Being Impartially Partial: How to be Your Own "Impartial Third Party"

In this post, I will be discussing a concept that I think is important. You may not all agree on the concept of being "impartially partial" but you can at least hear me out. ;)

To begin, let us define both words individually:
(Below definitions obtained from google dictionary)

• Impartial: treating all rivals or disputants equally; fair and just.
  Synonyms: unbiased, unprejudiced, neutral, nonpartisan, nondiscriminatory, objective, open-minded
• Partial: favoring one side in a dispute above the other
  Synonyms: biased, prejudiced, partisan, one-sided, subjective, skewed, unbalanced

For the sake of simplicity, I'd like my readers to associate being impartial with objectivity & being partial to subjectivity

It is possible to possess both objectivity & subjectivity - AKA being "impartially partial"

Made up example:

• Sally is a compulsive hoarder who has allowed her addiction to push her adult children away.
• If sally was being partial /subjective she may feel: "my kids are assholes, they don't want to be around their mother"; "I'm their mother, I deserve their attention no matter what"
• Meanwhile Sally could pull herself from that viewpoint and think on an impartial/objective scale: "my kids don't mean to come across as assholes. They have distanced themselves from me to protect their emotional wellbeing" ; "I am their mother, but I do not deserve their undivided attention if I'm engaged in this unhealthy habit"

Most, but not all, people are capable to an extent, dependant upon the situation, to be able to retain some objectivity. This is because they are self aware - such that they can become their own impartial third party. As I've reached my late twenties, I find myself becoming increasingly self aware of the emotional reason I behave in certain ways and also can pull out enough to think this key, take away point:

• what would I think of myself if I was a another person? ?

Clearly, these situations that we can truly be impartially partial do not apply to every type of situation.

• even though i did use an addict as my example above, many addicts compulsary nature would not allow for that level of self awareness, especially if they don't think they have a problem. But that is a whole 'nuther ball of wax that this post isn't about
• i used sally the hoarder because I have personally worked with a few hoarders. A couple of them were remarkably self aware. They'd openly admit they knew their home was a mess, or wasn't suitable for company. They were aware of the problematic nature of their behavior but also not willing to change it.
• Of course, others thought it was perfectly fine to have trash everywhere, newspapers from 20+ years ago, pests due to unsanitary environments, etc. This was normal to them and they could see no other way.

I think being impartially partial and having the capability to withdraw from self and be your own personal third party is that time when we can get the emotional mind and rational mind to converge into WISDOM.

To summarize, try the following word associations when examining your own or someone else's situation :

• Impartial <> objective
• Partial <> subjective

You can easily decide for yourself where you are in your thought process. If you're experiencing a more emotional response; try to then pull back to attain the rationality that you need for that balance, that
SELF AWARENESS
THINKING FROM A PLACE OF WISDOM
BEING IMPARTIALLY PARTIAL

If you still are unable to be objective, then you are simply not ready to deal with your issue. It can be quite uncomfortable to be your own personal third party sometimes.

It can also piss other people off because you come across as playing the Devils advocate. One minute you seem to be completly empathetic to yourself/someone else, the next able up completly withdraw and point out a raw fact you or someone else just isn't ready to deal with!

Hope my ramblings make some sense. Been thinking on this one for a while. Thanks for reading. Have yourself a great day & as always full STEEM ahead!

Image source 1: http://www.civillitigationbrief.com/2017/03/03/expert-witnesses-rarely-totally-impartial-but-some-are-less-partial-than-others/
Image source 2: https://losranchos.org/why-im-partial-to-being-impartial/
Image source 3: psychology today