"𝐈 𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐡𝐲."

We ruminate over other people's behaviour. We do it constantly. It is one of the mind's favourite pastimes. Why did he stop texting me? Why is she ignoring me? Why did my uncle speak to me that way? Why did my friend go quiet after that conversation? The questions circle in our heads like birds that will not land. They circle and circle until we are exhausted.

The problem is not the questions. The problem is the answers we invent. Because we do not know the answers. We cannot know the answers. We can only guess. We can only surmise. We can only invent. So we invent motive after motive. We build story after story. He stopped texting because he is angry with me. No, wait. He stopped texting because he is busy. No, actually, he stopped texting because he never really liked me. He was just pretending. The mind spins and spins and spins.

Then we do it again with a different person. She is ignoring me because I said something wrong. No, she is ignoring me because she is jealous. No, she is ignoring me because she has always been distant and cold. The stories multiply. The confusion deepens. We are no closer to the truth than we were at the beginning. In fact, we are further away, because now we are tangled in our own invented narratives. We have attributed motives. We have assumed our motives are the truth. And then we have doubted our own truth and invented another. And another. And another. The mind is a factory of stories, and we are trapped inside it.

But here is the simple, honest, liberating alternative. It is a single sentence. It is the sentence we resist because it feels like defeat. It is the sentence we avoid because it feels like giving up. But it is the only sentence that is true.

"𝑯𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒅 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕. 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒚."

That is it. That is the whole truth. That is the honest truth. We do not know why. We cannot know why. We can only guess. And our guesses are not facts. They are stories. And the stories are what hurt us. The stories are what keep us awake. The stories are what create the endless cycle of rumination.

When we stop at "I don't know," something shifts. The story ends before it begins. There is no more analysis to be made. There is no more motive to invent. There is no more confusion. There is only the behaviour and the acknowledgment that its source is a mystery to us. The mind has nothing to chew on. It cannot spin a story if we refuse to provide the raw material. It cannot build a narrative if we do not hand it the bricks. The rumination stops. The peace returns.

This is not about pretending the behaviour did not happen. It is not about ignoring it. It is not about being passive. It is about deciding what we actually need to do. Do we need to protect ourselves from this behaviour in the future? Then we set a boundary. Do we need to distance ourselves from this person? Then we create distance. Do we simply need to let it go because it does not matter? Then we let it go. The action we take is based on the behaviour, not on the motive. Because the motive is unknown. The motive is a story. The behaviour is the fact.

So the next time you find yourself spinning stories about someone else's behaviour, pause. Breathe. And say the honest words. "He behaved like that. I don't know why." And then watch as the story dissolves. Watch as the rumination fades. Watch as the peace returns. It is not a defeat. It is a victory. It is the victory of reality over invention. It is the freedom of not knowing.