Positive environment = Positive mind

Environment influences our mind, emotions and actions.

One of the major factor in life which a lot of people underestimate is our environment and how our environment significantly influence our minds, emotions, mentality, thoughts, actions and outcome.

If we are in an unpleasant environment, we would naturally feel uncomfortable, repulsive and traumatized. If we are in a pleasant environment, it is easier to indulge, relax and slack. If it is in a messy room, it's easy to feel scattered, confused, frustrated and perhaps close off the mind from our environment and escape into your own thoughts. If we are in a simple and harmonizing room it is more likely for us to feel calm, peaceful and have a clearer thoughts.

Positive environment leads to positive mind, emotions and actions
Whether we like it or not, it is the undeniable truth that majority of us fall prey to the influence of our environment. Knowing this, we should take advatnage and learn how to use the environment in order to make our experience more positive. For example, keeping the room simple and neat helps the mind to become more clear, less distracted and more focus. The light colours of the wall can make you feel more refreshed and lighter. The spaceous environment may make us less clustrophobic and more breathable etc...

Environment includes TV, music, people etc...
Environment may not just mean the room setting, but also sounds, music, people around us, smell, TV, internet, posters etc... TV and media is also a major factors, since people constantly watch it and get exposed to ideas, concept, what to buy, what to do. Our current generation literally learn and see the world through television. So it is important to be aware of the danger of that.

Guarding our senses and mind (a more macro interpretation)
Ven. Heng Sure mention a story about his visit to a talk. There, many people had deep philosophical and intellectual discussion over dinner, and there was a quiet cleaner or helper. So some teased the helper and told him to give some wisdom. Not in the exact words, these were his words:

"Be careful what you eat". (Then everybody began to laugh).
"Be careful not just what you eat with your mouth, but also your eyes, ears, skin, nose and mind".

And this quiet helper managed to shock others with his simple but yet profound words. And it is true. If we are exposed to poison and mentally accepts the poison, it will poison us. Likewise, if we are exposed to wholesomeness, mentally accepts it, then it will make us wholesome.

However, ultimately we should guard and control our senses and mind, as it will affect us. Highly wise, concentrated and spiritual person have the ability to be exposed yet unaffected in mind and heart.

But, if we are currently not internally strong enough to maintain unaffected by what goes into our senses and into our minds, then we need control what we are exposed to, and avoid negative messages.

Exposure affects the subconscious mind
Even though some may take it lightly or may not see a direct impact of the expose in our mind and emotions, it certainly do have an major impact on our subconscious mind which we may not be aware of. Psychology research have proven that a lot of subliminal message actually have impact on other people and thereby used the techniques on commerical and corrupted media. So there is this quote (not accurately worded quote):

"Stay near black ink, one is likely to be stain black.
Stay near yellow ink, one is likely to be stain yellow"

So what we are exposed to, we are influenced by it consciously or/and subconsciously, therefore be smart what you are exposed to.