When I was younger, I often tended to think the worst of others when I felt sleighted in some seemingly unfortunate way. "I have been wronged because other person X has intentionally wronged me with motive Y." I punish the other person by publicly expressing person X's (alleged and) imagined motive Y.
Often you discover that your imagination has done its work the way it should -- it imagined something happened in elegant detail without ever actually happening. The net result is not only embarrassment, but even worse your own poor intentions or habits with respect to others are revealed. You imagine most vividly what you do yourself.
The best route is to avoid situations of thinking ill of others by enacting exemplar behaviors yourself. You are likely to be in a better position as you are in a better mood and more resilient to adopting negative behavior -- thus affecting your surrounds with the positive energy necessary to do amazing things in this world.
Posted by maeda at August 22, 2007 11:49 PM