Your brain sees faces in outlets and clouds. It’s built to find patterns, even ones that aren’t there.

Pattern finding runs whether or not there is a pattern. Your brain will build a face out of two sockets and a slot, and it will build a story out of three unanswered texts, because historically missing a real signal cost more than inventing a fake one. The invented version feels exactly like the true version from the inside, which is the whole problem.

Next time you are certain about somebody’s hidden motive, ask what you would need to see in order to be wrong. Then check whether you have it. The guess always comes first, so the checking has to be deliberate.