🧑‍⚖️ A real verdict by an imaginary jury

Most people won't tell us what they think of us.

We have to simulate a model of ourselves in the minds of others and use it as an evaluation device.

This behavior is unconscious, like breathing. A subconscious assessment, steered by imaginary hearsay, influences our emotions. It directs our habits and behaviors.

Our imaginary beliefs shape our reality.

As such, we don't focus on what we do but on what we want to look like we do. We fantasize about validation from others before feeling satisfied with our own actions.

This fictional foreign perspective corrupts our real internal state.

We don't actually know what's in the heads of others. It's all make-believe.

This self-worth gauge concocted by our mind is not an indisputable arbiter of truth. It's more like a suggestion provider. A tool for providing guidance, but not gospel.

It can be inaccurate and misleading, both in its conclusions and its effects.

One signal out of many, useful to consider but not blindly follow.

Picture how inaccurately you might be simulated in the heads of others. Then understand you're doing the same.