Imagine someone at work says something mean to you, or maybe makes a big mistake that your boss decides you get to clean up.
How does that make you feel?
Angry? Sad? Overwhelmed?
Whatever you are feeling, it probably isn’t good.
And you feel completely justified in how you feel because… (fill in the blank).
But let’s say that this time, you decide to give them the benefit of the doubt.
What are you actually giving them? What are you doubting?
Whether or not you are aware of it, your emotional response is not to what they said or did, but to your perspective of it, or the meaning you give to it.
So giving the benefit of the doubt means taking the time to consider the possibility that there may be an alternative yet equally true interpretation.
In other words, maybe they are just having a bad day, and it has nothing to do with you.
Are you just making excuses for them or letting them off the hook?
Are you just taking the “high ground”?
It doesn’t matter. The result is the same.
YOU FEEL BETTER!
In giving others the benefit of the doubt, you realize that even though you can’t control everything that happens, you can always control the way you look at what happens, and therefore how you feel about it.
So if you want to feel better, give yourself the gift of giving others the benefit of the doubt.