Sibling Rivalry

For those of you who say the world would be a better place if we focused more on that which we have in common, then I have a big something all of us, without exception, share: bias. That's right. Good old fashioned bias. You have it. I have it. Everybody has it. Name any topic, issue or "thing" and you can bet we all lean a certain way about it - even if the level of knowledge we have is nothing or next-to-nothing. Even if we know nothing abut a given issue or thing, we still have our emotions. Our feelings. When in doubt we have them to fall back on. Hell, even if we do actually have knowledge or solid information at our disposal about something, it is not unusual for our feelings to trump the facts and tell our brain: "No. I've decided you don't like oysters because of how they look. You don't need to actually try one."

That reality is both one of the great things about us humans. Our emotions - our heart - play a key role in our choices about everything we do. At the same time, that part of us is also one of our most frustrating characteristics. At times, in their exuberance to be heard and/or felt, our emotions dominate our judgment. They are our inner squeaky wheel. At times, I am not even sure if it is a fair contest when the intellectual part of our inner being collides with the emotions. Given that, it is no wonder so many communication pitches, such as advertisements, play to the emotional side of us. I guess it goes back to that saying: "You win the heart and the rest follows." 

In many ways, the heart and the brain are our two inner children. Each one wants to sit up in the front seat with us, but often times we act as if there is only room for one. That, I believe, is a mistake. In fact, we should insist that both sit up in the front seat as it better for us if the two work in harmony when we are called up to make choices or decisions - big or small. This does not mean we still will not have our biases. They will never go away. But having the two siblings work together, we can ensure our judgment and behavior, including how and what we communicate, will be better. (But I am still never going to try an oyster.)