JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS
We’ve all heard the partly true falsehood that it is a bad thing to jump to conclusions.
Yet it can save your life. Personal example: One summer when I was about 8 years of age I was riding my bike. It was a beautiful day … sunny sky, clear view of everything. I didn’t see the car. I didn’t hear the car. I jumped to a conclusion and stayed on the berm of the back road and that car zoomed past me from behind. Why is this important you may ask … because I NEVER rode on the berm before that day. No conscious thought about it, just did. If I hadn’t I might not be here to write this message.
Jumping to conclusions can also be helpful. I do it all the time. When we moved into our house over 3 years ago I found the HVAC uncomfortable. My feet were cold but my body was still hot. Jumping to a conclusion I built a 4′ box to put over the return air duct in the hall floor. I have no HVAC experience and no reason other than reason that the problem was that the cool air had no “challenge” returning to whence it had come. Immediately the system worked much better. The system was now taking warm air out of the room instead on only the cold air on the floor. By the way, we started to see savings almost immediately.
Don’t let the press and government fool you (and they will), conspiracy theories have truth behind them. If we were told the truth in the first place, there would be no need to guess at motives or anything else. So, your odd theory probably explains to some degree what they purposely left out. We need to come up with rational theories when we are being gaslighted by government, the press, or even a family member. My point is that coming up with a rational theory is a VERY HEALTHY way of dealing with that. We need to use reason since we are bombarded with lies and/or misdirections. Does that mean we should wear tin foil hats? No. Who said we did? We are given no other healthy choice when someone lies to us; we have to use good sense.
When we get a phone call saying a nephew is in jail and he needs bail money, we need healthy disbelief. If we don’t jump to a conclusion we will be scammed.
Thus, I celebrate those who decide to jump to conclusions. I say, “Don’t voluntarily get on that train that ends up at the gas chambers.” Your mind is valuable and useful. If jumping to a conclusion has helped you in the past, it probably will tomorrow.
Let’s talk politics briefly. Your own eyes and ears were showing you that Biden was not capable of holding a thought. Yet sycophants bombarded you with stories of those events being “cheap fakes.” Which are you going to believe? Your observations over many months or some toady’s comments? By the way, I have comments about Trump, too. Briefly, it is obvious to me that he is not an ethical player. I’m just saying, trust the evidence (not just selected slices of evidence) that you observe. TRUST YOURSELF!!! (I’m not a party animal.)
That being said, sometimes jumping is the exact wrong thing, too. This is where humility and ability to understand when others ARE telling the truth come in handy. My issue with the HVAC at our house was also because the system was failing. However, since I had no history at our new residence to go by, I was left with thinking this was how it had always been. Here we are a few years later and we recently replaced the system (costly) and two things were wrong with the old system… the coolant was low and the blower was failing. The new system CAN cool the entire house without that box in the hall, but I’m keeping the box because I measured the efficiency. It cycles cool for 16 minutes with the box and 19 minutes without with the same amount of time off between. We’ll save 45 minutes of cooling energy usage per day with the box (3-5% savings). The box cost nothing. Cool!
Here’s a little bunny trail … Vaccines for kids is a GOOD thing. Don’t get me wrong, almost everything the anti-vaxers say is true, but the risk of one vs the risk of the other is huge. As a child I personally suffered with measles, mumps, and chickenpox (thankfully not all at the same time) … I knew people who suffered with polio … kids who get those diseases died or were permanently injured in significant numbers. The risk from the vaccines is a mere fraction compared with the diseases. Comparing risk alone tells the story. Will some die or be injured by the vaccines? I believe some will, but far more without.
And another little trail … On the other hand, the HPV vaccination seems to be hyped for the wrong reasons. It “protects young people who make poor sexual decisions from the results of those decisions” *** only, not really ***. It only protects them from ONE of FIVE virus infections acquired from poor sexual decisions which can develop into cancers. You THINK they are “protected” and so don’t have to worry about the decisions they make, and thus you think having them get the jab is a good parental thing. Sadly, this vaccine fails to protect those young people from AVOIDABLE sexually-caused cancers more than 33% of the time. If medicine is about ‘first do no harm,’ this program fails. Along with the needle jab there should be education about how to avoid poor decisions (which, by the way, could reduce the risk of all 5 of these viruses by nearly 100%). We should tell them to use their brains more than their parts. Give them the shot … yes. Educate them about other risks … yes. (Did you know about this? I’d guess most parents don’t. Neither do our youth.)
THREE BAD WAYS TO JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS:
Mind reading
I have a friend who refuses to allow anyone to think they can read his mind. Do not try to imagine words in his mouth or thoughts in his head. He will correct your faulty thinking every time. “You can’t read my mind,” he will say.
Fortune Telling
By worrying about “worst case scenarios” you never solve a problem. You don’t know the future and 99% of the time your worry will not save you from a single outcome.
Living in the Past
Same for ruminating (which cows do) about some past misfortune. It was what it was, get over it and move on. It can’t be changed. You should have gotten a chocolate ice cream cone instead of vanilla? Pffft.
[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
ALSO, Don is always open to offer his thoughts on various topics. If you have a specific request, you can let him know in a comment; he reads – and replies to – them all. ~ Sherry]
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