GIGO stands for, Garbage In Garbage Out. It’s a reminder that, when programming computers or entering data, it’s our fault if a computer’s output is a load of old rubbish. The quality of output is determined by the quality of input.
We know that this applies to our bodies. We know that if we put too much of certain foods into our pie hole there are consequences for our health. If we put garbage into our body eventually we’ll not be able to get much else out of it. What about our mind? Does the same principle apply? What sort of garbage might be going in and coming out?
Have you ever said something or done something and then thought, “Argh! Alas! Calamity and wherever did that come from?”?
I have. I was enjoying an audience with my grandmother, or the Queen, or the interview panel for the Sunday school teacher’s job. I can’t remember exactly but it was one of those best behaviour situations. Anyway, someone said “his enormous Alsatian” at the end of a perfectly harmless sentence and I quickly followed with, “Oh, so that’s what he calls it eh?”. There followed a moment’s pause while all of us considered what I’d said and then a longer one while we all tried to think of something to say next. What I interjected was garbage and it damaged more than the moment. On reflection and in attempting to understand my contribution I concluded that my gaff had been a parrot like repetition of a similar line I’d heard in a similar context in some TV programme, film… This is a mild illustration of the GIGO effect. I could have chosen a more disturbing example but I don’t want to fill your mind with garbage.
Those of you that have seen, heard or read about Joe Simpson’s experiences around the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes (Read or watch Touching the Void) will recall one of the features of his account that made it so disturbingly real. As he lay in agony, horrified by the hopelessness of his situation, his mind became filled not with sad recollections of his past or inspirational words from his favourite poetry but with a Boney M song – Brown Girl in the Ring. It wasn’t uplifting, it wasn’t cruel. It was just nonsense. It came out because it had gone in.
No question, I’m capable of producing garbage without the aid of anyone else – I don’t need garbage to go in for garbage to come out - but if I exercise discernment when it comes to my mind’s intake I can reduce the GIGO effect. All very negative. Alternatively, and less negatively, GIGO could stand for Good In Good Out.
After rising from the lavatory one could crouch and, using a ladle, chopsticks or other suitable implement, cleanse the toilet by removing all you had just deposited. To the best of my knowledge this is an uncommon practice. Most toilet users prefer to flush after performing. The mighty flush overwhelms our filth with copious volumes of refreshment. How about a similar approach to our mental hygiene?
How much good stuff are we habitually pouring into our mind? How have we developed an investment based approach to renewing the quality of our thought life? Which of the following pre-emptive mind recreating aids (recommended by folk I know) do you enjoy?
- Inspirational biographies
- Neuro Linguistic Programming
- The work of David Attenborough and chums
- Gratitude
- Meditation
- Sudoku toilet paper
- Creative projects
- Friends’ TV & film viewing recommendations
- Sport
- Dreaming
- Sniffing a lemon
- A mentor
- Walking a dog
- Stimulating conversation
- Research and study
- Time in a thinking chair
- Plasticine
The pre-emptive and habitual aspect of renewing our mind is important. If I only study when I feel intellectually bankrupt I’m going to be that way or close to it most of the time. Anger: It’s too late to employ meditation once the keyboard is airborne. Developing a sense of purpose is best done before losing ones job. Learning how to think like a leader is best done before one gets elected Prime Minister. Thinking like a husband is ideally developed before getting married.
I heard a financial advisor say, of national economic recession, that it was unrealistically optimistic to expect a decade or so of overspending to be resolved within a year. Our essential problem is that we tend towards debt instead of investment and hope for short term solutions to long term problems. Nowhere is this truer than in the case of our mind. If we have been under-investing in our mind for many years then it may well take many years of investment before many of our associated problems shrivel.
How much and how often do you invest in your thinking?
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