The Mad Libs of Judgment

Our brains hate blank spaces—they want everything explained to keep life feeling stable. That’s why our minds are pros at playing 'Life Mad Libs,' filling in the blanks of other people’s stories with wild assumptions based on our own experiences.

Like, you see a kid in dirty clothes and messy hair waiting for the bus, and your brain goes: 'Kid must be lazy,' or 'What's wrong with that kid's parents?' The End —Mad Lib story complete. But what we don't stop to consider is: that story is just your brain’s best guess, not the truth.

So, what if we paused after our brain’s little Mad Lib moment and thought, 'Huh, interesting theory, Brain, but I wonder what the real story is?' 🤔 This shift turns our made-up "facts" into placeholders for the truth and opens us up to seeing the world around us through curiosity and love.