How to: be your own knight in shining armor

I'm a huge advocate of getting out into nature to decompress and relax. 

But after renting a cabin in the middle of the the Wisconsin countryside for a few days, I had a moment that was literally the exact opposite of relaxing.

It was terrifying. 

My friend and I were out walking our dogs on a country road near our beautiful Airbnb cabin.

Upon crossing a street near some farm fields, we saw a small white dog in a yard on a tie-out, barking furiously and running back and forth restlessly while jumping and barking loudly. 

We crossed the street as quickly as possible, but the tie-out that the dog was being pulled so intensely that it snapped and the small dog made a rapid beeline for me and Sage.

And in one swift, horrifying moment - this dog jumped at her and started clawing at her. 

Sage tried to leap away, barking and whimpering loudly, but the dog wouldn't let up.

I told myself — don’t panic. Stay calm. You got this. 

I picked Sage up quickly and tried to run away from the super aggressive dog, who was now snapping its jaws at my feet and trying to jump on me. 

A couple saw me and my friend in distress and stopped their car and started honking their horn, trying to get the attention of the aggressive dog’s owner who was inside the house so he would come out and get his dog.

But the owner didn’t appear.

My friend and her dog moved away from us, trying to divert the aggressive dog’s attention while yelling for help, but the white dog kept running back and forth between us and trying to get to Sage, snapping its jaws wildly and barking at us. 

I suddenly realized that I couldn’t run, it was only making this dog increasingly angry. I had to fight back. 

I planted my feet, held on to Sage (as tightly as one can hold a 30lb wriggling, anxiety-ridden puppy) and held out my arm to block the jumping dog from clawing her.

“No. No. NO. GET AWAY!” —  I yelled loudly, waving my free arm while the other held a wriggling Sage as high up as I could. 

They say fight or flight kicks in when you are threatened and man, I was ready to fight. 

But surprisingly, I felt extremely calm. 

And in that moment, the dog jumped up and bit my right forearm, hard. 

Bad situation, meet worse situation.  

I honestly barely felt the sting of the bite at that moment, my singular thought was — protect Sage. That’s it. 

But in response, I started swinging my free arm and kicking my feet — hoping that I could fend him off.

After what seemed like an eternity, the dog’s owner finally ran out of the house and up to him and scooped him up grumbling, “Rocky! How’d you get out of your collar?”

“Your dog bit me.” I informed the owner, firmly, calmly, but nevertheless the anger seeped into my tone.

That was the extent of what I could say in that moment — I was breathing hard and the adrenaline was racing through me.

“Well, he got out of his collar and off his leash,” was the owner’s response, by way of an apology. 

I stared at him for a moment, speechless…and then I just walked away. 

It wasn’t worth arguing. And I was relieved it was over. 

With the aggressive dog at bay, I put Sage safely on the ground a few feet away and my friend and I quickly walked back to our Airbnb and locked the door. My friend was absolutely amazing and she helped me take care of my injury, and thankfully I had supplies with me (and a recent tetanus shot!). 

I struggled to fall asleep that night. To let go of the anger I felt at this man for conditioning his dog in such a way that it would attack people -- it must be a miserable life for the dog. 

The next day, as I drove past the house, part of me wanted to go confront the owner. 

To tell the police. 

To do something! 

(These were old patterns of judgement and anger rising up…to be released.)

As I sat in meditation later that day, I asked God what I should do in this situation.

The answer came back clearly and simply, “Forgive him.”

(This is the new habit. It’s nice. Sometimes a bit hard to swallow, but it is always direct!) 

That was it. 

I had to let go of the anger I felt at being attacked, at my dog being attacked, and simply forgive him.

I had to let go of my old patterns of DOING something...of getting even. 

No one was swooping in to help me make things right. 

The key thing I learned in this situation was…sometimes, you have to save yourself.

So how do you do that? 

How do you save yourself -- from others? 

Or even from YOU, from your old thoughts?

To me — it starts letting go of the some of the conclusions and beliefs you have held your whole life. 

I read once that your brain is like a computer. You have things stored on your hard drive that have been with you your entire life, sometimes put there by family members, schooling, religious teaching, books you’ve read, tv shows, social media, etc. 

Some of these “programs” you are running can be good — others, need to uninstalled, so new programs can be downloaded.

The first step is awareness. 

(And please understand that there is absolutely no blame or fault if you’ve been wired a certain way, not at all!)

So many of the "programs" running in our mind are connected to our childhood. 

How we received love as children from our parents, siblings, friends and relatives shapes our adult mind in subconscious ways. 

Many patterns that show up now can be traced back to your relationship with your mother or father growing up -- and the type of love you received (or didn't receive) mirrors back your own relationship patterns now. 

Here's the good news -- you have the power to change this if you don’t like how that programming is showing up in your life now. 

Healing internal patterns takes work, and consistent effort. But its so worth it. 

However, it’s important to start from a place of self-compassion and self-forgiveness. 

To let go of what you didn’t know before that you know now. 

I made a list of  "Things to uninstall from my brain’s hard-drive":

• Feelings of unworthiness or self-doubt
• Inner criticism 
• Cultural conditioning
• Judgement -- of yourself, and others
• Anger
• Control
• Other people’s opinions of you
• Codependency on others
• Heart walls — walls of emotion around your heart that you created to protect yourself from hurtful experiences -- I learned how to release these with The Emotion Code, highly recommend!

New habits to install:

• Self-authority -- this means validating yourself and your decisions 
• Self-worth -- this also means having healthy boundaries
• Self-confidence
• Self-love
• Forgiveness
• Compassion

How do you install these new habits? Start with some affirmations. 

I AM is one of the best. This is stating that you EXIST. 

You are part of God/the Universe. 

You are amazing, and have been since birth. 

Believe it! 

Try saying these out loud and see how it feels...it is a guaranteed mood booster!

Try it right now, if you'd like. 

I AM strong.

I AM confident.

I AM capable.

I AM worthy.

I AM enough.

I AM grateful.

I AM love.

Know that every time you affirm something positive about yourself, you are rewiring new, positive patterns in your brain. 

And that changes everything. 

You're writing over all the thoughts that told you that being YOU was unsafe. 

You're coming back home to yourself. 

The only person that needs to save you, is you. 

So today...love ALL of you. 

Call back each piece of your heart. 

Each of them belongs, and makes you who you are. 

Nothing is every truly lost. 

You are not broken. 

You are whole. 

Give yourself all the love that you deserve.

Take a deep breath. You got this.