Rescue them the Rest of the way…
During the past 5 months of unsettling times, I’ve found myself reflecting upon the past 2 ½ decades of training thousands of dogs and people. I deeply love my business and everything I’ve learned through it.
I’ve found that those animals and families whom I’ve taught, actually taught me. They opened my eyes up to my own personal growth and many metaphors for positive change in this world. Our animals are a reflection of ourselves and the space in which we are dwelling in this world at this moment. If we can look honestly at them with open hearts, we can see a reflection of ourselves that can empower our own growth.
When I first began training, I eagerly set out to “rescue” all misunderstood pets and help families “see the light”. I saw dogs as “poor things in need of education”. But the word “poor” held such an energy of victimhood and held back not only my perspective, but the space for their growth as well. This happened because dogs, especially dogs from trauma situations, look to us to be strong for them. They watch us for signals of confidence and leadership. If we reflect weakness or worry, it creates stress in them. This leaves them frightened and feeling alone, enabling continued weakness. By watching this in dogs, I became aware that my perspectives reflected my own feelings of victimhood. My perspective not only disabled the dogs’ growth, but also enabled me to remain in the victim space.
You see, I was the victim of a childhood trauma and it had caused me to feel “in danger” and unsafe for a very long time. It created a need in me to rescue animals, so they felt safe and had a voice to defend them. But until I rescued myself, empowered myself to move past victimhood, I continued to hold the same negative space to remain a victim. In turn, this caused my perspectives of animals as “victims’ who were weak and needy to remain.
As time went by, and as I became more aware and awake, I saw quickly that if my role as a coach was to empower them to change, then I had to change my own perspective first. Once I healed myself, I could break the patterns and perspective that held back the very creatures I was trying to help. We need to let go of their stories and pasts, for if we don’t, then we enable victimhood, disabling them from becoming all they can be. If we only see their wounds, we won’t be able to see their gifts and potentials. The sadness of their past needs to be washed away… yes, sometimes through our tears, but sometimes simply by giving them a delightful bubble bath to not only wash away physical dirt, but also to metaphorically cleanse and release any dirty energy of the past.
By doing so, we can more clearly empower a bright future of healing, learning, understanding and grand possibilities!
And so it is with our own lives…
Often we hold our own pasts and sorrows too long as I did. Letting go of our own sad stories and empowering ourselves with positive visions, intentions and powerful words can empower us to be all we can be…
Sometimes I, too, take that bubble bath and wash away my fears and thoughts that would otherwise hold me back! Wash away fears, change perspectives, choose words that empower you to ascend versus chain you to the past. Change that bathwater, Change your perspective and…
Be the change you wish to see in this world!