Episode #48: Betsy By Herself on Confronting Her Own Implicit Biases

In this episode, I’ll break down what implicit biases are, how they cause unconscious discrimination, impact relationships, and how we interact with the world. See how you can discover your own biases (because we all have them) so you can address them and be a bigger and better human. It’s all about conscious awareness of something that is largely unconscious (implicit biases). Knowing that is freeing.

While a lot of people might like to believe that they don’t have any biases, the reality is that we all do, whether we like it or not. Someone might even express explicit disapproval of a certain attitude or belief while still harboring related, unconscious biases. That’s unconsciously stressful because that means we aren’t aligned. (And people can hold positive or even negative associations about their own race, gender, religion, sexuality, or other characteristics.)

The good news is that implicit biases aren’t set in stone. We all have the opportunity to ‘begin again,’ as Buddhism teaches us and which I talk about. It’s always possible to adopt new attitudes, to grow, to change. The first step is awareness. I can’t wait to see the amazing change we can make in the world if we each take a brave look at ourselves and are willing to do some work on anything we find there that doesn’t align with our vision for a better world. I’m in this with you. Onward...

Key Points Discussed:

• The jitters of sharing my thoughts online when cancel culture is such a Thing (00:44)

• Discovering and addressing our implicit biases (03:00)

• Taking a bias test and finding out my own implicit biases (05:49)

• Where our biases come from and embracing the fact that we can “begin again” (07:11)

• Applying your newly found consciousness towards doing something about how systems in the world are oppressing people (10:34)

• Getting uncomfortable to make the world a better place before the discomfort comes to you (16:11)

Resources Mentioned:

• The Harvard Implicit Bias Tests

Connect with Betsy:

• Betsy on Instagram

• Betsy on Twitter

• Betsy on Linkedin

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