Dogs have limiting BELIEFS
Now I am a dog person, always have been, and always will be.
I have always had dogs, and they have become a massive part of the family, as I am sure many of you will agree.
The is no more accurate saying than "a dog is a man's (and a woman’s too before I get grief) best friend."
That feeling at the end of the day at work and they come running up to you to show you affection, or if you are sitting watching tv, they will go and lie by your feet or rest their head on your lap, inviting a pet or scratch.
And on low days, you can be sure of the love from your dog to make you feel loved and needed.
But they too feel that love, a long walk in the park, playing fetch with a ball, water, and food provided for them, along with shelter from the rain and bad weather ( unless you are a heartless f*cker)
That wagging tail as you grab the lead or reach for their treats in the press.
Even picking up their droppings on the street and putting them into a plastic bag shows the love we have for them, not that they give a sh*t about that one (no pun intended)
Dogs are great, and they believe they are loved unconditionally, right?
WRONG.
ok, let me explain,
Bali is full of dogs.
They are everywhere, on the streets (sleeping on the roads), on the beaches in large groups, roaming the streets late at night rooting in bins trying to find any scraps of food they can get.
Many of them are not in good condition, faces covered in scrapes and marks most likely from the fights with the other starving homeless dogs and barking and growling at anyone intruding on their territory.
As I've stated, I'm a dog lover, so I would naturally try and interact, leave a hand out to invite them over for a pat and a scratch, and even offer some food to them, but to no avail.
The majority of these dogs seem broken.
For two years during the pandemic, they would have barely seen the traffic of people the island sees now.
Because of the amount of them, the local people would have just seen it as the norm and walked past them without a second glance, an island of people struggling to put food on their family's table, let alone be able to spare some for a stray dog.
And restaurants were all closed, so the bins outside would remain empty.
Or they are perhaps being surprisingly shown some love one day by a passing stranger then never seeing them again.
Two long years of this repeated daily would instill that limiting belief in a dog.
Nobody loves me.
I'm all alone.
I can't trust anyone.
I am better off being angry to protect myself.
I don't dare get close to anyone for fear of getting hurt or rejected again.
I'm not good enough.
I don't deserve good things to happen to me.
How does that make you feel reading this?
About those poor, precious, defenseless dogs?
Now, how many times have you said that about yourself to yourself?
Where did your limiting beliefs come from for you to think this way?
Who or what has happened in your life to make you feel this way?
What would you say to that dog to regain their trust?
How would you behave towards them?
How can we change those limiting beliefs?
You see, they and YOU are worthy of love and affection.
YOU both are worthy of it and all the good things that come your way.
Yes, there will not be such lovely and kind people that we will come across, but the good ones will outweigh the bad ones.
We have to believe that.
We have to trust that and allow ourselves to trust others too.
It will take time, especially if, like those street dogs in Bali, had two long years, every day with the same poor treatment.
We need to change that language and change our behavior toward ourselves.
Learn to trust again, and appreciate all we have, no matter how small it is.
Now I'm hoping, and the fact there are many tourists back on the island, that these dogs of Bali will be shown a lot of love and affection many times in a day, fed plenty of scraps of food, allowing them to trust again, to feel wanted and loved.
Feel worthy of their existence and lose that anger.
But I also wish for YOU, and we all have that power to rewrite those scripts.
Remove that word limiting to have them just as BELIEFS.
You are worthy.
You do deserve all the good in your life.
You are GOOD enough.
You are LOVED.
Thanks for reading.
Have a great Monday.
Marcus.