Weekly Recall - Oct 18
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[00:00:05] Speaker 2: Have you ever heard the saying, change your habits, change your life? Well, it's true, but in order to do that, you gotta change your mindset. So your mindset is everything. If you think about it, if your mental and emotional energy or drained, then it's really hard to show up for yourself or your dog or anybody else.
[00:00:28] I've experienced that having Crohn's and going through, you know, a disease where it near killed me. And, uh, here's the good news, though. You can protect and replenish your energy, and you can do that in many ways. I want to share just a few simple habits, so let's talk about that. But first, welcome back to the Weekly Recall.
[00:00:50] I'm your trainer and coach, uncle Duke, and this week we're gonna be talking about the mental and emotional energy, because your mindset affects everything, including your dog's behavior, your mindset. Affects your energy and your energy affects others around you.
[00:01:08] Speaker: So let's start with mental energy and I wanna just share some tips that I use that I've learned that helps me. The first thing I find is to limit distractions, um, for your mental energy and to reserve that, uh, energy. Because one of the biggest things I find is distractions takes tons of energy, for example.
[00:01:34] Phones on social media apps, Instagram, Facebook's, all those things. If you do that, say first thing in the morning, do you realize what you're doing to your mental energy? 'cause it takes so much, so many decisions. You know you're thinking, think about it, swipe, do I engage, do I like it? I'm judging it. It's actually creating you to be more judgmental and reactive.
[00:02:02] Swipe, do I comment and move on and on, and so on. So you're making so many choices, decisions, and all these things so early, and that just zaps your mental energy, especially with comparison and stuff like that. So distractions, especially if you're trying to reach a goal, you're trying to go forward somewhere and you're not as productive as you want to be, even if you're productive.
[00:02:26] And we should be celebrating that to. Increase our mental energy, but instead, sometimes we get discouraged 'cause we're not going, what we feel is fast enough, right? So a lack of productivity will zap some of your mental energy. So limit distractions as best you can. And that's number one on my list because of a dude being a D 80 H adhd.
[00:02:49] I tell you, that's critical. Next practice some mindfulness. And what I mean by that is be. More present. More present in the moment. That's one of the reasons I got into breath work. Um, prayer has really helped me quite a bit, but sometimes just not talking to anyone. Not nothing, just practice mindful. I focus on breathing and breath practices, that's why I became a breath, uh, breath facilitator.
[00:03:18] Breath coach. And it really, really helps, helps me center, it, helps ground me and. When I'm doing that, uh, it just helps me be present and that is so important to be present. One of the things that I learned from dogs is they're living in the present moment, going second to second, moment to moment. A lot of times we can be living in the past.
[00:03:48] Food for thought. The other thing, one that I struggle with that I'm sharing, and I'm sharing ones here that help me the most and hey, this is one I struggle with is journaling. That's why I talk about it in some of the audios, and I want you to hopefully have a journal right now and you're writing on it, but journal Daily when I make that practice a habit and I'm sticking to it and I'm consistent, not only journaling, but like going back and looking at it.
[00:04:15] Block time to do those things because it's so powerful and it really helps your mental energy and you write things down. You can get things off of your, out of your head and onto paper. Wow. It really helps me. So those are just three things that help. Key points, my mental energy. Why do I share that? Well, it's important for you to have that good little tips.
[00:04:39] What do you do that supports your mental energy? Let me know. Send me a message, uh, email [email protected]. I'd love to know what you think and I'd love to know what you do that supports you. Now let's dive into emotional energy. This one's a little different and I have a pretty cool little analogy or story, but emotions, they're different, you know, than just mental energy.
[00:05:07] You can be tired mentally. Um. One thing with mental energy, right? You could be really tired, but all of a sudden, do you ever have the phone ring or somebody knock on the door and it's your best friend, or something's going on, they're like, Hey, let's go do this thing. And you're like, oh, whoa. Yeah. Okay. And you have this energy shift, right?
[00:05:29] And then you're like having a great day. Well, that's a, that's the mental shift. You needed a partner, you needed a friend. So let's talk about the emotional side, the emotional energy. Emotions are contagious and that's something to be aware of. And our energy, the we bring into the room, our emotions, you know, people feel that and it's really critical.
[00:05:53] You can have an emotion hit you, right? You ever have like a song, something can trigger that. No problem. What I find is you can change that feeling if you want to. It's what you focus on. And there's a little thing that I say quite a bit is what gets your attention, gets you, or what you focus on gets you, or what you focus on grows.
[00:06:20] So it's really important to know, think about it in advance. How do you want to feel each and every day? 'cause we're gonna have emotions, we're gonna have lows and ups. And so how do you want to feel when you feel a, let's say, a negative feeling or a negative emotion? Right, acknowledge it. Remember I'm saying be aware.
[00:06:42] Practice that awareness. Now here's, here's what I do. I say to myself, okay, Ja, I'm feeling this way, right? I cut this, this feeling, and I don't like it, but I'm acknowledging it. It's like catching a fish. I don't know about you, but I love fishing. So picture, I used to be back before. Full on dog training. I used to be a wildlife tech conservation officer for a short period of time.
[00:07:11] And this is where I get my little story analogy. So picture this, a bad emotion, a bad thought, a bad, it's gonna hurt your, your emotional energy. It's like catching a fish. A big, ugly, thorny, poisonous fish that's illegal to catch. You shouldn't even be. Holding onto this fish, you could get charged and the longer you hang onto it, it's gonna start to die and get stinky and rotten and more and more stinky.
[00:07:45] So what do you do? Throw it back now immediately. And focus. Don't stop fishing. Don't stop 'cause you caught the bad fish, the one you didn't want. Keep casting cast. Fishing man and get that fish that you do want. Focus on what you want. So what I find that helps me with my emotional energy, uh, 'cause hey, look, with Crohn's disease, that these things are really affected by times and it's really important I find to, to practice this stuff.
[00:08:18] It helps. But gratitude is one thing. The first thing I do is I say, Hmm, I do. Think about my fish story. The big ugly fish that you know you're not supposed to have. You could get charged, throw it back. The longer you hang onto it, it gets rotten and cake. Pretty cool. Just keep fishing story of my life with your dog.
[00:08:37] So have some gratitude. Then I practice gratitude. How do I want to feel? And I just practice gratitude. I'm so thankful for what My breath. I'm thankful for the sunrises, the sun in my face. I'm so thankful for the family members that I have. My mom and my dad are still alive. This part in time in my life.
[00:08:57] Holy cow. Most people I know don't have that blessing, you know? Yeah. I got Crohn's disease, but I got my health still. I'm, I'm, I'm doing well. I still have my, my wife, she went through cancer a couple of years ago. I thought I was gonna lose her, so I practiced gratitude and then I focus on praying for others that need something, need help, need support.
[00:09:20] I lift them up. So those are one of the things that I do to shift my mindset, shift my emotional energy, really focusing on gratitude. The next thing I'll do is with my eyes closed, I mentioned prayer. Prayer and breath work. Uh, or go for a walk or martial arts, like stick fighting. I do. Stick fighting stuff, stick, uh, harnesses, whatever you wanna call it.
[00:09:50] But I do that to release tension and obviously listening to music. Uh, my favorite songs. So those are things that I'll practice, I put on. Um, so sometimes I wanna really energize and release, so I will get my breath and my body active. Might be gone for a bike ride. Training my dogs through mu with music active training.
[00:10:13] Not just duration stuff, but new things. Oh my gosh. That's just, that's an energy shift in my emotion and my mental both and my spirit, everything when I'm doing those things. Uh, just, I guess really the tip is to say outta the three, the gratitude, releasing tension through different ways. Surround yourself with positivity as best you can.
[00:10:37] Now you can't fake it. But you can acknowledge it, you can release things and you can make the shift of how you want to feel. I think one of the struggles is we focus on how we're feeling and then we can get stuck. And I can tell you with thousands stories, hours and hours of stories of how I've been that way, you know?
[00:11:04] Um, man, I remember when I had. Surgery, I was told I had Crohn's disease and I was realized right away that, you know, I was the only one that had, was actively working, bringing in an income. We homeschooled three kids, so I was like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do? And that was pretty low, right? And then I realized that I had surgery and I had an ostomy bag for two years.
[00:11:30] And I, my mental energy was, was crap. I couldn't eat. Certain foods and I had to learn all kinds of things. And I had, oh man, the struggle. Uh, and then I ended up with, uh, with PTSD, so long story for the different video for audios. But the thing is, I understand, and these, this is why I share this, because it really affects your dog.
[00:11:57] It can, um, in different ways I've seen where my mental energy has affected. Coal. My lab that I have right now in my, in my mouth, in ways that they actually helped me big time, they changed their energy, right? But I've also seen where, and that was more when I was really struggling, really down really low, maybe crying, things like that versus where if you were frustrated or you were tired or you know, that type of energy.
[00:12:27] Then I have also seen that affect my dog. And I'm sure you have too. If you're being honest, you're a human being. You look in the mirror if you're a trainer or not. I don't care who you are. You've had those days, you can resignate or relate. If not, tell me what is your practice so that none of that ever happens.
[00:12:45] I want to know because we all have good habits that support us, share that, send a message, that would be amazing. But it's, uh, it's a story I have. It's uh, it's real and I'm sure that you understand what I'm talking about. So. What I recognize is in knowing, you know, mirror neurons and our energy is reflections when I see sometimes back then, uh, when I had that, it was really emotional.
[00:13:10] I could see it right away and I'm like, Hmm. And that would help me. At first it used to make me worse. See my dogs act certain ways and it used to comfort me knowing though that. What the triggers were to make them act certain ways. And of course they're service dogs, but, uh, it really helped me see the natural abilities they have too.
[00:13:31] So what I learned to do is watch the dog and the dogs have saved me different times with my own energy, seeing the shift in them, and I'm like, Hmm. I don't recognize or feel what they're kind of showing me, but I'm gonna roll with my dog. They're usually right. And that's where you do the awareness to check in and you can change that energy.
[00:13:52] How do you want to feel? How do you want your dog to look? Right? So those are some tips and little things, little story here. If you don't have your journal open already and a pen, you should, but if not, grab one. I got some questions for you so you can take with you for the day. What's one thing that you can do today to protect your mental energy?
[00:14:16] Have you thought about that on a daily? It's a good question. Healthy question. Next question is, how do you, no, let me rephrase that. How do your emotions affect your dog's behavior? How, how do you see that? And with the story I shared, you know, keep an eye and bring awareness to that. Bring awareness to.
[00:14:41] Your dog, because sometimes their behavior is directly re affected to from you. And third question is, what's one positive habit that you can start doing to replenish your emotional energy? Now I want you to also make a list of things that you do, do now currently bring awareness to that, that do support your emotional energy.
[00:15:04] Okay? Well. That's it for today. If you like this and it resonated with you in some way. Share with me. Let me know. I'd love to know what did you love about it? What did you learn? What was the takeaway? And share your experience if you are in the UPX community, share in there. If you're not, and you are looking for a like-minded community, where we leave our egos at the door, we celebrate wins, we do the things, uh, for growth like-minded people of pet owners, companion pet owners to professional dog trainers.
[00:15:38] Join my UPX community until then. I'll see, or I guess I won't see you. I see that all the time. I'll chat with you in the next audio.
