Do we want more ease and joy in our life versus stress and irritation? If so, why and how?

Do we want more ease and joy in our life versus stress and irritation?

If so, why and how? (By Laurie Martin, smileacrossyourheart.com.)

My morning walks or just walking my new puppy was frustrating. I mean really frustrating. I couldn’t get her to walk like I wanted her too. I got curious about this. When she was very young, I hired a dog trainer, I watched video’s and I tried a variety of things different people suggested and nothing really worked. So, over time, when she turned around one years old or something close to that, I decided to try walking her around our .7 mile circle. It was such a struggle. She walked so slowly smelling every blade of grass, getting distracted by all the smells, and especially the rabbits and squirrels. I felt like we were moving at a turtles pace and my mind was filled with the list of everything I need to get home and do. With frustration, my initial reaction was, “How can I make her walk faster without continually stopping.” With determination, I would wiggle her leash to move her little faster. But, the more I did that, she would freeze, just completely stop. I couldn’t understand this because my previous two dogs had no issues with our walks. So, even the thought of walking her was stressful.

I had the intuition that she was very sensitive to everything, and being outside is very stimulating to her. My first intuition was that I need to change my attitude and connect with her experience of walking. I decided to adapt and change my attitude and drop my expectations I had been putting on her. I also got the intuition that when she gets super focused on something, to break the connection, to pick her up for several steps and then put her down. This worked really well. And, the interesting thing about this is, one day I was speaking to someone whom I feel is highly intuitive. I mentioned this situation, and paraphrasing, she said something like: She is very sensitive to everything and when she gets caught up in something, it feels like you should just pick her up. 🙂 It was nice to get confirmation and clarity.

Things changed pretty quickly once I adapted, slowed down and changed expectations for her and the walk. I took the pressure off of how we should experience this walk and opened to a new experience. She’s never going to race around the circle, that’s not her personality.

I totally enjoy our morning walks and her personalty. I slow my role down, go with her flow, while moving her along, it’s a balance of allowing her to play a bit with the animals and smells and then redirecting us using a high pitched voice. We always complete the .7 mile walk, but with much more enjoyment and ease for both of us. And, because this does take more time, we go out earlier so we can be very relaxed.

This is just one very small example of what life presents to us and how we can make choices. I have lived through many challenging life situations and haven’t always had a peaceful, and calm attitude. Everyday is a journey and practice of awareness. Now, I consciously choose and intend to have more smooth sailing experiences.

How do we begin? Start by asking ourselves questions: “How can I take care of this situation with more love and less stress? What inspires my actions? How can I view this situation in a more positive way? How can I choose to support myself with unconditional love and accepting thoughts? What beliefs, perspectives or fears are blocking me from being at peace? What experience do I want to have? Can I stop feeling like a victim in this scenario and feel more empowered?”

Exercise: Choose one area in your life that stresses you out. For example, driving. Set your intent: My intent is to have more joy and relaxation while I drive. Now, create a narrative that supports your intent: My body will be relaxed while I drive. If someone cuts me off, I will remain calm and will not take anything personal while driving. I will allow others to drive slow, fast, however they are driving. I will be in the moment, and connect with my task, my environment, bring love into the present, relax back into the seat and have my whole body feel relaxed. I will not be in a rush nor will I put any pressure on myself. My focus is to enjoy my ride and the journey.

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