Words Reflect How You Feel

I was in a early childhood center last week.

The school is designed for infant, toddlers and preschoolers.

Coming out of the bathroom, I saw a sign on the wall that was at the height for small children, but I know it was there for the adults in the building.

The sign read something like this, “Words have feelings. Choose your word, choose your mindset.”

Then it had the words “fixed growth” underneath it.

Spot on. What you feel influences what you think and what you think informs your body of what you feel.

When you are unaware of the word choices you choose to make about yourself, your dog, friends and family even your situation and how you describe yourself, you’re telling yourself how to feel without “knowing” it.

When you’re unaware, you are repeating old patterns of thought and outdated beliefs of yourself. You don’t recognize how the word choices are a reflection about you feel about yourself. You have a fixed mindset.

You have the power to shift your mindset by paying attention to the words you choose.

Staying aware of how you use your words to express yourself, you can make the choices of what truly reflects how you feel because you’re listening to how your body responds to the word choices you’re making. By staying present and in tune with yourself, you can become so aware of how you’re showing up in the world too.

Growth requires change and the way you express yourself shifts!

If you’re curious about and are willing to make changes so you are living in alignment within your own values, let’s chat!

Use Your Values to Guide Your Action

The dog training industry is unregulated.

Not all trainers and consultants have the same level of education, knowledge or have kept up on their continuing education.

When you’re looking for someone who can support you in guiding you in how to help your dog change his emotional responses, how do you make a choice in who you hire to work with in teaching your dog?

What questions do you ask?

What do you value when you’re hiring a professional?

How present and aware of the answers you receive from the person on the other end of the conversation?

I have countless people reach out to me after they’ve had experiences with other “trainers and consultants” where they spent $$$$ for board and trains, in person lessons, promises and guarantees.

What the person came away with was a healthy mistrust of other “trainers and consultants” because they felt swindled because their dog’s behavior is unchanged or worse off after the experience.

When you mistrust another professional, you feel like you’re only option is to learn all you can from online videos, FB groups, reading books and articles.

Again, you find yourself sifting through more information and you’re still uncertain of where to go next.

The way forward in making a choice is connecting back to what you value.

In talking with someone yesterday, when the person was sharing about wanting to stop their dog from barking when he left, I asked him, “what I hear you say is you want your dog to feel more confident when he’s left alone and you want to experience more freedom being away.”

His answer was “yes.”

By recognizing what is going on beneath the surface of the behavior you want to change, you discover there’s more to it.

You recognize the emotional connection you have with your dog.

You recognize what emotional relief you need too, you start shifting into how to ensure the wellbeing and welfare of your dog.

You let go of what your dog is doing and connect back to how you want your dog to be feeling when you live the life together.

If you value your dog’s emotional needs and want to create a life you both can enjoy together and you’re willing to transform your life with your dog, let’s chat!

“Certainty Prevails Over Fear”

I heard this quote this weekend, “certainty prevails over fear.” Jesse Koren.

Certainty is the inner knowing of the trust and belief you have in yourself.

When you trust yourself and believe what you’re doing is aligned with your values and where you want to be going, your self doubt and fear of the unknown are quieted.

The gremlins that show up when you’re worried about the future are not haunting your mind when you are confident with the choices you’re making.

Certainty about yourself and the choices you make are not only cultivated by the information you acquire, research or squirrel away.

You can build a library of resources and books, but that knowledge doesn’t do anything for you unless you apply what you learn.

Certainty shows up when you take a step and apply what you’ve learned. Taking smallest step towards your goal builds your confidence.

For many of the families I serve, fear in what the future holds (regardless if the fear is related to their dog or not) influences how they take action.

Fear stops them in their tracks. They start retreating back to where they were before even if that place isn’t what they want, but it’s what they know.

Fear keeps you from reaching your goals.

How to use fear to shift it into certainty and trust in yourself and what you’re doing.

  1. Recognize fear is showing up. This is a great indicator you’re on the verge of a breakthrough. Keep going!
  2. Befriend your gremlins. Those limiting beliefs are just trying to keep you safe. Your brain isn’t hardwired for change and change is scary. You got this! Make sure to inform your gremlins of that same certainty!
  3. Go back to your vision. What do you want your life to feel and look like? Clarity sharpens your focus on what small step you can take to push through your comfort zone to your next level.
  4. Celebrate your wins! This is what excites you and celebrating what you’ve learned and achieved by taking that small step will encourage you to keep going! The celebration of your wins regardless of how big or small is an opportunity to recognize your own certainty and confidence.
  5. Trust that fear is your barometer that you’re on to something worth achieving. Certainty in how you show up is what will get you to the other side.

Having support on your side as you’re aspiring for something you desire can help you get there faster. We were never meant to live life figuring things out on our own.

Give yourself permission to ask for support! I’m waving my permission wand for those on the fence!

If you’re looking for a community of like minded folks, check out the Community Connections Member Group (next meeting 11 Feb at 8am PDT).

Looking for focused and intentional support, set up a Discovery Call with me!