This is a really good video! I was going to share it elsewhere but it deserves a post of its own because there are so many lessons! I st
This is a really good video! I was going to share it elsewhere but it deserves a post of its own because there are so many lessons! I started reading this years ago when it was on Oprah but I keep revisiting it. It is one of those books you keep learning from….especially as a woman.
Quotes from Gavin de Becker:
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Here are some of the most well-known quotes and lessons from âThe Gift of Fearâ:
âI encourage people to remember that ânoâ is a complete sentence.â

âNoâ is a word that must never be negotiated, because the person who chooses not to hear it is trying to control you.â
âNiceness is a decision, a strategy of social interaction; it is not a character trait.â
âIt is understandable that the perspectives of men and women on safety are so differentâmen and women live in different worldsâŚat core, men are afraid women will laugh at them, while at core, women are afraid men will kill them.â
âThereâs a lesson in real-life stalking cases that young women can benefit from learning: persistence only proves persistenceâit does not prove love. The fact that a romantic pursuer is relentless doesnât mean you are specialâit means he is troubled.â
âDenial is a save now, pay later scheme.â
âIf you tell someone ten times that you donât want to talk to him, you are talking to themânine more times than you wanted to.â
âThe solution to violence in America is the acceptance of realityâ
âBelieving that others will react as we would is the single most dangerous myth of intervention.â
âWe must learn and then teach our children that niceness does not equal goodness. Niceness is a decision, a strategy of social interaction; it is not a character trait. People seeking to control others almost always present the image of a nice person in the beginning. Like rapport-building, charm and the deceptive smile, unsolicited niceness often has a discoverable motive.â
âOnly human beings can look directly at something, have all the information they need to make an accurate prediction, perhaps even momentarily make the accurate prediction, and then say that it isnât so.â
If you have not read this book yet please make 2024 (well 2026 now) the year that you read The Gift of Fear
 by Gavin de Becker.Â
Each and every woman and every person who cares about a woman ought to read this book from cover to cover.Â
