Today you may surprise yourself by becoming overly critical when faced with confusing behavior from the people with whom you share your environment. Your first response may be one of anger or disillusionment, as you will likely unwittingly assume that oddities in others are being purposefully directed against you. However, you may in fact be overanalyzing what you see and hear today. If you choose not to make assumptions and to have faith in the good intentions of your peers, your mood will likely begin to fall back into balance. Your loved ones and colleagues may even extend you the same courtesy, giving you the benefit of the doubt as a matter of course.

Since we can never be wholly sure what thoughts drive others to speak and behave as they do, we make our own lives easier by giving these individuals the benefit of the doubt in our day-to-day interactions. There is an element of trust involved in everything we do with others, whether we are working together or simply spending time in one another's company. When we choose to have faith in the goodness of humanity even when we feel offended or judgmental, we discover that people will quite often live up to our optimistic expectations. This is not to say that we should overlook overt gestures of unkindness, but we should never assume that crass words or thoughtless actions were meant hurtfully. You will be less apt to criticize others today when you make an effort to trust in the innate goodness that lies in wait in all human beings.