Inner Dialog

I beleive that people don't do things because they need to, instead they do things because they want to. My inner dialog runs along the lines of "What does this person want?"

In the beginning, I could clearly identify their superficial wants... meaning those on the surface and readily apparent. I want a glass of water. I want to go to the movies. I want to go to Paris and eat snails.

After a while, I started wondering why they wanted these things. I steered conversations to get past their superficial wants and desires and get deeper into their motivations behind them. Direct questions don't work as well because people's defenses go up as soon as they figure out I am prying. I have learned to be subtle and let them talk more.

When I feel I know what a person wants, I sort them into two groups. These two groups are hard for me to define, but something Albert Einstein is said to have said comes pretty darn close.
Quote:

The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new
courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. . . .
The ordinary objects of human endeavour -- property, outward success, luxury --
have always seemed to me contemptible.

I like the people in the first group. I don't like the people in the second group. That's my inner dialog.