For this post, I chose this cartoon about a dog in talk therapy to present an example of a theory. In this panel, the dog contemplates while laying down in a long couch, representing a therapy session in action. Next, the caption explains that the dog’s ponders over whether they are a good or bad dog. Here, the dog presents a theory that understands a dog can be either a good dog who does bad things sometimes or a bad dog who does good sometimes. By sitting the dog in the therapy chair, this comic implies that the space is intended to allow the dog laying down to develop a deeper understanding of himself.

When I first read this chapter, I did not realize that theories are proposed and tested all the time in many facets of my life. Like the dog in the cartoon, I relate to the dog’s absolute thinking to my absolute thinking when I stress over whether I am a good applicant because I have professional experience or a bad applicant because I don’t have research experience for graduate school. To manage this absolute thinking, I learned to practice reframing by asking myself, “Is there any evidence to support the idea that if you are not one thing, that automatically makes you the other?”

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