Opinion, Not Fact. Perspective, Not Truth.

It’s been a while since I’ve written or read about stoicism but with all the craziness going on right now I thought this quote was a great reminder.

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.

Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Marcus Aurelius

We get so crazy busy and distracted – especially this time of year – it’s easy to take things at face value without questioning whether or not we’re seeing or hearing things accurately. It kind of goes along with Malcolm Gladwell’s Talking to Strangers, which I highly recommend reading.

It’s also a good thing to remember when it comes to what we say to others. Sure we think our opinions are facts and our perspective is the truth but at the end of the day others are going to see things differently than we do. Their truths aren’t going to match up with ours and that’s okay.

What struck me about this quote, though, was how freeing this concept is. Think about it, if what people tell us isn’t necessarily fact or truth then we don’t have to get so worked up about what they say. We don’t have to become offended by every little thing.

We can let people be free to be themselves and as a result we can be free to be who we want to be. Then if we’re lucky we’ll find a group of people who have truths and perspectives that line up with ours. But even if we don’t that’s okay too.

So this holiday season how about we take a minute to understand that nothing anyone says is etched in stone and we don’t have to accept anything as truth if we don’t want to. We have the power and discernment to let things we don’t agree with go without being offended. Without judgement.