All,

I want to apologize for not only my delay in posting but also the shortness of this blog. I have been very busy with work and have not even been home in the last 3 days. That being said, I thank you all and I look forward to be able to get into more content later on. For now, though, enjoy the below.

April 2nd, 2025

BE WARY OF WHAT YOU LET IN

“Drama, combat, terror, numbness, and subservience - every day these things wipe out your sacred principles, whenever your mind entertains them uncritically or lets them slip in"

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations , 10.9

What is means: " How much harder is it to do the right thing when you're surrounded by people with low standards? How much harder is it to be positive and empathetic inside the negativity bubble of television chatter? How much harder is it to focus on your own issues when you're distracted with other people's drama and conflict? We'll inevitably be exposed to these influences at some point, no matter how much we try to avoid them. But when we are, there is nothing that says we have to allow those influences to penetrate our minds. We have the ability to put our guard up and decide what we actually allow in. Uninvited guests might arrive at your home, but you don't have to ask them to stay for dinner. You don't have to let them into your mind."

Your Authors Take: When bad things happen, bad thoughts follow. When bad thoughts follow, the soul can rot. Make sure to fortify your mind to those thoughts, especially when bad times do happen, so you do not allow yourself to become victim to the deterioration of your happiness or worse, to be deterred from your principles and ethical way of thinking. This practice will also improve quality of life and will cause the bad things to stay outside the depths of your mind, and rather just be a temporary thought for you to domesticate. I find myself practicing this often. Unfortunately with work, I am exposed to some of the worst things imaginable, and it can get very hard to deal with mentally due to the brutal nature of it. This concept, though, is what's able to keep me in charge of my mind. I do not let the sadness or anguish of such things slip into my mind unattended. Rather I sit with them to deal with them and them let them go. You all can do the same.

Thank you all