Rainbow Ruse

I regard myself as a very open person. Yet I know I am very stubborn, sensitive and defensive. In Cold Reading, this is called the 'Rainbow Ruse'. You attribute someone with a characteristic, and its opposite. It sounds insightful. But this is obviously true of everyone. Sometimes we are introverts, sometimes we are extroverts. All of us.

I value my openness. I go out of my way to read about and listen to other points of view. I seek out feedback. I try differentiate between things where there is a definite right and wrong, and things that tell me more about the person than the world. I don't want to argue with anyone over whether vanilla or chocolate ice-cream tastes better.

At the same time, I am actually rather conservative in many ways. I believe most of us are underconfident in our thoughts, and overconfident in our actions. We beat ourselves up in our heads, and defend our bodies and beliefs tooth and nail. Our actions have consequences. We genuinely don't know what they will be. Unintended consequences are hard to unravel.

So I believe in empowering individuals to make decisions. Small decisions. Lots of decisions. Decisions that take into account tastes, and can be unwound. Decisions that build multiple communities through shared points of craziness.

Big decisions with big consequences freak me out. I do make, and I have made, big decisions. I just try make as few of them as possible. I really love the world I live in despite all the things that drive me nuts. The grass just isn't greener. Any big decision would just give me a whole different set of problems.

So yes, I am very open to change. I am also very closed. Welcome to my Rainbow... there is a Donkey with a pot of gold at the end.