Book Excerpts.

Personal - No. 52:
Search for the grain of truth in other opinions.
(from Dont Sweat The Small Stuff by R. Carlson).

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 wouldnt 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 doesnt 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 criticise 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 doesnt say anything about the other person, but it says a lot about your need to be judgemental.

I still catch myself criticising other points of view, but far less than i used to. All that had changed was my intention to find the grain of truth in other positions. If you practice this simple strategy, some wonderful things will begin to happen: You'll begin to understand those 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.