Giving others the benefit of doubt

When thinking internally, listening into our own thoughts we think we know so well, we often forget that others may be seeing those same thoughts we are thinking upon in a different light. They see them through their own personal made-to-order lenses presented to them at birth and equipped for their own use. Not to say this is right or wrong, but it is the way it is.

How then can we expect them to readily understand what we pitch to them through conversation and everyday chitchat at home or at the office, in the classroom, at the doctor's office or where ever? We can't really. The best we can do is to talk to them as intelligently as possible and ask questions and learn from them as they also will learn form us.

Most people try to be on the safe side and keep their verbal quips to areas that are safe and commonly held. That is understandable, but it does little toward better understanding of mental health topics that need a wider audience, and also is in dire need of a more accepting audience.

One in particular, and is the topic of this brief observation about mental health viewpoints, is giving others the benefit of the doubt. How do we actually know what their thoughts and feelings unless they tell us outright?

The mistake often made is assuming they think this way about us or our beliefs, when in actuality, they often don't think much about it one way or another. They, like us, are taken up with their own thoughts and ideas and unless others' ideas get in their way, are seldom thought upon.

Furthering that topic, giving them the benefit of the doubt, we might assume they are doing one thing or saying one thing, when we don't know. Until we know for sure they are backbiting and talking behind our backs and in general, doing us harm, it is best to believe they are not. This is the mental health way of giving them the benefit of the doubt!

In a world where assumptions are a dime a dozen, who can afford to buy into their shoddy deals? Know the facts—if they are worth knowing— before we go off the deep end and make fools of ourselves. Most of us are big enough fools without heaping more trash on ourselves. Therefore the caution is, look before you leap; think we act.