How many times have you used the words “good” or “bad” today?
From checking your weather app to monitoring the progress you’ve made on your to-do list, to scrolling through social media, opportunities to make snap evaluations abound. And the more you sort things into these categories, the more instinctive making these judgments becomes. You may find yourself filtering everything that comes your way in terms of “good” or “bad.”
A dark cloud triggers “bad,” a social media post of baby animals triggers “good,” a news story about a political scuffle triggers “bad.” Whether you think something is good or bad, or worthy of a like or not, is an important piece of information. But if that categorization is the only thing that’s on your mind, the only lens through which you interpret the world, you’ll miss out on a lot.
I’m a philosopher who specializes in happiness, well-being and the good life. I study how one’s state of mind influences one’s experiences of the world.
In my recent book “The Art of the Interesting,” I explore the ways the evaluative perspective squashes your ability to experience psychological richness and other positive dimensions of life. The more you instinctively react with a “good” or a “bad,” the less of the world you take in. You’ll be less likely to engage your mind, exercise curiosity and have interesting experiences.
Evaluation narrows your mind
When you instinctively label something as good or bad, you focus only on the features that make that thing good or bad.
A storm cloud has so much more to it than a simple ‘good’ or ‘bad’ label allows for.
Pobytov/E+ via Getty Images
You look outside, and all you see is the darkness of the clouds, threatening your plans for the day. You don’t notice the cooling shade those clouds create, nor the dramatic ways the wind makes them morph. You don’t notice the flowers unfurling, nor the child walking by who is also looking up at the clouds, but with a wide-eyed look of wonder.
When snap evaluations reign, you effectively shut yourself off from a wide range of possible experiences. When everything around you is just good or bad, nothing can be perplexing, mysterious or intriguing. Nothing can be simply new, or simply challenging, or simply stimulating. Nothing is interesting, for your mind has filtered out these possible sources of cognitive engagement. It sees what it expects, and nothing else.
Open your mind for more psychological richness
Snap evaluations narrow your perspective and limit your mind’s potential to connect and engage with other aspects of your experiences. But you can unlock this potential simply by resisting any instinct to judge and instead viewing the world without trying to evaluate what you see.
Right away, you’ll start to notice more, and you’ll activate your mind’s internal drives for curiosity and exploration.
Freed from the…
