Have you ever heard that the feeling of nervousness is the same as excitement?
The only difference is how the person perceives the pleasantness of the energy in their body.
You have a choice in how you feel.
The energy that shows up in your body is just information.
When you choose how you interpret and perceive the energy, you make the choice of putting a specific label on it it which informs your brain of how to take action.
I was in a middle school the other day and the school secretary was buzzing a late student into the building.
The school secretary asked the student, “do you have a game today”?
The student answered “yes”.
The school secretary asked the student, “are you nervous or excited about the game”?
The student responded and said, “I’m excited, but I used to be nervous before games. The first couple of games I would feel really nervous about how I would play and how the game would go. Now I just have fun and look forward to it.”
Yes, this student is young, but to possess this flexibility in mindset is invaluable as this child ages.
He was able to reframe his nervousness into excitement and now he looks forward to competition.
He’s gained confidence in the experience of performing in his sport.
This is a life lesson we can all learn from and even adopt in our own lives.
As you can see, the experience of how a person feels is subjective to the person experiencing the sensation.
But, you can certainly empathize with the person’s experience because we’ve all had some time with sensations that don’t feel good to us.
Our dogs also have similar sensations in their bodies too. While we never know exactly how they may feel, we may be able to infer based on how a dog is showing us through body language changes.
We are not perfect and we may miss a signal here and there.
Labeling dogs puts an identity on them they didn’t ask for or consent to.
Much like us when we are labeled incorrectly, we feel judged, ridiculed or disrespected.
Why do we feel we can label our dogs because we feel unpleasant in our own bodies and lash out at our dogs?
Our dogs know how to be dogs, maybe we need to give ourselves some grace and take the time to learn about them in a modern way.
Making the choice to shift and be flexible with how you feel, you can change the course of your moment and even your day.
Consistent practice can be transformational!
I’ll invite you into observing the energy that shows up in your body and see how you choose to experience the energy’s pleasantness. And, decide for yourself if you want to change how you label it for yourself. Bonus, see how you shift your label of how you feel and see how it impacts those around you, including your companion animals.
Looking for support? I have a few openings!
Four Paws & You Dog Training 