Colored by the Company

Summary

The article emphasizes the profound influence that the people and information we surround ourselves with have on our mindset and overall quality of life.

Abstract

The article discusses the concept of "Sang Ka Rang," an old Hindi phrase suggesting that one's companions influence one's color or character. It highlights the importance of being in the company of positive, passionate, and hardworking individuals who inspire and elevate one's own aspirations and actions. The author reflects on personal experiences, noting the energizing effect of being around avid learners and the Bible's wisdom on mutual sharpening. It also delves into the idea that our constant companion is our mind, which shapes our life's trajectory through thoughts, feelings, intentions, and actions. The article advises on safeguarding the mind by being selective about sensory inputs, advocating for the consumption of high-vibration information, especially in the morning and before sleep, to maintain mental and physical health. It suggests practices like meditation, yoga, and reading to start the day positively and avoid negative influences like gossip and disturbing media content. The author concludes by urging mindfulness in the company we keep and the information we consume, including the quality of our self-talk.

Opinions

The author values the company of avid learners and passionate workers, considering it a blessing that enriches one's life with ideas and inspiration.
There is a belief that the mind is our constant companion and has a significant impact on our destiny, necessitating careful guardianship of its influences.
The article suggests that what we consume through our senses directly affects the health of our mind, comparing it to the food we eat for our body.
Watching disturbing content or engaging in negative conversations is seen as harmful to the mind's well-being, while spending time in nature or consuming uplifting content is beneficial.
The author emphasizes the importance of starting and ending the day with positive activities to ensure a good quality of life and strengthen overall health.
There is an opinion that self-talk has a substantial impact on one's state of mind and life, indicating that this will be a topic for further discussion in future posts.

Who’s Company You are Always With?

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There is an old Hindi phrase in India — Sang Ka Rang, which means, one gets colored by the company one keeps. The company we are around predominantly has a tremendous impact on the quality of our life. You can reflect this in your own life — How did you feel when you were around someone who is very negative in his or her outlook towards life, whereas, how do you feel when you are in the company of someone who is very inspired to pursue their dreams or someone who is highly positive. Recollect how did you feel in either case.

I personally like to hang around with avid learners who are passionate about what they do and work very hard to excel in that. I feel blessed that I have quite a few such people in my life and whenever I talk to them, I come out of the conversation learning something; perhaps an idea, or an inspiration to do something that I had been postponing for a long time. It is truly a blessing to have such people in our lives. Their energy brushes up against ours, leaving us more inspired to do what we ought to do.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another

The Bible

When we talk about “company”, it is not just friends and family. There is a subtle aspect of this too. Before you read ahead take a pause and think of this — In whose company am I always with?

Yes! It is our mind! We are always in its company and it is this mind which shapes our lives. What we think, directly impacts how we feel, and how we feel will directly manifest in the quality of our intentions and attitude. This will in-turn impact our actions, consequently, designing our destiny.

Buddha said, “Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts”.

So it is very important to make our mind highly positive and a good friend to have a good quality of life. So how do we do that?

To have a healthy mind, it is imperative to guard what is entering our minds through our senses. What we consume from the senses becomes food for the mind and the quality of the food will determine the health of the mind. What are we consuming with these eyes and ears? In that moment of consumption, you are in its company and it will shape your mind. It is too subtle that you won’t even realize it thinking there is no harm in consuming that but trust me, there is!

Reflect, when you spend some quality time in nature or listen to something very positive and uplifting, how did you feel? And how did you feel after watching some disturbing news or a violent or a vulgar movie perhaps? How different were your feelings after seeing the audio-visuals in each case?

There would have been a huge difference in either case. If you aren’t able to recollect now, be observant of your thoughts and feelings next time.

Few things we can take care of to “guard the gates” of our minds.

Make sure we consume information with high vibration as much as we can during our day and primarily early in the morning and before going to bed.

The information we feed in before sleeping has a great impact on the quality of our sleep thereby impacting our physical health and also our state of mind. Reading good books, journaling, a hot bath, or meditating before sleeping will really help us maintain a good quality of our sleep thereby also helping us strengthen our physical, emotional, and mental health.

The start of our day sets the tone of the day. Make sure we start at a higher vibration. Meditation, yoga, exercise, and reading will really help us kickstart our day on a positive note. Starting our day with news or social media is not the best idea given the negativity that prevails.

Avoid getting into gossips and negative conversations.

Let us be more aware of the company we are with, more observant of what we are consuming with our senses.

Lastly, watch out for the quality of your self-talk. This has a huge impact on your state of mind and consequently your life. We will talk more about this in later posts.