Sheep

Ok so it is not rocket science. I reckon it is more important than that.
It might almost be misunderstood but this being the start of the year and all, for me it matters that I have a check-up now, so I am best prepared in myself for what may be ahead. I intend making monthly appointments with my doctor (after the public holiday and the surgeries open)
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I admit this year I am seeing it a little differently. I have had no hesitation in doing physical check-ups and it seems to me to be reasonable and a good time to do a metal check-up as well.
They say, “healthy body, healthy mind.” I don’t know that necessarily follows. For sure the body needs to be in reasonable shape to encourage mental development without distraction. But I can only speak for myself in thinking a healthy body does not automatically mean a healthy mind. I know it helps, and I have cleared my mind short term by going for a run. Yet I do know that at times having a healthy body has merely enabled me to indulge in unhealthy mind activities.
They say, “garbage in, garbage out.” I know that is the case physically and I reckon it is the case mentally too. I deliberately watch what goes into my mind. There are things I avoid. Maybe they are ok for some but I know for me they are downers.
For me there is nothing neutral. Some things are just information but even those can either inspire me or depress me. And it is weird, some things that may contain depressing information, but I can be better for it. I can be inspired to action not out of anger but in wanting to do my part to make things better. Yet there is other stuff which are like having a bath in dirty water. They do not do me any good, as seen by the way they make me feel and maybe even evidenced by my resulting actions.
Maybe I am not really into New Year's resolutions, but I am into anytime resolutions. For me it is important that I guard my motivations. I am reminded of what I have seen in sheep pens. How a farmer is at the gate and moves the gate backwards and forwards allowing some sheep to go one way and some sheep another. I have no memory of why it is being done (maybe it is a shearing thing) but it does seem an appropriate analogy. Some things I am happy to entertain while others I want to send away and not give them time in my head.
I may have no control over their arrival, but I do have control over what I do with them.
So that is the plan. Mostly it works and sometimes it doesn’t. A sheep gets in and it is a troublemaker. I know I am on my guard against a sheep like that next time.