First Published 15 June 2023

Checking in on your Tolerance Levels

I’ve been pitching at networking meetings this season looking for Snot Monsters suffering from seasonal allergies, but also for people struggling with allergies and intolerances to other things – whether they by pets, dusts, food stuffs, chemicals or even other people.

Now while I usually include colleagues, in-laws and your children in amongst the ‘other people’, there does seem to be a very real reduction in the tolerance that we have with our fellow humans in general.

My business book club just yesterday discussed Oliver Burkeman’s Epidemics of Modern Life – this ‘book’ was made up of 4 series of 5 episodes of a Radio 4 show.  You may hear more about this over the next few weeks.

The 4th part talked about the loss of nuance, and as I was listening I was pondering on whether my key takeaway was a loss of tolerance to our fellow human beings.  

Whether that is taking the time to listen to a younger sibling or a child when they have an opinion on something – or perhaps are working on forming an opinion through discussion, or meeting people with massively opposing views on any topic really (from politics and religion to sports teams, coffee shop preferences or even a choice of music).

How open are you to listen – and I mean really listen?

As you will hopefully know by now – I am not asking this in a judgemental way.  Rather an open question to ask of yourself, whenever you are having a conversation with another person or people.

There is no need to listen with a view to changing your stand point, but to being open to understanding where the other person is coming from, you never know what you might learn.

In a world that is being driven by anger – from the 24 hour news cycle on the TV or from your Social Media feeds (feeding anger is a very good way to keep you engaged and in the social media platform of your choice – so, that is the content that a lot of people are finding is showing up in their feeds regularly!).

So, the next time someone wants to have a conversation/debate and they are coming from a different viewpoint, I invite you to pause and listen – and have a rational discussion.  It might be just what they need to work through what think, what they are saying and also hearing back from you – and they can then own their opinion rather than being fed one based on whichever side is shouting louder in their newsfeed.

If this sounds like too big of an ask, book in for a session with me.  While I do include dealing with tolerance levels with other people to my pitching in an amusing manner, I am actually serious – working with kinesiology can really help to quieten your mind to leave you more open to having deep conversations and discussions with others – and perhaps even enjoying them!

And yes, I do also help snot monsters to deal with their seasonal challenges 😉