Puppy Update

Buddy and Indy Swimming in Lake

Indy After the Lake

I am so in love with my dogs! No, I'm not a crazy dog person yet it is so fun and joyful to be with them and see them interact with each other. I have so loved having our first dog, Buddy. It was an amazing experience to have my own dog. Before him, I had a family dog but not one that was mine. Also, I had a small fear of big dogs. And Buddy got to be a big dog. He is 75 to 80 pounds and  just over all a big dog. But he has the heart of a teddy bear, a giant teddy bear. This loving, big dog changed my whole perspective on dogs, all dogs really. He showed me how loyal, loving, compassionate and fun dogs really are, and he won my heart. 

Yet having two dogs is even more than that. They are definitely different personality wise. Buddy is way more submissive and Indy is more dominant. Of course, Indy is a puppy, which makes him a bundle of energy and play. Buddy is 9+ years old and is trained as a hunting dog. He is much more mellow and focused on retrieving, sleeping, swimming, and resting. Their differences have made me really appreciate them both so much for whom they are and what they give me and others.

I was very apprehensive about having two dogs at the same time, yet it has been, and I am sure will continue to be, a rewarding experience. Being able to love and care for a dog can be a life altering experience and for me, that is truly what it has been. I look forward to the future with both of our dogs and can't wait to see how the little guy grows and continues to change our lives.

Indy, our puppy, will be going to hunting school tomorrow and will be gone for 3 to 6 months, and I will dearly miss him. But I am so excited to see what he learns and what kind of hunter he will turn out to be in the end. Its hard to do what is best for our pets, but after having sent Buddy to hunting school, I know this is the best choice for Indy and that he will be all the better for it.

Love your pets! Let them love you back! Remember to enjoy as many moments with them as you can as they won't be around forever. :)

Hugs!

The Brain and Its Parts

I am taking a course online about emotional intelligence and learned some interesting information about the brain. 

The brain have many parts but can be simply categorized in to three parts: the old brain, the middle brain, and the new brain. The old brain is also called the reptilian brain, and it is in charge of our fight, flight, or freeze instincts. The middle brain is in charge of our feelings, emotions. The new brain, which is rightly named since it is the part that evolved last, is in charge of logic and language. 

Although the brain works as a whole, these areas cannot do the function of the others. In other words, the old brain cannot form language and the new brain does not dole out feelings. So in light of this, it is understood that although we have feelings that generate from our brains, or we institutionally respond with fright, flight, or freeze, we do not automatically have logical responses to those things. We must then use a different part of our brain to logically get through that feeling or response, to react in a way that is most beneficial to our life. 

Wow- I just reread what I wrote above and it sounds like I know how to do this; no, not so much. Really, I think that my inability to do this has caused an enormous amount of problems in my life. I have often reacted very quickly to the things without thinking thus not reacting from my new brain. 

My goal now is to try and process everything through my new brain. 

How do you think you handle these different aspects of your brain? Do you think you use your new brain to regulate the middle and old brain? 

Love to hear any thoughts any of you have!

Hugs!!

Emotional Response

I went last Friday to make a donation to one of our local thrift stores. I dropped off all the things I had used in the last two years to help me while I was broken and after my recent surgery. The things in the picture are a shower seat, my crutches, and two canes.

The day before, I visited my surgeon who told me things were healing up well, which meant I could get the staples out and walk without assistance (which I was already doing because my leg felt good). When my husband and I got home from the doctor's, I promptly told him that him that I had been waiting for that day for almost two years; the day that I knew I could get rid of all the aids I had needed to get well, get clean, and get around. I told him we had go to the thrift store the next day and donate all of it.

Friday morning, we loaded everything up, and I was feeling thrilled! We drove down and talked a little about how long we have had these items and how great it was that we didn't need to have them any more. We had stored it all after I didn't need them when I was recovered from the break so that they would be available for me to use after the second surgery to take the hardware out. As we pulled up and dropped off the items, I had an interesting emotional reaction. I felt sad, like I was giving away a friend or something. Don't get me wrong; I was also very happy to be at the point in all this to not need them any more yet there was sadness.

We talked about those feelings and I came to the conclusion that it was what it was. I had spent a lot of time with those items, and they had really helped me for long periods of time to get along better than I could have without them. They were my crutches, both literally and figuratively. Without them, I would had a much harder time living life.

That event has made me reflect many times since on the emotional reality I go through on a daily basis and the importance of honoring those emotions. That does not mean acting on all the feelings I have but to, at least, acknowledge the feelings and then work through them in a logical manner. I often in life have tried to get rid of or completely ignore feelings I have had. It seems to me that doing that has caused an enormous amount of problems in my life because feelings will come out somewhere if they are no looked at and consciously dealt with in some way.

So I am trying to respect myself more and look at my feelings and work through them constructively.

How about you? How do you deal with feelings? I would love to hear what you think!!

Hugs!!

After the Surgery

It has been about 2 weeks since my surgery to remove the plate and screws from my leg. I have been healing up pretty well and am getting stronger as the days goes by.

3 days after

6 days after

13 days after & staples removed

16 days after

So as you can see, its healing up nicely. When I broke my leg Sept. 1, 2013, the healing process was long and painful so I was really nervous going into this surgery, nervous about how long and painful the recovery might be. My surgeon said I would have a 2 to 4 week recovery yet it was hard to trust with the memories of the last recovery time. My emotions definitely had a hold over my logic, yet I worked to keep them in check to just focus on doing what is best to heal my leg. I have about 2 weeks left until I can exercise freely; I have to wait until the cut heals completely so I do not pull it open. 

I am feeling very hopeful that I will have full use and mobility in my leg with in the next several months. Now I know that I can not just hope for this to happen so I will be and have already started to work towards this. I have been doing light leg exercises and have begun swimming in our pool. With time, and effort, my leg will be back. :)