“Making assumptions and then taking them personally is the beginning of hell in this world. Almost all of our conflicts are based on this, and it’s easy to understand why. Assumptions are nothing more than lies that we are telling ourselves. This creates a big drama for nothing, because we don’t really know if something is true or not. Making assumptions is just looking for drama when there’s no drama happening. And if drama is happening in someone else’s story, so what? It’s not your story; it’s someone else’s story.
Be aware that almost everything you tell yourself is an assumption. If you’re a parent you know how easy it is to make assumptions about your children. It’s midnight, and your daughter isn’t home yet. She went out to dance, and you thought she’d be home by now. You start imagining the worst; you start making assumptions: “Oh, what if something happened to her? Maybe I should call the police.” There are so many things you can imagine, and you create a whole drama of possibilities in your head. Ten minutes later your daughter arrives home with a big smile. When the truth arrives and all the lies are dispelled, you realize that you were simply torturing yourself for nothing. Don’t make assumptions.”
Don Miguel Ruiz and Don Jose Ruiz, in “The Fifth Agreement”
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