You never really know what somebody else is thinking. Yet we quite often think we do. The truth is, that is just an interpretation in our own minds.
Sometimes we think we know someone so well that we know exactly what they are thinking.
Sometimes we think we recognise what other people are thinking from their body language, their facial expressions or their tone of voice.
The truth is though, you never really know what someone else is thinking. Thoughts are completely private and mostly, none of our business!
It's all in your mind
What we believe to be true is a figment of our imagination. We may be right, we may be wrong, but what we think we know about other people’s thought is a projection, an interpretation of our own brain.
Part of our brain (I like to call it the ego-part and the left-side) loves to be right and is convinced it is right. It will even try and convince you that it is right. I have this too, obviously. Through many years of conditioning (from school, for example) and my ego developing, my brain loves to be right and when I hear those words “you are right” I still get a shot of dopamine.
However much this part of our brains loves to be right, it doesn’t mean it is true.
A matter of perception
In any given situation, if more than one person is experiencing it, there will always be more than one interpretation of the events. Look at eye-witness accounts of accidents or incidents, you will quite often hear varying stories. This is because we all have our own individual filter and interpretation of what we see, hear and experience.
The same goes for other people’s reactions. In one situation if somebody says “Great, thanks!” you could interpret this as either gratitude, thankfulness, enthusiasm or sarcasm, facetiousness or even anger.
Do you know what I mean? Words, tone and action are all open to interpretation.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a similar principle. The person doing the seeing interprets what counts as beauty or not. Same with thoughts.
Everything goes through our own filter. Our filter is made up of what we have already experienced or been told and our current state of mind. If you are already in a bit of a paranoid pickle because of your present state of mind, you might be more likely to interpret people’s words and actions as threatening, judgemental or mean. This is due to some parts of the brain going offline when we are stressed. If you are in a more positive state of mind, the opposite may happen and your brain may interpret the same words and actions as benevolent.
A figment of your imagination
So I would like to assure you: whatever you think other people are thinking about you - it is just a figment of YOUR imagination. Your brain is making it up. You do not have to believe it!
Especially if those thoughts are limiting you in some way or making you feel bad. What if the opposite of what your thoughts are telling you is true? Do you know for sure what someone else is thinking? No. You could ask the person, if you really want to know and even then, they may not tell you their true thoughts because those thoughts are private. They get to choose what they share with you.
What other people are thinking is none of your business!
If what you are interpreting is making you miserable, you get to choose to interpret it differently, or at least consider the option that maybe what you think they are thinking is just MADE UP by your own brain.
Release or question all thoughts or assumptions you make about what other people are thinking.
Most of the time, people are thinking about themselves and how they are perceived in their world, they are mostly not thinking about you.
Worrying about what other people might be thinking is quite often a reason why we stop being ourselves and following our true desires and why we continue to stay small and maybe stuck, contented with doing things the same way everyone else does, even if it doesn’t actually suit us.
So starting with this little nugget, you can develop and expand your awareness of your thoughts until you no longer care what others are thinking because you realise that what is holding you back is YOUR OWN INTERPRETATION.
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