I have been in the software development world for more years than I care to admit. It was back in college during a programming course that I first heard the phrase "Garbage in, garbage out". In computer programming, what this means is that each module requires that its inputs be received in an exact, expected way in order to perform its processing and produce the correct output. If the inputs come in the wrong way, are of the wrong type, or pieces of it are missing, then the input is considered "Garbage" and the computer module won't be able to perform it's process the way it was intended. If you are lucky, the program or module won't crap out, but at the very least it will not produce the right results - it will produce a "Garbage" result or output. Hence the phrase.
Because of this, programmers write "Validation" lines of code in an attempt to ensure that the data that was input to the module is what was expected or needed for the module. I would venture to guess based on experience that up to 50% of all lines of code ever written have the sole purpose of validating the inputs to a module. This equates to trillions of lines of validation code out there today. Given that, I find it amazing that there are still ways to "break" software and crash a module or even a whole network by putting the right (or wrong) "Garbage in". There's another saying in the software industry that says that "There is no such thing as bug free code". Have you ever seen your bank's website down? The typical cause of these crashes is invalid data that wasn't caught that got into their system and created big problems. Computer hackers and virus creators make their living finding and exploiting these "bugs" or holes in software.
So now you may be wondering, what does this all have to do with "Guarding Your Heart"? I think plenty.
Think of your mind as the computer that runs You. It runs the programs that operate all of your basic systems like your respiratory, circulatory and immune systems. When you have an injury or illness, or when you challenge your body through physical activity, it runs the special programs that will help your body heal and recover. It runs the systems that control your senses and processes the inputs of what you see, feel, hear, taste and smell into something you can comprehend. It's fascinating when you think about all of the background processes your mind does with these inputs before it presents the results to you - all unconsciously and all in nanoseconds!
Your mind also controls the running of the programs for your "higher" processes like thought, imagination, and love and other emotional responses. We like to think that we have conscious control of these "higher" processes, and to some extent we do, but if you've ever caught yourself in a day dream, or better yet ever "fallen" in love, you know that many of these processes are also triggered unconsciously. We don't have as much control over these "programs" as we think.
If you buy the analogy that your mind is running all the programs inside of you for all of your different processes, do you think there is an optimal set of inputs these programs require to produce the correct output? Are there different input requirements for your "base" programs (bodily functioning) and your "higher" processes (thought, emotions)? What happens when you give these programs "garbage" input?
I think the inputs for your "base" programs are fairly obvious and could be summed up by the term "healthy living". It's amazing to me how many people ignore these input requirements and the messages their bodies send them when the inputs are insufficient or of the wrong type. Many in America eat way too much, eat the wrong kinds of foods, and never challenge their base programs through exercise. And then they wonder why they can't seem to stay healthy. We are all minds with bodies attached. Human kind is much more than it's physical bodies, but without a functioning physical body it's pretty difficult to do what you want in life.
For your "higher" programs, the "inputs" have more to do with what you let into your mind in terms of thoughts/ideas. I think it's fairly proven that positive thought inputs help you think more clearly and also help you feel better emotionally. The opposite is true when you let in negative thought inputs. I believe the functioning of these "higher" programs also affects the outputs of the "base" programs. You might be doing everything right from a "healthy living" standpoint, but if you are letting a bunch of negative "garbage" into your thought and emotional life, it can and usually does affect your health or how you feel physically. Another way of saying that is that your thought/emotional life has a direct affect on your physical life.
My question for you is, how's your validation software working on these inputs? Do you catch the negative "garbage" and throw it out before it causes problems in your internal processing?
There is much to unpack here and I hope to do more of it in future posts. For this post I would just like to leave you with one simple suggestion to help weed out the negative "garbage" inputs:
Stop reading and watching the "news" religiously!
Oh, I can hear the groaning and the "What are you, crazy?" from many of you. Before you turn me off, please hear me out and think about a few things:
- There may have been a time when journalism was an honest attempt to report what happened, but that day has been gone for a long time. Each news outlet tries to get more sensational than the other because they know that sensationalism grabs readers / watchers. They also know (or think) that people want the negative stuff in their news. The next time you watch a national news program, take out a piece of paper and put a tally mark for every positive news event that gets reported. No matter which network you watch, I can pretty much guarantee that your paper will be empty by the end of the program. These guys have become the #1 virus threat to your mind!
- Personally, I quit reading the newspaper over 15 years ago, and quit watching the news on TV over 10 years ago. I don't think I'm crazy, and I consider myself to be up and on top of the current events that I care about. When something big happens, I will hear about it through family, friends, or coworkers. What I've found is that there are very few big "news" items that have any affect on my life or how I am living.
- So if most of what is reported as news is sensationalized and negative, AND very rarely affects or changes how you will live your life, why do you need that input?
As I said earlier, there's much more that I'd like to unpack on this, but if you follow this one simple suggestion I believe you'll take the pressure off the validation software in your mind and allow yourself more processing power to work on all the other negative "garbage" inputs you have to deal with.
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