Thread by @GodPlaysCards

Are you living up to your full potential?

In a world of endless content, distraction is your greatest adversary.

Saint Augustine lamented the chains of habit and the lure of fleeting pleasures that pulled him from his purpose.

A🧵 on how to break free and reclaim your soul.

Before he was a saint, Augustine was lost.

He chased pleasure, fame, and intellectual pride.

In Confessions, he describes how his soul was “torn to pieces” by desires he could not control.

He wasn’t unique. He was human.

We are creatures of habit. And in the digital age, our habits are hijacked.

Scroll. Click. Watch. Repeat.

We consume so much—but feel emptier than ever.

Augustine's turning point came with a whisper.

He heard a child’s voice sing: “Take up and read.”

Opening the Scriptures, he read a passage that shattered him—and transformed him.

It wasn’t about knowledge. It was about surrender.

He realized that knowing what’s right means nothing if you lack the will to do it.

That’s the real war: not knowledge vs. ignorance—but will vs. desire.

He wrote:

“The mind commands the body, and it obeys. The mind commands itself, and it resists.”

Sound familiar?

You say you’ll stop watching/playing/scrolling.
You swear this week will be different.
You know what you should do.

But something inside (the lesser self) says: “Just one more…”

Augustine called it concupiscence—the deep-seated craving for lesser things.

He knew this enemy well: it doesn’t roar, it whispers.

It doesn’t break in—it waits to be invited.

The modern equivalent?

Notifications. Clickbait. Video Games, Streaming services.

Dopamine loops engineered by trillion-dollar tech companies.

Your attention is a limited resource, and it is being fought for on multiple fronts.

But here’s a truth Augustine learned, one that actually worthwhile remembering:

You are not your cravings.

You are what you choose to love—and love rightly.

“My weight is my love,” he wrote. “By it I am carried wherever I am carried.”

He didn’t suppress or ignore these desires; he confronted them head-on by acknowledging their grip on him.

To reclaim your soul, you must reorder your loves.

Put what’s eternal above what’s urgent.
Put purpose above pleasure.
Put creation above consumption.

That reordering became possible through grace, not sheer willpower.

After his conversion, Augustine did not isolate himself. He lived in community, pursued a disciplined monastic life.

The structure helped him avoid falling back into old temptations.

The great Jash Dholani @oldbooksguy recently wrote the following banger that I suggest you print out and put on your desk. 👇

@oldbooksguy This isn’t a guilt trip. It’s an invitation.

An invitation to wake up.

To stop numbing yourself with noise—and to finally listen to that quiet voice inside.

The one asking:
What am I here for? Who can I become?

@oldbooksguy Start small.

Replace the scroll with silence.
The binge with a book.
The game with a business idea.
The passive flick with an active step.

Train your will like a muscle—because that’s what it is.

@oldbooksguy The ancients didn’t have smartphones.
But they knew this war.

Marcus Aurelius wrote:

“You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

@oldbooksguy The Stoics, the Saints, the Sages—they all arrived at the same truth:

Freedom is inner mastery.

Discipline isn’t punishment—it’s liberation.

@oldbooksguy Augustine didn’t become a saint because he was perfect.
He became a saint because he fought the battle—and kept fighting.

He showed that even a life of sin (distraction) can be turned into a life of purpose.

@oldbooksguy And that’s the point.

You don’t need a perfect plan.

You just need to start.

Here is what I advice: Set the bar low and reclaim halve an hour per day, do this the entire week.

Know in advance it is actually something you won't regret.

Win that battle and use it as momentum.

@oldbooksguy Because once you break the chains of distraction, something remarkable happens:

You remember who you are.

You stop reacting—and start creating.
You stop drifting—and start becoming.

@oldbooksguy Augustine didn't try to kill desire; he redirected it. His solution wasn’t repression—it was transformation.

He came to see that the only thing vast enough to satisfy the human heart is God.

Your rest isn’t in more content.

It’s in purpose. Silence. Soul.

@oldbooksguy Distraction is easy in the moment but harder in the long run.
Purpose is hard in the moment, but easier in the long run.

But one is fleeting.
The other is eternal.

Which will you choose?

@oldbooksguy If this thread stirred something in you, don’t let the moment fade.

Follow @GodPlaysCards for more practical wisdom.

📕 Pick up a book, close your screen.
🕯️ Take 10 minutes to be in silence
📴 Explore the world, not to escape, but to return to yourself

Your soul is waiting.