The first of many things you’ll eliminate when you set out to do any serious thinking is other people. They are simply not a factor; not what they say, do, believe, or think they think. They might cook a mean waffle or know some good jokes or even possess a few valuable insights — fine words butter no parsnips, the night rinses what the day has soaped, when in the donkey’s house do not speak of ears — but when it comes to your own sovereign mind, you can’t let anyone else in. Those closest pose the greatest threat. You must guard your interior space jealously to keep it uncontaminated by outside influences. Get away from people. Shut them out as completely as possible, especially in the beginning. Then, if and when you let them back in, they’ll have little or no power to influence your thinking because, for the first time, your thoughts will be your own. 

     Most of one’s life is one prolonged effort to
     prevent oneself thinking. -Aldous Huxley