Build Mental Firewalls.

In network security, a firewall ¹ is a device that monitors incoming and outgoing network traffic and decides whether to allow or block specific traffic based on a defined set of security rules. The firewall is a first line of defence that establishes a barrier between secured and controlled internal networks that can be trusted and untrusted from outside networks, such as the Internet. Just as a network requires a firewall to determine the inbound and outbound traffic it allows, we must also create mental firewalls for ourselves. We live in a high-paced world where we are constantly bombarded with a deluge of data, and it is somewhat impossible to keep up, let alone turn the data into information.

A mental firewall is a line of defence against negative thoughts, emotional hijack, dealing with triggering statements, traumatic events, unwhole individuals, family drama, corporate politics, drama queens, chaos kings, name-calling, and public humiliation, among other challenging situations that we all have to deal with as some point in life. It is not a matter of if but of when people and situations will push our emotional hot buttons. As the saying goes, it is not about what you hear or what you are called, it is about what you listen to. We all have a choice in life, either to let situations and circumstances lessen us or learn the lesson, get bitter or get better, stay stuck with the mess or get the message. With a mental firewall, you know that you have full agency over the thoughts and words that you allow to get through to you.

As American poet Maya Angelou often said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” People are going to show you their true colour eventually at some point. With your mental firewall well tuned, you can determine the data to process information, the people to keep in your inner circle or to love from a distance, differentiate between noise and signal, quality people and time wasters and ultimately determine what and which relationships/thoughts you want to nurture. Life is too short to allow everyone or every criticism, feedback and opinion to get to you. The key is always to tune your mental firewall and allow only quality traffic, people, and thoughts into your life.

Meditations

Daily Calm with Tamara Levitt – Spark

If we are fortunate, someone will arrive by our side during our darkest moments. When we are most in need, someone will believe in us, aid us, and shine a light on the path forward. Sometimes, our lifelines don’t come from traditional family; perhaps they are found in our friends. The trusted souls who have come into our lives and, in times of challenge, shine light to the darkness.

“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”― Albert Schweitzer

Daily Jay with Jay Shetty – Pain Management

Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional. Pain is an unavoidable part of life, and yet suffering depends on what you do with the pain that comes your way. According to a research study conducted by researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, which measured the effects of mindfulness on pain perception and brain activity. They found that mindfulness meditation engages a unique self-referential nociceptive filtering mechanism to reduce the elaboration of pain.

Mindfulness can be a tool for dealing with discomfort. It can lessen or manage our perception of pain. While there is no escaping or eliminating pain, we do have a choice of how we approach it. We don’t have to be our pain; instead of it becoming our whole life, we can reframe it as part of life.

Pain can be so overwhelming that it seems like nothing else exists. It can also feel impossible to decouple the pain itself from our experience of it. However, we do have agency over whether we heighten or diminish its impact, whether we heighten or diminish our suffering.

Daily Trip with Jeff Warren – Recover Faster

Podcast