Right Speech

Before you open your mouth to speak, ask yourself these two questions:
1. Is it true?
2. Is it useful?

When we are untruthful, we are presenting things as we wish them to be, not as they are. So we are fooling ourselves and others and in doing so, commit a great disservice to both.

When we are truthful, we are presenting things as we believe them to be, which may or not be as they are. So we have to be careful and skillful in sharing what is true to us.

Sometimes we have to decide which truths are worth sharing. In positive dog training, you focus on what the dog does right and what the handler does right. Gradually, the handler and dog do the "right" thing more and more often and the "wrong" things disappear. Now if one was to point out what was "wrong" all of the time, this would still be true, but it wouldn't be useful.

So, it's not enough to be truthful. We need to think about what to emphasize, how ready the person is to hear it, and to be cognizant that our truth may not be someone else's.

And that's ok.