A Healthy Emotional Diet for the Mind (Part 4)

Our first responsibility is our own physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness. So just as we take care of the body, let us also take care of nurturing the mind. In the last three days’ messages, we explored that we are what we read, watch, and hear. We also evaluated how to avoid taking in negative information from people talking to us about someone we can do nothing about.

✱Let us now see what options we have, to tackle another similar situation – a person wants to share what someone else says about us. In other words, gossip.

𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟭: Let us listen to the opinion about us. If there is something we can do about it, we must by all means do it. Else we ignore it completely and do not think about it and carry it like a baggage. Let go.

𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟮: Like it happens many times, it may just be an opinion that is exaggerated and influenced by many people based on their sanskar. So the version that reached us can be extremely different from the original. Again, let go. If needed, we can talk directly to the person whose opinion we have received. We do this only if there are issues which need to be resolved.

𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟯: We can politely refuse to hear the information. Let’s make it clear to the one sharing it with us – Please share what others are saying about me, only if you feel there is something I need to do about it.

➤By choosing any of the above options, we increase our will power. We will also begin to take only healthy information. Such situations test us. By facing them well, our wrong sanskars and negativity finish. Let us remember that if we consciously refuse consuming negative information twice or thrice, people around us will stop bringing up such matters to us.

➤The most important benefit is that the soul gets strengthened. When the soul is strengthened, all our weaknesses are removed. We know that we cannot work on individual weaknesses like finishing anger, finishing fear and so on. But when the soul becomes powerful, all weaknesses ago away. It is comparable to our physical health – if our immunity is high, we don’t have to fight individual illnesses like cold or fever, our immune system prevents them all.