The Firewall

When a computer is connected to the Internet it can receive all manner of information. Much of this is useful, much is desired and sadly much is harmful both to the computer and the user! To help out with this situation most computers will have a firewall, a set of arrangements to prevent undesired or harmful material reaching the computer and its user. You and I also, whether we use computers or not, are also constantly exposed to masses of information much of which is harmful and we need a personal type of firewall to protect us.

How does a firewall work? I am no expert but there are a couple of pointers. Firstly the computer firewall will block everything from anyone it has been told to block. You and I should do likewise. If you have had a bad experience of any particular source, be it a person or an organisation then blank it out. Ignore it in future. Don't go near it or them. Pay no attention.

Another approach computer firewalls use is to only allow into the computer information that has been requested by the user. Good plan for life. Pay no heed to folks offering you info you did not ask for! This cuts down dramatically the daily load. You can safely ignore all advertising, junk mail, fliers etc you encounter on the streets, in the media or on the Internet. Any approaches from commercial organisations, politicians, religionists or senders of spam you can blank out and your life will be richer and calmer as a result. If however you approach any of these groups or individuals seeking information or advice all well and good.

Remember this - most unasked for approaches make promises to you. Most promises will not be fulfilled. Expecting such is to be disappointed. How much disappointment can we handle? There is a limit. As said before -trust yourself, your family and your friends. You know them well, you know how to work with them, you can adjust to their individual personalities. But mostly think calmly and trust yourself

First Point - No certainty.

The first wise observation to make is that in the future nothing is certain. Anyone who offers us certainty in the future must be approached with caution. That politician's promise, that product's wonderous qualities, or that journalist's prediction should all be looked at carefully. It is unlikely that they all will be true. And of course you know that to be true. We all know that certainty is not to be had but at times we let our emotions govern our reason, accept the story being told and not infrequently see it fail to come true and suffer disappointment. The more stories we are told giving hope the more that fail to be realised the more disappoinmtent we feel. What does that do to a person? Someone once said that the only two certainties in life are Death and Taxes. That catches the two most important truths about us. We are all mortal beings for whom life is precious but who know that we will die and we are all social creatures who cannot survive alone and who pay taxes as a means of getting the help we need at times from strangers. There are those who preach against death as final and others who preach against taxes as evil. They are both wrong. As you well know! Be confident in your gut feelings.

The Pitch

Wisdom is the ability to make good decisions for the future despite a lack of adequate information. That will be the task most of the time. If we have all the information (which is unusual) and make bad decisions that is not unwise - that is stupid!

Mostly we don't have enough information to decide exactly what is best and must do the best we can. I will try to show how that might best be done using lots of examples.

My most important advice is this - listen carefully to your own thoughts about a situation. We are all bombarded by other people giving us advice. Most of those folks want something in return - money, votes, whatever and so there advice is to be considered very carefully. I am not of course suggesting that we should ignore expert factual information. There are situations we need to act on where we don't have all the information we need and experts do exist and are to be heeded. Notwithstanding their sometimes spectacular failures they do get it right more often than not. (We fly in aircraft and trust with our lives the folks who design, build maintain and fly these marvellous machines. They are experts and they are right many times more often than they are wrong)

I am more concerned that we do not listen too much to the wider noise from advertising, politics, journalism, media, religion or whatever, all of whom try to tell us what to do for their own ends. By and large their views should be put carefully in their place. You and I know far more about our own situation than any of these folks and I would give as my biggest and most important advice that you listen carefully to yourself and as far as possible ignore these distracting voices. You are much more capable than these folks would wish you to believe. I wish to encourage you to have more self confidence in your own inner strength and knowledge. Go to genuine experts for the facts but, as they will seldom be enough, make up your own mind thereafter. You have the ability. Stay calm, sit quietly, think about what you have experienced and what you know and make up your mind. You will be right more often than you will be wrong. Your life will be the better for it. I will develop this theme over time and show how it can work.