If colleagues suddenly stop chatting, were they necessarily criticizing me?

Not necessarily. Stopping when they see you does not mean they were criticizing you. I used a hypothetical break-room scene: two colleagues were discussing someone else, stop when you enter, and you conclude they must have been talking about you, explaining earlier coldness. Before clarifying anything, your mind completes a story and becomes increasingly angry.

First distinguish what you actually heard and saw from what you later imagined. Changing perspective does not erase real problems; it prevents rushing to treat guesses as facts. With that distinction, you can better decide whether to ask and what needs clarification, rather than struggling endlessly against a mental picture.

The same may follow an argument: a colleague may have moved on while you replay it daily, or you may suppress unhappiness without speaking. In religious service, I also explore emotions and inner problems, not only unseen interference. Headaches, tiredness, or shoulder and neck discomfort alone cannot establish spiritual interference, nor does every discomfort arise from bad thinking.