11/18/19 Q: Have any facts changed recently? Do You Need to Change Your Beliefs?

John Maynard Keynes once said, “I change my mind when the facts change”.  The healthiest and wisest among us change their minds when the facts change.  Listening to others and changing your mind when the facts change should be celebrated.  We need to stay open and continue to search for new facts.  Too many of us hold on rigidly to outdated beliefs that no longer serve our current mission.  Particularly, the story we tell ourselves about our past.  Those facts, can and must be re-interpreted to best serve us in the present.  Any regrets, any times when you didn’t act as your best self, can be re-interpreted as learning opportunities to improve.  If you tell continuously tell stories about the times when you “gave up” “or weren’t good enough” these stories will influence your current identity (repeated-beingness) and therefore your current behavior.

Nietzsche tells us that, “like a snake, we will perish if we can’t shed our skin of these self-defeating thoughts”.  Modern philosophers Paul Napper and Anthony Roo in their book, “The Power of Agency” tells us that “to have full agency you need to update your beliefs periodically”.  You can’t update your beliefs if you’re not open to change.

So, when you have a self-defeating thought, ask yourself, “what else can this mean?”  These wise philosophers implore us to stay open to the endless possibilities of meaning that you can attribute to events throughout the day.  This flexibility helps us build an identity that we can be proud of.  With a strong identity, we will step up to behave in a way that’s aligned with that identity.

You can practice this in every conversation by showing people you disagree with respect by listening to their arguments without judgment.  Ask questions!  Figure out why they believe what they believe.  This simple act will go a long way toward helping you become a great leader and an empathetic teammate that people want to communicate with.  You don’t have to agree with them, but you can respect them and yourself by listening without criticism or complaint. Then you can rub the new knowledge up against your current beliefs to see if any of their truths can serve you.

             #1. Lets be wise #5-Let’s love and forgive all #identity