Opinion matters

Today I am writing about a very common expression that we use, "you are entitled to your own opinion"

This statement is usually a conversation ender; end a conversation that is threatening to become an argument

Most conversations end with that expression - this is my opinion, you are entitled to your own opinion

The dictionary meaning of the word "opinion" is a view or a judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

When do we ask others for their opinion?

When we don't need it!

When someone asks me for my opinion, it is actually to understand my character more than anything else

The decision is already taken and someone wants to judge what my reaction will be when they inform me of the decision

So to know that, they ask my opinion

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact.

Everything we see is perspective, not the truth.

This statement is credited to Marcus Aurelius, a Roman Emporer known for his Stoic philosophy

We all have our own opinions about various subjects

Opinions are own interpretations of perception  as fact

It is a bit disconcerting to be at the receiving end when someone tells us curtly, you are entitled to your own opinion

Yet, interestingly, opinions can change

And they change when we take the effort to understand the perspective or interpretation of how the other person perceives the fact

Thus when our opinion has changed about an event or a person, it is actually that our opinion has changed from an "uneducated opinion " to a more "educated opinion "

So my opinion was a fact until you proved me wrong

We all begin with uneducated opinions, things that we dismiss outright because they sound stupid or improbable or even impractical

Only after we take the effort to understand or experience it, sometimes our opinion changes

Experience unfortunately though can teach only so much

If the first experience is bad, our opinion might not change

The best way to improve our opinion from uneducated opinion to educated opinion is by being willing to understand the others perspective repeatedly

Opinion is ultimately determined by the feeling and not by the intellect.

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