How do you tell if what you see or hear is true? Who controls the last mile, your perception?
Fact checks and critical reasoning are effective if your mind is not clouded by biases. You are not unconsciously deceived by your own misconceptions.
Emotions amplify biases
Revealing the truth is much more realistic if you are not emotionally involved. If someone managed to push one of your buttons, made you angry or scared, do not count on clarity.
Sometimes you are not aware of the influence.
Cortisol, the stress hormone, levels remain elevated for hours. The traffic rage incident you witnessed this morning may intensify your perception of danger during the day. News become gloomier, judgements are based on impulses, not objectivity.
Routine irritations may also instill an emotional background. If you lack self-awareness, you may be under its constant influence. Vulnerable to lies and manipulations.
Sometimes we want to be misguided. Our exaggerated desires create emotions we consider positive and cloud our perception. People obsessed with romantic pursuits turn a blind eye to lies. We fall for money scams, and “too good to be true” deals.
Obviously, you can monitor and manage your emotions. But it will only partially improve your ability to reveal inauthenticity.
Unconscious impact of misconceptions
Even if you are balanced and free from the influence of emotions, your biases are still there. Your misconceptions, exaggerated desires, and habits distort how you see things. Even if they are currently not triggered enough to produce a palpable reaction.
Clearing these distortions to immediately “switch on” objectivity is not possible. You cannot be subjective 24/7 and suppress your habitual way of thinking on demand.
It takes becoming objective to tell if another person is not.
You gradually clear distortions as they get revealed by your daily responses. Follow the signals of your destructive emotions and thoughts. Their causes will be the misconceptions that are currently hidden and unconsciously skew your perception.
So in the long run, you monitor your state of mind, maintain Emotional Hygiene, and clear causes of distortions as they arise.
What can you do today?
If you are stable, your horizon is clear you can do subtle probing of the information in question.
Avoid rushing to conclusions. Especially, if they trigger even minor tensions, subtle contractions, or unease inside.
Try not to confuse things further by overthinking, triggering additional emotions and biases.
Mentally or physically step back from the situation. Look at it from different, additional perspectives. The lesser your personal interest, the “I” magnet involvement, the better.
Please mind, your empathy, what you think another person is feeling is an imaginary perspective and may also be impacted by your misconceptions and interests.
Be patient. Do not let your desire to resolve this quickly, interfere. Allow the time for the dust to settle and clarity to arrive.
You will see the incongruences and be able to validate your reasoning. Reach the maximum level of objectivity available to your mind today.