"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things"
Philippians 4:8

Reflection: Most are familiar with the adage 'what goes in must come out'. This is painfully true when it comes to the mind. What we focus on will inevitably be revealed in our open thoughts and actions. Even our casual thoughts can have a long term impact on our inner inclinations. In Philippians we are instructed to focus on those things that are pure, lovely, admirably, excellent and praiseworthy. So that these things will nurture us with all the positive qualities they possess.

Jesus warns us in Matthew 15:17-19 that what comes out of the mouth can and will defile the person.

“Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out
of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the
heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder,
adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

But where do these things originate? We know that we are sinners and our nature is to lean towards sin. Which is why we are called to turn from things that are sinful and to focus on things that are mentioned in Philippians. Yet if we ponder on things of the flesh. Or we consider something someone has done to us and made us angry to the point of contention; which will start feeding the negative things in our mind. Our mind will slowley poison our heart. Leading us to defile ourselves by saying things that should never have been though of in the first place.

There is an quaint proverb that tells of a struggle between two dogs within someone.

"Inside everyone are two fighting dogs
one dog is deemed to be good.
The other dog is deemed to be bad.
These two constantly struggle for dominance.
If asked which dog will eventually win in the end;
The answer is simply, the one you feed".

This has been attributed to the Cherokee tribe. The conversation is said to take place between a young man who has trouble controlling his anger and an older member of the tribe who is teaching him about the inner struggle between what is right and what is wrong. The concept of feeding may be described as what the person thinks about. Whatever they put in their minds and give mental importance to.

If someone is constantly focusing on negative or aggressive thoughts it's no wonder they will act out in ways that will hurt others and make their life a battle field. While those that have thoughts positively focused will find that even in conflicts they are able to stay pure.

Let's think of mental food as a combination of positive vitamins (those things that are uplifting and encouraging to both ourselves and to others) and healthy fibre (those things that can help us create things such as tangible and physical things useful in life). Any other thoughts may be deemed neutral and of no lasting value. Or negative and detrimental to our spiritual health.