Fighting Confirmation bias
More wisdom from the book I'm reading. How to fight confirmation bias: Make it easier for people to disagree with us, two make a discernment of whether to ask open or closed questions depending on the situation to surface contrary information, third check yourself by considering the opposite (including pressing yourself to have a positive attitude). When our predictions and opinions clash with the universes averages the universe usually wins.
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This is a good thing to think about. We all do it, we all seek others who will confirm our biases. I have two friends who do this, very liberal. So they each have tried to engage me in some kind of awfully mean stuff about some politician they hate. When I give them the opposite side, they don't like it. Thank you for reminding me this is confirmation bias stuff. I am a natural skeptic and like to look at all sides. I want to know both sides. Then I make up my mind using logic and rational thinking. This use of logic and rational thinking has gone out the window in people these days.
That is so relevant it's almost prophetic. I actually read this last night and waited to respond because something came up that went right against this very lesson. Check myself, walk and speak with grace. My hero who set me on the right path 6 years ago would have approved. Thich Nhat Hahn, the late Buddist monk and author. I love his gentle wisdom. A lot of the talks I've attended the last few years are on non duality. Where there's only the illusion of separatness and that we don't create ourselves. This last one has really opened my eyes to compassion. I only think I know what's best because of what my life has conditioned me to think. Given different circumstances it could be another story. Literally because that's what a lot of beliefs are. An idea that gets reinforced so much that we come to think it's the only right idea, when, in reality it's just another story. Rock on!