Rules for Mental Health

RULES FOR MENTAL HEALTH

1.Assume the writer of any book is as smart as you are. 2. Assume any human being has the same good intentions as you do. 3. Remember that 1 and 2 are assumptions, and you may have to revise them at a later date. 4. Study reading until you can read between the lines. 5. Remember that a book is a mirror, what you see depends on who you are, where you've been, and where you want to go. 6. To understand a subject, read what the smartest person on each end of the debate. A conservative and a liberal intellectual. Notice that they largely agree on the facts. They disagree on the interpretation of the evidence, on the conclusions to draw from the facts. 7. Study cognitive biases. Notice how studying them doesn't prevent you from falling victim to those biases. 8. Study gender differences. Notice how studying them doesn't help you understand the opposite sex very much. 9. Accept that there is never enough evidence to justify absolute certainty. Certainty in religion is an act of faith. Certainty in ideology is an act of faith. 10. Accept that human beings probably do not have the ability to accurately judge what we need. We have a limited perspective and instinctive biases. 11. Write a list of your biggest fears. 12. Pick 2 and face them. 13. If you are republican, subscribe to a Dem magazine. If you are a Dem, subscribe to a republican one. Read it. 14. Complex problems demand complex solutions. Complex solutions require complex explanations. Anyone who responds to a complex problem with a bumper sticker cannot possibly be right. 15. Learn about Robert Cialdini and the 6 weapons of influence. 16. Learn about optical illusions. 17. Learn a completely new skill. While you are learning, remember what it feels like to be a novice. Notice how awkward and embarrassing it is. Notice how it seems to come so effortlessly to the people around you. Remember that when you are trying something where you are the expert.