Stillness

Are you doing all the things trying to make your dog happy, but you’re still finding yourself frustrated by your dog’s biting and jumping?

You find yourself pouring all of your free time into specialized dog training groups on social media.

You’ve bought the latest and greatest books on dog training trying to find the answers to how to help your dog, but you feel like you’re a spinning top with no end in sight.

You’re sucked into watching dog training videos which is leading you into a spiraling down into the depths of your self doubt and despair.

The thoughts get louder that you “can’t do this.”

You’re walking around with your shoulders up to your ears, your brow furrowed and you loose out on sleep because you’re constantly worried about your dog’s wellbeing.

Your worry grows stronger as the days go on.

You exhausted from your wheels spinning, but you push yourself to keep going.

Why?

Maybe you don’t know what else to do.

You realize you haven’t taken a break to chat with a friend or do those things you find pleasure in doing.

Maybe you believe switching gears, slowing down or just taking a break isn’t going to help you reach your goals.

You’re hitting your breaking point and you acknowledge to yourself, you need relief from the struggle.

Stillness is your outlet to calm your central nervous system without checking out or numbing to what you’re going through.

Stillness allows your body to relax and get to a place of calm quiet even when life is going on around you.

Breathing deeply can lower your heart rate and settle your nerves.

Here are a few “go to’s” my clients created for themselves.

🎊Schedule social media time. This gives you freedom in doing all the scrolling you want during the hours of X and Y. This also help you not go into the black hole of any social media platform.

🎊Prioritize what social media groups you find are beneficial to you and get rid of the rest. Flooding your brain with information can lead you to what one client shared with me as “analysis paralysis.” Seeking all of the information can lead you to not taking action at all.

🎊Walk barefoot. Connecting your feet to the ground beneath you can ease the swirling thoughts of your mind.
Listen to the sounds of nature and allow for what shows up for you. You have the answers already, creating space for them to show up will help you reach your goal.

What happens when you create stillness for yourself, you also create stillness for your dog.

You begin offering activities your dog can do on his or her own when you take time for yourself.

You observe your dog settling more around your house.

By taking a step back from being the only source of entertainment for your dog, your dog has more opportunity to make choices for himself too.

Your dog starts making choices to entertain himself by going to the toy box on his own and making choices of grabbing a toy or finding a chewy along the way.

As you cultivate a feeling of calm for yourself, your dog starts feeling similarity and makes the choice to do those things that bring him more of the same too.

Take 5 minutes for yourself and see how it can rejuvenate you and your dog and create ease between you and your companion.