Lessons From Bravo........More on Fear

I have been thinking a lot about Bravo and that early fear.    Why did that sit and down and stabilization of his eyes seem to work so well?  I believe there are MANY answers, but the one I want to focus on today is that the stabilization of his fear led to trust.  Bravo learned to trust me on all levels.  He learned that I would not put him in a situation where I would not protect him or get him hurt.   Bravo learned to place on things that dogs normally wouldn't try.  He could place on a 5 gallon bucket.  He could turn around always and ever ver carefully placing his feet so he could always WATCH me with his eyes.  He did the same on a wooden rail fence (a 3 inch round board).   These were not "tricks" they were acts of sheer trust on his part.  If I suspected something to have a element of danger to it I made sure I was very close by to catch or help him.  I also made very sure to reward and acknowledge all effort and try on his part.

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This picture was taken during a public access.  Bravo at 9 was showing that he could still place on some very small things.

Another of him standing on the spillway of my sister's pool...a 4 in tiled ledge that had water spilling over. It looks like he was walking on water....hmmmmm.

While Bravo in his prime was 24in tall and weighed about 75 lbs he would allow me to pick him up and roll him over on his back while I was standing up. Once we got through the hard fear stuff he began to trust me in ways that I am only now beginning to understand.  Interestingly as his trust in me grew.....my trust in him grew!

Trust can not happen if we are not grounded.  Trust can not happen if we do not slow down to take time to be present in the exact moment that we are on. When a creature or person is spinning you can not still yourself enough for trust to take root.

Like most in this world my trust has been betrayed deeply throughout life.  To be honest that is why I love dogs.  Dogs don't betray, dogs don't lie, dogs don't talk back......at least in the ways we normally think of. I trust many people with my checkbook and with other practical matters....but my heart.......ABSOLUTELY NOT!  That sounds calloused and jaded and perhaps it is but I trust myself far ahead of others.  I keep my own counsel for the most part, sometimes stubbornly so.  I trust that still inner voice inside of me and know as long as I keep my intention clear and purposely for good...EVERYTHING ALWAYS works out okay.  It may not not what I envisioned but it is still okay.  I may get frustrated but by staying present in the moment, always trying to speak truth, and keeping my intentions clear with honor integrity, things always work out.  I know that others can not fix me, others can not make me better from whatever sickness ails me, whatever fixing that needs to happen has to come from within.  Others can help ease the situation BUT THE TRUE HEALING COMES FROM WITHIN.  Bravo had to be taught HOW TO TRUST IN THE MOMENT!  

As his trust grew that situations weren't going to eat, hurt or betray him....something else began to occur he found his belief!   HE BELIEVED IN ME and I in turn BELIEVED IN HIM!   We found each other and we had lessons for each other.  In the beginning my belief had to enough for him to move forward until his own belief could sustain him. 

While writing this I was searching for a general  meaning of the word belief and found this...."Belief is the state of mind in which a person thinks something to be the case, with or without there being empirical evidence to prove that something is the case with factual certainty. Another way of defining belief sees it as a mental representation of an attitude positively oriented towards the likelihood of something being true.^[1] In the context of Ancient Greek thought, two related concepts were identified with regards to the concept of belief: pistis and doxa. Simplified, we may say that pistis refers to "trust" and "confidence", while doxa refers to "opinion" and "acceptance". The English word "orthodoxy" derives from doxa. Jonathan Leicester suggests that belief has the purpose of guiding action rather than indicating truth.^[2]

In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to personal attitudes associated with true or false ideas and concepts. However, "belief" does not require active introspection and circumspection. For example, we never ponder whether or not the sun will rise. We simply assume the sun will rise. Since "belief" is an important aspect of mundane life, according to Eric Schwitzgebel in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a related question asks: "how a physical organism can have beliefs?"^{[3]" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief)}  

I would add that I believe animals have some system of belief as well as humans...maybe another blog post down the road.  However in our case, once the belief and trust was in place, something even more astonishing happened.  Something called TRANSFORMATION!  We each became something we had not been before.   He became less afraid and I became more trusting.  No truer words have I ever uttered, I discovered that THE SECRET TO TRANSFORMATION lies in learning the ability to BELIEVE and TRUST!  Transformation does not happen over night.  It isn't something that occurs quickly.  It is a long and arduous process that takes commitment and dedication.  Dog's are more capable of it than we are because that don't try to put it into words.....they put it into action with their human's help.  Me on the other hand......it took another almost 11 years to get the drift.  Sometimes I wish I was half as intelligent and in-tune as dogs are!

LESSONS FROM BRAVO ..........STILL YOURSELF (EVEN IN IT MEANS OUTSIDE HELP IS NEEDED),  START TO TRUST,  WAKE UP ONE DAY TO BELIEVE, AND WATCH OVER THE YEARS AS TRANSFORMATION HAPPENS, REFECT BACK ON THAT PROCESS, AND THEN START OVER AND SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED WITH ALL ON YOUR PATH THAT ARE WILLING TO HEAR. IN SHORT BE SOMEONE ELSE'S PLACE TO TRUST AND BELIEVE!