And Do You Ever Have Trouble Understanding Others?
When one person misreads another, discomfort occurs for both parties. Misreading can occur for a number of reasons. One person may project her own attitudes onto others, another may generalize about other people from his past experience, and still another may be drawn into a group opinion.
Projection
A woman who works in a service organization projects onto her clients her own characteristics of honesty and diligence. But some of them are the opposite. Because she is unable to see them as they really are she gives them things that they should earn for themselves. They are harmed by not being encouraged to become more independent and given the opportunity to grow. And she is harmed because she is taken advantage of.
Generalization
A man who has had several women break up with him comes to generalize about women: they are all potential abandoners. His suspiciousness colors his attitude toward subsequent women he meets. They are taken aback, puzzled, and distressed by his guardedness and withholding. They leave him, too, and his distress continues.
Groupthink
Political Party A’s local club is of one mind about how governance should work and its members views members of Political Party B’s local club as misinformed, if not selfish and unscrupulous. Political Party B’s members feel the same way about Political Party A’s members. All lose because they join a groupthink situation that prevents them from trying to understand why their opponents think as they do.
Problems with Misreading
If someone misreads you, you may feel bewildered by their attitude toward you. And if you misread someone, you won't get an accurate impression of them. When people misread others, they aren't aware that they are doing so; therefore they aren't able to correct their thinking.
All of these misreadings result in distress and lost opportunities. An Inner Guide, which is a very special mental pathway in the mind, does not misread people and will work to protect you from the effects of misunderstanding. And it's so easy to create one.
The course, Achieving Emotional Comfort®, that shows you how to create your own Inner Guide, is available at: go.emotionalcomfort.com/getcourse
