Your Brain is a Great Place to be Wrong
In your head, you can be wrong as often as you need to be until you find ideas and ways of doing things that work for you. I can make a 100 mistakes in my head without ever doing anything to screw up my life. I can consider if I’m wrong during an argument without giving ground that I shouldn’t. If I have the urge to do something dumb, I can play it out in my brain and decide not to do it. I can test and eliminate dozens of new ideas in my head without ever saying or doing anything I will regret later. It’s like having a research facility for how to be you running between your ears!
There are two things I know of which can keep us from using our brain as a place where we can make all the mistakes we want. First, many people become very attached to their ideas. They were taught to see and do things a certain way and just never went much deeper than that. But even if everything you have been taught or thought up to now or believe is 100% correct, there’s always more to learn! So don’t be so attached to what you think you already know that you won’t explore bigger and better possibilities!
The second reason people don’t take full advantage of the opportunity their brains afford is that they are afraid of getting lost and winding up believing things that go against their values and beliefs. But every lab has rules. Your values and beliefs mark the boundaries of yours. Over time, that what you think will shift and grow, but the core of who you are made to be and what is true doesn’t change. Hold onto those two facts, and you will always find your way back from whatever mistakes you make in the privacy of your own brain!