You become what you consume — the truth about a consuming-based society and its effect on who you become
“You are what you eat!” is a saying many foodies tell others that aren’t so much into food and the meaning of it. It is true, we are what we eat, but it goes even further. You are what you consume, is actually what’s going on.
We consist of two basic elements. Our physics and our mental awareness. They both take care of our experience in the reality. One is the vehicle, the other one the navigation. But an important question to ask yourself is how you take care of them?
To stay with the vehicle metaphor, what would happen if you put diesel in your petrol car? Or never clean up the inside of your interior? Never change the oil? We don’t have to question what would happen. It won’t last long before it breaks down.
Funny enough, we do take care of our car. Have regular checkups, fuel it when the signal light goes on, change the oil every so many miles and keep the interior nice and clean (or at least clean it once a while). But when it comes to ourselves, we could do a much better job.
We eat highly processed food (bad fuel), we don’t exercise enough, we watch mostly negative media and we don’t clean up the mess inside.
You become what you consume holds more truth than you might think.
If your food is of poor quality, you feed your body with low-quality material to work with. Cheap food is often of poor quality. So in the end, it will cost you more than you think you are saving when buying it. Because you either spend the money on good food now (and enjoy the richer taste and feel of it) or you will pay later to your doctor and the hospital.
If you eat low-quality (highly processed) food, you literally build a low-quality body. And that won’t last long, especially in a health crisis we’re in.
The same goes for your mental input. How you feed your brain. Your thoughts create your reality, so how do you fuel your brain every minute of the day? What thoughts and feelings are you having all day? And what’s the input that causes them? The news? Social Media? Ads? Even something as innocent-looking as entertainment (movies, series or games on your phone) play a huge role in how you feel and what thoughts you’re having!
The effects of media
The news shares only the bad things that happen in the world. That drama Netflix series that might be exciting to watch is about the misery of fictive people. That funny fail video on TikTok how other people fall down, hurt themselves, do stupid things may look funny, but they’re still showing all sorts of failure. We make fun of others that fail. How sick is that if you think about it?
The news does not portray the world as it is. It shows incidents in the world that — if it matters to you — can set you up to make sure you stay safe, do the right thing, take care of others. Is that how you watch the news? Or is it to dwell into the misery of the world, feeding onto your fear?
You feed yourself with the content you watch. You program your beliefs of what you see happening there.
Our beliefs are being formed by repeating thoughts. So if you keep seeing how many patients die from a virus, then that becomes your reality. The same goes for series and movies. TV programs, TikTok videos, or Instagram reels, Facebook posts or even things on your ‘professional’ LinkedIn Feed. All information you take in has an effect on the programming of your brain.
Raise your standards
So we have to be more conscious of what we’re feeding ourselves with. Raise your standards! Demand a better quality for yourself! You are worth so much more than you currently accept!
Stop watching the news.
Trust me, really important stuff will reach you. I haven’t watched the news for a long time and it was an instant improvement in my life. Instead, when something interests me because I believe I will gain benefit from it in my life, I’ll research that. Read about that. Watch YouTube videos about it. It feeds my brain with fuel to become better.
Stop binge-watching series on HBO, Netflix, or any other platform.
Binge-watching means you can’t control the volume anymore, you’ve become a victim of someone else taking control and deciding for you. That is far beyond the goal of leading a good life.
It’s the same with fast food. One Big Mac won’t kill you if you have it now and then. The same goes for your mental food. But if you consume it very regularly, multiple times a day or weekly even, it will affect your health. Mentally and physically.
Feed yourself with that which makes you feel good.
Feeling good is the only goal you truly have in life. But many have forgotten how to do that. They think that by looking at other one’s misery they feel better about themselves. But that’s not the way to go most effectively. Because the moment you stop watching, you’re reality awareness kicks in and you see again your own misery. Which can only be numbed by watching something that’s worse than yours.
How funny that stupid skater is when he falls flat on his face trying some fancy trick he clearly can’t.
Well, to hell with that! At least he’s trying to get better at something while you’re sitting on your big fancy couch laughing. Feeling proud?
Where focus goes, energy flows — Tony Robbins
So feeling good is not about focusing on the misery of others. Because when focusing on misery, the misery falls on to you. It’s a law of nature. That what you focus on grows bigger.
So focus on that what you want to grow. Focus on that what you want to learn. To explore. To become better at. To understand better. Feed yourself with the things you love, that intrinsic feeling of happiness when you practice it.
It can be knitting. It can be reading. Cooking. Gardening. Walking. Playing tennis or soccer. It can be playing outside with your kid. Whatever it is, focus on that what makes you joyful, without it having to hurt someone else.
Be mindful of what you consume. Because what you consume, you become.
Who do you want to become?
