We don’t know what we don’t know
“We don’t know what we don’t know” is a sentence I use when posting about topics that might inflame people’s reactions.
It refers to the fact that sometimes we act following beliefs that our parents imparted to us, transferred from culture and generations. At the time, they didn’t know what we know today. Through our lives we went through the “we don’t know what we don’t know.”
We then start learning, and our views change, expecting everyone else’s views to change with ours. We all go through life in different stages and with varying levels of discovery, and we can never know at which stage the people around us are.
Prejudice is the opposite of tolerance, and when we start thinking that not everyone is on the same level in their journey, we become less inclined to judge and condemn them.
Tolerance is the personal effort to understand another’s beliefs and habits without necessarily sharing or accepting them.
As for many of the journeys we take in life, we need to start practicing tolerance with ourselves. Once we accept our background, understand who we are and where we come from, we are ready for our work into tolerance of others.
When we don’t understand someone, it’s tough to accept them. The best way to appreciate someone’s journey is to put ourselves in their shoes. We should assume that everyone we meet in this life is fighting a hard battle; we should be kind to them as we expect them to be kind to us.
Once we move our attention from our perspective and how something makes us feel, we foster curiosity towards what we don’t fully comprehend, creating a better level of comprehension and acceptance.
With understanding comes a change in our perspective, or the capability to accept someone else’s point of view without feeling threatened by the circumstances.
Ultimately we develop respect for those around us, where tolerance becomes an easy daily practice. Nothing in life is black or white; everything is unique shades of all colors; instead of thinking of those colors as right or wrong, good or bad, we should practice relaxing our judgment and keep our hearts open.
Tolerance then becomes the medicine to our emotional health, and it fosters a higher level of happiness and a peaceful approach to life.
So, for the June Manifestation Box I prepared you tools to work on practicing Tolerance.
Stay strong, stay positive! Love, Szilvia
