protected function autoloadFilesAndDirectories()
    {
        // Load files/directories from config file
        $autoload = config('nodes.autoload', null);
        if (empty($autoload)) {
            return;
        }

        foreach ($autoload as $item) {
            // Retrieve full path of item
            $itemPath = base_path($item);

            // If item doesn't exist, we'll skip it.
            if (!file_exists($itemPath)) {
                continue;
            }

            // If item is a file, we'll load it.
            //
            // If item is a directory, we'll recursively
            // go through it and load all the files we find.
            if (is_file($itemPath)) {
                include $itemPath;
            } else {
                load_directory($itemPath);
            }
        }
    }