Sensing what others are feeling

• No doubt some of us are better than others at picking up subtle clues. But avoiding feedback is dangerous because reality might hit us after it's too late to take corrective action.
• Few are aware of how much they interpret events to suit themelves.
• We do it automatically and get no feedback to correct us.
• Like not understanding why our team is not as motivated as we are.
• We assume that others have our outlook, values and priorities until they prove us wrong.
• If we are unselfish, we tend to see apparently generous acts of others as based on the same motive rather than being self-serving.
• If we are self-serving, we assume there are no unselfish acts.
• So, two people witness the same act and interpret it differently.
• Optimists are quick to see positives in everyone's actions.
• Pessimists make the opposite interpretation.
• A suspicious person sees evil intentions behind innocent acts.
• A trusting person sees benevolence in acts of betrayal.
• You make a great sales pitch, no one disagrees so you assume they're on board.
• What mood are you in at the moment? How might that affect how you perceive someone else's actions?
• The list is endless. Even if you are neither particularly suspicious nor gullibly trusting generally, you might have suspicious and trusting moments where you could misinterpret the acts of others.
• So, relying on intuition to sense what is really going on risks being struck hard by unpleasant realities. Can you ask yourself whether there is some other reason why you avoid feedback?