…Unless We Make it One.
He likes green, she prefers gold. She loves coffee, he prefers tea. She likes Prius, he loves his truck. He’s fond of sports, she’d rather read. All of these are just a difference of opinion and preferences.
Differences are not a reason for dislike. And yet many arguments start there… at seemingly irreconcilable differences.
The Same Thing – Different Names
Researchers, psychologists, philosophers, spiritual leaders and anthropologists have all discovered that all humans have the same basic wants and needs. Beyond survival, we all have the same basic need to love and be loved.
A difference of opinion is often a matter of conditioning, indoctrination, and exposure to certain culture. Often, differences are simply preferences.
What if we leaned into eagerly learning another’s perspective, especially when different from ours? Another’s difference needn’t threaten our own. Green does not threaten gold.
Different beliefs can seem more challenging, for differences can feel like a threat and even an intrusion to our construct of the world. To agree to disagree, but respect each the other’s perspective is simply mature civility. iInterested inquiry can foster understanding and appreciation, without adoption.
Often, differences in belief are simply a different approach to a similar end, a different route or way to achieve a goal or reach a destination.
I have faith in the good of humanity and our ability to work through these squabbles that pit brothers and sisters of the human family against each other.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder iCreateDaily.com®
Contrasts
Art is about about contrasts and the play of color, shadow and light, and it’s the same for life. It is the dark that is the backdrop for the stars. The struggles that make us strong for victory, the despair that makes the joys ever so precious… the storms that remind us of the glory of the sun.
If you’re a visual artist, reflect on the life lessons that come to mind for you relative to contrasts.
Differences paint color on the canvas of life. Play with differences of opinion the way you’d play with colors.
Image by Silke Lemcke from Pixabay
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder iCreateDaily.com®
Open to Adventure
Most people like to travel. What travel does for us is engage our sense of adventure and childlike inquiry as we engage in the discovery of new places, people, and experiences.
When we travel and engage new experiences, those are external to us though we then internalize the experiences and hold them as memories.
What if we viewed a difference of opinion as an opportunity to travel to a new place within..? To a new place of mind, of thinking.. and way of seeing?
“Our challenge is to instill the traveler’s mindset into the journey of the day.”
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
What a Difference of Opinion Is Not
- boring
- a reason to get angry
- cause for hate
- justification for shunning
- bad, evil or wrong
- threatening
- an argument
- an enemy
What would you add to this list of what a difference of opinion is NOT? Let us know and we’ll add it here.
Positives That a Difference of Opinion Can Be
- interesting
- intriguing
- embraced
- engaged
- colorful
- beautiful
- informative and elucidating
- celebrated
- an opportunity to grow
- expansive
- collaborative
What would you add to this list of positive things a difference of opinion can be? Let us know and we’ll add it here.
Evolve
Our instinctual proclivity to dislike and mistrust those who are different from us is ancient. Whether it’s a difference of opinion or a difference of appearance, philosophy, nationality, politics and religion, our lizard brain instinct is to run from that which is different and unknown.
Insecurity and fear will retaliate rather than embrace. Retaliation and shrinking from the unknown is tethered to our ancient genetics for survival.
Huddling against the unknowns used to protect us and our clans. Now it inhibits our growth and development, for inquiry and exploration is a natural express of the evolution of consciousness.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
Fend off the Fight or Flight Mode
Given the high stress of this fast paced, high tech phase of human existence, it’s no wonder that so many today are on auto-pilot defaulting to survival and suspicion mode. The hormones that keep us in stress take on a life of their own and affect us far more than most realize.
If you are angry or anxious, fearful or worried, tense and stressed, then chances are your instinctual self has taken over your autonomic nervous system and is keeping you in fight or flight mode.
When cortisol is coursing through our blood, our system is inflamed and likely to be easily escalated at the least hint of conflict, irritation or frustration. And the same thing is going on for the next person. Bring to inflamed systems together with a difference of opinion and you have greater inflammation and agitation.
We don’t learn how to elevate our instincts by not being challenged. Rather, we evolve through challenge and because of it.
We grow into our spirituality by subduing our animality.
~LeAura Alderson, cofounder-iCreateDaily.com®
Be the Master
We are not our body, we are the consciousness that moves it. Cravings and desires, angers and irritations, fears and worries… all of those arise from our lower selves… our animal nature. Those are the features of our physical operating system. Our role as master owner of this mammalian body, is to control it rather than be controlled by it; to train it and educate it, to care for it and feed it what it needs most.
When we lose touch with who’s truly in charge of ourselves, our thoughts, feelings and impulses then we’ve given over management of the higher to the lower. We love our pets, and yes… some certainly do rule the roost and are allowed to for we love them so and affectionately think of that as loving. Perhaps so, but the best way to love ourselves and live in peace and joy is for the master of the house to hold sway and guide the pets that may stray.
Be the benevolent ruler of yourself… the master guru to the pupil… the spiritual leader to the congregation… the “horse whisperer” to your own stable of wild horses. Train and reign those babies and together you can travel far.
Feature Image of the lovely colorful Italian coastal homes on a cliff is by Kookay from Pixabay.
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Hello! I’m LeAura, owner and co-creator of iCreateDaily.com®. As an autodidactic philosopher, generalist, personal development advocate, entrepreneur, writer, editor, author, ideator, media publisher, and podcaster, I’m passionate about helping others achieve their best possible life! Our small family of entrepreneurs, writers, investors, educators and creators own and run websites around topics we enjoy, such as gardening, health and fitness, creativity and pets, with more to come.
While my greatest teacher is Life… my formal training includes certifications in mediation, fitness, and strategic intervention coaching, including marriage and family. Today, the synergy of creating websites, articles and podcasts, brings together all my favorite things: family, learning, growth, creating, connecting and contributing. To share these with you is a privilege, that serves my lifelong aspiration to help others.
My personal areas of creativity are in writing, masterminding, ideation, synthesis and bringing ideas to life through business and entrepreneurship, all with a pervasive spiritual foundation with a focus on elevating the lives of others.
Want to submit your photos, videos and/or article content for publication? We love to consider your contribution for publication! creators@icreatedaily.com