Fresh Wisdom: Hard Truths and Harder Acceptance

About Johannes Kepler, Carl Sagan once said, “He preferred the hard truth to his dearest illusions.”

We are all creatures who want to be liked, respected, in good standing with those around us and with ourselves. The fact of the matter is that the reality of what you’re providing to the world is probably not what you’re picking up on.

“We are truly captives of the pictures in our own brains.” – Herb Cohen

Overcoming these discrepancies between perception and reality is, at it’s most basic breakdown, a three step process.

1) Realize it’s probably happening and make an effort to look out for it (i.e. listening to criticism from friends, watching reactions to your actions).

2) Take the hard truths you will find for what they are.

3) Take the next step to accept the hard truths, without rationalizing or excusing them away.

You may not be your worst critic, but you had better be the strongest motivator to better yourself.