Your pets can be your greatest teachers when it comes to Letting Go and Being.

I’ve been looking at myself in the mirror. I thought I was reasonably good at letting go, allowing life to unfold itself without me interfering. And on the surface, I was. But when I dug a little deeper, I found that I was trying to make everything happen the way I thought it should. I was struggling to create an illusion of control. And this caused me a lot of stress and pain.

We got a new puppy four days ago. We didn’t get a whole lot of sleep the first two nights, as there were quite a lot of very loud complaints to management about not being allowed to sleep up on the big bed with the humans. I had to own and contain some frustration, and I was tired and grumpy.

This is the first puppy I’ve had to play with, teach, nurture and build a relationship with in more than 13 years. 13 years ago, I was quite simply awful at letting go and being. I was controlling, and I still used some more aversive training methods back then. I’ve unlearned everything I can about that since.

And now I have an opportunity to connect with a soft, sensitive, intelligent, and determined little whippet girl with only kindness. I have my ideas about how things should go, of course, but this little one has her ideas too, and I need to allow her as much freedom as I can within the need for safety and healthy boundaries. I’m having to learn how to be a benevolent leader in a whole new way. And it’s lots of fun, but also hard work at times.

deeper expressions of letting go and being is something I am learning from Gem. Everything is wonderful, exciting, and new. She’s a happy, curious, playful little one, and she is so in the moment. Whatever is happening is what is happening, and she is an amazing teacher for me to practice letting go and being when I’m taking her out to learn to toilet outside, or starting to talk about not jumping all over everyone, or introducing her to the lead. (I hate that thing, so I’m going to eat it!)

How good are you at letting go and being?

For me, truly letting go and being demands that I have faith, a trust in some kind of greater power and intelligence – the universe, great spirit, creator, god – you can wrap whatever word you like around this idea. It doesn’t need to be religious (I am not a religious person). Then I can give up on trying to control everything, and let the universe work out all the details of how this happens.

There is such a deep ease when you truly understand and do ‘letting go and being’ – my experience is that my whole body/mind system relaxes, softens, and nearly always sticking points in my life magically ‘unstick’ themselves. There’s a whole lot less effort, more flow, and more things happen quicker. It’s like I’m floating down the river, rather than trying to force my way against the current.

Here’s how you can allow your pets to help you by teaching you the beautiful art of  letting go and being. All you have to do is to put down everything (this includes putting your phone on flight mode and turning it off), and do whatever it is your pets most want to do for a little while. Forget everything else. Let your pets lead you, and come into your body.

Notice your pet’s expressions, behaviours, and give all of your attention to this moment, and the unfolding connection between you and your pets. Then practice this every day. It’s an endless practice, truly letting go and being, and you’ll slowly become better and better at it over time.

And here’s where you can click through to watch this week’s video where I talk live about these themes from a bit of a different angle.

If you want an online or in-person consultation with me, go to www.thehealingvet.com and book a free discovery call with me! We also offer a stack of awesome online training programs that empower you to find and heal your pet’s Silent Pain.

Pic of our new puppy, Gem