Actions can be deceivingly similar on the surface when they are coming from drastically different places: Wanting to be liked by someone vs. liking someone Fear vs. love - fear of not being liked vs. genuine kindness for example Necessity vs. choice Fake empathy to alleviate pain in themselves vs. real empathy without their own agenda or projection In some past moments, I went back and forth on living with as much clarity as possible on the motivations behind actions vs. intentionally keeping the cover on sometimes - ignorance is bliss after all. Now it is getting clearer to me that clarity is critical to building deeper relationships and a fuller life.