Truth, like gold, is to be obtained not by its growth, but by washing away from it all that is not gold.

Getting clearer about something is mostly a removal job. You do not add truth to a muddled account; you take away the flattery, the guesswork, the parts you wanted to be so. What remains is smaller than what you started with, and heavier.

Take a belief you hold strongly and name what it would look like stripped of everything you cannot actually support. Which part came from evidence, which from someone you trust, which from wanting it. Say the reduced version out loud once. If it still holds, you now own it properly.