The Grain of Truth

Picture from, “MIKE, A PUBLIC SCHOOL STORY,” BY P. G. WODEHOUSE.

Search for the grain of truth in other opinions. If you enjoy learning as well as making other people happy, you'll love this idea. Almost everyone feels that their own opinions are good ones, otherwise they wouldn't be sharing them with you. One of the destructive things that many of us do, however, is compare someone else's opinion to our own. And, when it doesn't fall in line with our belief, we either dismiss it or find fault with it. We feel smug, the other person feels diminished, and we learn nothing.

Almost every opinion has some merit, especially if we are looking for merit, rather than looking for errors. The next time someone offers you an opinion, rather than judge or criticize it, see if you can find a grain of truth in what the person is saying. If you think about it, when you judge someone else or their opinion, it really doesn't say anything about the other person, but it says quite a bit about your need to be judgmental.

If you practice this simple strategy to find the grain of truth in other positions, some wonderful things will begin to happen: You'll begin to understand those who you interact with, others will be drawn to your accepting and loving energy, your learning curve will be enhanced, and, perhaps most important, you'll feel much better about yourself.