Happy Assumptions - Ep. 390

Assumptions save time, but at what cost?
Check them with reality or you might get lost.

[entire episode script below]

 

Ep. 390 - Happy Assumptions

We begin as always 
with the Happy Creed.

We believe in Happy, 
in Balance and Growth, 
of being Mindful and Grateful,
Compassionate and Understanding.

Yowza
Haha
My Happy Friends!

You ever assume things? ‘Course you do, we all do.
We assume big things like that tomorrow will arrive as expected,
And small things like a rubber ball will bounce back to you,
And even medium things like mistakes will repeat if left uncorrected.

I once assumed a driver who cut me off on the road had it in for me,
So I raced up beside him and threw him a glare,
Only to realize that he was in his own world on the phone and did not see,
Didn’t care, wasn’t being mean because he was completely unaware.

My assumption met reality and my assumption failed,
I had built something up that existed entirely within my own mind,
Oh, how spectacularly wrong I was, I wailed,
How quickly I felt justified in becoming monumentally unkind!

I thought it was my right, nay, my obligation to fix that guy’s wagon, 
When he was already having a hard time of it and so I immediately felt bad, 
Was I the bully? Oh, no! That mustn’t be! I didn’t want to be a fire breathing dragon!
Laying waste to the countryside because someone made me slightly mad.

So, I slowed my roll, 
calmed myself down, 
regained control, 
and unclenched my frown.

I thought of all the things we assume that may not be helpful at all,
Assuming all plants are safe to eat, for instance, is not the best way to go,
But also assuming that some activities are no fun when they could be a ball,
You have to try new things to know for sure, but you can be careful even so.

I’ve assumed that bullies were all out to get me, but they were making assumptions too,
They thought I was a threat to what they considered cool and so wanted to mock me,
But if they got to know me, some of them actually quite liked me--a friendly breakthrough!
Where they saw that reality wasn’t quite as bad as they had assumed--and that’s the key!

Having assumptions is a handy shortcut for a lot of things--water is wet, fire is hot,
But we still have to test those assumptions against reality to make sure we’re staying on track,
Otherwise we may discover truths that are exactly the opposite of what we thought,
And instead of moving forward we find ourselves lost and having to go all the way back.

Haha
Yowza