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the Facts about Facts

 

Woke up this morning and it was 60 degrees. Balmy.

For February, it’s downright warm.

For my Uncle in Punta Gorda, FL, it’s a tad chilly.  My grandpa used to tell me that when it got to 60 down there, the locals would put on their windbreakers…but the visitors from up North would be running around in shorts, like idiots, talking about how warm it was.

I guess it all depends on where you’re coming from.

Fact: the outside temperature is 60 degrees.

But whether you think that’s cold, hot, or just right, depends on your internal perception…and perhaps even preference.

If you’ve ever seen the “Double Rainbow” YouTube video, it’s kind of like that: Double Rainbow, all the way… Double Rainbow: what does this mean?!

Facts are Facts…but sometimes the same Facts mean different things to different people…and/or at different times, in different circumstances.

Like one time I was walking through my office, and a mother said, “my daughter’s fever went up to 103 last night!” and I said: “Great!”

Great?!   Yes…the body uses fever to activate the immune system, help things flow better, kill the germs, etc. So it’s a perfectly healthy response to what was happening in her body.

But if you don’t realize that fever is a healthy response, you may get (overly) concerned about it and do things to bring it down, which can actually be counter-productive.

It all depends on where you’re coming from.

Most of the time, we bring our own meaning to the Facts.  60 degrees on the thermometer (fact) may feel a little warmer or a little colder, depending on the wind, humidity, etc…thus the ‘Wind Chill’ factor or the ‘Heat Index’. That is, 60 degrees may not actually ‘be’ 60 degrees.

Or 60 degrees feels good to me, but my wife needs a vest…some folks run a little hot, some run a little cool (insert joke about wife running the fan all night while the husband is bundled up under the covers here).

Or it may say 60 at the house, but 57 in the truck, and 61 on the phone.  Sometimes my thermometer at the house says 108, because it’s right in the blaring sun.  False facts?

It’s not about Fact vs Opinion all the time… sometimes it’s Fact vs Paradigm…that is, what meaning your Mindset/Values/Principles give to a common set of facts.

So, when you’re tempted to call that “otherwise intelligent” person an idiot for thinking/posting the way they do—even when the Facts are plain as day—

Perhaps take a moment to ask yourself: “I wonder where they’re coming from?”

or just for the heck of it, you could ask THEM.

You might be surprised at how much you agree.   Or sometimes we just have to ‘agree to disagree’.

Until then, feel free wear your windbreaker or run around in shorts if you need to.

 

Dr Vince

PS  here’s a double rainbow I saw the other day…  double rainbow

Here’s the Double Rainbow video       http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/43ri

then here’s the Auto-tune version (funny)

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/double-rainbow-song/81033283/

 

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