Believe You and Your Dog are the Diamond

You’re searching for someone or something to tell you how to help your dog feel less anxious and overwhelmed by the world around him

You scour books and FB groups to find out how you can help your dog connect and bond with you.

All the other dogs you’ve lived with before NEVER had these issues.

They were easy and running into road blocks with your other dogs’ behavior was never a thing.

Now, your new dog is unlike any other dog you’ve lived with or experienced before in your life.

You don’t know what to do and you too are feeling overwhelmed and anxious about this new experience.

You ask yourself, what do I do?

Often we look outside of ourselves for the answers.

In a Discovery Call, a conversation about an analogy of diamond came up. From her perspective, she shared with me how she sees the creation of solutions, creating curriculum, and the product of the work she does with her clients is like “spitting out a diamond”.

I reflected back to her with a different perspective. I asked her, “instead of seeing what you produce and the outcome of your actions as the diamond, what if you see yourself and those around you as the diamond?”

Let that sink in!

When you feel into and start taking action from a place that you and your dog are the diamond, you shift.

Each diamond is unique just as each of you and your dogs all have unique personalities, interests and dislikes.

Recognizing and honoring the uniqueness within yourself and your dog, you allow yourself to shift in perspective and open yourself to have more compassion for yourself and feel more empathetic to your dog.

These shifts allow you to see yourself and your dog in a new way.

When you ask yourself, what is truly showing up in this moment of chaos and overwhelm, you peel back the layers and recognize the sparkle within the connection you have within yourself and your dog.

Finding the answers of how you’re feeling aren’t in the books and groups you’re in.

Looking within yourself and leaning into what’s showing up for yourself and asking yourself where you want to go and what you want your relationship to feel like with your dog, you release the expectations of what I “should” be doing and you choose to surrender into what truly matters.

What matters is believing you and your dog are the diamond.

I invite you to ask yourself, how can I amplify our sparkle?

Connect with me and you can have the space to explore what you envision life to feel like with your dog.

Allow Your Dog to Show You the Way

Truly seeing the companion in front of you and recognizing his emotions and how your actions impact how he feels can change your life.

Behavior isn’t about what your dog gets right or wrong.

Behavior is the touchstone of how your dog is feeling from one moment to the next.

Your role, living life with your dog, is about guiding your dog into experiencing more harmony and love.

What you get to receive from showering your dog with heart centered gratitude and care is love from your best friend and companion and how kindness you show another can ripple out into other relationships in your life too.

Always be kind. Kindness and love can truly be revolutionary!

Curious how you can deepen your awareness of yourself through your emotional connection with your dog? Schedule your Discovery Call with me!

Grow from Your Challenges

I listened to an interview where Marin Alsop, the first women to lead an American orchestra as a conductor shared about the joys and the challenges in making it to this level.

The part of her story that resonated with me the most was how she reframed challenges into opportunities for learning and growth. As a conductor, they don’t have space to practice directing an orchestra like a violinist has to practice at home. As a conductor, in order to practice, she would need to bring 35 of her instrument playing friends over to do so.

The ability to glean information from the thing that didn’t go as planned, or was wrong or an accident or a mistake can lead anyone into making adjustments which teaches you lessons you wouldn’t have learned if everything happened the “right” way.

The same learning happens when something doesn’t go correctly with our dogs.

I often see how people (I’m including myself here too) become so frustrated and overwhelmed when they practiced diligently in teaching their dog to something other than bark and lunge at another dog and then the practice went out the window when another dog was too close or surprised you and your dog coming around a corner.

Holding your breath and putting expectations on you and your dog to have perfect execution of your skills every single time is putting your energy and effort into a misguided goal.

Everything doesn’t have to hang in the balance.

The outcome of a walk, an interaction with another dog or person doesn’t have to hinge on your dog getting it “right”.

And, all of what you’re teaching isn’t lost in one less than perfect situation.

When you get wrapped up in all that went wrong, you lose sight of yourself and your connection with your dog.

Resentment, bitterness and lack of confidence surfaces and takes over.

You and your dog are not less than or defined by the outcome of a situation.

You and your dog aren’t good just because you could walk by another dog without your dog barking and lunging.

You and your dog aren’t bad just because you both got surprised and your dog had a natural reaction to a surprising situation which had you responding in fear too.

You and your dog are already enough and when things don’t go your way this doesn’t take it away from you either.

Even when judgments of others say otherwise.

Even when your gremlins show up and tell you all the terrible things you were taught to believe about yourself.

Brushing the dust off, standing back up and trying again without attachment to the outcome is the way you will build your confidence.

Taking action in spite of being knocked off your feet is the way you’ll build confidence.

Looking at yourself and your dog in the mirror and saying to you both, you got this and get back to practicing it again and again and being open to what will happen will build your confidence.

Facing fear, moving through the challenge, takes courage and your willingness to keep going.

What lays on the other side of the edge is growth and having a deeper connection with yourself and the relationship you desire to have with others around you, including your dog!

Ask yourself:

What did you get to learn when things didn’t go as planned?

What is showing up for you and what do you need to get you and your dog to that next level?

When you get sidelined again, what support do you need or to have in your corner so you can get up and try again?

Set up a Discovery Call with me and find out how our partnership can support you in your growth.

Register for the 90 min Creating Empowered Choices Workshop on 14 January at Sol Health Yoga!