Ponderings: Assigning intentions

When you are anxiously inclined, it can be easy to do what I call “assigning intentions.” Assigning intentions is what we do when we cannot understand why someone said or did something, or we are confused as to why they behaved a certain way, so we fill in the gaps and come up with reasons in our mind that help to explain the behaviors. The trouble with this is that we have no way of knowing if the reasons we come up with are true or not, but they can still shape our opinions of someone without us meaning for them to. What starts as a harmless means of relating to or understanding someone can quickly turn into a world of mistaken assumptions, until your perspective of the person is one