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we also need to think about is the information that constantly surrounds us. Every day we are exposed to a huge flow of information. We watch the news, listen to the radio, read newspapers and news feeds. We communicate with our friends and coworkers. Sometimes we empathize and take things personally. And all this information accumulates and affects our mood.

      Unfortunately, most of the information is negative, because there is a lot of it. The news is always talking about crimes, disasters and people’s misfortunes. In addition, our friends complain to us about their problems. And whether we like it or not, we absorb this information. And our mood automatically changes. And with it, our perception of the events around us changes.

      I’m telling you this because it’s important. Information affects our mood and outlook. We need to learn how to filter the information that comes to us. Create a filter that it must pass through before we can react to it.

      I suggest making a rule. You don’t make a specific decision or draw a conclusion until you have tested the information for truth, importance, and usefulness.

      If the information is obviously false, why would you take it into account and react to it in any way. And if there is no way to verify it, then take it neutrally. You can give it the status of “unverified information”. This way you will protect yourself from possible wrong decisions and actions.

      If the information is very important and you need to react to it as quickly as possible, and there is no time to check it, then you should be guided by common sense and principles that you have. After all, in such stressful situations, you can be told how to act, and if you make a mistake, you will regret later that you listened to someone else.

      The usefulness of information is an important criterion. If the information is not useful to you and your family, why think about it and take it personally. For example, if your friends tell you about political conspiracies and the fact that we are ruled by secret societies, or about how the main character of a TV series cheated on his wife and ten episodes later it turned out that he had a child by a servant, and so on… This can all be interesting at first glance, of course, but trust me, it’s a waste of time. They will try to involve you in these arguments to prove their point. Your head will be occupied with thoughts that will do you no good. They will only steal your precious time for meaningless arguments.

      We must choose what to pay attention to. Based on this choice, we form our picture of the world and our relationship with it.

      Choice

      Agree that everyone chooses for himself how to act in a particular situation, for example, to run through a red traffic light or to wait for a green light. Give way to an elderly person on the bus or pretend not to notice him. Pretend you’re asleep or stare at your phone pretending you’re seriously engaged in something.

      In the same way, someone has chosen for himself the widespread position that everything bad that happens in our country is the fault of officials and the president. And they will beat their chests that if he were president, everything would change in the country at once and life would be better.

      Every day we all find in our heads a lot of answers to questions that no one has asked us. But we think it’s important or interesting. We think about stories we’ve heard from our friends, about problems in our family, in our relatives, about problems at work. About shows and movies that interest us. About the news we read and see on the internet, not to mention the endless stream of information from mobile apps, video channels and social networks.

      All of this certainly affects us. Our choices and our lives. And, as a rule, we don’t take it seriously.

      But we can choose which questions are worth thinking about and which are not worth paying attention to.

      Perhaps some of you have at least once thought about these questions: “Why do I live? What is my mission in this life? What is my destiny? What is the meaning of life? Why exactly is this happening to me?”

      Or a series of questions like these: “How do I become successful? How can I realize my dream? What profession should I choose? Where should I go to study? What should I be? How do I become famous? How to become rich?”

      I deliberately separated these questions because they differ in ideology. And of course, by the age of the person. As people age, their opinions and their beliefs change, just as their living conditions change and their questions change accordingly.

      The main difference between these questions is what they focus on. The first set of questions are questions whose answers will not bring monetary rewards and most likely will not improve your financial situation. These answers will lead to new questions that require a meticulous approach and often lead us to dead ends. And that is why people do not want to look for answers to them, because not everyone is ready to dig into themselves, much less to change. Work on yourself, look for sources of knowledge and self-development. Therefore, people refer them to rhetorical or philosophical questions. To just speculate on this topic without making concrete decisions. It seems to talk about it, and it is already good, especially if you argue with another person, proving your rightness.

      The second block is questions, the answer to which gives a concrete guide to action, which should be done now. And most importantly, these questions solve the material situation of a person. That is, our material well-being depends on the solution of these questions. Will we starve or will we be fed and warm. Many “spiritualized people” will say that all these issues are the embodiment of the modern inquiry of our ego. The lust for material goods and wealth. Gaining popularity and fame in the eyes of others. To be more socially relevant than others, or, we can say, more simply, to be special, not like everyone else. Becoming better than others. To become richer than others, and so on.

      You have to agree that after these words, it already begins to smell of pride and ego. And in order not to go to extremes, we need to keep a balance. It is like the story about Buddha, who was sitting on the bank of the river under a big tree and meditating, renouncing all worldly goods. And by chance he heard musicians floating along the river talking to each other. One of the musicians taught his student: “If you pull a string too tightly, it will break. If you pull a string too loosely, you won’t be able to play.” It was then that the realization of the Middle Way came to him: Truth is in the balance between extremes.

      The most interesting thing is that throughout our lives we are constantly making choices that directly depend on what questions we put before ourselves at any given moment in our lives. And this choice influences our life path.

      We make choices all the time, from what we eat for breakfast to what time to set the alarm clock.

      And that would be okay if it were easy. But in fact, we make choices on automatic, without thinking about what this choice, this decision, will affect in the future. And of course, as a consequence, we live in a series of days and events woven from our small decisions and choices. And when most of the decisions we make on automatic, we are in a state of “swamp” or, as it is commonly said, we are adrift. And unfortunately, this suits us. Why bother and think unnecessarily, if we can live like everyone else. And we are taught to live like everyone else by TV, Internet and social networks, where we are told: take a mortgage, buy products at low prices with incomprehensible composition and have more rest. Watch soap operas, drink beer, eat sausages and have babies, and so on. I’m not talking about movie heroes, showbiz stars, from whom people take an example.

      From all this we can draw a simple conclusion: we are confused and do not understand what we really need. As a consequence, we do not understand what we need to do to change ourselves and our lives. And often we don’t even want to change. We just want to consume, have all the benefits of life and still be ourselves.

      Why am I telling you this?

      Because we all need to realize one simple truth. We can think that tomorrow everything

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