🧠Weekly Mind Sweep #133| What’s On My Mind | Bias
July 2024
Week 130: Curated Conversation; Bias
Week 131: Mind Your Business; Bias
Week 132: Manage Your Mind; Bias
*Week 133: What’s On My Mind; Bias
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Are you feeling like we need more time to fully explore the topic of bias?
You're not alone. There is so much more for us to uncover, understand, and learn. Stay curious.
I appreciate your willingness to begin this conversation with me. We've touched on some uncomfortable areas in our minds and may have realized how much more we still have to learn.
While we've only scratched the surface, we've started a more profound journey of understanding, awareness, and consciousness of its existence.
This topic will continue to present opportunities for us to learn and grow.
Bias.
For such a small word, bias packs a big punch. Like our month on Ego, our conversations uncovered spaces for growth and a deeper understanding of humanity from a new perspective. [1]
Over the past three weeks, we've mainly discussed implicit bias—the kind buried so deep in our minds that even the kindest person can fall prey to it.
Implicit bias is like a subtle, persistent shadow in your mind, quietly shaping your thoughts and actions. It infiltrates your conscious behavior like an invisible force, slipping through the cracks of your awareness and influencing decisions and actions without you realizing it.
We've discussed the value of implementing the power of the pause when practicing our newfound awareness of bias.
In today's fast-paced world, taking a moment can feel like a lifetime, but it can be profoundly valuable to remind ourselves that we have all the space we need to consider our words, actions, and behavior.
Our life experiences create mental maps in our brains. Repetition deepens these paths, making responses faster and more automatic. By pausing, we give ourselves time for our biology to settle and access our Prefrontal Cortex (PFC), where conscious decision-making occurs. This pause helps us move beyond knee-jerk reactions and responses falling out of our mouths to "protect" ourselves.
In this space, we can take personal responsibility for bringing bias into awareness. It's where we find safe spaces to ask challenging questions, say difficult things, and practice perspective-taking.
With bias awareness, when someone shares a vulnerable insight, you can realize that your automatic response is through your filter of implicit bias. You begin to notice other's biases, implicit or explicit. Recognizing this helps us find new ways to identify, name, and mitigate biases.
Before we go, let's touch on the explicit bias—the biases you are aware of, which can often end in -isms. These are conscious choices and behaviors. Some people may not realize how explicit their implicit biases are.
Did you know there are 234 different isms, each representing a belief system?
The size of this list reminds us that we still have work to do. [2]
When something doesn't align with your values or beliefs, pause and get curious. Engage in challenging and uncomfortable conversations that create new connections, neural pathways, and relationships.
It's likely a bias that is causing the discomfort.
Practice kindness, empathy, and compassion when confronted with someone else's explicit bias. Recognize that beliefs are shaped by experiences, external influences, and mental maps.
Over the years, these pathways have deepened. Question what life experiences may have led them to this belief. This is an invitation to acknowledge your privilege and consider another perspective.
We get to choose how to interpret others' behavior and how we respond.
Awareness of bias is the first step. Then, remind yourself that you likely have zero facts to back that up.
I hope bringing the existence of bias to the surface has brought your attention to the fact that it exists in everyone.
No one is immune to bias.
From a brain perspective, it can benefit our body's budget by saving us time and energy when getting things done. With awareness of bias, we can think, act, and behave differently as we navigate life.
We are better together.
We cannot do this alone.
We can learn from our bias.
This work ripples into our relationships, families, communities, and businesses.
How can you contribute to creating safe spaces for discussing and addressing bias in your personal and professional communities?
Reply and share with me!
The answers you need for your business are already within you. If you’d like support in identifying them and building a business you are proud of, I’m here to help.
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner
[1] Did you miss our month on Ego?
[2] 234 isms - https://phrontistery.info/isms.html
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A Few Kind Words by Tracey Willis Gates
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What kind of person do you want to be?
"You made not only my day, but my week, my month, and my year." This is just one of hundreds of heartfelt responses Tracey received on her transformational journey of writing a handwritten, unexpected letter of appreciation to a different person every day for one year. Inspired by her father, who passed away suddenly when she was 24, and his constant request for "a few kind words," Tracey offers a simple way to feel energized, empowered, and uplifted.
What began as a journey to fill her depleted soul with positivity quickly became an awareness that we all crave being told we matter. This book will motivate you to look up, listen, linger, and engage with those around you. You'll be surprised how much there is to appreciate when you take time to notice, and how incredibly good it feels when you do!
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