Page 32 - Too Smart Dog
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PARENT NOTES THE TOO SMART DOG
TOPIC: One of the most difficult skills for many of us to develop is the ability to do what we know is right in a situation when others want us to do something different.
In Coping Skills, we refer to it as doing what is in your Long Term Best Self-Interest. We assume that if you are using Good Thinking, you are not trying to take advantage of anyone or to purposely hurt others in your decision making. If that is true then yours is a Thumbs Up decision and if others get upset... that is their problem.
This story is about doing what is in “Your Best Self-Interest.” We all function under the illusion that all of our decisions are made, based on what is best for us. Unfortunately, many of your choices in life are influenced by irrational fears, prejudices and anxieties that
you have or that others impose on you. In other words, your choices in life are too frequently determined by your own or another’s “Stinky Thinking.”
It is the rare individual who can adhere to the tenth Coping Skills Life Rules, “I shall, without intent of harming others, do in life, what is in my best self-interest.” Those who can stick with this rule don’t have to second-guess themselves. They have no need to be overly concerned about the reaction of others. They are not racked with feelings of guilt or regret. They do in life what is good, kind, considerate in their best self-interest. What will amaze many people is that doing what is good, kind, considerate is not necessarily counter to doing what is in your best self-interest if your guiding force is “Good Thinking.”
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