So, as I was saying...
Today was a lesson in assumptions. Just how many of them do we make in one day, you think? Ten, twenty, upwards of thirty or fourty? And what, when we subtract out the assumptions made on decent thought, then what are we left with? The things that we allow ourselves to assume true, that may just be false while we go on assuming them the opposite.
In other words, we figure one thing, and it's another, we figure another and it was the one thing we didn't think of. We try to cover both bases, and we miss completely. And while this way of thinking can, on occasion, lead to pleasant surprise, so can not assuming and just being surprised, and rarely does surprise lead to near as much anger and bitterness, and usually to a far lesser degree.
It's far less messy when we don't try to think what others are thinking. We've all got far too much on our own minds to concern ourselves with the hidden thoughts of others.
When general comments are made, why is it automatically assumed that they specifically speak to us, in many cases? We only injure ourselves unnescessarily, or point out guilt and fault where they do not truly lie. It's an interesting phenomenon, how we respond to what's being said around us, sometimes.
Just, for instance, watch a quiet classroom when someone speaks. Doesn't everyone's head turn?
And why is that, when we know that the conversation is not meant for us? I mean, it is, after all, perfectly normal for two people to have a conversation. And yet, just for a split second we think "I wonder what they're talking about..." before realizing that evesdropping is wrong and unnescessary, and usually uninteresting as well.
Kind of odd, don't you think? Is that an ingrained reaction, or is it something we do because we truly think that what is being said might just be of consequence to our lives, and that we need to defend ourselves against it or ally ourselves with it?
Or could it be both?
Either way, it seems, we cause ourselves more worry when we try to judge based on incomplete information. We think, we get angry, we get hurt, we avoid, and we ultimately break things that need not be broken, tear things that need not be torn, sever things that need not be severed, all in the name of a small shred of insignificance that was meant to have no weight at all.
And all this for what, exactly?
To defend ourselves?
Hardly.
Better to charge the windmills, I'd think, for at least the windmills aren't entirely imaginary.
But then you know what they say about assuming.
It makes...
In other words, we figure one thing, and it's another, we figure another and it was the one thing we didn't think of. We try to cover both bases, and we miss completely. And while this way of thinking can, on occasion, lead to pleasant surprise, so can not assuming and just being surprised, and rarely does surprise lead to near as much anger and bitterness, and usually to a far lesser degree.
It's far less messy when we don't try to think what others are thinking. We've all got far too much on our own minds to concern ourselves with the hidden thoughts of others.
When general comments are made, why is it automatically assumed that they specifically speak to us, in many cases? We only injure ourselves unnescessarily, or point out guilt and fault where they do not truly lie. It's an interesting phenomenon, how we respond to what's being said around us, sometimes.
Just, for instance, watch a quiet classroom when someone speaks. Doesn't everyone's head turn?
And why is that, when we know that the conversation is not meant for us? I mean, it is, after all, perfectly normal for two people to have a conversation. And yet, just for a split second we think "I wonder what they're talking about..." before realizing that evesdropping is wrong and unnescessary, and usually uninteresting as well.
Kind of odd, don't you think? Is that an ingrained reaction, or is it something we do because we truly think that what is being said might just be of consequence to our lives, and that we need to defend ourselves against it or ally ourselves with it?
Or could it be both?
Either way, it seems, we cause ourselves more worry when we try to judge based on incomplete information. We think, we get angry, we get hurt, we avoid, and we ultimately break things that need not be broken, tear things that need not be torn, sever things that need not be severed, all in the name of a small shred of insignificance that was meant to have no weight at all.
And all this for what, exactly?
To defend ourselves?
Hardly.
Better to charge the windmills, I'd think, for at least the windmills aren't entirely imaginary.
But then you know what they say about assuming.
It makes...