boxofdelights

GOOD DOG! I'm glad you're both safe.

Not sure you're giving de Becker enough credit. You say Gift of Fear doesn't work for you, but it just did: you noticed Aiko's reaction, you scanned to your environment, you discerned the threat, and, crucially, you didn't try to talk yourself out of believing it.

The crucial message of GoF isn't that one should be good at reading people. It's to not discount what flashes of warning insight you do get. He tells story after story of people who had reason to believe they were in danger, but who automatically convinced themselves it was no big deal, they were over-reacting, they shouldn't take it seriously.

The core message of GoF is to accept the gift when you get it – to believe yourself when you detect something is really wrong.

And that's what you did, with some help from Aiko.