She should have done a better job. (The presenter at the Science Pub, talking about volcanic activity in Oregon.)

1. True?
   No. (Although it felt that way at times, and my stories told me the same.)
2. Sure?
   No. She is just doing her job the way she thinks is best.
3. What happens when I believe that thought?
   • I experience a split. I am right, she is wrong. (Or at least less right.)
   • I go into stories supporting the initial one. She doesn’t understand her audience very well. She shouldn’t have spent all that time on classifications of volcanoes. (Who is interested in that anyway?) She should have focused on more juicy and real-life related topics, such as what could happen when local volcanoes erupt, how we can prepare, how we can predict eruptions and what work is being done in that area, how we can use the local geothermal energy, and more.
   • I make all of those stories into right and wrong, supporting my initial belief, fueling some  reactive emotions (admittedly weak in this case) and a sense of split and separation.
4. Who am I without that belief?
   • Receptive to the talk. Appreciation. Freedom to stay or leave. Don’t go into right or wrong. Discernment, including ideas of how I would have done it, without making it into right or wrong.
5. Turnarounds.
   • She should not have done a better job.
     • She did what she did. It was a perfect expression of her background, interests, preparation, and much more.
     • It helped me see my beliefs around it.
     • It was probably interesting to others in the audience. What is a good and less good presentation depends on who is receiving it.
   • She should have done a worse job.
     • It would have helped me look at my beliefs around it even more, and other beliefs would probably have come up as well.
     • It would have encouraged me to explore even more alternative ways of doing a presentation on that topic, which would have been interesting to me.
   • I should have done a better job.
     • Yes, in noticing how I went into a belief, seeing it more clearly.
   • I should not have done a better job.
     • For me too, what happened was the result of innumerable conditions and causes. It was a perfect expression of these, as her actions were a perfect expression of hers. We both just live out our lives.

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