Finding Meaning Where There Is None, AKA, “Reading Into Stuff”

Photo by Dhiva Krishna on Unsplash

Yesterday and today both I witnessed bad car wrecks.  I haven’t seen a car wreck in over two years. Not only have I been more cautious driving since, today I caught myself telling my wife possible reasons for seeing two crashes in a row.  

“Hey babe, maybe people are absent-minded with summer and vacations.  Be careful.”

Possible.

However, I inferred meaning that may have nothing to do with what actually happened.  Do you ever do that? Read into what your significant other is saying?  What your clients are thinking? Make an assumption? We all do that. Decisions.  Determinations.  Judgments.

I work with thoughts and thinking day-in and day-out.  A big part of my job is to help folks live in reality. Correcting distortions and errors in their thinking is a large part of this.  Of course, as a human being, I experience this just as much as the next person. It is a discipline to not only look to logic and reason, but also to connect with emotions and experience- and attempt to be grounded.  

I hope I always continue to work on this.  

So the reasons why a nice Mercedes got its hood completely crumpled may not really be in my purview.  Nothing wrong for me to guess. However, it is significant for me to stay aware that my thoughts stick close to reality, because the further they diverge from it in day-to-day life, the more likely I am to make determinations that are wrong.  The more I do this, the more firmly rooted my beliefs become. My emotions will follow my beliefs. And my beliefs determine my course. My course affects others. Others affect history. See where this is headed?