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Last week on my dog walk, I encountered a woman whom I've briefly chatted with across the years, a woman in her forties who
has a nice little dog. As we exchanged pleasantries, I shared that I was excited because my new horse was arriving later in the day. She looked at me and said, "You should not
be on a horse." Dumbfounded and perhaps, for once, speechless, I mumbled my goodbyes and the dogs and I continued on.
Really? I thought as I processed that negative transaction and unsolicited dictate. For all she knows I am a world renown trick rider, a
rodeo queen, racing champion of the west....I continued to mull over her invasion of my psychological boundary as other such instances came to mind. I recalled my young lady
doctor telling me I could not do cartwheels for my granddaughter. "Why not?" I had responded, "Because of your age!" She countered. "What's wrong with my age?" Well, that
conversation went nowhere! Another time I was having my hair done and was telling the hairdresser about the trip I was taking to Egypt. From a few chairs down a man
interrupted and insisted, "You'll be killed. Your family will miss out on you. They take hostages and then you will be killed!"
Who was he anyway?
Have you had this experience of others around you working hard to reduce the scope of your
world?
A basic tenet of communication theory and effective human relationships is that one should never give unsolicited advice.
Never! Advice should only be offered when others ask for it, or when one has asked permission, such as asking, "So do you want my take on this situation?" Only then. But
in the instances I have cited, those people were not offering advice, they were giving out dictates. Ugh!
Dr. George Bach in his wonderful book, Stop! You're Driving Me Crazy, teaches about mind rape, the strategy
 wherein others force their way into our head and tell us what to do or what we are thinking or feeling. Dr. Bach believes
they pull this stuff on us due to their own chronic low self esteem. By trying to somehow lower us, they are attempting to raise themselves up. They place themselves in a
position of one-up, telling us what is best for us. This is passive/aggressive behavior. It includes elements of the psychological game called "Blemish," where the instigator
strives to put a blemish, a negativity, on another. If confronted they will fall back on something like, "you are afraid to look at the truth," or "you are in denial." When
you think about it, it takes a lot of nerve for someone to butt into our business! These crazymakers are incredibly annoying, but perhaps using Dr. Bach's lens and seeing that
they are toxic people, we can better insulate ourselves from their invasiveness.
One of the most interesting classes I have ever taken was at UC Irvine with Dr. Robert Bramson, author of Coping with Difficult
People. One day in class I asked him about a toxic person I was forced to interact with. He heard me out and then said, "She'll eat you for
breakfast!" Yikes I had thought, I know... His advice: work to keep away from the toxic difficults! My best thinking, when you encounter
one on the dog trail, just smile and keep on walking!
I'd love to hear how you are coping with them.
My best, donna
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