Mini Episode- My Cup is Too Full

different Um We've talked about cognitive biases before. One of them, the confirmation bias, is the tendency to search for, an interpret or recall information in a way that confirms our belief or hypothesis. So basically, we notice what confirms what we think and we ignore what goes against it. It's a fairly natural bias and a lot of people, and like a lot of cognitive biases, it gets worse the

more stressed we are, the more in a hurry we are. Um. I came across um something this week that I'm certain I'll pronounce wrong, but I think it's the Unstallung effect, which is the tendency of people to keep trying to solve problems the same way, even if they're better solutions. So they've done a bunch of experiments with chess players and normal people where they teach them to solve something

a certain way. Then they change the problem, but they'll still try and solve the solution in the same way, even if there's an easier one available. This sort of sounds a little bit like if all you've got is a hammer, right, everything looks like a nail. But I think in general, both these things point to this idea that we don't change our minds a lot. In our interview with Maria Popova, she talked about the uncomfortable luxury of changing our minds, and this is one that I'm

guilty of. I have a I have a relatively strong worldview. I suppose that I see things through and things that adhere to that makes sense, and things that don't I tend to ignore. And I've been working lately on being more open to things that I don't understand, or at least just being open in general to say, well, maybe that could be the case, or you know what, I just won't close the door on that completely. I'll leave

some room for that to be possible. And I think that's really important in living a good life and in feeding our good wolf is two is to be open to new information. A story that I think illustrates this is a story from the Zen tradition. There is a scholar who comes to visit his zen master and says he wants to be taught by the zen master. But

the scholar has learned all the sutras. He um has studied extensively, and so he asked the master to help him learn, and then he immediately starts talking about all of the things that he already knows. I've studied this, and I've studied that. The master listens patiently and then begins to make tea, and so when it's ready, he comes over the scholar and he starts to pour the tea into the scholar's cup until it begins to fill. It's mostly full. Now it's overflowing and all over the floor.

The scholar sees what's happening and shout, stop, stop. The cup is full. You can't get any more in. The master stop pouring and said, you're like this cup. You are full of ideas about Buddha's way. You come and ask for teaching, but your cup is full. I can't put anything in Before I can teach you. You'll have to empty your cup. And I think a lot of us are like this. We don't want to be wrong,

we don't want to not know. Not knowing is uncomfortable when we're talking to people, particularly people who might have a lot to teach us. There's a natural tendency to and I do this all the time to be like, yeah, I know, yeah, I know, um, because I want I don't want to look like I don't know. But that

not knowing, that being open um. In the Zen tradition, it's called beginner's mind, just to be open to the idea that we don't know everything, we can learn more, and that things we may already believe we can change our mind about. Just having that openness as we go through the world and hear different things can be a real benefit. So that is what has been on my mind this week. I hope you have a great week. Another interview out on Tuesday. As always, Thanks for listening

and we'll talk again soon. Bye.