Let Your Dog Be Your Guide

I was chatting with one of my coaches the other day and she mentioned the idea that “we’re all just trying to get our needs met.”

This resonated with me because each one of us from humans to our companion animals are seeking out ways to meet our core needs of connection, belongingness, certainty/consistency, novelty, growth and contribution.

Connection: The need to have secure attachments and loving bonds with trusted caregivers.

Belongingness: Feeling our lives are significant and have meaning.

Certainty: Predictability. Consistency. This is where all of us including our dogs, develop a feeling of freedom in being our selves.

Novelty: New experiences, adventure, playfulness and anything and everything that enriches our lives.

Growth: Learning, expansion, developing our skils, passions and abilities. Reaching new heights and taking healthy risks.

Contribution: Service and sharing ourselves with our world. All of us (including our dogs) are social beings even if cultures assert independence and doing things ourselves. We weren’t meant to live isolated from one another. We were designed to live in community with each other.

Our dogs show us everyday how these core needs are important to them.

They guide us (if we listen) to deepen our awareness of what truly matters.

Our dogs are our guides to better understanding ourselves and what is important to us because they live their lives authentically and effortlessly.

What would happen if you took a cue from your companion animal and stepped into living your life more aligned with what we all inherently need (connection, belongingness, certainty, novelty, growth and contribution)?

What does that look like for you?

Feel free to share in the comments!

“If It Doesn’t Challenge You, It Doesn’t Change You”

Sometimes what your dog’s behavior is showing you, is confusing and you don’t know what to do.

The confusion gets you stuck and you become so focused on the problem all you see is a dead end.

The feelings about failure and shame bubble up even before you take any action.

Your gremlins start running the show because they whisper in your ear, you can’t handle this.

Before you give up, a part of you recognizes, you’ve been here before.

You know what its like to encounter a problem and you figured out solutions before.

You start to feel an openness in exploring solutions because your commitment and dedication to your dog and his welfare and wellbeing matter to you.

Challenges are meant to expand ourselves, not to defeat us.

Digging a bit more, trusting yourself and holding on to knowing you can also figure out how to handle whatever comes your way will not only change you, but it will bring you closer to the relationship you desire to have with your dog.

Receiving support along the way can motivate you to keep going when moments of wanting to give up creep in again. Your willingness to keep going is what makes the difference.

Schedule a Discovery Call to see if partnering with me will encourage you to keep going.

Ripples

When you’re sensing something needs to shift in your life, you start cultivating a desire for something different.

Your motivation grows from a deep sense within you of a goal you want for yourself.

You stoke these fires with seeking out information of how to do what you desire.

You research and check out what’s already out there and the ripples of learning expand out from you.

Taking action in acquiring skills helps you practically apply the knowledge you acquired.

Sometimes the practice is fluid while other times, you may feel like you’re trudging along and you may even feel like you’re not moving forward at all.

This is where holding on to your motivation, recognizing how this is just part of the process, you let go of your expectations and judgment of what you’re capable of doing.

Recognizing and shedding light on shame or fear that tries to derail you, helps melt it away, so you can get back to integrating the learning into creating your own habit and personal change.

When you recognize how fear shows up and how this filters your views, you can deepen your awareness of yourself rather than blaming yourself for something not being perfect or when hiccups show up in your process.

Instead, you can receive feedback and the ripples of how you learn and change, allows for others around you to see you for making these strides for yourself and dare I say, inspire them to make changes too?

Prioritizing your growth, requires you to be reflective of what’s no longer working and being willing to step into something requiring you to trust in yourself and in what you do.