Please allow me to serve you with these few thought nuggets that may optimise your navigation of this treacherous terrain we call life.

1. Whatever opinion anyone has about anything, even you, is a reflection of their cognitive condition. Never take anything personally.
2. Everyone you will ever meet is doing their best with the narratives they have bought into. While there is always an opportunity to gain insight or influence, the instant you label or stereotype them, vanquishes any such possibility. Never assume ill-intent or reduce your engagement to a single narrative if you have any intentions to gain insight or influence the other.
3. There are only two wholesome reasons for engaging others: to gain insight or influence or both. If you are not engaging for these reasons, then you are probably standing on a self-righteous pedestal, bashing others with your opinion. It’s just a pollution of our cognitive environment and a waste of energy. Please don’t do it.
4. What you learn about your world in mainstream news and on social media is only a minute curated (often distorted) narrative of reality. If you should wish to hold an opinion about anything, you need to expose yourself to more coal-face data than what you glean from the news and social media. Anything short of that just makes you foolish. As the biblical proverb tells us: even a fool looks wise when they are quiet. Never hold an opinion on anything when you don’t have first-hand access to the data that informs it.