thoughts, words, deeds

reading minds

In figuring out--beforehand--what other people will do, how often do you get it right? Does your sixth sense or gut feeling help or does it confuse you?

This is an interesting question. Okay, first I have to say that I’m fairly good at reading the next layer of a plot. When it comes to a movie or a book or a television show, more often than not I can guess what the writers are going to come up with next. I remember one time I was watching a movie for the first time. The main character had mentioned her father a couple of times, so when she was standing there wrapped in a blanket, I told my sister (who I was watching the movie with) that the next thing to happen would have to do with her father. Sure enough, he was the judge who had to deal with some assorted issues.

However, real life seldom conforms to script. So, I try not to read things before hand. I can usually tell with someone I know well what they will do, but they always have the ability to surprise me, and I like that. I tell my siblings that they think very loudly, so I can read what they’re thinking. In some ways that’s true—I am the oldest, and so I have spent the most time studying their faces and their attitudes so I have a feel for them.

Is that a sixth sense or a gut feeling? Maybe. I think it more likely a combination of preexisting knowledge, subliminal clues, and intuition.