Day 542
Our Gus had his first real opportunity to try out his Therapy Dog "chops" yesterday! We were on our walk when we noticed a little girl who had taken a spill with her bike and tears were evident. As the young child walked her bike in our direction, followed closely by her family, she seemed to be making a beeline for Gus. He was at a "sit/stay," watching everything evolve, and walked right over to the girl when I released him from his command.
First, she petted his head with tears streaming down her face. Next, Gus leaned in and slid down her legs to the ground while her tears seemed to dry up at the source. Finally, he rolled over on his back and the "patient" was all smiles! Well done, Therapy Dog, well done!
This amazing pup is such a wonderful boy! He is skittish, due to his lack of sight in the right eye, but his confidence is growing with each opportunity presented. On our walks, I search for ways to build that self-confidence and it seems to be working quite well!
There have been times in my own life when I needed to work at building some self-confidence, along with thickening my skin. Being a bit sensitive, it was important to learn how to trust the person I was instead of looking to others to mirror my success back at me. There have always been cheerleaders in my life, but the voice of insecurity within could outshout their yells of support each time.
Every opportunity presented, from speaking at conferences, teaching college classes, writing books and so much more, placed one more brick of confidence onto my wall. However, it would only take one less-than-stellar review from a college student, writer's block or any circumstance where I wasn't 100% successful, to help me slide backwards into self-doubt. If there were 25 students who let me know how much they appreciated my "professing," there might be one whose approval might not be at 100%. That would be the one where my focus would reside!
Why is it difficult to accept a compliment, but so very easy to embrace a criticism and allow it to fester within? Shouldn't it be just as easy to open your heart to kindness, encouragement and accolades? It is a long road and still, I tend to ruminate more on negative people, comments and occurrences in my life. It seems there just might not be an easy fix!
Like Gus, perhaps all that is truly needed is more exposure to risk-taking where there might just be a negative consequence such as an unkind remark, stress in the risk-taking or failure. We have all faced those undesirables before. Without risk and "stretching" of our gifts, we might never hear the chants from our cheerleaders. Better yet, there might just be the positive element of that little voice in our head finally saying, "That was a challenge! Well done! So glad you took the leap!"
So Gus moves towards being one of the best Therapy Dogs EVER and I continue to stay positive and tell myself, "You did the best you could!" Confidence grows with each attempt at that something new and another brick is put on that wall. Win, lose or draw, you will grow and be a little bit stronger with each "stretch"...just ask Gus!
