Defense

Filter for your thoughts? Filter for your mouth?

More important than a filter for your effluence is a wall in your brain. You need defense from the influence. You need something like a magnificent castle wall: something to help you be able to keep the fool ideas out.

It’s tough. There are so many, and they don’t come at you in single form, they come at you by the hundreds. Hundreds in a day will pass by your eyes, bomb blast your ears, infiltrate your brain, and contaminate your mind.

But they’ll only affect you if you let them, so keep your defenses up. They’ll attack you at every moment, especially when you have your guard down.

So the obvious question is, “How do I get a fancy defensive wall in my brain?”

Easy! Send cash to the address on your screen!

No, not really. I’m just messing with you.

There are ways to set up defense. Most of it has to do with being determined. Developing determination is done with pre-determination: Decide now, before the subject comes up. Sounds easy, right? Not super easy, because life is complex. There are so many subjects you might need to be determined about that you probably can’t decide on everything. A good general determination couldn’t hurt though.

For the sake of example, let’s say you’re interested in being healthy. Your ambition to stay healthy can be pronounced inside your head, “I refuse to do anything that will screw with my physical prowess.”

To make your determination more substantial, after you say, “I refuse to do anything that will screw with my physical prowess,” flex your biceps. It really works. It works even better if someone is watching. Truth!

Despite my funning on the subject of health, just think about it. If you had that determination not to “screw with” your “physical prowess,” could you be influenced to take up smoking? Not likely. Could anyone convince you to eat a boatload of junk food? Again, not likely. So there are two things you’re predetermined not to do, just from that one determined sentence. In fact, would you eventually start to understand that your physical prowess was dependent on exercise? Probably. You wouldn’t just be against things that would destroy your health, but you would be actively engaged in the promotion of health.

Not that I meant to go there in the first place, but it looks to me like a good defense enables a good offense. Whad’ya know?