like the famous plant study whose findings showed that speaking nicely to your plants helps them grow bigger and more hearty, or the biblical phrase of Proverbs 18:21: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits.”; not only do we speak what we want from life but we are affected by what is spoken in life to us.
This leads to an understanding that probably had your parents monitoring who your friends were as a child; the notion that you are the sum of the five people you surround yourself with. If you fall into and carry on with bad company, you will mimic the vibe of said company. Likewise, if you keep good company, the same will happen.
We can even affect our moods by choosing the music we listen to or the shows we watch. Have you ever put on a sad song and became sad? Or turned on the anxious ranting of a news channel anchor and became anxious?
It all circles back to consumption. Knowing this, you may be wondering how you can use this information to change your life. You have had your friends since childhood, or have been at that job you hate doing for 10 years now…how could you change any of it?
If you take the advice from any rags-to-riches story, it starts by limiting the access others have to you. They all say the same thing: the path to success is lonely. Focus must shift to what you bring to others and what others bring to you. You always want these interactions to be net positive on both sides, but it has to start with you. You can’t expect the same things in return.
The plus side is that goodness will always be rewarded. So start consuming the right energy from life: listen to that Christian song or just limit the sad songs, go laugh with friends and acquaintances, pursue the projects that bring you purpose, and reject those people who have nothing nice to say about it. So long as all these things fall into a moral category, you will see the direction of your life spin toward creation and goodness. Likewise, if you pursue immoral paths, prepare to find destruction and painful lessons.
A physical example of consumption is seen in our diet and exercise. Consuming the right foods for your body and following exercise pages, will have you inevitably finding yourself healthier and more energetic, going to the gym and loving the body you have. Consuming endless useless content on the internet with no action in any direction and eating whatever makes you feel happy may make this the opposite reality for you.
We all choose our lives. Getting choosy about what we have surrounding us and what we watch, hear, eat, drink, and interact with is an easy and essential way to improve your life for the better.