Today I have many duties and responsibilities, but none more important than standing guard at the door of my mind. I need to guard the entrance to my thought as carefully as I guard my material possessions. I always keep my car and apartment locked, and I should protect my mind just as conscientiously. I should stand beside its entrance like a strong-armed guard, watching diligently to see what thoughts try to enter. After all, my thoughts are, by a considerable margin, the most valuable possessions I own. They have more power than any amount of money or any material object, for they are the forces that literally create my life. I am happy only if my thoughts are happy, and I am sad when my thoughts are sad. It’s strange that I so often leave such valuable commodities undefended. I go through most days with my mind as wide open as a bank with unlocked doors and safes. It’s like I’m saying to the nastiest and most destructive thoughts: “Come right in. Take my life over.” Today, though, I’ll be more attentive. I’ll be an observant and dutiful sentinel at the entrance to my mind. Of all my obligations today, none is nearly as important as this, for nothing can assemble or demolish a happy day but my thoughts.