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Posted: October 17th, 2007 at 12:48am By: Annette Bridges
I must admit that I stopped watching the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills game when Dallas was several points behind. After all, the game was almost over, and by the way the Cowboys had been playing, I assumed there was no way they were going to win the game.
My daughter is a graduate of Texas A&M University, and she would have called me what Aggies refer to as a "two percenter" for leaving before the game was over. I did walk back into the living room before the final six seconds in time to see the Cowboys' winning field goal. Clearly, I had jumped to the wrong conclusion about the outcome of the game. But what had made me jump?
There are many ways and reasons we jump to conclusions. We speculate what is going to happen in the future before it happens. We presuppose the worst about what others are thinking or doing. We believe something to be true about others based upon stereotypes. We even label ourselves in such a way that can limit our potential, lower our expectations, define our talents and abilities and create self-fulfilling prophecies.
Still, why do we jump down paths that are frequently, if not usually, wrong? Well, for one thing, when jumping to the wrong conclusion, we're generally insisting we're right until finally proven wrong. And even then, we may not always admit we were wrong.
Perhaps it's our fast-paced society that creates the pressure to act now and act fast. Often we don't spend the needed time to reason things through and consider all the facts. The result is that we hurt the feelings of innocent people, fabricate unnecessary stress, waste time, bring about misunderstandings, make wrong decisions, create obstacles that don't actually exist and cause ourselves to miss out on opportunities.
Following the old adage "Look before you leap" encourages us to think carefully about the possible results or consequences before doing something. This is good precautionary advice and, if followed, would keep us from jumping to wrong conclusions — at least some of the time. We must slow our racing mind or cool our rising temper and remain calm so we can think and act clearly, reasonably and responsibly.
Asking for divine guidance along with waiting for the divine answer would be a more certain way of drawing the right conclusion in any situation.
Solomon is a great biblical example of how to go about reaching good conclusions and making wise decisions. He was a mere lad when he became king and apparently felt inadequate for the job. But his desire was to understand right and wrong, discern between good and evil, and be fair in his judgments. So he prayed to God for help, saying, "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart. ... " God was pleased that Solomon didn't want to jump to any wrong conclusions or hastily make false assumptions (1 Kings 3:7-12). Solomon became widely known and respected for his great wisdom and God-inspired understanding.
Perhaps the best example in biblical history of jumping to the wrong conclusion was that reached by the Sanhedrin demanding the crucifixion of Jesus (Matthew 26:59-67). Guided by fear, ignorance and hatred, religious leaders misconstrued Jesus' words and actions and found him guilty of blasphemy punishable by death. The truth about a person or situation is never perceived and believed while we harbor prejudices.
There is only one way to never jump to the wrong conclusion about your spouse, your neighbor, your coworker, or even a presidential candidate. Don't jump. Ever!
Wrong conclusions are generally reached when we make an assumption and accept that it is true without acknowledging that we are indeed making an assumption. Accurate assessments require gathering as much information as possible with thorough investigation, exploration, communication or consideration. Not jumping to conclusions would also require sincere listening and asking questions with an open mind. An informed, hopefully accurate, conclusion would be the result of one considering all possibilities and collecting and analyzing all the facts.
We jump to wrong conclusions when we don't fully understand a situation. And we will never know what the truth is unless we ask. But even then, we must be willing to set aside our biases. We must be like Solomon and have foremost in our thoughts the desire to be fair and accurate. We must want to know and understand the truth and be willing to accept whatever the truth is.
To stop jumping to conclusions is like any life skill. It takes practice. And practice makes perfect. The more we practice not jumping to conclusions, the better we will become at not jumping!
— — —
Annette Bridges is a free-lance writer who lives on a north Texas ranch with her husband, John. For the past 25 years, she has been a student of Christian Science, the method of healing explained in Mary Baker Eddy's book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Visit her website and participate in her blog at AnnetteBridges.com and send her an email at {email annettebridges@gmail.com}annettebridges@gmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Annette Bridges.
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I must admit that I stopped watching the Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills game when Dallas was several points behind. After all, the game was almost over, and by the way the Cowboys had been playing, I assumed there was no way they were going to win the game.
My daughter is a graduate of Texas A&M University, and she would have called me what Aggies refer to as a "two percenter" for leaving before the game was over. I did walk back into the living room before the final six seconds in time to see the Cowboys' winning field goal. Clearly, I had jumped to the wrong conclusion about the outcome of the game. But what had made me jump?
There are many ways and reasons we jump to conclusions. We speculate what is going to happen in the future before it happens. We presuppose the worst about what others are thinking or doing. We believe something to be true about others based upon stereotypes. We even label ourselves in such a way that can limit our potential, lower our expectations, define our talents and abilities and create self-fulfilling prophecies.
Still, why do we jump down paths that are frequently, if not usually, wrong? Well, for one thing, when jumping to the wrong conclusion, we're generally insisting we're right until finally proven wrong. And even then, we may not always admit we were wrong.
Perhaps it's our fast-paced society that creates the pressure to act now and act fast. Often we don't spend the needed time to reason things through and consider all the facts. The result is that we hurt the feelings of innocent people, fabricate unnecessary stress, waste time, bring about misunderstandings, make wrong decisions, create obstacles that don't actually exist and cause ourselves to miss out on opportunities.
Following the old adage "Look before you leap" encourages us to think carefully about the possible results or consequences before doing something. This is good precautionary advice and, if followed, would keep us from jumping to wrong conclusions — at least some of the time. We must slow our racing mind or cool our rising temper and remain calm so we can think and act clearly, reasonably and responsibly.
Asking for divine guidance along with waiting for the divine answer would be a more certain way of drawing the right conclusion in any situation.
Solomon is a great biblical example of how to go about reaching good conclusions and making wise decisions. He was a mere lad when he became king and apparently felt inadequate for the job. But his desire was to understand right and wrong, discern between good and evil, and be fair in his judgments. So he prayed to God for help, saying, "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart. ... " God was pleased that Solomon didn't want to jump to any wrong conclusions or hastily make false assumptions (1 Kings 3:7-12). Solomon became widely known and respected for his great wisdom and God-inspired understanding.
Perhaps the best example in biblical history of jumping to the wrong conclusion was that reached by the Sanhedrin demanding the crucifixion of Jesus (Matthew 26:59-67). Guided by fear, ignorance and hatred, religious leaders misconstrued Jesus' words and actions and found him guilty of blasphemy punishable by death. The truth about a person or situation is never perceived and believed while we harbor prejudices.
There is only one way to never jump to the wrong conclusion about your spouse, your neighbor, your coworker, or even a presidential candidate. Don't jump. Ever!
Wrong conclusions are generally reached when we make an assumption and accept that it is true without acknowledging that we are indeed making an assumption. Accurate assessments require gathering as much information as possible with thorough investigation, exploration, communication or consideration. Not jumping to conclusions would also require sincere listening and asking questions with an open mind. An informed, hopefully accurate, conclusion would be the result of one considering all possibilities and collecting and analyzing all the facts.
We jump to wrong conclusions when we don't fully understand a situation. And we will never know what the truth is unless we ask. But even then, we must be willing to set aside our biases. We must be like Solomon and have foremost in our thoughts the desire to be fair and accurate. We must want to know and understand the truth and be willing to accept whatever the truth is.
To stop jumping to conclusions is like any life skill. It takes practice. And practice makes perfect. The more we practice not jumping to conclusions, the better we will become at not jumping!
— — —
Annette Bridges is a free-lance writer who lives on a north Texas ranch with her husband, John. For the past 25 years, she has been a student of Christian Science, the method of healing explained in Mary Baker Eddy's book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Visit her website and participate in her blog at AnnetteBridges.com and send her an email at {email annettebridges@gmail.com}annettebridges@gmail.com{/email}. © Copyright 2007 by Annette Bridges.
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