Don’t Unintentionally Hand Over Your Freedom
It’s your most important possession
“If a person gave away your body to some passerby, you’d be furious. Yet you hand over your mind to anyone who comes along, so they may abuse you, leaving it disturbed and troubled — have you no shame in that?” — Epictetus
Instinctively, we protect our physical selves. We don’t let people touch us, push us around, or control where we go. But when it comes to the mind, we’re less disciplined. We hand it over willingly to social media, to television, to what other people are doing, thinking, or saying.
We sit down to work and the next thing you know, we’re browsing the internet. We sit down with our families, but within minutes we have our phones out.
We sit down peacefully in a park, but instead of looking inward, we’re judging people as they pass by.
We usually don’t even know that we’re doing this! We don’t realize how much time we waste is in it, how inefficient and distracted it makes us.
And what’s worse — no one is making this happen. It’s 100% self-inflicted.
This is an abomination.
We know that the world can control our bodies, meaning, we can be thrown in jail or even tossed around by the weather. So many things can happen to our physical selves!
But the mind?
That’s ours and we must protect it. Maintain control over your mind and perceptions.
It’s your most prized possession in the world.