A habitual cognitive distortion that usually results in you jumping to the wrong conclusion …

One of the the greatest struggles for human beings is that, of the many thousands of thoughts we have every day most of them are at an unconscious level … and irrational.

It’s not a single irrational thought that causes us so much trouble throughout life (although it can be!); those irrational thoughts can become habits or patterns of irrational thinking, commonly known as “cognitive distortions” (or distorted thoughts).

One of the most common cognitive distortions that people across the globe practice on a regular, or even daily, basis is the cognitive distortion known as “jumping to conclusions.” This distorted way of thinking shows itself in a few ways, such as “mind reading” (thinking you know what someone else thinks, or would think, about something and playing that in your mind) and “fortune telling,” such as, “I won’t even say anything about this to Sam because he’ll just get mad and start an argument and then Sue will want to get involved and then …” These scenarios are happening only in the person’s (irrational) thoughts, not in reality.

John Singeryar Svd offers a good example of a mother jumping to a conclusion in the following story, and you’ll see why practicing this cognitive distortion will more often lead you to jumping to the wrong conclusion.

A lovely little girl was holding two apples with both hands. Her mom came in and softly asked her little daughter with a smile, “My sweetie, could you give your mom one of your two apples?”

The girl looked up at her mom for some seconds, then she suddenly took a quick bite on one apple, and then quickly on the other. The mom felt the smile on her face freeze. She tried hard not to reveal her disappointment.

Then the little girl handed one of her bitten apples to her mother and said, “Mommy, here you are. This is the sweeter one.”

No matter who you are, how experienced you are, and how knowledgeable you think you are, always delay judgment. Give others the privilege to explain themselves. What you see may not be the reality. Never conclude for others.

Or in other words, don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t try to read someone else’s mind. And definitely don’t try “fortune telling.” They’re distorted ways of thinking that will result in you jumping to the wrong conclusion, and thus, likely causing problems in your relationships.

Scotty