Pluto

My Very Elderly Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas.

For some, reading that sentence conjures up memories of grade school as it served as a mnemonic device to help you memorize the names and order of the planets of our solar system.

Mercury.?Venus.?Earth.?Mars.?Jupiter.?Saturn.?Uranus.?Neptune.?Pluto.

But wait.?Come to find out, we were all wrong.?We were taught something that wasn’t right after all.?In 2006, Pluto was declassified as a planet, thus dropping the Pizza from our favorite mnemonic.?What, then, did our very elder mother serve us??Oh, the humanity!?Generations of school children, forever scarred by the misinformation.?How have we ever recovered!

Question:?Have you ever been wrong??If we’re being honest with ourselves, the obvious answer is?yes.?For me, it’s a?resounding?yes…but I digress.?Not fun, is it??Being wrong that is.?All the fallout and excuses and blaming of others and embarrassment and ridicule and shame.?Oh, the humanity!

For those who have followed my writing for long enough, you know my musings are the result of a hopeful change of thinking I’ve tried to implement into my own life.?So, how’s this for change of thinking: Have you ever found the joy of being wrong?

“Joy of being wrong…are you crazy?” you might ask.

“Not at all!” comes my response.

When you’re legitimately wrong, you can rest in the realization that your fact was off and is in need of an update.?Update your fact to what is correct…and thus…you make yourself better.?You see, there’s joy in being wrong.?It removes an option.?It removes a wrong way of thinking.?It removes a preconception from your brain and replaces it with a correct one.?It removes Pluto from your list of planets.?And thus, you become a more educated, more correct person.?And that, my friend, should bring you joy.

I think this mindset is jarring for some.?They are ready to dig their heels in and launch into a rigorous debate to prove how wrong?you?are.?When your response is a gentle and kind “Thank you for that course correction.”?Or “Thank you for that new insight.”?Or “Thank you for letting me know that.”?You dismantle their fierceness and calm their attitude toward you.

It’s not comfortable to admit when you’re wrong, but there’s joy in knowing you’re better as a result.

Who needed Pluto anyways…