Mind Reading

It occurs to me today how much better off we are not being able to hear other people's thoughts, and vice versa. I caught myself thinking something that I truely would not have wanted to share with the person I was talking to.

Nooo.

And yet, I sit and wonder what other people are thnking all the time. Are they telling the truth? Why do they seem to dislike me so much? What have I forgotten? Am I in trouble? We try to use subtle clues to give us these answers - reading body language, nuances in expression, reading between the lines of the spoken words. I am rubbish as it. Truely, I am.
I always end up just asking "Are you lying?", "Why do you dislike me so much?" and so on - and then try and fathom out whether their replies are truthful - hoping that twitch of an eye, suppressed smile, nervous twitch, is a clue.

I long for the truth - I never lie, myself. It's too much like hard work. Far easier to tell the truth - but maybe just censor the bits that might not be so welcome. If someone asks me a question and they might not like the answer, I wrap that bad news in a bit of something nicer - but I still tell the truth. If everyone did that, life would be a lot more painful, but a lot easier too. At least we'd know where we stood.