For those of you who might not know, Garbage in Garbage out is a computer term. Basically it means, that if you put garbage into a computer, you will get garbage back out. Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

Did you know that that can just as easily apply to you and I? In the simplest terms, if you put garbage into your body all the time, the result will be bad health. And that can manifest itself in everything from obesity, stroke, heart disease and even cancer (garbage out).

If you put garbage into your mind, the result will be bad mental health. I believe this can manifest itself in everything from a poor self-image, to a poor image of others, fears, phobias, distrust, anger and an overall unhappiness with life. The bottom line, (garbage out) resulting in an unsuccessful life.

If you spend your free time looking at pornography, how will you view members of the opposite sex? How can you honor or respect someone that you view in that way? They become mere objects meant only for self-gratification. If you look at any statistics on sex offenders, they almost always have one thing in common "pornography".

If you regularly listen to music that glorifies drugs, violence, and promiscuity; how will you be able to make a moral stand when needed? How will you view each of those issues? Does anybody really believe that the music that we listen to regularly doesn't effect us in some way? If that were the case, advertising agencies wouldn't be making millions creating commercials with phrases and musical lyrics that sell us everything from shavers to cars.

If you regularly watch shows like Jerry Springer, or channels like MTV how can your view of life and people not be affected in some way to some degree? They parade some of the most degenerate of people and videos in front of your eyes.

If you ladies spend your time reading romance novels, do you really think it won't effect how you view the man in your life; how many of us guys can live up to such high expectations?

If you guys look at Playboy, do you think it won't effect the way you view that special lady in your life; especially if she isn't the perfect 10. It's an unfair comparison, our ladies' imperfections can't as easily be air brushed away.

Think about when you're around someone who's always negative, or someone who's in a lousy mood. Does that not effect you? Of course it does. If you associate with people who gossip all the time, you will eventually become a gossip. If you hang around with people who do drugs all the time, you will end up doing drugs. If you hang around people who cuss all the time, you will begin to cuss.

You will become like the people around you; just like you will be affected by the things you read, watch and listen to. It's why we find ourselves saying the same things to our children that our parents said to us growing up. "If you don't finish your plate, you won't get dessert," "because I said so," etc. etc. etc.

Now I realize that watching a movie about the mob will not make you a mobster, and reading a dime novel will not ruin your opinion of men forever. What I'm talking about is the things that we consistently do; our hobbies, our habits, our way of life.

If you want to be a success in life, you need to guard the things you watch, the things you listen to, the things you read and the people you associate with. If you want to be a success in life and fly with the eagles, you need to stay away from the turkeys no matter who or what they are.

Mike Shanta
http://www.all-round-success.com/