True or fake – in search of authenticity and truth

This is not about positive thinking. I will not try to convince you that I have a perfect method to empower you. It’s not going to be one of those posts encouraging you to change your mind.

I will not try to teach you or offer solutions because my wisdom is not superior to yours. I want to do the exact opposite. This post will make it easier for you to tap into your own inner strength.

This post is an invitation for you to step into your own power and consciously think and engage your resources, from a place of self-trust. It’s going to be all about you. Your head, heart and gut. Here at PSG we are all about the whole integrated humans. When we connect all components of our internal system, our thinking, emotions and actions are perfectly aligned. This is when we are truly ourselves and life becomes a lot easier and enjoyable. I promise! With this post I am inviting you to use the power of your whole, integrated self. When you have finished reading, you will realise that it’s in fact a superpower. We all have it. It starts with a fundamental principle that what you have and who you are is enough. Practically, it comes down to the way we utilise our internal resources and most of us could do with a little help making the most of them. It’s worth the effort so let’s begin…

Emotion is at the core

We live in a world where information is currency. From the moment we open our eyes in the morning to the last second of our day, we can stay tuned and connected without missing out on any important news. But are we selective enough in the process or mostly overexposed?

Today, we can safely state that all posts, headlines, articles or videos are specifically tailored to grab our attention and it usually takes only a few seconds. Majority of information we receive these days is designed to speak to our emotions. Most of what we see and hear is intended to tap into our needs and desires. We respond and process emotions much quicker than facts and rational arguments and when presented with an emotional image, we tend to dismiss evidence and question logic. Rational thinking doesn’t apply. Emotions take over. Today this human quality is often taken advantage of. Facts don’t work, at least not as effectively as messages intended to speak to our heart and gut. Globally, we arrived at a point when we continuously question credibility of what we see or hear. We can no longer be sure, so searching for the answer became a necessity: Is what I’m looking at true or false?

Manipulation and Self-trust

Enter – confusion and fear. Information overload led us to a place where we no longer know how to recognise credible news and opinion. We forgot how to trust ourselves and our own judgements. We don’t know how to differentiate truth from lies and what the indicators are for both. Nobody wants to be deceived and we are often left feeling simply scared, questioning every piece of news, every post and every article we read. Interestingly, it still doesn’t mean that no one can be trusted. As humans we are desperate to fulfil our need for certainty so our only choice is to keep searching for other possible sources of credibility. One of the quickest ways to achieve this is to turn our attention to people who are perceived as trustworthy. It’s an obvious response to look for those who are relatable, persuasive and looked up to. Influential people become role models and compel us to not only believe in their message but also believe in them. They convince us easily. They’ve already convinced many, so we are simply joining a group. This, driven by our need for belonging, creates a powerful combination. It’s a mental shortcut as we accept someone’s powerful message over facts and evidence. No research necessary, no time wasted. Someone has done the research for us and so many others agreed. Their messages are usually very cleverly designed and yet again our emotional responses play a big role. As a remedy to fear and uncertainty, we are provided with quick answers and an instantaneous peace of mind. Sounds easy but is it beneficial?

I don’t know about you, but for me it’s such an uncomfortable thought to realise that our emotional responses make us so vulnerable to manipulation and control. It feels uneasy to know that if I stay passive in my acceptance, I simply become what someone else wants me to become and I think what someone else wants me to think. I oppose strongly! Being passive is against my nature, but also being passive is a choice. I don’t want to trade facts and truth for safety. I don’t have to. I know better.

The Whole Integrated Human

The answer lies in the way we utilise our own internal resources. This is the superpower I encouraged you to recognise at the beginning. At PSG we trust science and it informs everything we do. Scientists have now identified that our internal resources consist of more than just one brain. Our heart and gut are now also recognised as brains, so we can all tap into the innate intelligences of all three. How do we do that?

We only function effectively if we respect the wholeness and fullness of our human system and we have enough within ourselves to respond to the world smartly and intelligently. We really do! So what you want is to engage your whole self. Notice that if we only respond to signals, information and content with our heart or gut, we’re bound to feel unsure, confused or even manipulated. This is because we leave our head behind together with our knowledge, experience, facts and data.  The world can feel very scary when the credibility of those communicating to us is often questionable. In addition, we stopped trusting ourselves allowing for our emotions to lead the way.

It’s time to re-engage our heads. It’s time to trust all of our own guiding centres. It’s time to give them all equal importance and engage with the world from a place of self-confidence, having our head; heart and gut always on standby.

Critical thinking

The strategy is simple – to read ALL our internal signals from the head, heart and gut before we form opinions and accept someone else’s truth as our own. Our guiding centres communicate with us all the time. It’s easier than we think. When I realised that I don’t have to passively accept all I see and hear, I felt free and empowered. It becomes a habit.

We are so intelligent and we have all that we need to navigate in our complex reality. In the world of polarity, confusion and misinformation we need to step into our own power and become more critical of the information and content we receive. Let’s park opinions and search more.

Our emotions can quickly take over and it is an important guiding centre but also for that reason it’s easily accessible and affected. So before we emotionally respond to what we hear or see, let’s use critical thinking first and engage our heads. Always. There are still the same unwavering indicators of credibility and validity. Science doesn’t lie, so let’s all get more curious. We are yet again reminded that a commitment to learning for life is the best approach. Without self-awareness, we fall for quick answers and reassuring shortcuts. Let’s slow down. I believe that we are not so easily swayed. Let’s get smarter about the way we process information. When it’s hard to see the truth, keep searching. Today, more than ever before, we need to get skilled in critical thinking recognising credible and reliable information quickly. It’s a skill that we can all develop. It’s an ability to, as objectively as possible, evaluate and analyse all available information to form a conclusive judgement. I strongly believe that future generations will have an opportunity to learn this skill early and it will be introduced as part of a standard school curriculum. Ability to navigate in today’s world is invaluable.

Start by observing how you process information today and simply notice how quickly your emotions intercept in response to what you see or hear.

As humans we won’t become fearless (and we shouldn’t), but we can all fear less. We have the power of our 3 brains over biological shortcuts for reassurance. All 3 brains are needed and they are here to support us – our head, heart and gut. Relying on our gut feeling or guidance from the heart only is not enough. Let’s rediscover and use our own intelligence again, allowing ourselves to trust the voice of reason, knowledge and experience from within. This way we can not only feel (HEART) or sense (GUT) the truth, but we can also have confidence that we know (HEAD) the truth.

And before you get really comfortable with this approach I still have to ask you one more question – if as a result of your research, you discover that what you believed up until now may not be entirely true… are you prepared to change your mind?

If you enjoyed this and my other posts please click the thumbs up icon above and comment to let me know what you think. Let’s keep the conversation going!

Stay tuned for more from me and PSG:

We discuss:

– high-impact coaching

– all things human

– behavioural and business change

– relationships

– Neuroscience

– Emotional Intelligence

This is a collaborated blog from WIN Master Coach Maureen Hewitt and Personal Effectiveness Coach Joanna Michalowska