As an habitual optimist, I am drawn to all the new and exciting possibilities in any situation, so when lockdown began my thoughts were “there is so much potential to harness here.”
But my temporary openness and its accompanying high has so often come crashing down fast. A public figure falling from grace or a big company making a short-sighted decision, or even a friend adopting the narrative of ‘the enemy’ on whichever of the many public dramas was around, has surprisingly often catapulted me from a mindset of openness to one of harsh judgement in the flick of a browser screen!
Despite thinking of myself as an open-minded, compassionate individual, I have learned that especially when emotions run high, I too jump to premature conclusions and can be fixed in my judgements.
Clare Cohen
Head of Psychology, Jyre
Snippet, Reflect, Fix
Snippet
People who are open-minded are receptive to new and different ideas and the views of others. They care about reducing the bias or distortion in their own views and beliefs and are good at listening to others with an unprejudiced mind and respecting their views and beliefs.
Reflect
How can you suspend your own judgement for a little while longer? How could you invoke more of your curiosity whenever you feel you are “so right” about something?
Fix
Experiment with assuming that ‘the other side’ has something important for you to hear – whether you agree with it or not. Your job is simply to seek that out from the rest of the ‘noise’ in their argument that could be distracting you.