Page 26 - Mousy Mouse Has a Bad Day

She tells herself that she is stupid and going to fail. This type of thinking does not prompt extra effort. On the contrary, it frequently causes less effort. If you think you must obtain an unrealistic goal and failing to do so is just too terrible, you may quit trying. It is an inability to put expectations in line with reality, which is not the same as not trying. Having expectations in line with reality means... trying as hard as you can and if you don’t make 100%, accept that result and plan how to improve next time.
In the final part of the story, Mousy makes a plan to win the “cheese contest.” She does everything correctly and ends up with the biggest piece of cheese. That should be the end of it except for the criticism of one of the other mice. Rather than saying to herself “I did just fine and even if they don’t think I won, I am satisfied,” she runs out of the barn to “prove” something.
You may recognize that the other mouse, Herman, was tricking Mousy. Unfortunately, in real life we frequently fail to understand the motivation of others and do things against our better judgment to satisfy their expectations and demands. Mousy is unable to turn away from the unreasonable demands of others and rushes into the farmhouse to win the game. However, by abandoning her original plan, she alerts the cat and has A VERY BAD DAY.
In the next section, there are exercises which will assist you in teaching yourself how not to be like Mousy, so that you can have A VERY NICE DAY.
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