SELF LOVE
How My Dog Opened My Heart To Love
This little furry creature has done the job that humans cannot.
I had been perceived as a distant person, who does not know how to give and receive love. Showing emotion is taboo for me. Itâs as though it will take my pride away if I do.
I know this is very wrong.
Itâs my childhood emotional hurt that caused me to have such twisted thinking. Coupled with the passive-aggressive inborn character in my genes, it doesnât get better over the years. Itâs worsened with me growing up alone in an environment where no one came to correct me.
As time goes by, it has come to a point where itâs affected all areas of my life; especially in relationships and careers. I simply had little understanding of humans. I doubt something was underdeveloped in my brain. I was nervous when I needed to deal with humans because I did not know how to build and maintain relationships.
The accumulated hurts of the relationships caused me to shun myself from human interactions in the best possible ways. I feel relaxed the most when I am alone. Of course, all these traits affected my career. I had always been the unpopular one and a misfit on most occasions.
The Day That Changed My Life
One day my brother brought home a little dog named Olive â of cavapoo breed. She is a lovely, well-mannered, obedient little black furry dog.
I have always liked small animals but have not been having them since we moved to the city when I was 10 years old. We used to have about 10 kittens and 2 dogs back in time when we were very poor in the village.
By caring for Olive I have come to understand more about body language communication. As I have to observe her eyes and reactions intently to find out what she wants at times, or whatâs happening to her.
I still remember there was a time when her eyes looked exactly like human eyes! I could see a soul living in her body, filled with emotion! I could hear what she wanted to tell me in her stare at me alone.
Although I knew that non-verbal language speaks louder than verbal language in human interactions, I usually avoided having too much eye contact and hinted little at body language. This resulted in me being very poor in human relationships.
My interaction with Olive opened my mind to non-verbal communication. It made me realize my communication mistakes with humans. This was especially true about a love interest that I had been trying hard to figure out the signals he sent to me. He was a man with few words and I hoped that I could understand his âsilentâ language â the body language, and respond accordingly.
Olive made me realize just how similar my love interestâs communication was to the âdogâ communication, haha⌠my love story would likely have taken a different path if Olive had come into my life earlier.
This is the twisted love story from the communication error:
How She Changed My Perceptions
Oliveâs lovely character and the desire to be close to humans slowly melt my heart. Her openly shown affection for me made me respond without feeling my pride was taken away, nor did I need to worry that I would be rejected. She made me realize how good the feeling of giving and receiving love is!
Olive was comforting me when I resigned from my job and hibernated at home. While I was lying on the sofa; she came to me and laid herself on my stomach, stared at me for a second then laid her head on my chest! She was like telling me âDo not be sad, I will be with you!â That was the time I realized this cutie knew what was going on without speaking our language!
She has broken the wall that I had built all around me all these years! I know she loves me for what I am, accepts my shortcomings, and knows that deep down I am a kind-hearted person. My cold behavior only serves to protect me from adding more bruises again!
My warmth for Olive has slowly extended to humans, where I smile more and be more proactive in striking up a conversation. My family and relatives were delighted to have noticed this encouraging change in me.
I find genuine kindness in Olive and she made me feel itâs safe to love her and receive her love for me. She taught me that to love and receiving love are vital for our well-being in building meaningful relationships of all kinds. With the inclusive, accepting, and co-existing mindset, we can make our earth planet a place of heaven without the need to wait to go to heaven!
Final Thoughts
I have seen many videos where the dogs had helped their owners heal emotionally, be it autistic children, emotionally closed-off adults, or even prisoners showing their kind side! Maybe the prison can have âdog therapyâ to guide the troubled prisoners to turn over a new leaf. Ha!
Below is one testimonial of the âdog therapyâ!
âLove Makes The World Go Roundâ â an English idiom and proverb which means that love is a very important and essential thing in this world and that life is more enjoyable when people love one another.
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