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Can you trust your feelings?
Most of the mistakes in thinking are inadequacies of perception rather than mistakes of logic. Edward de Bono
Not everything we feel is real. As in not based in reality. As in, not necessary to act on. The best examples of this are paranoia and fear. When a person is paranoid, the feeling behind it is very real — maybe even logical. It’s dark outside. Or, people are looking at me and laughing. It seems dangerous. It seems like they are talking about me. Our feelings paint our perception of the world around us. When we are happy, we notice the beauty in the world. When we are scared, everything seems sinister. That change in perception influences the way that we think and the way we react.
When I was a kid, there was this laundry shoot in my house that I was afraid of. There were seven kids, so you can imagine the constant piles of clothes that gathered at its base. At night, I would have to pass the shoot to go to the bathroom at the end of the hall. The pile of laundry that seemed perfectly benign in the daylight, seemed to contain all kinds of dangers at night. It was dark and I was afraid. Anything could pop out from that pile. Someone could hide there and go completely unnoticed. It didn’t seem illogical to be afraid of it. My reaction to this fear was to run full speed past the shoot and launch myself roughly in the direction of my bed. (because who knew what was…