How does interacting with a pet help you overcome worry or mild depression?
When we are worried or stressed we are deeply focusing on our self. And the more we worry and focus inward on our self the worse things get. We create a downward spiral. We keep thinking about what our problem is and what we do not want. Our brains are programmed to give us what we think about. And therefore our brain gives us more of the very problem we have – because that is all we focus on and think about.
So by playing with your pet, by stopping the incessant negative thinking about yourself, by taking your mind off your problem, by having it on something positive, something loving outside your mind your brain relaxes. And when it relaxes it starts to figure out solutions to fix what ever it is that is worrying you..
Playing with, talking with, or petting your pet stops you from your inward focus. It stops you from digging the hole deeper. It allows the attention and love of your pet to magically pull you up and out of the hole you have dug.
How do I know this? From medical research studies, from talking with clients I coach, from talking with friends and from first hand experience. When I survived the operation that healed my disease I worried about it coming back. I worried if they got it all. That worrying about myself put me into a state of negative energy. It also made me mildly depressed. Medicine did not help. Anti depressant’s did not work. What worked was starting a non-profit animal charity that made me focus on others and not me. That worked almost immediately. And to this day playing with Australian Shepard, a dog I rescued personally from a death row shelter, the day before he was to be killed, and helping people and pets cured my self-centered worrying.
Pets really do save our lives. Pets and man & woman are bonded together – and together wellness happens
