[cmroanirgo]

A seemingly pithy statement would be: Avoid Avoidance.

Most spiritual texts talk of the dangers of following desires, and avoiding something is almost the same as following one's desires. The degree of difference is in how you look, either toward what you want, or away from what you don't want.

Unfortunately, as I go thru life I realise the spiritual texts are probably right and that giving into desires leads to more selfishness, which leads to giving into more desires... a never-ending cycle.

So I would dispute the wisdom in 'filtering' out undesirables, and realise that we're all on this rock, and being selfish leads nowhere but different peoples being unable to communicate and relate.

It's better to learn acceptance, and if something comes your way that you don't like, then try and learn why it is so & why you react so. Asking "why?" Is a far more powerful concept than 'filtering'.

[sugarpile]

Learning acceptance is the same as avoiding your, to this point, natural response :)

Some spiritual texts (stoic philosophy) place an emphasis on guarding your impressions to external events (e.g., deciding I have a flat tire, this is bad, my day is ruined) because if you solely restrict your judgement of good/bad to things in your control then you'll never fail to avoid what you want to avoid.

Personally, I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle: in general you should seek to embody Marcus Aurelius' "This doesn't _have_ to affect you" quote but there are also times where being affected by things is a natural and healthy human emotion and at those times you should not avoid feeling them and instead practice sitting with them, understanding them, and learning from them.