Quote:
|
I think debate and discussion is an extremely useful tool for personal growth.
|
I wholly concur with this perspective, it goes without saying that there is clearly huge value in this approach.
Having said that, I have often found discussions annoying and thought "sod this!". However this in itself raises another area ripe for PD work. Instead of being blinded by the feeling, if I bring some introspection to bear on what I'm feeling and why I'm feeling this way it produces some interesting answers.
For eg - I'm irritated because this person isnt seeing my point of view. He/she is being stubborn, obstructive, and (I sometimes suspect) purposefully ignorant and combatant. If I'm really on top of my awareness game, it will then occur to me that my thoughts about the person say more about me than them.
I then start to think about my own true intentions for entering the debate and if I'm REALLY honest with myself, it turns out that I'm there to win first, and learn second. When I find that I dont win, I begin to project all sorts of negative characteristics onto the person. The PD growth opportunity therefore, is to see my own dark side (in all its glory) and to take ownership of it. And then to try do better the next time.
So while I dont always learn anything new about the subject matter, I almost always learn something of myself.
So I'm suggesting that for anyone who feels annoyance or defensiveness about their position on IM or anything else - that the feeling is a signal that a PD opportunity has just arisen and some introspective work may prove useful.