We interrupt our regularly scheduled program...
Reconsidering what we know to better understand what we believe.
If you’re new here, I rarely ever send emails like this.
I hope by now you know I don’t share things with you that aren’t an active benefit in your life. Or at the very least, are an active benefit in mine. That’s why I’m popping in on a Wednesday to remind you about All Things Reconsidered, the newest book by my friend, Knox McCoy.
When I read All Things Reconsidered earlier this year, I had no idea exactly how prescient it would be to our current world. Here’s what I said about it in my endorsement:
We live in an age that villainizes changing your mind. Knox is here to reclaim the lost art of reconsideration. He is a thoughtful captain: helping you navigate the shallow coastlines and subterranean waters of the sacred and the secular, with equal weight and precision to each. Release yourself from the stigma of stubborn and inflexible beliefs and allow yourself to consider again, with Knox as your guide and All Things Reconsidered as your map.
When my kids went to school, their teachers would often talk about a growth mindset. My mother, who was a formal educator for years and now does consulting, sends me articles about how to cultivate a growth mindset in my children. If you’re a parent, you’ve probably heard that phrase floating around. This article from Brain Pickings sums up the concept:
One of the most basic beliefs we carry about ourselves, Dweck found in her research, has to do with how we view and inhabit what we consider to be our personality. A “fixed mindset” assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static givens which we can’t change in any meaningful way, and success is the affirmation of that inherent intelligence, an assessment of how those givens measure up against an equally fixed standard; striving for success and avoiding failure at all costs become a way of maintaining the sense of being smart or skilled. A “growth mindset,” on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities. Out of these two mindsets, which we manifest from a very early age, springs a great deal of our behavior, our relationship with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts, and ultimately our capacity for happiness.
Fixed vs growth. I love that line: “a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities.” If we want to grow, we simply must give ourselves the space and tools to do so. That’s what All Things Reconsidered is about to me. We so often remain fixed in our beliefs and abilities because the idea of changing seems weak or embarrassing, like we’ve failed. But that’s where we get true growth. That’s where repentance comes in, for those who read this with a spiritual perspective (literally the Greek word for repentance means to “change your mind”).
I know this is true for me. Here’s some of the things I’ve reconsidered recently in my own life:
Apple products being the be all, end all.
Frank Sinatra
Popcorn (you know when a shaving of the kernel gets stuck in your gums? Maybe a top three most hated feeling for me.)
Unlimited screen time for children
Jane Austen
Not watching the last episode of a beloved TV series
The two-party political system here in the US
Leashes for children
Mustard in general
Giving ourselves and the people around us the grace for reconsideration without the shame of being weak-minded or fickle is surely one of our greatest capacities as humans. The grace to grow. The grace to adapt and question. Plus, leashes for children honestly sound like a dream at this point.
Look how happy everyone is here! Do babies wear khakis? If they work together, could they potentially knock her over and drag her to their desired location? Why are her hands in her pockets?
I want you to have this book. I hope you’ve purchased it, and if you haven’t, then I hope you will. If you can’t, please email me (hello@erinhmoon.com or just reply to this email). So many generous Popcast & Bible Binge listeners have offered to pay for copies for anyone who wants one, and I’d love to match you up with one of these fine people.
You can purchase All Things Reconsidered at so many lovely bookstores, but my favorite place to get it is The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia. It’s out today, so leash up your kid and head to the bookstore.