Self-acceptance can be one of the most difficult things to embrace but it doesn’t need to be.  Self-acceptance is allowing yourself to be human with all it’s frailties and mistakes.  Not seeking perfection but progress allows you to be OK with every step you make along the way.  By doing your best and rising to challenges instead of shying away from them helps you to realize how strong you are without regrets.  By remembering and accepting that your current actions and thoughts are from a past place allows you to make mistakes, change from them and continue to get better and better. Self-acceptance doesn’t need to be a quasi-spiritual, out there experience, it is as simple as accepting, embracing forgiving, and living your life as the best person you are in the moment and then putting that on repeat.

A dog’s tail wag is like their emotional body language that can communicate their feelings to us. Here are some meanings …

• Tail moving fast is excited
• Tail wagging to the right means a dog is feeling pleasant and is encountering something or someone known to him (Stanley Coren Ph.D., 2011).
• Tail wagging to the left means a dog is encountering a person or other dog that isn’t known to him, and he wants to show dominance (Stanley Coren Ph.D., 2011)
• Tail wagging in broad strokes is happy
• Tail wagging with short stokes is anxious or uptight
• Tail held high and still is alert and dominant
• Tail down is submissive and concerned

This is just a general guide. Remember that your dog is as individual as you are with their own habits and communication. So, pay attention to their tail wagging they will be sending you secret messages.

Reference:

1. Stanley Coren Ph.D., F. (2011, Dec. 5). What a Dog’s Tail Wags Really Mean: Some New Scientific Data.Retrieved from Psychology Today.

You don’t need to double over in a deep belly laugh to get positive effects, a chuckle or smile will do.  Laughter releases cortisol, improves immune functioning, increases pain tolerance and decreases a stress response. And based on the Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression Inventory – II it lowers long-term anxiety.

So remember just smile 😊

Did you know that your dog dreams just like their human mate?  You know what it looks they move their legs, twitch or may even growl…

Since dogs have the same brain structure as their human friends, they also experience the same stages of brain activity.  It has been suggested that dogs dream about common dog activities, the same way humans dream about human activities. So maybe your dog is dreaming about you 😊

While you might have the best intention of getting up before the sun rises to head out for a run,  do yoga, or meditate, if you don’t actually do it there is no amount of thinking that will equate to the effect if that action was done.

We all know that thoughts do not always lead to action. However, there is good news, doing a small task can retrain your little brain, the amygdala, where your unconscious thoughts live. By changing these thoughts you will increase happiness, productivity, mindfulness, and overall optimism, which will in turn get you closer to the goals you set.   

Here are 3 daily things that take little effort to change your unconscious mind:

1. Build a Routine

Develop a practice of acknowledging gratitude every day.  This can be done in the morning before you place your feet on the ground, helping to set the intention for you day. Or, it can be done in the evening before you close your eyes to sleep.  You can employ this task as a mind activity or by writing in a gratitude journal. This daily practice helps to have a longer, more restful sleep and higher levels of positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, and energy (Emmons & McCullough, 2003).

If you have children don’t forget this practice can be done as regular bedtime routine, along with the great fun things you will hear them be grateful for it will  help them develop a skill that can protect them from any hardships they may experience throughout their life.

2. Use your Words

When you are expressing yourself make sure to speak with positive words. Say “please” and “thank-you” to others and mind how you talk to yourself.  Make sure you are using supporting and encouraging word when you speak. This practice will reverse the negative impressions that have been imprinted in your unconscious throughout your life. This will boost your self-confidence, self-esteem and self-worth and increase your motivation to keep going.

3. Don’t Gossip and Limit Your Intake of Negative News

Part of being happy is spreading happiness.  Practice the art of ignoring and dis-engaging in the awful chatter that encircles talking negatively about another person.  If you feel the need to say something to someone that may be hurtful, think of a way to tell them personally in a positive way.  Natural laws of what you give comes back to you will and does apply.  So if you have nothing good to say about someone it is best to say nothing at all.

In this same regard don’t saturate your thoughts with negative news.  Most news keeps you engaged by providing shocking, awful depressing stories stirring and storing your negative emotions.  Your mind is a muscle with memory if you fill it with sadness, anger, anxiety or depression, awful is what will replay in your thoughts and actions.  If you fill it with happiness, joyful inspiration, and supportive motivation, happiness, joyful inspiration, and supportive motivation is what will be replayed as well.

These small tasks will retrain your brain, and develop a habit of life satisfaction, and overall well-being. This will also increase your ability to see the positive in situations which not only lowers your blood pressure, improves your immune function, promotes happiness, and spur acts of helpfulness, generosity, and cooperation it also reduces lifetime risk for depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders (Emmons & Stern, 2013).

References:

Emmons, Robert A. and Stern, Robin. (2013). Gratitude as a Psychotherapeutic Intervention. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69, 846– 855.

Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: Experimental studies of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377–389.

Because a dogs’ brain has the same structure as a human brain does and their intelligence is in line with a 2 year old they are able to experience a range of emotions.  So yes, they can experience basic core emotions like excitement, contentment, distress, fear, joy, anger shyness and affection. This leaves out some of the more advanced complex emotions like guilt, pride and shame to be experienced by their human friends