WOTA #285 - Some Simple Guidelines

Brandon Colby Cook (0:00)

Every person or every being that you're looking at has this whole universe behind them. One thing I try to remind myself as I navigate through this world is that in general, and I'm gonna say in general, because I do think there's the rare exception. Most people are not trying to burn it all down. They're not like, they're not trying to just destroy everything. Like they generally have ideals or principles or values or something they think they're coming from when they're trying to stand their position. So they're trying to uphold something they think is good. Now, it might be misguided in the way that they're doing and their opinion might be totally fucking wrong, but gotta understand the person who's trying to hold that thing up. This is Way of the Artist with Brandon Colby Cook and Evan Schulte.

Evan Schulte (0:53)

Exploring the challenges of the creative call so that you can claim your own path and make your life a work of art.

Brandon Colby Cook (1:11)

Welcome to another episode. We are... Boop, boop, boop. Boop, boop. We're knocking another one out. This one is gonna be a little random maybe. Right? We got, like, I have... I don't think much of our talk initially leading up to this conversation is gonna really make it in here, although it might find its way.

Evan Schulte (1:33)

I mean, who knows? There's, it was, you know, about a bunch of shit, you know.

Brandon Colby Cook (1:37)

It might find its way.

Evan Schulte (1:37)

We're talking about shit, Brandon.

Brandon Colby Cook (1:40)

Yeah, talking shit. Okay, here, I'll bring something in, Evan. We can maybe chew on this. Something I've realized more recently is how opinionated I am. I've never thought of myself as a very opinionated person, but I think there's something about having an opinion that is valuable, but I also think that having an opinion should be able to be changed. I feel like it's really important. Like, stand by your opinion, have your take on it, have your perception. But when you have an opinion, I think it's very important to be like, okay, this is just how I see it. Like, here's what I'm seeing. This is the way I'm looking at it, and this is why and whatever. But if someone comes at me with some really good points, another perception about some things that I didn't think about, I'm willing to alter or fluctuate my opinion, and I'm not saying that I'm just going to bend, like, no matter what, but, like, you have to convince me. Like, it's not going to happen by just, like, getting emotional or some garbage like that. You got to actually give me some good points. Give me something to think about. And, you know, I think in a time where we get so much information and none of us can have all of it, I think we should always look at our opinions as these things that are probably incomplete. And I think where a lot of people make an error, and why I didn't think of myself as opinionated before was because I didn't really think of, like, I always thought of my opinions as something that could be, well, most things could be, you could persuade me. But I want to give you my take, and this is my opinion or my perception of it. But if you can open my eyes to something, help me see something I can't, then I'm willing to, like, consider it. I'll look at it. And there's been times where I've had with people where they'll tell me their opinion, and then I'll tell them some stuff, and I'll ask them a couple of questions, and it'll expose them that they haven't really thought out their idea. And I'd say for the most part, people can be actually quite receptive if you don't get into, like, a right or wrong, but you kind of, like, pose an idea or pose a question. And I've had people come back to me later, like much later, like days, weeks, sometimes even months later, and actually maybe even years, but come back to me later and tell me that something we talked about changed their perception on something. And I think that when we're talking about opinions, I think there's this kind of, like, especially in our culture today, it's like, I want you to see it my way right now. And it's like, well, people have to walk away and they have to process stuff, and they might not get there right away. It might take them some time, but you might open their eyes to something or plant a seed in their mind.