What my dog Lola taught me.



When I lived in the UK I had a beautiful little terrier called Lola.
Lola was an absolute “babe”. She could lift my spirits within minutes of being with her. She always could sense if I was sad or morose, and at times like this she would quietly come and park herself near me; it was her way of saying “I’m here for you”.

Lola and I would go for long walks, play, run around the garden, visit my Dad who lived up the road (she seemed to always sense when I was visiting him) and generally enjoyed our time together as only man and dog can. But one day Lola taught me a lesson that has come back to me many, many, times.

It happened one day when my husband and I had just returned from a business trip, and as always Lola made us feel so welcome with her wagging tail and little yelps and jumps (she only had little legs). She was so excited to see us she started running all over the place like a little demented thing. So her and I went for a walk in some open spaces. She carried on running around like a terrier on acid ( just try and imagine this!)

After a while it was time for us to go back so I walked up to Lola to put her leash on her. The minute she saw me coming she bolted for it in the opposite direction. I ran after her, but the more I chased her the faster she went. And let me tell you those little legs have some power in them. I chased, and she continued to run faster. The more I chased the farther away she got. This kept on for about 10 minutes. All I kept thinking was how was I going to explain to my husband that I lost our baby; our baby who has tiny little legs and is no taller than a few inches high. Lola obviously thought this was a new game because every time I stopped running, she kept turning around and looking at me, as if to say “catch me if you can”.

Suddenly a new idea came to me. I turned around and started running away from Lola. Immediately she chased after ME, and came right up close so that I could put the leash on her.

So what did this teach me? Well, solutions to our problems are sometimes like Lola. The more we chase after solutions, the farther away they seem to be. The answers seem to run away from us. However, when we stop running and put the problem out of our minds, the answers start running toward us.

Don’t run after the answers to your problems. Just relax, become quiet and let the answers flow into your mind. The longest conversation we have is with ourselves from the moment we wake up to the moment we fall asleep.

Because we are busy talking to ourselves, the internal noise crowds out the very answers we’re seeking. It is in becoming still that we start to hear the answers to our problems; we start to recognize the still small voice of the universe.

It doesn’t matter what the problems are. It could be a matter of money, relationships or health. The same force that solves one problem could solve any of the others. All we have to do is stop running, get quiet and create an environment in our being where the solutions can come to us.

As Lola proved, desperately running after the solutions to your problems causes more resistance, and the very solutions you need will run away from you (it’s one of the principle rules of the Law of Attraction). Stop running, quiet your mind, stop thinking about the problem (this is really important!) and the solutions will come and find you. This really works. Try it!

What solutions do you use for solving your problems?

10 comments:

  1. What a great post, thank you so much for that

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Tabitha for always following and leaving lovely comments; so appreciated xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a unique way of looking at problems, Vanessa, love it. It's so true. Reminds me of when I've been trying to think of something ... someone's name from the past or whatever ... and no matter how much you struggled to remember, it remains just out of reach. If you put it out of your mind, your internal "secretary" starts going through your mind files and lo and behold, the answer just pops up unexpectedly one day! It is true that so many things we worry about work themselves out in time on their own. If we can just learn to be patient and walk the other way. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Sandy-love the analogy of the "internal secretary"-brilliant!! Thank you so much for popping by sweetie xx

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this, Vanessa. :-) I've been so anxious about things in my life the last while, but this month I've been letting go, over and over, and I'm finally at peace with it all. :-) I still have my fearful moments, but I deal with it, and then move on. It's been helpful to journal, to get all my fears and worries written down. Somehow it takes the power away. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. This was such a great post - on so many different levels! Exactly what I needed to read right now. Thank you for sharing it. (ps - thank you for also putting my badge on your site - too kind!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I loved this post Vanessa and it is such a great illustration. What a sweet little pup Lola is!

    I've learned this lesson a few times. Whenever I'm in doubt regarding a personal or business decision or things seem to be spiraling out of control, I take time alone to pray and also be still and quiet with God that I might hear His voice. I find my days run smoother when I begin each day this way.

    Have an awesome week!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great comments friends. It seems this post came just at the right time for most of us.It is an on-going process, and is difficult to "let go" when you have problems whirring about in your head, but this is usually when our most powerful solutions come to us, in our moments of peace, quiet and serenity. I find meditation helps tremendously to quiet the mind.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Vanessa, such a great post. And you have no idea how time-appropriate this is for me. After feeling incredibly overwhelmed (a totally new one on me - my mantra is I'm too blessed to be stressed) I found when I took time to step away the answers came at me fast and furious. I needed to get out of my own way. You are wonderful! Thank you for your words of wisdom!

    ReplyDelete
  10. @Beth- I LOVE your new mantra. I'm going to print it up and stick it on my fridge! You are so right though Beth, sometimes we get in our own way trying to analyse and solve everything. If we would just be quiet and be still, it's incredible how the answers suddenly appear. Thank you so much (as always) for popping by.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Your comments make my day!