Mental Fitness - Mental Pollution

A great deal of public attention in advanced countries goes to considering how to cope with elimination of wastes from our wasteful way of life. It is toxic waste material that causes most concern in the environment and is now considered unacceptable to the community worldwide.

However, we have yet to admit the dangers and destructive effects of mental pollutants that continue to degrade the quality of our mental fitness and undermine the progress of our modern culture towards the ideal of human health and well being.

Regarding individual choice and respect for this freedom right each one of us enjoys and wishes to retain, it is up to us what we choose to read or listen to, to absorb, to transmit, and to eliminate. This corresponds with our right to put into our bodies our chosen food.

But our mental environment, the world in which we live with our minds, just as surely as our physical environment is universally shared. It is a complex mix of influences that have a positive or negative general mental influence upon humanity as a whole and to which we react as individuals.

Unwanted material enters our minds uncensored by our use of conscious choice as a by- product of what we watch in public entertainment, public press items, and as a result of absorption of energy in group situations where we share the same mental atmosphere.

We are willing to raise our voices individually and as a group to make complaint about physical environmental issues and do so very vocally. But we are either unaware, or not interested in applying the same criteria to mental health and mental pollution. It is time to recognize the damage caused by the toxic mental material found in both group venues and in private mental space. Once toxic material is identified, it is logical that it will be restricted or prohibited from use. But this is not the case.

For example, to this point, it is not generally recognized by the public that disco drums and primitive sounds are damaging to the brain, the senses and the minds of those in near location - in spite of scientific evidence to the contrary. The extent of sound damage from rock groups is well documented.

But the public remains tolerant, and even encourages continuance of this pollutant in our society by holding those responsible for creating the noise to be held up as heroes and 'rock stars'. The psychological chaos, mental breakdowns, and drug overdosing that are now almost considered to be consequences of generating this sort of pollution, continue to be ignored, making it difficult for any of us to arrive at mental fitness in this current social environment.

Sally Janssen is a writer and educator who from an early age trained in Raja Yoga--that branch of the ancient science that deal with the mind and its complexities. She subsequently gained an international reputation for her skills and her wisdom in the training of the mind.

In her wonderfully readable book entitled Mental Fitness: The Complete Self-help Guide she presents simple, self-help practices that help to generate and maintain mental fitness just as the natural principles for physical fitness can be personally applied by us all. The book may be found here: http://www.mentalhealthandfitness.com This really is a must-read book for us all. You can also visit her blog at http://www.mentalhealthandfitness.com/blog

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