#Opinions April 11

by Coach4aday · April 11, 2022

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Today’s word for the 30-Day Quotation Coach4aday Challenge is OPINIONS.

What I am getting ready to write in the next couple of sentences is not something I am personally proud of. Using self-reflection has exposed me to a lot of personal flaws. One I am working hard to eliminate my reaction to different OPINIONS.

Without effort I can default to dismissing or devaluing anyone who had a different viewpoint than mine. I might not be externally ugly about it, but my internal voice would find flaws with the other person and that meant choosing not to value them because of their position.

In essence every time I encountered a different OPINION, I created a narrative where I was smarter, more knowledgeable, or had superior morals than the other person. Not a proud confession but a true one. Watching cable news networks or surfing social networks only seemed to feed that viewpoint. What helps is attempting to apply the life lessons found in the Gospels of Luke, John, Matthew, and Mark.

Confirmation Bias

I realize that there is a psychological condition called “Cognitive Dissonance”. As part of this condition there exist a bias. That bias is known as “Confirmation Bias”.

What Confirmation Bias does is the following. We form an OPINION, we embrace information that confirms that OPINION while ignoring, or rejecting, information that casts doubt on it. It is not easy to overcome. We all want information that validates our OPINION. I will say it again this is not easy. It is humbling. Yet going on that self-reflective journey often allows interesting and very different people to come into your life.