To change your mind and defer to correcton is not to sacrifice your independence; for such an act is your own, in pursuance of your own impulse, your own judgement, and your own thinking.
~Marcus Aurelius~
We are often uncomfortable with accepting correction, or advice from others, feeling that to do so would be to give up our autonomy or mistrust our own instincts. Changing our minds or admitting a mistake is seen as a sign of weakness. However, if we care about self-improvement and the pursuit of truth, changing our minds can rather be a sign of intellectual strength and our independence: we show that we are no slave to error, that we do not take our vanity and insecurity to be more imporant than getting things right. In the light of values that we have thoughtfully chosen and made our own, we can adjust our opinions and admit our errors. The impulse to remain true to our values, the ability to correct ourselves, and the courage to diverge from comfortable paths comes from the best part of ourselves- our power of rational thought.
~Samantha Vice~
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