News/Comment & Analysis:
Andrew Thorn shows that cleanliness is both an exterior and interior journey
Viewpoint by Andrew Thorn, PhD., WCW Columnist
I made it to Dallas on my long journey home from Argentina. I am fortunate enough to have access to the Admiral’s Club and when I arrived, the gentleman at the counter must of have noticed that I had been on the road for over a day, because he asked me if I would like to take a shower.
That sounded like such a wonderful idea so I gave him my boarding pass as collateral for the shower room key. What a great feeling it was to clean up. Sleeping on a plane is never the best night of sleep, and it normally leaves me feeling a bit icky. To be able to shave and take a hot shower makes the remainder of my trip back to Nephi seem much more bearable.
Clean Up
I started thinking in the shower about how simple it is to clean the outside of our bodies. All we really need to do is pause for a moment from our normal routine and bathe ourselves in the flow of the water. A little soap, a little shampoo – and we are clean for the day.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could clean our minds in the same way. We see and hear so much garbage every day. I don’t think we realize how much of an impact it has on our lives. Very few of us pause to clean our minds up. We just keep falling into the traps that the marketing and media companies set for us. As a result, our society is becoming more and more permissive. There are very few boundaries left. There are very few topics that are taboo. Everything is open for conversation, noting is sacred anymore. I long for that to change.
Setting Your Own Standard
As a young man, I made a personal commitment to avoid R-rated movies. Recently, I have expanded that to some that are rated PG-13. I find that my mind works better when I keep gratuitous displays of filth out of it. My levels of creativity are also heightened when I allow myself to live by these standards. Even with these standards, I still allow way too much junk into my mind. I am constantly looking for ways to clean it up.
I am not inviting you to share my standard, I just want you to examine your own. Are your own standards easily identifiable to you? Do you know what they are? How often do you review them? When was the last time that you took a moment to clean out your mind? I am convinced that there are many amazing and true things of beauty in the world.
I think we miss many of them because of all the dirt that rains down upon us without our will. If you take a moment to see what I am talking about, and do something about it, I promise that you will notice a difference in your life. Take some time today to shower that mind of yours – you will be surprised at how great it feels.
Live Today! Love Today!
