In our modern society, there are a lot of voices that compete for our attention. Every day, new voices rise up while others come back for seconds. Across the internet, on social media, on TV screens, on radios, in magazine articles, in books, on the street, at the bar, in our homes, and just about everywhere in between.
Most of these voices speak to us with no small amount of authority, telling us that they know what’s best, that they can be our gurus, that we NEED gurus like them to have happy lives. Few speakers, gurus, leaders, and voices in authority preface their advice or ideas with phrases such as “From my point of view…” or “This is just my opinion, but…”. Instead, they just launch right into it, and we’re made to feel guilty or like we’re missing something if we don’t hear them out.
But who’s really speaking to us? Who really has authority? Who can really speak from anything other than their own perspective? How many of these gurus were with us when we entered this world in the hospital, played with a stuffed animal in the crib, or ran through the hallways of our homes, getting angry or laughing with our siblings? Even our siblings and our parents don’t quite see things from our precise angle, although they may share more with us than most. Why should some guy on YouTube be telling me how to live my life when he doesn’t know a single thing about it? Because one day he woke up and decided that he was a good talker and that his opinions should be known by all? And we should take his word for it, believe him when he says that his opinions are worthwhile? I don’t think that he’s worth listening to just because he tells us, either with words or attitude, that he’s worth listening to.
That’s not to say that listening to others isn’t a good thing and that others don’t have a lot to teach us. They definitely do. But when it’s time to decide who to listen to, first and foremost, this is just my opinion, but… we should start with ourselves. After that, we should carefully, carefully evaluate whose perspective we let merge with our own.