What to do when I know I’m right? Yes, we all know we’re right! Always! Our opinions lead to our dramatic conflict over the concept of Truth. Truth being a core concept of flexiculture, let’s explore truth.
Our Truth is important, but how do draw the fine line between our opinions (our truth) and the rest of the wordld? That is the question of all philosophy and I really don’t propose to answer it here, but rather to look deeply to look at the question and to be flexible in our approach to it.
Flexibility to me means that I do hold on to my own opinion in the face of disagreement while being able to understand the other person’s position this is a skill set that takes some maturity to develop and I don’t claim to be perfect at it although it is an ideal I hold. Many times in my past when faced with opposition it seemed easier just to give in and sometimes it still is, but when I look into my heart and I feel the depth of Truth on the position I hold then sometimes I will take a stand.
Finding this point of flexibility in my own life has been a long hard road. As a woman I’ve been mostly trained up to give way to opinions of authorities and men, I’m not complaining I’m just saying this is how I learned to make decisions. It does take some retraining to listen to that voice in my heart and know when to take a stand for my own opinion.
Of course, insisting on my own opinion on every occasion would be ludicrous we can’t get along when everybody has to have their own way. Being able to give up a position in order to make the way smooth I consider to be an act of maturity. When that giving up a position also gives up some inherent goodness that would best be expanded, not contracted, that’s when I have an issue with too much flexibility.
Flexibility does not mean always giving up your position, it means having the discernment to choose when to give up and when to stand. How do we develop this discernment? In my life it’s been trial and error and having the awareness to look back and see when I stood my ground and it’s not been a good choice and when I’ve given in and when that’s not been a good choice. I try to relate that to my actual understanding of my own values because having a strong values can be a double-edged sword too. When one has strong values and is inflexible in all regards one can be very difficult to deal with. So where do I end up on this topic? Awareness, back to awareness, back to the ability to see the other person’s position and the right to be who they are as well as my own. Blessed be, it is so and so it is.
