topic: [[Changing]] people: Jean Toomey created: 2023-11-13 *When considering your inner-self, think inspection not introspection.* This reminds me of [[interoception]] and the difficulty of seeing yourself. It's kind of like [[Blind Spot]] and the impossible challenge of seeing yourself reasonably and similar to what others see. This matters because when considering valid and balanced self-improvement, use Jean Toomey's 5 step approach: "In 1945, at the height of Rustin’s pacifist struggles with conscription, Jean Toomer, who became a guiding spirit of the Friends movement among African Americans, listed a five-step path against impediments to the inner spiritual life which echoes Rustin’s path toward political progress: “1. See them, one by one; 2. face them; 3. honestly evaluate them; 4. deny, that is, oppose them; 5. struggle with them.” The inner life and the outer life are parts of the same process of incremental improvement." To me this statement says _"Try to separate yourself from your ideas so that you can better evaluate them."_ ##### What would the opposite argument be? When it comes to self-improvement, why not take a [[🐓 Idea Farm/6 Long Form Sources/Trying Not To Try|Trying Not To Try]] approach? tags: #note/statement | #on/imperfection | #on/change ##### Sources: Gopnik, A. (2023, November 6). Eclipsed in his Era, Bayard Rustin Gets to Shine in Ours. _The New Yorker_. [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/13/eclipsed-in-his-era-bayard-rustin-gets-to-shine-in-ours](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/11/13/eclipsed-in-his-era-bayard-rustin-gets-to-shine-in-ours)