The ghosts of what we erase on a computer remain deep within the system, electronically etched into the hard drive. Similarly, what goes into the human mind can remain to contaminate it or to enrich it.
The mind is like a sponge. If you soak a sponge in dirty water and squeeze it, dirty water will come out. Interestingly, if you then soak the sponge in clean water and squeeze, you will still get some dirty water because some of the dirt clings to the sponge.
Similarly, when you fill your mind with unhealthy or unproductive thinking, it penetrates beyond the conscious mind and into the subconscious. There it stays. The subconscious does not forget. The debris that comes into the mind can stay and influence future thoughts and actions the same way that dirty water influences the pure water that passes through the sponge.
The things we see and hear become a part of us. They’re the things we think about in the moments of solitude. To become upright and successful, it is necessary to fill our minds with thoughts and ideas that characterize the people we want to be.
Tip: Develop the habit of not allowing negative thinking to reside in your mind like a dirty sponge.
