Today we're going to basically remind you of a simple fact: you're not always right.
I'm not always right.
No one is always right, aside from a few potential instances of the supernatural, but we're not going to get into that today.
Today's tip is to question yourself. Question your own beliefs, and be willing to address them when they prove to be less than accurate.
In my life there have been two ways I've found beliefs to be inaccurate: either I am presented with information that directly contradicts them, or I act on them and do not get the desired result, often repeatedly.
Here's an example of the first way: I used to believe that the personality tests that would give you a personality type like "INFJ" were actually based on solid science, that you could actually use them for something. Then one day my brother brings up the fact that they're only barely more scientific than the tests to choose your Hogwarts House. I didn't believe him, at all, so I went and looked it up. Turns out he was right, and I was wrong. The result was a few hours of mild psychological turmoil (changing beliefs is never easy), and eventually I was able to accept the new belief which happened to be more accurate.
As an example of the second way, allow me to explain how I found out that luck is a prerequisite for success. I grew up, same as many millennials, believing that hard work, determination, and a little bit of talent were all you needed to be successful. Throughout my time in school, that seemed to be accurate, because as long as I put in a good deal of effort, I succeeded academically. Then I faced the real world, where an education is helpful, but doesn't often make up for luck. I knew people who worked their asses off to become professional actors, but didn't have the good luck to be "discovered" like the ones that get sent from all over the nation to Hollywood. I've known people who worked extremely hard to get a particular job, only to find that they lacked the connections that they couldn't have gotten from outside the industry without dumb luck. I, myself, enlisted in the military, working hard to try to become a career Chaplain, and never even got close. I had the bad luck of a severe psychological reaction to some part of training, and it resulted in my mind being permanently and debilitatingly compromised, enough so that a medical board ruled that I could not continue to serve. I literally served until I had military doctors tell me not to, and that was the end of my military career.
Neither way has been pleasant, and the deeper held a belief is the harder it is to let go of. In fact, there's also a correlation between age and the ability to adjust one's beliefs; after about the age of 25, any change in a deeply held belief can cause significant psychological distress, and as you get older, it gets harder. Not impossible, but definitely not pleasant. That's not to say any change in belief will result in psychological distress, in fact there are many beliefs that we hold only temporarily, meant to change, like what you want for dinner one night, or how confident you are in the outfit you're wearing.
In the end, if you want to know more about the world around you, and you want to use that information, you'll end up coming to a point where you either have to change your belief, or ignore reality. For a lot of people, they choose to ignore reality, but if you've been trying to get through these posts, you're probably not one of those people. If you choose to live what's called "the examined life" and let your beliefs match what you learn about the world around you, you're choosing a difficult path, but I believe that your life will be richer for it.
Anyway, that's all for today. As I've said before, if you're following along I'll "see" you in the next post, and have a great day. Goodbye!
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