Who Gets Access To Your Energy?
Issue 011 | On The Concentric Circle Security Model
“You become the average of what you expose yourself to… people, ideas, media, environments. Audit these things ruthlessly.” - Bobert Le’UnBending
I. Situation Report
Welcome to a new week of Morning Thunder.
(With the occasional systems issue related afternoon drizzle)
Before we begin, let me orient you to what we’re building here.
I designed this series for anyone to be able to drop into the arc at any point and extract value in the form of actionable frameworks. These frameworks can be applied to daily life as soon as you learn about them, and when paired with short assignments designed to remind you of the agency within you, I’ve crafted tools to help you create real, noticeable, lasting change.
Per Aspera Ad Astra | Through Hardships to The Gorydamn Stars
Every week touches on each phase of The MINDSET Transformation Process while focusing on one phase specifically. The overall arc takes readers, viewers, and listeners through the process of rebuilding their mental operating system over the course of a single QuarterSeason, in keeping with the Campaign Calendar that I developed to create radical change in my life.
I share with you, because “the more we share, the more one bowl will be plentiful”.
The five phases: Awareness, Extraction, Reconstruction, Weaponization, Liberation.
This week, we focus on Awareness, that is: seeing clearly before we act.
My friends, it is Monday, December 15th, in the year of our shared crisis before the comeback, 2025. Good day to you all! I bring you Thunder.
Are you with me?
It’s late morning, windy, and frigid here on Matilda. Coffee’s almost as hot as my keyboard. Mind’s clear. I feel good.
The horrors may be unrelenting, but so are we, yes?
2026 is not far below the horizon, and I would have you enter the new year with clarity and focus. I can only imagine the thoughts that weigh upon your mind during these strange days, but I do imagine you seek a path to become stronger to face what’s coming.
Aside from carrying Faith over Fear, no matter where you are in life, no matter who you are, or what you have going on, it is never a bad time to observe who is around you... and what your relationship with them truly is.
It has been said time and again that you become the average of the people you most closely surround yourself with.
So who are they?
Do they inspire growth and greatness within you? Or are you encouraged to stay stagnant, urged to regress, even?
Today we map who’s in your life and why. Most people grant full access like it’s free.
It’s not.
Your energy is currency. Spend it wisely or become a husk of yourself as others withdraw from you as though you were an ATM.
II. Framework 1: The Concentric Circle Security Model
Core Principle: Proximity is privilege. Access is earned. Energy is finite.
Think of your life as a series of concentric circles radiating outward from your core. The closer someone is to the center, the more access they have to your energy, your time, your vulnerability, your future.
Not everyone belongs in every circle. Most people belong outside all of them.
Rock with me now, this is where the fun begins.
Nothing in life is perfect, and no one falls perfectly into a box. So we have The Zones:
You’re familiar with the Circle of Trust - The protected inner ring, perfectly bent in unbroken unity.
These are the people who have earned access through consistent reciprocity. They show up. They invest. They protect your energy as fiercely as you protect theirs. Entry here is not granted by blood, history, or obligation. It is earned daily through demonstrated loyalty and mutual growth.
This circle should be small. Intimate. Sacred.
Keeping paranoia out of the equation, The Triangle of Suspicion is for the newly encountered who are still under active observation.
These are people exhibiting questionable behavior. We’re not definitively naming energy/time vampires, enemies or dangerous characters yet, but patterns have emerged that warrant attention. They’re being watched. Trust is on probation. They can move inward through consistent positive action, or outward through continued red flags.
There exists rope all around us. Whether or not they entangle themselves in poor decisions and negative behavior is their own decision.
And for the strange players and bad actors, we come to the Rhombus of Doubt. If there is evidence to support the claim, cast doubt upon their ability to cause positive impacts on your life. HashTag Dispatch Drag, and Maintain distance.
You will know them by their actions when you encounter them. Something will feel off. The vibe will not align. You may be lacking in the ability to articulate it fully, but your nervous system registers discord very well, it knows what is dangerous to itself.
These people get surface-level interaction only. Professional courtesy. No vulnerability. No access to your inner world.
If someone falls Outside All Shapes, they are simply not relevant to mission.
The vast majority of people fall here. Don’t think of it as cruel, you should view it as not just mathematical, but an honor to your ancestors, and an honor to yourself.
How many beings have lived and fought in the arena of life, navigating unspeakable challenges and overcoming them all, adding a single link in the chain of your legacy?
For you to be born today from a total of 12 previous generations, you needed a total of over 4,000 ancestors over the last 400 years alone.
Do you think you are the result of people spending their energy and time recklessly?
You have finite energy. Infinite demands. Most people simply don’t factor into your trajectory. Wish them well from a distance. Keep moving.
Critical Truth:
Biological relation does not grant automatic access to the Circle of Trust. Neither does historical connection. The friend you’ve known for twenty years may belong in the Rhombus of Doubt if they’ve spent those years draining you. The family member who shares your blood may belong outside all shapes if they’ve proven themselves hostile to your growth or detrimental to your peace.
Trust is earned daily through reciprocal effort.
Past deposits don’t cover present withdrawals indefinitely.
III. Framework 3: The Proximity Principle
Core Principle: You become the average of what you expose yourself to.
This isn’t limited to people. It extends to everything that has access to your mind:
People: Who do you spend the most time with? What are their values? Their ambitions? Their habits? Their relationship with growth?
Ideas: What content do you consume? What beliefs do you marinate in? What philosophies shape your internal dialogue?
Media: What do you watch, read, listen to? Does it elevate or sedate? Inspire or numb?
Environments: Where do you spend your hours? Does your physical space support the person you’re becoming or anchor you to who you’ve been?
Learning to audit my life and take accountability for my actions; Looking myself in the mirror and saying “I know you’re dealing with a lot, and I understand that you’re tired, but we have to do better”, living my life with intention and keeping things in my orbit that affect me positively that I can affect well in turn.
Auditing yourself brings awareness, so we will learn to condition and strengthen that skill before the new year. You want to Campaign for your future with seriousness, yes?
Audit yourself often, and ruthlessly.
Everything with proximity to your core is shaping you, whether you are consciously aware of these changes or not. With this in mind we must then ask ourselves whether you’re curating that influence intentionally or absorbing it passively.
Passive absorption, allowing life to happen to you as you then react in response is how you end up drifting in life and losing your way.
Intentional curation is how dream designers build the lives of wildest imagination and achieve escape velocity from the shackles that once tethered them.
IV. Campaign Orders | A Reflection
To move forward into the new year as untethered as possible, perform an audit.
The Assignment:
Map every significant person in your life to the zones:
- Circle of Trust: Who has earned this through consistent reciprocity?
- Triangle of Suspicion: Who is currently under observation?
- Rhombus of Doubt: Who gets maintained distance?
- Outside All Shapes: Who is simply not relevant to mission?
This is not sentimentality, this is reconnaissance. This work is for you and you alone, so be honest.
Ask yourself for each person:
- Do they inspire growth or encourage stagnation?
- Is energy exchanged reciprocally or drained unilaterally?
- Are they in their current position because of present behavior or past history?
Secondary Audit:
Beyond people, what ideas, media, and environments have proximity to your core? Do they serve the person you’re becoming?
Keep what you love most. Cull what rebels against your future self. Make changes where you must.
Patience in your persistence. Progress will come.
V. Witness/Practice
I grew up granting access based on biological obligation.
Family meant automatic Circle of Trust membership. Blood meant loyalty was owed regardless of behavior. History meant the door stayed open no matter how many times someone walked through it to cause damage.
This nearly destroyed me.
It took years, and a complete psychological collapse, then restructure, to understand that proximity is privilege, not birthright. That some people with my last name belonged outside all shapes. That some strangers I’d known for months had earned deeper trust than relatives I’d known for decades.
When I finally performed this audit honestly, I had to sever ties with my entire immediate family. Not because I wanted it, because the math of my future self demanded it. They were not in my Circle of Trust. They were active threats to my reconstruction.
The extraction was surgical. The healing began the moment distance was established.
Now my Circle of Trust is small. My Triangle of Suspicion is actively monitored. My Rhombus of Doubt is vast, and that’s fine. Most people don’t need access to my core. Most people are simply not relevant to the mission.
This isn’t coldness. It’s clarity.
This isn’t cruelty. It’s self-preservation.
Our furthest and most common ancestors knew very well that choosing the wrong tribe would get them killed, if not worse.
And it is this, that the foundation of everything else gets built on.
Who are your people, who are your family, who are your found family? Who makes you feel small, who limits you, who brings distraction?
Who belongs in your tribe as we look forward to 2026, and who has proven that doubt should be cast upon them?
VI. Transmission End..
You cannot Campaign effectively with saboteurs in your inner circle.
You cannot build with people tearing down what you construct.
You cannot become the person you’re meant to be while surrounded by those who need you to stay small.
Before you march boldly into the new year, know who’s marching with you, and who needs to be left at the gates.
Your energy is currency. Your proximity is privilege. Your Circle of Trust is sacred ground.
Defend it accordingly.
Tomorrow we continue the Awareness phase, but today, perform the audit.
You can’t leave what you can’t see. Start by seeing who has access.
Patience with your persistence. Progress will come. Lux Ex Tenebris | Light From Darkness Per Aspera Ad Astra Through Hardships to The Gorydamn Stars - Isaac
