Guard the Gates
“The things you think about determine the quality of your mind. Your soul takes on the color of your thoughts.” — Marcus Aurelius
THE OBSTACLE
Guard the gates.
Guard the gates to the Empire of your mind.
Everything wants in.
There is a war for our attention — constant, relentless, unending waves. Our attention is the most valuable commodity on Earth, and everyone is fighting to for a piece of it.
Information floods in all day, everyday:
Breaking-news cycles feed on fear and anxiety.
Social media algorithms feed on anger, division, and frustration.
Political positioning.
Movies, shows, books, podcasts — all competing for access, a foothold.
What we let in shapes our thoughts, ideas, behaviors, and colors our relationships.
Who I should be.
What I should think.
How I should behave.
How should I perceive and treat others.
Where to spend my time, energy, attention, and money.
Garbage in — anger, noise, division, conflict — that is what thoughts become.
We become the sum of what we let in.
THE GIFT AND OPPORTUNITY
What we surround ourselves with is what we become.
A building is only as strong as its materials and craftsmanship.
The body is only as strong as the food we feed it and the work we demand of it.
The mind is no different — it becomes what we consume.
Surround yourself with frustration, anger, division, fear — and you become dyed in that.
Surround yourself with great minds, thinkers, Stoics, visionaries, brokers of honesty and truth — they too become part of you.
Guarding the gates gives us a choice in who and what enter:
Our inputs shape our thoughts.
Our thoughts shape our behavior.
Our behavior is who we become.
THE PRACTICE OF SELF-MASTERY
Audit what you consume and who and what you allow through the gates.
Do not allow what pulls you from your values in.
Allow sources that align with who you want to become to pass.
Guard the gates of the Empire of your mind with ruthless scrutiny.
