The Nasty Grip of Anxiety

Anxiety. If that word resonates with you I don’t even have to go into all the feelings that it brings on.

Unnecessary feelings, but never the less they are alive and real for many. Most the time dog owners rub it right off on to our own dogs as well.  After all, our own dogs do in fact reflect our behavior.

If the word anxiety doesn’t resonate with you. Good for you! Stoked for you.

Those who do feel anxiety on a regular basis this is the year to get rid of it once and for all.  It is like worry, which is a total waste of time.

As a dog trainer it is obvious when an owner comes to me and says their dog has separation anxiety or fear aggression. However, it is usually not apparent to the owner.  It is a realization to the owner that it can actually be about them.

You do emulate the 5 things you hang out with most.

You see, we spend much of our time covering it up, not addressing that it’s a real issue. We stay the same. In fear. In anxiety.  That ugly nasty grip stops us from doing so many things we hold as dreams and aspirations.

When it comes to coaching people without dogs, sometimes it is actually harder to read. Again, dogs have no filter and tell all. So without the mirror of a dog’s behavior it becomes even easier to hide behind.

The Way To Anti Anxiety

Wouldn’t it be great if I could just lay it out here and have it resolved once and for all?

Anxiety is a complex problem but the truth of the matter is we must address it to do anything about it. We must first admit that it affects our lives. And for those who can already admit it, we need to move on to doing something about it.

Or…. guaranteed it will get worse over time. What you think about you become.

So here is a quick and fast answer to get your started to no more anxiety in 2012:

GO INTO ACTION.  It’s a natural anti anxiety remedy that works.

Let me give you an example.

This morning I was outrigger paddling in the Ocean with 9 other people on our crew. We had paddled out for about a half hour, came around a point off of the pier here in the magical, healing, yet very powerful waters that surround the Big Island and… WAHOO… big swell.

What that means for those who don’t paddle is the little tiny canoe in comparison to the great big Ocean starts rocking and rolling and becomes in great danger of going over.  It means the front end of the boat was completely covered with water and our job was to keep paddling to come out the other side and get back on top of the water.

I found myself beginning to freak. I had already started all the “what if’s” in my mind. I already had me and all of my crew flailing around in the water, trying to find our paddles, trying to grab an overturned canoe to flip it back over, trying to not get bashed by big waves or the boat while bailing the water out before we could get back in.

My comment out loud was, “Oh shit, I’m sorta scared.” One of my paddle crew sitting at the front along aside me who is strong just like I am when it comes to paddling, said in the midst of it all just after I made the comment, “Don’t think about it. Just paddle.”

Guess what? It worked! I just paddled. Smoothly, with rhythm.  I became calm in the powerful  water and used it to my advantage to keep moving forward.

The realization later is once again the lesson came about how to deal with anxiety, how to get rid of anxiety.

Do something. Go into action. Don’t waste the time spinning out about all the “what if’s” Move. Take action.

In my experience, it works for people and it works for dogs. It is a habit one has to practice though if you happen to be afflicted by the nasty grip of anxiety.

The Anxiety Busting Virtual Tour

Yes, a blatant promotion coming your way. And know I don’t promote anything I don’t truly believe in.

Anxiety is one of those things people tend to put on “wait”. Wait and see if it goes away. Wait to see if things suddenly change. Wait to see if the New Year will make it better. Wait to see if the love of my life comes along and makes it better. Wait to see if when I lose weight I will feel better. Wait to see if the anxiety gets better.

Wrong answer. Wait.

The only way to get rid of anxiety, to change it from entering your life and literally stealing your plans to live happily away is to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

The Anxiety Busting Virtual Tour starts Jan 23. Get on it. Check it out. And have yourself the best 2012 ever.

*Note to dog owners who are looking for help with what seems to be a dog anxiety problem:  This is for you!  If you understand anxiety you can help your dog.  If you don’t understand anxiety, considering the lack of communication methods we have with our dogs, it will be a difficult fix!

Thanks for reading.  My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now!  Please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on Twitter.   Retweets are cool too.

As a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker, author and creator of  5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!

Mahalo 2011 and Aloha 2012

It has been a most fabulous year for me and Big Island Dog.

Look back and spend some time to be grateful for people, experiences and the things you love in your life. Make a love list about it.  It’s a much better way to put your New Year’s Intentions out there instead of thinking in terms of Resolutions!

I love that I took the action to live a dream and move to Hawaii.

Still, I’m a little amazed that it all happened. It all aligned and what I’m taking from it is to go ahead and amaze yourself. If you love it, when you amaze yourself, not someone else, it will take the expectation part out of the picture and put your best self on for everyone else for real… no pretending. That changes everything.

I love that the love of my life, my life partner did all it took to get our family to Hawaii.

We had a quest to live with less and spend our time creating experiences to share with others. In the last 8 months we have had people here for their own retreat and friends and family come stay with us. Wonderful times have come from all of it.

I love that our dogs are with us.

If only you could hear the conversations with Emmy the Lab it would be quite clear that we are experiencing pure joy. We have had lots of it this year.

Even through all the NEW, it brought us to practice reaction. I’m finding the reaction to come to the positive side of everything in the moment, to have a grateful view of all that is, has made fear and anxiety vanish more often.

I love that I started eating much much more healthy.

This one has changed the way I feel in a HUGE way. It took some sticking to it, and I’ve got a lot more foodie nutritional healing ways to go. But I love the challenge to eat mostly things that are not processed.  I love learning about it and sharing it with others.

I love that I started doing yoga on a regular basis.

It has brought balance to my very busy mind, and created flexibility in my body where there was pain before.

I love that I got rid of so much of my stuff.

It was one of those things I didn’t realize.  I was holding on to things and not using them out of fear of not having enough.  When I gave most of it away or sold it, I realized how abundant my life is and how less can actually create more of the most important things in life.

I love that I started outrigger paddling and met some wonderful people.

They help me in my observations to write many articles because of our experiences on the Ocean. My new Kona crew rocks it as far as working out goes with happy ready to go attitudes too. I love that.

I love my website and blog.

I got the chance to write my story. And I get to use my gift of teaching. I get to be an author and I get to have people read my stuff. I love that I published an e-book this year. It’s on Amazon and everything. It’s so cool.

Huge Mahalo Courtney Carver

You are so amazing and the contribution and professional awesome-ness you brought to putting the site together has your magic intention flowing at all times even here in Hawaii. It makes me think of you often.

*Courtney’s writing on How to Make a Love List was the inspiration for this article as well.

Be In The Moment while Looking Forward to the Aloha of 2012

I look forward to all that I can do in 2012 for myself, for my family and for others. I’ll leave my wonderful readers I appreciate so very much here to write your own Love List of Mahalos 2011 and Alohas 2012. I’ll be at the beach this year, celebrating all that is and all that is to come. I plan to write my 2012 Love List there. Stay tuned.

Aloha wags!

Thanks for reading.  My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now!  Please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on Twitter.   Retweets are cool too.

As a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker and author and creator of  5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!

 

You Are Here for a Reason

Kindness keeps the world afloat.

When negativity surrounds… I know someday it will all turn around.

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” ~Plato

Random acts of kindness. The Christmas holiday gets lost in all the shopping, spending and more, more, more. Doing something kind for those you love and those you don’t even know will in fact bring you more, more, more….

JOY

As Courtney says from Be More with Less, “You Can Stop Now.” Christmas will come even if you don’t buy one more thing.

Enjoy….

your home
you dog
your family
your friends
a beautiful sunset
a quiet moment with yourself
make a list of all you have to be grateful for
say it out loud
smile

Make plans to be the best version of you. 

Here is what I’m planning on participating in. It will be good for me and for everyone around me including my dogs!

Help people and dogs through the 5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs

The Trainer Method – A mastermind to to bring out your super power and live the life of your dreams.

Make your plans and do more with less stuff from here on out!

If an act of kindness has the ability to shift someone’s bad day into a better one, then why not try to be that change?

Aloha wags!

Thanks for reading.  My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now!  Please join us at 7 Ways Dogs Make Your Health Better and on Twitter.   Retweets are cool too.

Jt Clough is a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker and author and creator of  5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs 

Your Content

Drink Like a Dog This Holiday

The holiday season finds many of us indulging in good cheer. And for many that means excess alcohol.

Why we do it is another question considering all the negatives that go with it, but how it makes us feel is undoubtedly something most would like to do without.

This holiday plan to drink like a dog, which means indulge yourself in a whole lot more consumption of water!

Our bodies are made up of 70% water. The body of an adult dog contains about 60% water. Water is the principal chemical component for both dogs and people. Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

Drink Like a Dog

Granted, dogs don’t get much choice in the matter, but you’ll find that when they are thirsty, when they are excited, when they’ve just done something really fun, or they’ve just eaten their dinner, they run for the water bowl and gulp it down like it’s the best thing ever. It could be part of the reason they wake up every single morning ready to go, wagging tail, smile on the face and happy about the day ahead.

People on the other hand, especially during the holidays with parties and gatherings tend to wake with a hazy feeling. Actual headache upon waking. Grouchy. Don’t really want to go after anything with any vim and vigor attached to it. Feeling down and depressed. Read What Drinking Does To Your Body and it may really give you reason to choose an alternative at your next holiday party.

Women and men alike are bummed when the clothes are getting tighter and tighter to get in. We wonder why, never considering the amount of sugar and what we are doing to our metabolism when the amount of holiday drinks containing alcohol is on the upward scale of intake for the year.  Depending on your age, even with regular exercise alcohol intake can negate maintaining your body weight during the holidays.

Quite frankly the euphoria that alcohol brings is such a big huge game changer in the end. The let down and disenchanted feeling afterwards never pays off. We can end up being quite ugly to those closest to us and they should be the people we at our best charm for during these days of celebration.

Yet, we continue to pour another glass of wine at the company party, friends homes and out at restaurants.

Tips to Drinking Like a Dog

Ok, so I’m not saying never drink again. Or become a teetotaler through and through (though I contemplating it!), just seriously limit your drinking throughout the rest of the holidays.

For instance have one glass of wine or cocktail instead of two or three and drink mineral water or just plain water with a lemon or lime in it after that.

When out at a restaurant or catered party it’s easy to dress up the non alcoholic drink. It looks pretty in the glass with the bubbly water and a lime and ice cubes.

When you are at home, use one of your fancy glasses to create your own drink that looks like a cocktail or a glass of wine. Check out these mocktail recipes and try one that appeals to you. Take the ingredients to a party with you. Make your own drink and I bet you’ll get some takers to join you.

Easiest Drink Recipe – Using a Wine Glass or Cocktail Glass

Personally I try to pick something with as little sugar a possible. My favorite is super easy and appears to be a vodka soda with a lime!

  • Fancy glass
  • Perrier
  • A splash of cranberry juice
  • A lime slice

That’s it! You’ll feel great the next morning with the added hydration as a big bonus and the health benefits are well worth it.

Drink like a dog this holiday season! Ideas for your dog to up the healthy drinking habit too can be found at Hydration How Much Should Your Active Dog Drink

Do you feel like you drink more alcohol than you’d really like to or intend to? Do you feel like you keep gaining that extra couple of pounds each year? I’d love to hear your challenges.

Thanks for reading.  My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now!  Please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on Twitter.   Retweets are cool too.

As a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker and author and creator of  5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!

Choosing Your Gifts or Choosing Anxiety

Dogs reflect our behavior. This is how I have come to realize that fear and anxiety or so much a part of our lives that we have gotten to a place where our dogs, who have always been happy-go-lucky-in-the-moment are suffering from anxiety as well.

While it kept me busy in the dog training world, it became a huge lesson in how to start recognizing anxiety in myself and what the reaction was that went along with it.

Change on Purpose

If you want your dog to stop with an anxiety lifestyle, then you must show a picture of exactly how to react. In other words you need to stop with your own anxiety lifestyle habits or your dog probably never will recover from it!

If you spend more of your time than you even realize reacting in ways that you’d rather not, it may be time to start replacing that feeling with thoughts that bring “Calm” and reactions that are much more fun filled.

Changing on purpose is a practiced type of thing. We must recognize first that we are in the moment of acting with anxiety cover-ups, and choose what it is we want to replace it with. I have found ways to choose those things that are fun, that are relaxing and that bring me peace of mind. It’s been a journey I wish that more people would take.

It is Ok to Give Yourself Your Own Gifts

We all have pretty awesome gifts. The problem is many tag “underneath it all” to that statement.

I find that reading things that come into my in box, like The Anxiety Busting Virtual Retreat help peel off those layers of stress and anxiety, of not having fun anymore and making choices we really don’t want to sign up for. The gifts we have been given to enjoy reveal themselves easily and effortlessly all of sudden.

It will be a wonderful gift for the dog in your life as well.

Go on, create your own paradise!

Thanks for reading.  My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now!  Please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on Twitter.   Retweets are cool too.

As a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker and author and creator of  5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!

Holiday Pumpkin Dog Recipe

Incredibly Easy Holiday Pumpkin Dog Treats

Pumpkin is great for dogs and humans. This year more and more are turning to making gifts and planning dinners around the table with friends and family.

Dog lovers here is your chance to make a dog treat that is not only really healthy for any dog, but is so easy to make you’ll find yourself with a thoughtful gift for even those you wish you could have given something to in years past but the budget didn’t stretch that far.

The big bonus…. the pumpkin treats are great for humans too!

Health Benefits of Pumpkins

Pumpkin is loaded with Beta carotene and anti-oxidants especially vitamins C and E. These vitamins help to lower heart disease, cancer and cataracts. Pumpkin is a great aid for dogs in weight loss and for tummy issues like diarrhea. Read more on the healing properties of pumpkins and you’ll find yourself the hit of the holiday new recipe dishes and your dog lover friends will not only get a really cool gift but dogs will love it and add health to their diet.

 Pumpkin Dog & Human Treat Recipe

The instructions are simple.  So simple you’ll find it’s very easy to get creative and make thoughtful homemade gifts, appetizers or a little treat any time for dogs and for people.

  • Turn the oven on to about 350 F.
  • Put the pumpkin in the oven on a baking sheet.
  • Cook until a knife punctures the pumpkin easily, usually about 45 minutes.
  • When it’s done, slice it up, remove the seeds and cut into small cubes.
  • Keep the seeds to roast alone. The health benefits of the pumpkin seed are amazing as well.

That is an incredibly easy recipe. Plain pumpkin cubes. Your dog will love them. It’s easy, its good for your dog and for you.

Simplicity Packaging

Use a small paper bag and tie ribbon around the top. Or go green and beautiful and use a Ball glass jar with the seal-able lid. Tie your holiday wishes to it if it is a gift or just simply put it in the refrigerator and dole treats out for any good reason. *make sure to add a note if it is a gift that these treats need to be refrigerated.

The More Difficult, More Yum Pumpkin Treat Recipe

Same as above. Once you have cut the pumpkin into cubes drizzle Manuka honey, or raw honey over the pumpkin. Use these treats as an eat right out of the oven appetizer or side dish.

Your dog only needs a few. Probably the same for you. Put on a dish or flat pan, cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for later.

But wait. Is honey good for the dog?

For thousands of years, honey has been recognized as one of the most natural home remedies to treat a wide range of ailments and complaints including yeast infection, arthritis pain and fungal infections like athlete’s foot.  The antiseptic properties inhibit the growth of certain bacteria and aid external wounds to stay clean and free from infection. Antibacterial properties prevent infection and functions as an anti-inflammatory agent, reducing both swelling and pain, and even scarring. It is widely believed that Manuka is the preferred honey for wound dressing due to its strong antibacterial property even when taken internally.

The inclusion of a teaspoon of honey to the dog’s daily regimen is proven effective in alleviating pain associated with arthritis.  The enzymes in raw honey aid in maintaining the dog’s stable digestive system.  The rest of the anti fungal, yeast infection fighters also apply when ingested by your dog.

Unlike other human foods, honey can be easily digested by dogs. Dog are not inherently allergic to this insect-made substance. However, too much of anything including honey can be a dangerous thing. Dogs should get small doses off honey. A few pumpkin treats drizzled with honey should do the trick to super duper your dogs immune system.

Enjoy each and every moment of the holidays and remember: Joint consumption doesn’t create intimacy. Only joint creativity and gifts create intimacy and connection. Occupy Love.

Aloha wags!

Thanks for reading.  My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now!  Please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on Twitter.   Retweets are cool too.

As a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker and author and creator of  5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!

 

All material on this website is provided for your information only and may not be construed as medical advice or instruction for you or your dog. No action or inaction should be taken based solely on the contents of this information; readers should consult appropriate health professionals on any matter relating to their health and well-being and the health and well-being of their dog.

What Is Occupy Love

The day after Thanksgiving. What we’ve come to know as Black Friday. As I think about even that phrase “Black Friday” it sort of sounds like it should be a warning.

We’ve come to a place where one way or another change is gonna happen. It has to happen. I find myself living more and more along the lines of the video on Occupy Love.

 My Occupy Love

It’s a full paradigm shift I find myself in after deciding to move to Hawaii. Getting rid of most of my things and realizing that I don’t need the things. That time to spend with my loved ones, sharing our thoughts and food and activities is way better than all the things I used to have stuffed in every single closet and filling the garage to the capacity not one car could actually fit in it. Stuff I never used, I just spent most of my time occupied with working to pay for it, really busy in my mind about how to get more.

It’s lovely. Watch. Click the Heart.

White Friday

Today I’m choosing to participate in White Friday written by miss minimalist.  We’ll also spend our day with a picture of gratitude in mind like the photos posted in Be More With Less.

Those are the things I’m choosing to fill my mind with. How about you? Where are you and what do you need help with to move yourself to your own paradise?

Thanks for reading.  My hope is to give you inspiration and thought provoking ideas to take your very next step in creating your own paradise from where you are now!  Please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on Twitter.   Retweets are cool too.

As a 9 time Ironman finisher, change maker and author and creator of  5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today!

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