3 Errors That Counteract Us Without Us Noticing It
Mistakes are ideas that seem to be true but that in reality are not. Sometimes we have constructed them ourselves, and other times they are collective perceptions that everyone takes for granted. Errors that oppose us are not easy to spot because they are not absurd proposals. They follow a logic, even if they are not true.
A good example of a mistake that opposes us is prejudice. Let’s assume that someone has been tricked into telling a lie. Later, when he claims something, another person will say that you can not trust the person because he is a liar. In other words, a general conclusion is extrapolated from a particular situation and applied. Even if the previous fact is true, the reasoning used is not.
Errors that oppose us do not only occur in relation to others; they are also created by and applied to ourselves. These erroneous reasoning counteract our well-being. Here are three common mistakes that can counteract that we become as good as we can be.
Misconceptions about control
There are two major delusions related to controlling situations and other people. The first can be called “delusion regarding helplessness”. This refers to all the examples we propose to try to support the hypothesis that we can do nothing when we are faced with a certain situation, even though this hypothesis is not true at all.
This leads us to justify the lack of action on our part by assuming that everything is beyond our control. This delusion manifests itself in circumstances when you say “I can not” and you apply this inability to something outside yourself. An example: “I can not say anything because that person had become furious.”
The second delusion when it comes to control is the opposite: when you believe that everything and everyone depends on you. That everything and everyone is one’s own responsibility. In this case, try not to miss a single detail. You get involved in everything and you try to keep everything under your control. And when of course you can not achieve this, you blame yourself.
Delusions of justice
“Justice” is one of the most imprecise concepts in existence. What is right or wrong depends on each culture and on almost every person. There are few situations where we can apply what can be called “universal justice”. There are always things to keep in mind that make the concept more nuanced.
However, there are people who try to define what is right and what is wrong. The only problem is that they only have their own perspective in mind, their own needs, their own fears and not others’. Therefore, they constantly repeat that everything that happens to them is unfair.
They think that the world should have a balance to weigh what they deserve and, of course, offer them this. This is a fantasy that will only torment themselves because no one is constantly calculating prices and penalties for the people around. In the real world, not all good behavior is rewarded and not all bad behavior is punished.
Misconceptions about change
Misconceptions about change make us believe that everything must change in order for us to be happy. If we do not feel comfortable with our job, our working conditions should change. If we do not have money, the economic system should change. If our social relationships are not good then others should change and care more, be more understanding, or different in some way.
During this delusion we ourselves never time to think that we ourselves may need to change, it might be our own inability to adapt that makes the workplace a difficult place to operate. Or that we do not have enough money because we have not managed our personal finances. Or that if we ourselves were more social, kinder and more understanding, we would get the same coin back from others.
Someone once said, “It’s easier to put on sandals than to put a rug all over the world.” But those who are victims of this type of delusion perceive the opposite: the world should adapt to them.
