Moving from being judgmental to curious

I thought about this when I was listening to another episode of the "How to be a better human" podcast - episode "How to have curious conversations in dangerously divided times (with Mónica Guzmán)".

From the podcast, I remember a good suggestion/reminder from Mónica that sometimes we jump to the conclusion a bit too fast about a person and their beliefs. We go straight to assuming a lot of things after hearing one thing that they said, without having all the information.

Of course, we don't have infinite time to learn all the information, but maybe it's a good practice to become curious about why they think the way they think instead of judging them from the get-go.

I have my fair share of being judgmental. I think I judge people a bit too fast sometimes, especially when I'm stressed or overwhelmed with things. I think that's not a good excuse to judge someone or something though, and I want to be a bit more mindful and get more information first before really concluding whether this person/group is worth my time in discussing certain topics.

I am not saying this to give people endless chances to prove themselves because sometimes people take advantage of that and manipulate us, but I guess it comes with practice.

Or at least that's what I want to be more of - mindful, curious, and respecting my boundaries of what I allow myself to spend my time on.

And maybe you can join me in getting curious as well, and I hope you know to not let others step all over your boundaries. I think self-respect is a good priority to have. :)

I also think it is very worth it to at least try to understand where the person you interact with is coming from, if you feel like it, because like the title of the episode, we are living in a very divided time; people could get reactive a bit too fast - maybe because we spent too much time on social media even after the pandemic lockdowns. So maybe we can create a more united world by getting curious and asking questions?