RE: HSPs, Intuition, Mind Reading and the Futile Exercise of Jumping to Conclusions
I think so much of this attitude we carry, jumping to conclusions, pre-judging, and all - is part of a larger social feedback loop. As I get older I really see how communication is breaking down between people. Where I live nobody says hello to you when out and about in public - period. So we learn to expect people only come to you when there is a hidden agenda, and many times there is, so when the genuine person comes seeking advice or conversation we often shut them down too soon. For me I don't think it's intuition to "know or not know" a person's intent, sadly just habit of past experiences.
In a recent road trip up through Georgia and the Carolinas and back we got to see the other side, open, warm, caring people. We were shocked when almost everyone we walked by simply going to a Starbucks said hello or good morning to us. You kinda look over your should thinking it was directed at someone behind us they knew.
Thank you another great topic of discussion to think about.
*Although I think I strayed a bit from it this time.
Yes, you may be right about the bigger picture. Seems society is teaching us to be "suspicious" of everyone and to assume that they have hidden agendas and wish us ill.
Where I live now is in a smaller town, and people here are far friendlier and more open-- before I lived in the city, and everyone avoided eye-contact and stared at their feet as they went by. And yet? The small town has its own "assumptions," which mostly seems to revolve around "don't trust outsiders." So there's always something going on.
The overall "negativity assumption" bothers me, on a greater level... it seems to separate us, rather than bring is together.
Agreed. I'm not even in a major city, suburbs of the greater Ft Lauderdale area, and we do have the eyes down thing here, it's sad.
I teach my son to try to look for the good in people first, give them the opportunity to show good, before he judges. It's definitely easier for him as a kid to see good - but even at age 7 he makes comments on why are people not nice, why don't they say hi to me, etc. It so different here now than when I was a growing up. It further drives me in my goal to move us somewhere better as soon as I can.
I appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.