Label-free

I mentioned sixth sense in one of my previous post, the “What Should I do” one. True, I stated that the longer we know someone, we’ll develop some kind of sixth sense that’ll help us “communicate” with them. A wordless communication, so to say. That mind reader, gesture-talk kind of things. But I must say that that telepathy is a double edged sword. Why? Because it has its own downside. Opinion.

Allow me to quote another saying of Haemin Sunim : “when we think we already know someone, we stop making effort to know them better. Consider when you think you already know your loved ones and when you do, you are failing to see them as they are right now, you see them through the prism of previously held opinions, instead.”

Those words quoted from his “Love for Imperfect Things” book, and again, I could not believe how true it is. That “prism of previously held opinions” have an immense power to destroy our relationships because we instantly judge people. We did it in a heartbeat, without even batting an eye. We already set what kind of people they are in our head the moment we talked to them, acting like we know-it-all yet we miss the most important thing. We forget that they are also a growing person of their own.

How they were might not be the case today, because their fresh experiences may provoke some changes in them. It might cause them to change their mind which leads to a perspective change, thus change their nature.

We became ignorant of the present them. In an extreme state, we may even reject them because they are not the same person as they were yesterday. We could not accept the fact that they’ve changed.

Well, let’s be real. No one likes to be labeled. What are we, some kind of advertisement? Do we walk with an “I’m a boring dude” written on our foreheads? Labeling people is disrespectful, not to mention rude. We should nullify all of our assumptions about others and see them with a brand new eyes. An eye that sees them as they are. A pair of eyes that also comes with an open heart in its package. An open heart that accept them as they are.

So are you up for a #labelfree challenge? Do your best, I’m cheering for you!