Tag: Empowering

Adopt the Wonder Woman Pose!

Have you seen the new Wonder Woman movie that came out this summer? Wow! I really enjoyed it. The strong female lead, the hero’s journey, the ability for her to move forward when everything in her was saying to stay safe. Lots and lots of good stuff in there. But what I want to focus on today is her pose.

Now, granted it is a little airbrushed and wind machine aided hollywood style but look at the stance. It embodies to me an easy confidence in herself. Her shoulders are back, her back is strong, her core is strong yet exposed, and her eyes are soft yet focused on what’s in front of her.

It has been shown that our body posture reflects our emotions. When we are sad or depressed we tend to slouch, round our shoulders, look down, not make eye contact, talk softly. When we are mad we are standing tall, leaning forward, muscles tense, eyes laser focused, brows furrowed.

The cool thing is that our body can create our emotions! Yep! All those synapses that create our posture also hold the keys to our emotions. Holding our body in certain ways creates emotion, thoughts and habitual ways of acting.

So this week, I want you to first notice how you hold yourself throughout the day. How do you stand when feeling confident? How about when a client is questioning you? How about when a cute puppy or kitten comes in? Notice how your body stance changes, your facial muscles feel, your back feels.

Now, practice your version of Wonder Woman. We’ll call her Wonder Vet!!!!!! Stand tall but relaxed, shoulder blades rolled back and down, weight going down through the ground, eyes focused but soft allowing you to see peripherally, and feel your breath expanding in your core, your abdomen.

I encourage you to practice your Wonder Vet stance in the privacy of your home and then take her out with you! When you are delivering a diagnosis, an estimate, a treatment plan, stand in your body’s version of confidence and strength and see the difference it can make in the way the information is given and received. I think you will find it a wonderful experiment!

A Revolutionary Way of Looking at Vet Med

My decision to be a veterinarian was a calling, not a decision. I knew from a very early age that I would be a veterinarian. So now that I am, how do I navigate the stresses and struggles of the profession? Watch the video to find out what has worked for me, and how you can see our profession in a new light.

How Can You Keep Anger from Derailing Your Day?

I feel the need to speak out about a FB video that was posted recently by a veterinarian who I will not name here. She was distraught about the price of veterinary care and the effect that cost has on our clients and patients.

While I agree that this is an important topic, I feel that her approach was hurtful and disrespectful of her colleagues. Everyone in the field of veterinary medicine does the very best they can every day, day in and day out, despite the pain and suffering we see every day. We are not in it for the money, that’s for sure!  

I created this with the desire to help my colleagues who may have been hurt by the video.

Some things to think about as you watch the video are: What does anger feel like in your body? Can you respond to anger in a new way, and what would that look like to you? When you feel angry at someone, could you deal with it differently by acknowledging that there is an underlying cause of the anger?

You can watch the video and let me know how you answered any of the above questions by emailing me at pamela@healthyselfdvm.com or setting up a private 1 hr phone call by visiting my scheduling center. 

And please, as always, let everyone see the unique, compassionate person you are!

 

How can being wrong be OK?

The fear of being wrong can be paralyzing. But we are all wrong sometimes. How you deal with it is the key.  

Check out the video I made on this subject:

Now let me know how this works for you… Let’s set up a time to talk one-on-one. Just head over to my scheduling system. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Dealing with energy drainers…

I know that when I am feeling stuck and unable to move forward, I realize there are things in my house or office that need to be done that bother me every day as I look at them. Little things like clutter on the countertop, stuff on the stairs waiting to be carried up, a burned out light bulb in a lamp.  Things that I could quickly and easily remedy, but I don’t.  

I use them as evidence to myself that I am lazy, worthless, overworked, a poor time manager and an overall failure at life! Yep, that sums up my thoughts some days!

But what I have learned is that when I feel that way and look at those things, if I can resolve them I feel so much better and can turn around that negative self-talk.  

So here is my challenge to you:

  1. Pick 3-5 things that irritate (drain) you every day when you look at – or think about – them. Choose easy-to-remedy things for now like change that light bulb (not paint the house or clean the closet out).  
  2. Now, commit to resolving one thing on the list every day this week.  Just one.  
  3. As you resolve the thing, give yourself credit for fixing it, tell yourself how much you love yourself for doing this and celebrate the hell out of your accomplishment every day!  

These energy drainers are keeping you stuck. Changing the little things you don’t like about your surroundings will lead to your ability to create the bigger things you dream about.  

Here is a TEDx talk that will give you more ways of jump-starting the removal of those energy drainers: https://youtu.be/Lp7E973zozc.

Watch it and let me know how your Energy-Drain-Unclogging goes!  Click here to set up a free, 1 hr call with me to let me help celebrate your accomplishments!

 

Can you be grateful in stressful situations?

Gratitude. Feeling grateful for the experiences in our lives is a powerful way to feel happier and more empowered.

When you can extend the feeling of gratitude to the people and experiences in your life you will find that more and more good things come your way.

So I encourage you to keep a gratitude journal. Start small: just commit to doing it for 7 days. Each morning or evening, write down 5 things that you are grateful for. They can start with simple yet important things: you woke up!, your car started, you have clothes to wear, etc.

Be honest with yourself and start with what you can truly say you are grateful for having. I think you will feel better after the 7 days and I encourage you to keep the practice going or at least reach for it when you are feeling down.

As time goes on, see if you find gratitude in the challenges of the day. Such as gratitude that you were 5 minutes late leaving the house because then you got to avoid the accident, or see the heron in the creek, or the cute dog being walked by its owner.

Gratitude can also be extended to challenging client interactions. Be grateful that you do not have the life experience of the chronically bitchy client. Be grateful that the client with no money allowed you to flex your “No” muscle and not get drawn into their drama.

Being grateful for the good things in life is a great way to start, but finding ways to be grateful for the suckier things that happen is when the true magic occurs. So go out and be GREATFUL today!

If any of this resonated with you, if you have questions, or if you just want to discuss these ideas more, please click here to set up your free, 1 hr one on one call with me. I can’t wait to hear from you!

That time I stuck my foot in my mouth…

There is a book, “The 4 Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz, that lays out 4 agreements you make with yourself that can transform your life. One of the agreements is, “Do not make assumptions.”

I had this tenet very clearly pointed out to me the other day in the exam room. I walked into the room to meet a new client. As I was entering the room, I commented on how much I loved their red sneakers. Then I looked at the chart and saw the name Britney. The person standing in front of me looked very masculine.

That’s when I totally dug myself the deepest hole I may ever have been in! Not able to just close my mouth, I blathered on about how Britney is not usually a male name, blah blah blah. I am sure my tech was ready to stomp on my foot or slink under the table.

Britney took it very well and said that she is frequently mistaken for a male. I continued to be confused and finally literally had to close my mouth and start the exam before saying anything more.

As I was palpating the abdomen, which was very normal but I took extra time to do it, I replayed the conversation and realized that I had made an assumption based on how Britney looked that was completely wrong.

Lucky for me she was very nice about it. But as soon as my pulse slowed down, I apologized to her for making an assumption that I had no right to make. I told her I was sorry and how gracious she was in handling it.

After I apologized, I realized that I felt totally empowered! We went on to have a great discussion about her dog and we actually got along really well. The empowerment I felt by apologizing was amazing. I know, had I just ignored it, I would have been beating up on myself for days about how stupid I was and I would have feared meeting her again.

So my recommendation to you is twofold:

  1. Do not make assumptions. Listen and ask questions to understand the other person’s point of view.
  2. Sincerely apologize when you are wrong. It gives you back your power, and allows for a natural interaction, without weird vibes, to occur.

If you have experienced the power of apologizing, if anything you read resonates with you, or if you have any questions about these ideas please click here to set up a free, 1 hr personal call with me. I’d love to hear from you!