68. A Wooden Leg Doesn’t Make You a Table

We all judge.

Other people. Situations. Ourselves.

Most of the time, we don't even realize we're doing it.

Our brains take the little bit of information we have and quickly decide what it means. And sometimes that judgment turns into certainty.

In this episode, I start with a ridiculously clever comeback from Alice Cooper involving long hair, a wooden leg, and an Australian interviewer who wasn't known for his tact.

Then we get into something we ALL do…make judgments based on very limited information.

I share the psychology behind the fundamental attribution error, why we're so much better at explaining our own behavior than someone else's, and what happens when “this is how I'm experiencing this person” becomes “this is who this person IS.”

Because having a judgment isn't really the problem.

Believing our first interpretation is the whole story can be.

And this applies to how we judge ourselves, too.

So rather than trying to become a completely nonjudgmental human…we'll talk about getting better at noticing the judgments we're already making and creating enough space to ask…What did I actually observe...and what did I add?

And maybe...What else could be true?