Facts
Factfulness
Eight out of ten of my clients may be working on changing negative thoughts during my weekly sessions. Their anxious feelings have overwhelmed them and taken over their thinking process. How did this happen? NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) says that both genetic and environmental factors contribute to these feelings of fear, worry, and panic [1]. Has a parent been diagnosed with anxiety? Is the environment filled with things that make them anxious? This all makes a difference. In the book Factfulness, the author aims to teach us that knowing the facts can decrease these worries and change our worldview.
Rosling breaks down the reason for the world’s skewed thinking into ten different types of instinct. I will attempt in this writing to illustrate some of those instincts in day-to-day or real-life situations. As Rosling has explained, there is a level of ignorance in this world. Some are ignorant by choice and others are excluded from the resources/ information that will save them from their ignorant thoughts. For this reason, I chose to write for all to have a greater understanding of the instincts that Rosling notes in his writings.
The first instinct that he notes is the Gap Instinct. For many years I have lived in a neighborhood that is trapped between a main highway and an upper-class community. There is a shared community gym where the children play sports. While signing up my daughter the lady attempts to send me to a gym where she refers to the people as them. The difference between the gyms is that children of all races are at the gym one minute away. The gym with “them” was one hundred percent black lower-income individuals and it was ten minutes away. I gather that from the sound of my voice she knew I was African American. I could assume that she was grouping the children by color instead of going by the parish rules. I can also assume that this act was racism. But are we as African Americans also placing gaps between “them” versus “us” based on color, wealth, or religion? The gap exists because of dramatic ignorance, the true facts are that all men are created equally. Changing our worldview and specifically our spiritual view would be helpful in seeing that gaps we as humans place on things do not exist.
The second instinct, the negativity instinct is often encouraged by the news. The news tells us daily that crime is getting worse than ever before and from this information, we sometimes assume that the world is getting worse. The facts are that crime may have been at the exact level that it is now, but new technologies have more ways to capture these crimes. The bad news usually in our minds outweighs the true facts.
There are several other instincts that the author sets out to share. He hopes to educate us so that we are not afraid of when we should not be, so we are not separating ourselves into groups so that we are not anxious, and we are living in ignorance.
- https://www.nimh.nih.gov/sites/default/files/documents/health/publications/generalized-anxiety-disorder-gad/generalized_anxiety_disorder.
- Rosling, Hans, et al. Factfulness. Flammarion, 2023.
About the Author
Shonell Dillon
A daughter of the KING of kings and the LORD of lords. A lover of LIFE!8 responses to “Facts”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Shonell, thank you for sharing. I loved this: “As Rosling has explained, there is a level of ignorance in this world. Some are ignorant by choice and others are excluded from the resources/ information that will save them from their ignorant thoughts.” I am not sure there is an answer, but I wonder how we can help those ignorant by choice to change their ignorance. May we all learn to overcome our ignorance.
I believe that true love is the key to helping this problem. If those who know will share or inform those that don’t and if those that don’t have will be open to receiving.
Hi Shonell
You are engaged in sacred work. The more we read about negative thoughts and mindsets, the more I see it in the lives of people in my congregation and myself. Having a positive outlook and empathy seem to be the keys to a happier, whole life. Thank you for helping people find another way to be.
Thank you Chad for being honest with yourself. We are not perfect but should be striving for perfection.
Shonell, thank you for sharing this wisdom through your blog. Our mindset is so powerful and as humans I think we are just beginning to understand how deep that runs. I have enjoyed learning this semester about how powerful our bias and thought patterns can be.
Shonell,
Your post is insightful and definitely provides a different lens to view the us versus them. Spiritually I concur there is no gap (at least from a kingdom perspective), but I’m wondering how does this line up with the socioeconomic aspects. Your insights would be invaluable.
Shonell – Your story about the gym made me think about our trip to Washington D.C. when we were at the Museum of African American history and people assumed you were not part of our group. Thank you for sharing your lived experience with us and opening our eyes to the gaps in equality that still exist for many in this country. I appreciate you and your perspective more than I can ever express. You are doing holy, healing work. Keep going…
Shonell,
“Changing our worldview and specifically our spiritual view would be helpful in seeing that gaps we as humans place on things do not exist.” As a black person in America as you well know this part right here is hard. I’ve made progress in changing my worldview but the constant barrage against black thought and bodies is something hard for me to constantly try and change in my small corner of the world (Florida of all places, haha). In your work how do you help people enact change in situations where they are constantly in a sense of us vs them?