Mind your business

Why is the mind/brain the way it is?

The mind is such an interesting subject to study. It is the only part of a human being which is studying itself. Otherwise when we read about our physical body parts, our knee or arms, they don’t really know we are studying about it. Isn’t that kinda trippy?

I spoke about achieving peace of mind and for the major part of my life I have. I credit this to Graphotherapy that I give myself regularly. I also credit this to the resources and time I have to give it to myself. #Grateful

But our mind is still a tricky system. At times I’d be standing at the station during peak hour and amidst the crowd my mind would be completely blank. Almost as if it is a place of still and calm water.

Inspite of the hustle and bustle I’d feel like I’m in control of my senses. And yet when I patiently sit to meditate it takes vacation.

But recently I heard a podcast on 'belief systems’. The podcast said a lot of times the opinions we hold is not because we are ignorant of what the 'other side’ has to say. Actually we are almost always aware what are the facts that exist on the other side and we still stand by our opinions. The podcast says that just because we know what the other side is all about does not mean that will affect our opinion at all.

So this made me realize several things:

1. Opinion pieces of editorials are literally pointless. Whatever opinion you may hold may never be what your reader believes in. And yet they are such a priority in news houses. Why?! (Okay this was also a mini rant about opinion pieces.)
2. Unless and until you actually want to change your opinion you won’t. So it is actually a matter of choice rather than a calculated decision. For example: Flat earthers will always believe the earth is flat irrespective of the amount of facts you present to them.
3. Beliefs are rooted in emotions and therefore opinions of people are also rooted in emotion. They have no association to facts. And while we are right to 'judge' people on their beliefs/opinions, what we must understand is we also possess the same mental ability. We also have opinions/beliefs rooted deeply in emotion.
4. When it comes to connecting with other humans in social situations the best thing to do is look at their beliefs from their emotional perspective as opposed to throwing facts on their face. That is not going to help anyone.

You may ask, “What is the point of this blog, Sangita?” I would say, “I believe it was necessary for me to write what I understood from the podcast. Just for fun.”

Here is the link to the podcast:

Listen to 150 - Belief Change Blindness (rebroadcast) by You Are Not So Smart #np on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/youarenotsosmart/150-belief-change-blindness-rebroadcast

This channel initially became my favourite because of the name, now I even love its jingle.