There are two dogs barking.
Each bare their teeth, and stand their ground with tenacious energy. Eyes focused ahead, their legs rock with the vibration of their voices.
Their barks fire out in varying cadences of rat-a-tat to a rhythmic drum, banging again and again.
Around their necks, collars are cinched tightly, the metal encased in grommets that connect to a silver tag hanging down that individually reads:
Fear
Courage
Which one is barking?
Which one are you feeding?
I have a morning routine that I love. After I shower, I light incense, open up my meditation bench, and count my breath in silence. After the gong goes off, I grab my deck of Louise Hay’s Power Thought Cards and hold them to my heart, and ask,
What do I need to hear today?
With eyes closed, I shuffle the deck and then pick at random. Many times, as soon as I see the message, a moment of recognition comes over me. Sometimes I laugh, sometimes my brow furrows in concern, and sometimes I cry.
If there is a moment of confusion, I know the answer will be revealed later in my day.
There is always a reason for the message.
Recently, I pulled this card:
I Am Willing To Let Go
I did have a quick association, but also an instinct there was more to the card today. So, the card went up on my wall as my daily mantra, and I hopped on my coaching call.
Today, my mastermind group had a special guest, energy healer Maryann Robbat, and she was teaching us all a powerful practice for releasing stuck energy and limiting beliefs.
Would you like to hear it?
1) Close your eyes and think of where you come up against something in your life and what that belief is.
2) Feel where in your body tension arises
3) Imagine physically scooping that tension out of that area either with your hand or something else and placing that energy in a basket.
4) Now breathe into the newly formed space and ask, What is the new belief?
My belly had constricted around doubts of my Creative ability, and I took my hand again and again to my soft underside, scooping away, and scooping away, until all I felt was space.
Then I asked the question, and a very different belief arose.
Confidence.
As soon as I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the Louise Hay card in front of me, reading:
I Am Willing To Let Go
There is always a reason for the message.
I wanted to share this practice, and hopped on Instagram and my ZenRedNYC Facebook page, posting the picture of the card, and within 10 seconds, I had 20 likes.
I’ve never had that kind of reaction on social media.
Maybe there was something there.
My Facebook post received the most attention of any of my posts. This was hitting a cord.
This wasn’t just a call to action, it was coming from a place of personal empowerment for every finger that hit “like” and clicked on the page. The key word in the sentence?
Willing.
There are two dogs barking within you, depending on which you feed. Their names are Fear and Courage.
Their appetites are as you would expect, animal and endless. If you place the bowl in front of them, they will consume.
When they want your attention, they bark.
We may be led to the bowl via our doubts and limiting beliefs, but where we place it is always a moment of choice.
A moment of Will.
Our Fears have served us for certain aspects in our lives, believing they are keeping us safe, barking at the stranger, or uncertainty in the dark.
Isn’t that what a guard dog is for?
But, is it serving us in the long run for our Creative Process?
If we are always creating from a place of Fear, what are we cutting off?
What are we really guarding against?
Yes, the barking can be loud and incessant, but can you hear the difference in the quality and tone of each dog?
Maybe the they are both calling to be loved, and we can begin by lifting the post that has Fear bound at the neck. Let him go chase a squirrel, while you scratch Courage behind the ears.
As Creatives, we all have something to say. It expresses through word, speech, brush, and song. It expresses through our limbs and voice, reaching out from within.
And it takes Courage to do so.
It was no mistake that a simple message resonated with so many. We can see clearly we are held back by our fears. And we know what the next step is.
Isn’t it beautiful we are doing it together?
There are two dogs within you, Fear and Courage. Which will you feed today, and which are you willing to let go?
Comment below and share…..maybe our dogs can play together.
