No matter which method you use, there’s no such thing as 100% certainty about someone’s intent.

If you get it wrong, the results can be disastrous.

If you think someone has good intentions, you might let an evil person into your life. Their main manipulation tactic is to convince you that their intentions are good.

On the other hand, you might have a loving person who genuinely wants to help but isn’t very good at articulating it, or their feedback might hurt your feelings, causing you to reject them.

As a result, you could bring an evil person into your life and push away a helpful one.

People do this all the time because they think they understand others’ intentions correctly.

So, if we can’t be certain about someone’s intentions and we can’t always figure them out, then trying to do so is essentially a waste of time—especially if we become attached to the idea that we can make an accurate guess.

Sure, it’s important to know if someone means to harm us, but we don’t necessarily need to know their exact intentions.

What we really need to know is how to respond to the constant manipulation that happens around us in a way that benefits us and ensures a higher quality of life.

If I can ensure that my internal reaction to manipulation always serves to improve my life—or at least maintain the good things I’ve got going on—then I’m fine. I stay safe.

It doesn’t matter why they’re doing it or what their hoped-for outcomes are, as long as I make sure it works out for me.

To dive deeper into this topic, check out the original video here: