MY HANDSOME GERMAN Shepard Dog, Kingston, is my wingman. He goes with me nearly everywhere, and we have strong routines.
One of these routines is that he runs ahead of me when I drive or walk down to the barn to take care of my other handsome male, Patric, my Appaloosa gelding.
Yes, I know I’m biased when it comes to my boys.
Recently I’ve been dogsitting a mature yellow Lab named Daisy for a dear friend. Daisy is a doll, no trouble and goes wherever I go. Which means she gets to run down to the barn, too.
That isn’t sitting very well with Kingston. Instead of a wonderful lope down to the barn (I live on a hill), Kingston runs down in front, stops to run back up to put Daisy in her place, runs to catch up to me, only to turn around two or three more times to ascertain that Daisy isn’t getting anything good out of this exercise.
Jealousy. It’s tiresome, changes nothing and makes the jealous party look if not ridiculous, at least less than smart.
Here’s the thing that some animals and people know. There is enough to go around. Daisy has this dialed in. Kingston is learning it.
There is enough love, food, exercise, whatever, that everyone, every dog, cat, etc., can have some. Probably more than they need.
Are you feeling jealous of someone or something?
When I used to feel jealousy, it hurt. I behaved less than the person I wanted to be, and it changed nothing!
So I listened to wise advice and guidance, which I am now sharing with you:
If someone has something, anything — it proves that you can have it, too!
When this sunk into my bones, it freed me up in the most wonderful way. No envy, no jealousy, no hurt or pain. Just three questions to myself:
1. What are they doing to get that result?
2. Who are they being that brings good things to them?
3. How are they thinking, behaving, speaking that works?
Once we have the answers, we can shift our focus from what we don’t have to taking action to get what we want.
Another question to ask yourself:
4. Do I even want what they have?
Kingston has everything he could want or need. There is no reason he needs to keep Daisy in her place. Interestingly, as he was corrected and as time went by, they have come to a coexistence that works for all of us.
If they can do it, so can we! Give it a go and let me know what happens.