We all believe many things in life to be truths. We can support our beliefs with examples, talking points, etc. To ourselves, those things are the truth. I’ve found the uncomfortable part to this is trying to consider points from the other side when your natural tendencies are to not want to. What if, in that moment, you challenged yourself to make an argument for the other side? What if you were forced to debate as if you completely agreed with the other side? How would you go about it? First, you might start to consider which points you disagree with least. Then you may take those points and try to find things about them that might have some merit to you.
Practicing this exercise could benefit you in multiple ways. For one, you might realize that things aren’t always one way or the other. There is usually a middle ground, a gray area. Opening your mind to this, when discussing topics with those who have opposing view points, might cause the others to respect your openness. It also might not. However, the bigger picture here is to ask ourselves what the ultimate goal really is. Is it to prove someone else wrong? Is it to hope your side or your team wins? I feel the ultimate goal is to make things better, not to make better points. Your opposition probably also has the goal of making things better, but just sees the world differently than you. Everyone has a truly unique history, upbringing, and set of experiences. Showing an openness to other ideas, at minimum may just allow you to learn something new, and ultimately could shape or fine tune your truth in a way where you feel you understand things even better.