Be Careful What You Put In Your Basket!
It was like clockwork. Friday night, 7pm. As a teenager, my ritual was having all my friends over, renting horror movies (like Halloween and Friday the 13th) and staying up late into the night watching one movie right after another. When I walked in the door from the video store, it was also the Friday night ritual to hear my mom's gentle reminder, "Kathy, be careful what you are putting in your basket!" She would go on, "Inside your head there is a basket and everything you put in the basket comes out in some way."
"I hear you mom," was my usual response, as I dismissed the comment and headed downstairs, my arms full of videos.
Several years later, after graduating from nursing school, one of my friends called me and said, "Kathy, let's go rent horror movies." My first thought was, "Yeah, I need a break." It had been a rough day at work, a 10-hour shift with no relief. Three gunshot wounds, a couple of stabbings, five car accidents, one rape, and two people had come in DOA (dead on arrival).
My mind immediately flashed back to mom's weekly "basket" reminders. Where did I get a job after nursing school? In the Emergency Room - a Level One Trauma Center! Although I was helping people who were injured and sick, I wondered whether it was possible that my "basket" had unconsciously led me to a violent work environment.
A sick feeling came over me. I didn't want to rent horror movies. I was living the real horror every day. I told my friend, "Thanks, but no thanks." And I haven't watched a horror movie since that day 20 years ago.
Lenny, Kathy's mom, and most of the great philosophers all agree on one thing. As a man thinketh, so shall he be.
Lenny's Challenge: Take 60 seconds and ask yourself, "What am I putting in my basket? Is it healthy? How is it affecting me? What can I do today to stop putting unhealthy things into my mind?" Should you stop watching violent movies? Maybe even limit the amount of TV news you ingest? Don't allow yourself to log into inappropriate internet sites? Refuse to surround yourself in a negative work environment?
What you put in your "basket" is 100% your choice! Shed or You're Dead!