If you’ve read American Prometheus, you know that after helping create the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer began warning the government about the consequences of the nuclear arms race. Rather than seriously considering what he had to say, powerful people worked to discredit and silence him.
Reading the book got me thinking about how often I see a version of this in the therapy room.
As humans, we seem to have an aversion to hearing things we don’t want to hear. We dismiss people, attack their motives, or engage in our own form of cancel culture to protect our feelings. We surround ourselves with people who tell us what we already believe, creating echo chambers where growth dies.
This can be especially toxic and destructive in a relationship.
In this episode, Erica and I talk about healthy ways to receive criticism and evaluate whether it has value. How do we decide when criticism should lead us to make a change? And how do we let go of criticism that isn’t helpful or true?
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