Annica Johansson BACYC, CLSC     ajempowerment@gmail.com           
Phone:  250 714-2366                    

      Annica's Empowerment   
                                                             Modeling and Coaching Specialist    


                                                

 Ask Hamish

  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but you must be able to
  present yourself.

  It is all about putting your best paw forward! Please ask me questions!

 My blog and general musings... January 11, 2008

 I just started to think about life as I was lying on my favourite mat. My master just bought this mat
 and it is placed upstairs which is sometimes hard to get to because I am a little bit lazy. I like to do
 some thinking on this special mat and this is what I have been thinking about off an on. I understand
 that we are all different, we look different, we come in different shapes and sizes. But that does not
 mean that we can “bully” anyone who does not look the same as the mainstream.  When I go for a
 walk with my master I sometimes feel like an outcast because it seems like some dogs have never
 seen a bulldog before so they are a little bit hesitant to come up to me. I am getting used to it, but it
 was a time I felt hurt by their rejections. I started to think really bad thoughts about my looks and how
 I presented myself to others. I started to get a lot of negative messages from my brain. Yes, I know
 my brain is part of me and I am very proud of my intelligence, even my master says I am very smart
 (well, she adds selective intelligence, because she believes I do what is best for me) but if fails being
 my friend when I feel others do not appreciate the way I am and the way I look. So I started to check
 in with my brain to see how much of negative self-talk I am actually doing. Woawa, it was a lot! I was constantly on my case not being good enough, not being handsome, comparing my beauty with others
 and I fell short because I was so used to put myself down. I mean, I know I am beautiful because my
 master is always telling how handsome I am, but out there in the real world, other peers do not have
 to same opinion as my family, and that hurts. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier, I started to observe
 my self-talk and when I realized that these are just thoughts that I am creating I understood the
 power of thoughts. I can change my thoughts; I can replace my negative self-talk with something
 more positive. For example, when I go for a walk and when the other dogs rejects me, I can focus
 on all the attention I am getting from humans.

 However, there are some dogs that do come up to me but the main thing they do is to sniff my folds.
 I mean I don’t mind the attention, but come on, as if they have all the power in the world to just get
 right in my face and sniff my folds. They seem to like it so they continue; I just stand there, very patiently
 until they are done sniffing. And then I want to sniff as well, on an inappropriate place of course,
 but that is what we dogs do. The other dog is not as patient as I was so he started to move around
 making it very hard for me to sniff.

 Humans appreciate my looks, they come up and pet me and give me treats (which I am allergic to but
 what the heck), and they often take photos of me. As soon as I get insecurities and start to beat myself
 up, I try to focus on the attributes I am proud of and how unique I am looking. I feel immediately better
 when I do this but it requires some work on my part, because I am so used to think negative. But after
 a while I am getting used to like myself, I am getting used to have all these humans ohming and awhing
 about my looks so I have great confidence right now and I will just inhale all this positive stuff in life and
 go on and embrace myself in all my glory…..

      Hamish

 Email: AskHamish@annicasempowerment.com