Justify

My gosh, we humans are good. In so many ways, we absolutely are over-the-top in our awesomeness. And it’s not just the fabulous stuff, we are also pros at thought distortions, which include all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralizing, and mind reading (yeah, we think we can read another’s mind).

And the biggest, baddest of the thought distortions, some say, is justification. We can justify the crap out of just about anything if we truly want to. Many times, justification is the path of least resistance, and this makes it quite appealing and irresistible.

And for a little while, the justification feels like it is serving us, and it probably is. But then that dissonance in our spirit pokes its head out and we begin to realize something just doesn’t feel right. Something is amiss. And that is when we usually make the decision to either dig our heels in deeper and stick with the story or we become a bit more introspective and recognize that maybe we weren’t quite on target after all.

No doubt. It’s hard to switch mid-stream when we were so convinced just a few days ago that we were absolutely in the right. But if we are willing to make that switch, each time given the choice, it becomes a little easier and there is a very good chance we walk away a little more aware. And who couldn’t use a bit more self-awareness?!?!