Seeing Things That Aren’t There (Truby Tip about Assumptions)

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Last Updated on June 10, 2024 by Bill Truby

Uncover the parallels between snow-induced illusions and assumptions about others in this enlightening Truby Tip inspired by walking in the woods.

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Direct Video Transcript:

I am out on my walk today getting some exercise and, as is often the case, I get lessons out of the things that I do and I like to pass them along. Sort of my mission…to help people with little tidbits of information that come flowing through my mind.

Well, today, I saw things that were there, but they really weren’t.

I saw this big tub. Now, I’ve walked this trail for some time, and there was no tub before. I wondered who brought a tub there and I walked closer and closer and found…nope, it wasn’t a tub. It was the way the light was bouncing off of a patch of snow.

I thought it was there. It wasn’t.

I also saw an animal. I thought it might have been a raccoon or something that was standing on its hind legs.

Nope, that wasn’t true either. Turns out the way I was walking today, at the time of this day, the light was shining off of a stump and it looked like an animal, but it wasn’t.

Now, what’s the lesson in that – seeing things that aren’t there?

Well, we do that with people.

I was just talking to a friend a couple days ago. And that friend was telling me about another friend, a mutual friend that was having this and that, and this and that going on. And I said, are they really going through that? Is that really the issue?

Turns out I heard from my friend who was reporting about the other friend that it wasn’t there. They were assuming that it was.

You know, there’s a psychological principle that says every response is about you.

What comes to your mind in a given situation is coming from inside of you, and the only way you can know it’s true or if it’s real, is by checking it out…in the case of another person asking questions or observing more carefully.

In the case of me today, I just had to go kick some snow and walk up to a stump, and then I knew what was real.

Never assume that someone else is having the issues that’s coming from your mind until you know that they’re true.

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