The human mind is a miracle. It's a masterpiece of cells, senses, thoughts, feelings and controls that, strangely, go farther than the human mind can imagine. Though it controls all the nerves throughout the body, it's the only organ in the body without any nerves. It doesn't feel pain (not physical pain anyway). The mind starts as a blank piece of paper and is eventually covered in knowledge and information about the world's ins and outs. Just like a desert needs water to grow, it needs information so we can grow. It's a spectacular thing that we couldn't function normally without, and it would undoubtably be my number one place to visit on Mrs. Frizzle's Magic School.
The mind is where creativity takes place and where our uniqueness can become a reality for others to see. Being the control center for the human body, the mind is a main source for a person's life to function normally and to grow successfully. So, why do we need to take care of it? It's kind of like a city's water supply; it's a life-giving source necessary for life to continue. Not taking care of the mind is just like not taking care of a city's water supply; it would affect the entire city and put all its inhabitants in danger. So, in Cliff Notes form, to take care of the mind is like taking care of a city's water supply: Keep it fresh, don't pollute it and, most importantly, use it.
Keep it fresh: The mind allows us to take in information, process it and spit out new information, creating a kind of brain cycle (just like there's a water cycle). It's important to refresh your mind with new information and new tasks to keep it fresh and ready to learn. Don't go stagnant and let information sit and get old. Keep learning new things and processing new ideas with others. New ideas are fresh ideas.
Don't pollute it: The mind is a funny thing. It learns behaviors and is easily trained to certain patterns and functions. This can be good, of course, but it can also be bad when filling the mind with the wrong sorts of things. Just like eating habits, it's easy to fill the mind with junk and not the kind of stuff that makes it healthy. It's easy to spend 15 minutes mindlessly scrolling through social media absorbing all of the day's gossip, but it's hard to read a book. It's easy to look at porn, but it's hard to go meet my neighbor next door. It's easy to pollute the mind and harder to keep it clean, but I think keeping it clean is worth it. Absorb the right sorts of information in the right doses and challenge yourself.
Use it: The mind is a gift from God, so use it; don't lose it. Don't waste it; demonstrate it. We're able to learn for a reason; so we can apply what we learn and teach it to others. Without application, teaching becomes entertainment, and frankly, we have enough entertainment to last a lifetime. Learn a new skill, teach someone your skill or simply just read a new book. Grow in wisdom, stature and knowledge. The mind is special, and if we don't use it, we're wasting one of the coolest parts about being a human- the ability to think and reason for ourselves.
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: If you don't want crappy water, don't put crap in it. If you don't want a crappy mind, don't put crap in that either.