Hello and welcome back to practicing human, the podcast where every day we're getting a little better at life.

I'm your host, Corey Miscara.

In today's episode, we're going to talk about the importance of surrounding yourself with positive influences.

More to come on that in a moment.

First, let's settle in together with the sound of the bells.

So... So the other day I wrote a post on Twitter and Instagram.

And by the way, if you're not following me on Twitter and Instagram,

I encourage it because I put a lot of teachings there.

But this particular post, I said, the old school thought was that you're the average of the people you spend the most time with.

I think there's that famous Stephen Covey quote that says you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

And then I said, the new school way of thinking is you're the average of the people you most see in your news feed. And I acknowledge that this is, of course, an overly

simplistic view, but it's worth evaluating whose ideas you surround yourself with. because a lot of this does influence how you

think, how you relate to the world, and what you believe. And it's less about the people themselves.

It's not like you're becoming the average of those people, but more about the ideas and the

content that they're sharing. If you think about how many of your early beliefs and now significant beliefs about how the world works

and how people respond and political beliefs, religious beliefs,

a lot of this is influenced by the people you grew up with, family,

the influences on your life at an early age during childhood, even into adulthood.

And while you are an autonomous human being and you can make your own decisions

and create your own beliefs and think critically about certain things, and that

is hugely encouraged always. It would be naive not to recognize that the thoughts, the ideas,

the narratives that we're seeing on a regular basis are not also influencing the thoughts that

...