The Power of Positive Thinking

A few things bring me to this blog today… The 90/10 rule, PetSmart training, and a quote from my high school track coach. 

Life is 10% of what happens and 90% of how you react to it.  (Charles Swindoll)  Think about that.  It’s so true.  We all have a CHOICE to feel and act as we do.  When the going gets tough, you can choose to give up, keep going, or piss and moan about it.  What do YOU do?  When I was in high school, one of the boy’s high school basketball coaches spoke to us one time and he used that quote.  It really struck home and I was glad to be reminded of it yesterday. 

My dogs are not leashed trained.  They pull, jump on people, bark at everything, go nuts when they see other dogs, etc, etc.  I’m embarrassed when I walk them, and hope I don’t see anyone, because they are so bad.  But guess what?  They haven’t been trained well enough to walk on the leash.  So I laugh at myself when I get SO angry with them.  PetSmart teaches you to only reward good behavior and ignore bad behavior.  So again, when I am yelling at them for barking or chewing on something I start to laugh.  I even have said, “NO! Stop it!  Why don’t you understand me?  Oh wait, because you are a dog and have no clue what the big scary monster lady is saying to you.  All you know is she’s crazy and yelling at you and you are scared.  You don’t understand that I’m trying to stop you from chewing up a (insert several expensive or unsafe for dogs to chew item here).”  It’s not easy to ONLY be positive when training a dog.  I might have anger issues too though…

Finally, Coach Wilson once said, “I don’t know why you guys are so stressed out.  Life is short and you aren’t going to get out of it alive anyway, so you might as well enjoy it while you can.”  Or something like that.  But again, so stinking true!

I can tell you, that in my life, I FEEL better when I am thinking positively.  I’m not a failure!  Yeah, I have been unsuccessful here and there, but so has everyone else.  So try it out… Fix every negative thing that happens with a positive thought about it.  It’s hard, but in the end, you’ll feel better for trying. 

Have a great day!