About this episode
Some episodes come from a big announcement. This one comes from a quiet question Michele Morley has been sitting with: what am I actually putting into my mind, and is it helping me live the life I say I want? In this short solo conversation, Michele talks about mental input, the things we read, watch, scroll, and listen to, and how those choices shape our perceptions, our attitude, our energy, and our sense of purpose.
There is no expert lecture here. Michele names herself in the challenge before she names anyone else. That honesty is what makes the topic usable, because most of us are not consuming harmful content on purpose. We are consuming it out of habit, tiredness, or the simple pull of whatever is in front of us.
Michele Morley on the mind as a trash can and a vacuum
Michele returns to an analogy she heard in her youth. Someone described the mind as a trash can: whatever you put in stays in. Good, bad, ugly, it all adds to what is already there. The mind is storage, and it does not sort the contents for you.
Then she adds a second image that reframes the first one. A vacuum does not wander aimlessly. When you clean a room, you decide where to run it. You have specifics. You choose the area, and what is in that area is what gets pulled in.
Put those two pictures together and you get the point of the episode. Your mind will keep what it takes in, so the leverage is not in what you can remove later. The leverage is in where you point the vacuum in the first place.
Our minds being like a trash can, and everything you put in adds to what's in there, and whether it's good, bad, ugly, whatever it is, your mind keeps what it has in there. It's a storage.
Why what you consume shapes how you see everything
Michele is clear that this is not only about mood. What we take in day to day affects how we think and how we perceive relationships, the world, our faith, our family, and even business relations. The input becomes the lens.
That matters for women who are already stretched. If your daily intake trains you to expect conflict, comparison, or crisis, you will carry that expectation into a conversation with your spouse, a decision about your money, or a meeting with a client. Nothing about the situation changed. The filter did.
She also connects intake to output. What goes into your mind has a direct impact on your attitude and your energy and what you put out. The women around you feel your input long before you ever describe it to them.
The questions Michele asks about her own intake
Rather than handing out rules, Michele offers a set of questions she is asking herself. They work as a filter you can run in a few seconds before you press play or open an app.
- Is it beneficial?
- Is it creating a life of peace?
- Is it helping you see life realistically but also in a healthy perspective?
- Is it increasing your faith?
- Is it increasing love and light?
Notice that none of these questions ask whether the content is entertaining or informative. They ask what it produces in you. A news outlet, a movie, a book, or a reel can all pass or fail depending on what it leaves behind.
Michele includes herself in the challenge
She does not pretend to have this solved. Michele admits she is guilty of not always making the best use of her time with what she puts into her mind. She questions whether she is reading the best material, watching the best movies or news, or scrolling the most beneficial reels.
That admission is the invitation. This is a shared practice, not a standard someone else already met.
Protecting your light so you can reach your potential
The last part of the conversation raises the stakes gently. Michele believes there is a purpose to who we are. If we diminish that light by what we put into our minds, we may not fulfill that purpose or that measure.
That is a faith-rooted way of saying something practical. Your capacity to show up for your family, your work, your community, and your own next chapter is not unlimited. Careless intake spends it. Intentional intake protects it.
If we diminish that light by what we put into our minds, then maybe we won't fulfill that purpose or that measure.
The goal she names is not perfection or a media detox. It is awareness. Become more aware of what you are watching, reading, and taking in, so you can reach your full potential and make a difference in your everyday life.
Action Steps
- Audit one day of intake. Write down what you read, watched, and scrolled, without judging it yet. You cannot change a pattern you have not looked at.
- Run Michele's filter before you press play. Ask whether this is beneficial and whether it moves you toward peace.
- Pick one swap, not ten. Replace a single recurring input that consistently leaves you anxious or cynical with something that builds you up.
- Notice your output. Track your attitude and energy after your usual evening scroll or news habit, and let that evidence guide your next choice.
- Choose one intentional input for the week. A book, a study, a podcast, or a conversation that you select on purpose rather than by algorithm.
Start with the audit. One honest day of noticing what you take in will tell you more about your attitude, your energy, and your peace than any resolution you could make right now.
Read the full transcript
This automated transcript has been lightly formatted for readability and may contain errors.
[00:00:00] Most women aren’t struggling because they lack drive. They’re struggling [00:00:05] because they’re stuck or building alone. The Yes Women’s Network Podcast changes [00:00:10] that. Hosted by entrepreneur, coach, and community builder Michele Morley, this is [00:00:15] the space where women find clarity, connection, and the courage to grow across [00:00:20] faith, relationships, wellbeing, and finance. Welcome to the show [00:00:25] So I would like to share some thoughts with [00:00:30] you.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what we put into our [00:00:35] minds, what we’re thinking about. And I remember in my youth, [00:00:40] somebody had used the analogy of our minds being [00:00:45] like a trash can, and that everything you put in [00:00:50] adds to what’s in there. And whether it’s good, bad, [00:00:55] ugly, whatever it is, and that your mind [00:01:00] keeps what it has in there. It’s a storage. And then I started [00:01:05] thinking about the concept of the vacuum.
And with the vacuum, when you go around [00:01:10] cleaning up a room, that you have specifics that you’re going to clean up. You’re [00:01:15] going to vacuum in this area, and, and that all goes in, right? [00:01:20] And so it started— I started to think about the concept of [00:01:25] how important it is to gauge what we put into our minds. [00:01:30] And it has an impact on how [00:01:35] we think and how we perceive, um, relationships, the [00:01:40] world, um, our faith, our family, even [00:01:45] business relations. And so all of those things that we’re taking into our [00:01:50] mind on a day-to-day basis, is it beneficial?
[00:01:55] Is it creating a life of peace? Is [00:02:00] it helping you see life, even though in a realistic [00:02:05] perspective, but in a healthy perspective? Is it increasing your faith? Is it [00:02:10] increasing love and light? And I think it’s so [00:02:15] important to recognize what we are putting into our minds [00:02:20] because it has also a direct impact on our [00:02:25] attitude and our energy and what we put out.
Um, [00:02:30] so I started to think more about it recently because I am guilty of not [00:02:35] maybe using the best use of my time [00:02:40] with what I’m putting into my mind. Am I reading the best material? Am I [00:02:45] watching the best, whether movies or news outlet or, [00:02:50] um, reels, whatever it may be? Is it beneficial? [00:02:55] And is it making life more peaceful or [00:03:00] not.
And I think that’s the goal for me is whatever it is that I am watching [00:03:05] or reading or participating in and what is going into my mind, because our [00:03:10] mind is so powerful, that we be more aware. [00:03:15] Because I believe that there’s a purpose to who we [00:03:20] are, and if we diminish that light by what we put into our minds, [00:03:25] then maybe we won’t fulfill that purpose or that measure. [00:03:30] And so that was my challenge to me and even to you, that we become more [00:03:35] aware of what we’re watching, reading, and taking into our [00:03:40] minds so that we can reach our full potential, and that we [00:03:45] can make a difference in our everyday lives [00:03:50] Every honest conversation moves a woman forward.
This is what [00:03:55] YES Women’s Network was built for. Faith, relationships, wellbeing, and [00:04:00] finance in one community that holds you accountable and wants you to win in every [00:04:05] aspect of life. Women rising together. This is [00:04:10] [00:04:15] YES
