“The degree of one’s emotion varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts. The less you know the hotter you get.” Anonymous
The third pitfall to avoid is misconstruing what others say. If one doesn’t then it may place us as close to a disaster in a relationship as anyone could get. Many times we misinterpret what others say and flavor the words with our own ideas. This obviously haunts us and leads our minds down roads that we were never meant to travel. Our feelings take over because we assume it is all about us. Words can hurt us. If we question what is said it allows for discourse and understanding although an others motives for the dialogue may still appear as secretive.
One idea I use to keep from traveling down the “Do Not Enter” road, is to think about other reasons a person might be moody, sad, angry or out of sorts. The couple may be quarreling. They may have problems at their jobs. They may have issues with their children or spouses family. These problems may have nothing to do with us but they may not want to discuss these things with others not involved. Most of us think we hide our feelings and moods from others but many times our feelings are shining through for everyone to see.
The only thing that is missing is that others don’t know why we are angry or sad. They wonder if they caused our ill mood. The challenge for all of us is to refrain from feeling guilt and come to the knowledge that many other happenings in a person’s life reflect their mood swings. These happenings are too numerous to mention. Most of the time we are not causing an others emotions. If we are, then we should know what we did.
With that said I would venture to say stop blaming yourself for other people’s attitudes.
“Thus each person by his fears, gives wings to the rumor and without any real source of apprehension men fear what they themselves have imagined.” Lucan
“The greatest thing in family life is to take a hint when a hint is intended, and not to take a hint when a hint isn’t intended.” Robert Frost
