health and wellness

Ulitmate Success is All in Your Head

Going after it. Success. Whether a career or a triathlon or being truly in love with someone, making money or finding our life calling, what is the mistake so many are making to miss out on feeling ultimate success, peace, joy, contentment?

Too much “busy” in our heads? Is it lack of ability to keep our heads in the present and not out somewhere in the future?

Success is so sought after that what is going on in our heads is blocking the view that we are already in the midst of success. The idea that we already have everything we need to be happy, healthy and content is not one we practice.

Instead we spend our time talking in our own minds about shoulda, coulda, woulda. We occupy the space in our heads with busy-ness, not with really embracing all that we have right now.

What we think about, we create. Which do you want, busy-ness or to actually enjoy what you are doing right now? It is a choice.

The habit of staying really super busy trying to be better, have more, be faster, or not be so stressed about making more money is completely stopping us from actually noticing all the cool things that are going on right now. Today. All that we already have.

Staying super busy doesn’t allow us the time to actually create more of what we really want. Things like a rested mind, a peaceful body, health, good friends, family, manifesting enough money, they all escape us when we are too busy in our own heads.

The Habit of Notice

I moved to Hawaii a little over a year ago. The idea was to slow down. Live. Enjoy. Play. While at the same time I do my own thing, I work for myself.

Working for yourself has it’s challenges. One of the biggest is balance. Time. Not going overboard with it. Especially when one has been known to do 9 Ironmans in 3 years…. if you are one of those types, always going after it… you are like me and you NEED to start focusing on balance! Or true happiness could escape you even though it’s right there for you to grasp, to hold, to have right now.

I realized I had to let go and start noticing what was around me. Focus on all that I already had so that I didn’t start spending all of my time trying to get something more, something that brought me closer to some undefined sense of success. A sense of success based on what other people might be thinking rather than what is important to me.

So I started NOTICING.

So many way cool things happen to us every single day. Yet somehow we have trained ourselves to focus on all the things we don’t have done, or the workouts we should do, or making more money, or going faster at the next race… whatever your gig is.

The focus in our mind is out there on more, or different or something other than we have right now. The truth of the matter is most of us do not even know that we are thinking these things until we slow down and take the time to notice.

How to Start Noticing and Stop Being Too Busy

Carry a journal with you.
Notice what you are thinking about.
Write it down.
Make sure you do it several times a day.
Set a reminder for every hour to write down what you are thinking.

You’ll probably be quite surprised to find out that though you think you are being a positive person, you have thrown a negative thought or judgement to most things about yourself or someone the majority of the time.

No wonder that is what we get more of. Negative thoughts. Busy thoughts of getting to a better, more joyful place than we are right now. But not being good with what we are doing, or have or feel right now.

Start noticing the patterns in what you write down. By physically writing these thoughts down you actually have to define what is going on in your head.

Start ReVIBE –

Take what you’ve got and turn it into more of what you want minus the busy negative energy.

Start prompting yourself to write something down that:

Gave you a quick smile
Stirred emotion of “I like that”
Step way out there move yourself forward and write down why you like being you, just the way you are.
Write down what your are feeling versus what your are needing. Once defined you can start filling your time with doing more of what you need to revel in your success right now, starting with “I Like Being Me”.
Write down what you are grateful for today.
Write down anything you did or felt that is moving you towards more of what you want.
Write down the things you see around your that you like.

Your thoughts drive what you do, they are your manifesto to your life’s journey.

You’ll find you already have in you what you need to be successful at life, love, career, money, triathlon, fill in the blank. You just aren’t giving yourself time enough to even acknowledge it, practice it, or live it.

You are too busy trying to plan for more in your head. You’ve been saying yes to everything, super hero to anyone that looks like they are judging you, filling your time with what you think you are supposed to do and finding yourself a little resentful, a little tired, a little unfulfilled instead of defining, doing and actually enjoying what really makes you happy.

ReVIBE is about transpiring the essence of who and what you are into what you offer to yourself, to those in your life and to the world.

ReVIBE is about discovering alignment with what you say, think and do, and putting it into practice in a way that finally brings content, peace and joy no matter where you are in the world today.

ReVIBE | Life Habits + Move into Your Paradise + Write + I Like Being Me + Live in Color – Opens for registration June 2012

Jt Clough lives on the Big Island, Hawaii, and practices health, happiness and natural remedies, while working as a ReVIBE Habits Coach for people looking to live healthier and happier lives. She is a dog whisperer for our best friends and studies natural dog remedies, nutrition and communication.

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!

Hydration | How Much Should Your Active Dog Drink

How much water do you need to stay hydrated? The blanket answer is 8 glasses. That’s for us humans. What about our dogs? How much water do they need to stay hydrated and what if your dog is overly active?

How Much Water Should My Dog Drink?

Make it simple and it helps to do the right thing. Find out what your dog weighs and figure 1/2-1 oz of water per pound. My Weimaraner is 65 pounds. That means she should have 36-65 oz of water per day.

This is the simple formula. Of course activity and weather can make a difference so common sense needs to be taken into account. In other words, the low end of 36 oz is not sufficient if you have taken your dog out on an hour plus trail hike in warm weather conditions in the 65 lb. example. Make sure to go to the 65 oz end of the formula, especially if your dog has had an all out session, like my Weimaraner tends to do!

Checking for Proper Dog Hydration

Dogs are not able to say they are thirsty and the situation can be easily overlooked by an owner not realizing you have to not only lead your dog to water, but in many cases you need to show your dog to drink it as well.

You can check for proper hydration in your dog by:

Check for a Dry Nose

If your dog’s nose is dry it’s past the time that water should have been consumed. Time to lead your dog to water, and encourage the action of drinking it.

A dry nose is not the only sign of a dehydrated dog. Keep in mind your dog can have a wet nose and still be dehydrated or on the verge of really needing to drink.

Elastic Skin

Skin loses elasticity as it loses moisture. There’s a good reason to stay hydrated yourself as well. Skin without moisture will remain wrinkled. Ewww… maybe a little water drinking could save a whole lot of dog owner botox treatments!

Check the back of your dog’s neck by pinching the skin between two fingers. When you let it go if the skin goes back to laying flat your dog is hydrated. If the skin remains squished or wrinkled your dog needs to get some water intake going as soon as possible.

Checking the Gum Tissue

One can get technical about this or one can think about it in easy terms. When you run your finger over your dog’s gums, if it feels a bit slimy, you have a hydrated dog. If the gum tissue isn’t slimy, your dog needs to drink and is on the dehydrated side of life.

The technical way is by using a method to check for capillary refill time. To do this when your dog is hydrated pull the lip up and press your finger firmly against the gums until the tissue appears white-ish in color. See how long it takes for the gum tissue to fill to pink again.

Now you have a baseline to see if your dog is dehydrated in times of activity. If when you remove your finger the tissue looks gray in color or takes a long time to refill to pink, your dog is dehydrated.

So there you go, you can choose to use the slimy method or the capillary refilling method. Either will help you determine how much water your dog needs.

How To Get Your Dog To Drink

It is true that sometimes you can lead a dog to water and yet they won’t drink it even if they need it. You can make this a habit by enticing your dog to do it, which is a fun way to say: train your dog to drink.

Tricks are the best way to train dogs and ourselves to do anything. After all, if it’s fun you’ll do it, and so will your dog.

Use a treat to entice your dog’s nose to the water bowl, drop the treat in the bowl and as your dog takes a little water in while going for the treat, put the word “drink” to it.

If your dog likes ice cubes you can do the same trick. Drop the cubes in the bowl requiring your dog to drink to nab the “treat”. I use ice cubes as a full on treat and my dogs love it. A very sly way to encourage your dog to drink more water.

Done enough times it will become a habit and you can fade the treat by offering it sometimes and not having it others. With repetition your dog will automatically start to drink. When you say the word at the moment your dog is drinking you are pairing the action with the word repetitiously. You’ll begin to illicit the automatic reaction to drink when you say the word and your dog is in proximity of the water bowl.

Another quick fix for some dogs is to add a little beef bouillon to the water mixture. Lab type dogs can’t help themselves. They’ll drink in the hopes of food appearing!

Thanks for reading. If you liked this post, please subscribe to Big Island Dog and follow me on twitter, Facebook and Google+

As author and creator of 5K Training Guide | Running with Dogs, Treading for Dogs and K9 Cross Fitness Classes in Kailua Kona Hawaii I encourage you to make that change you want so badly today! Get out and get fit with your dog!