240. My Dog's Blind Wisdom

Links for today: 
Kathie’s Links: https://www.kathieowen.com/links
Blog Post with bonus resources: https://www.kathieowen.com/blog/rusty-blind-dog-leadership-lessons

In today’s episode, we discuss:

8 Life Lessons My Blind Dog Taught Me | Kathie's Coaching Podcast

In this episode of Kathie's Coaching Podcast, host Kathie Owen shares profound life lessons learned from her blind dog, Rusty. 

Despite losing his sight, Rusty continues to inspire Kathie with his unwavering joy and resilience. Kathie explores eight key lessons including optimism in uncertainty, trusting guidance, the healing power of movement, acceptance without resistance, finding joy in the present, the importance of companionship and support systems, redefining strength, and practicing blind faith. 

These insights not only offer a fresh perspective on personal growth but also highlight essential values for leadership and workplace wellness. Join Kathie as she delves into these heartwarming and insightful stories, reminding us to walk by faith, enjoy the present moment, and trust that we are always guided.

Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction: Life Lessons from My Dog
00:29 Rusty's Blindness: A Journey of Adaptation
01:56 Lesson 1: Optimism in Uncertainty
02:27 Lesson 2: Trusting Guidance
05:34 Lesson 3: Movement is Medicine
07:57 Lesson 4: Acceptance Without Resistance
09:10 Lesson 5: Joy in the Present
11:02 Lesson 6: Companionship and Support Systems
13:44 Lesson 7: Redefining Strength
14:51 Lesson 8: Blind Faith
16:30 Conclusion: Embracing Rusty's Lessons

Transcript

0:00

Today I wanna talk about one of my most beautiful life lessons I have learned from my dog. Yeah, rusty went blind about six months ago, but here's the thing. He doesn't even know it. And honestly, I think he's teaching me more about life than I could ever teach him. You're listening to Kathie's Coaching podcast. I'm your host Kathie Owen. Yeah. Rusty went blind. He actually had cataracts and they. Started getting worse and worse and I was freaking out. I was like, oh my gosh, he can't see anymore. And he was running into things and I think I was hurt more than he was. And at first I thought it would be heartbreaking. But you know what? He still gets up every day with so much joy and he's actually taught me so much about life, and I tell everyone that I see with him. I say, you know, he's blind, but he's taught me a lot about life. And everybody agrees and they see that in him. He's just so cute. I love this story. And my mom, she calls me his seeing eye person, not his seeing eye dog, you know,'cause that's usually what they're called. But through his blindness, I've noticed these lessons that apply to all of us, whether in life, in leadership or in the workplace. There are eight life lessons from my blind dog, rusty. Eight of them stay till the end because that one is probably the most profound. Let's get into the episode. I. Lesson number one, optimism in uncertainty. We don't need to see the whole picture to keep moving forward. We just need to take the next step with joy. Like I said, rusty doesn't even realize he's blind. He just wakes up ready for his walk. That's a huge lesson. We don't need to see the whole path to keep moving forward. Life may look unclear, but we can still bring joy and energy to each step. Lesson number two, trusting guidance. When I take him on a walk, he absolutely love it. He lets me guide him on his walks and that's where he gets his exercise because when he is walking around the house, he runs into things. I actually have to pick him up a lot because he can't find his way around, but he doesn't care. And it's so funny because if I start laughing. He thinks I'm laughing at him and he'll just start wagging his tail and it's just the coolest thing. It actually is. But he trusts me with his guidance. When we take our walks, he gets his exercise and he just walks along very gingerly and doesn't worry, worry about running into things. So he does get his exercise. And, and let me add this, um, because you may not know this, but he is now at least over 14'cause I've had him 14 years. He's a rescue dog and he. Been through so many different things with me and always been a bright light in my life. And so I believe God, the universe, whatever you wanna call it, left him in my life to help me through these things. And he's been such an awesome blessing. But you know, what he's taught me about trusting guidance is sometimes we need to lean on others or trust the universe when we can't see what's ahead. Like my mom calling me, his seeing eye person is just beautiful, rusty, trust me completely, even when he can't see what's ahead. And I want to say this right here. When he could see, and forever, whenever we'd walk by a gutter, he would walk very far away from it because I guess before I got him, he got stuck in a gutter or something. Those things actually scare him. And it's funny now because as we're walking along, he'll walk near a gutter and he doesn't even know that he's near it. But he, he trusts me that I'm not gonna let him step into something like that. And that's just what I love about that. But this mirrors a spiritual lesson that I have been working on, on trusting the universe or God or life itself when we don't know what's around the corner. And this has happened to me so many times lately that I've just. Let go and released and trusted. And when I let go and quit trying to control and manipulate things, control and manipulation will bring you nothing but more havoc and pain. And so when I let go and I just trusted what was gonna happen, like Rusty trust in my guidance, it brings on miracles. Lesson number three, movement is medicine. So Rusty loves his walks because he's moving and free and he gets his exercise. And what I wanna apply here is when we feel stuck, moving our body shifts our energy. That's why wellness at work isn't just about health, it's about momentum and mindset. And so. Moving our bodies shifts our energy. And during a time where I had really severe anxiety, one of my mentors and friends sent me a yoga workout that. Was specifically for anxiety and I will link it in the show notes and description below and the blog post that I share today. And I'll also link a couple of other ones in the blog post because, um, I found that doing yoga poses can really help that anxiety move through the body. That is what is so helpful. When you're doing yoga, and it does help the energy move through the body. And when I take Rusty on his walks, he's getting his movement, he's getting his exercise. I mean, he's an older dog and so he's like in his nineties, almost a hundred in People years, and he needs that movement to keep his joints and everything moving properly. So his exercise, the routine and movement, bring him life even though he can't see. It's a reminder that when we're stuck, anxious, or in pain, moving our bodies shifts our energy and gives us momentum. And I wanna add this right here, is that. Emotion is just energy in motion, and it has been proven that in 90 seconds if you just sit with that emotion and let it move through your body, it will release. It's called emotional release. And so a lot of times what we'll do is repress or suppress that emotion, but movement will help. And movement is medicine. Lesson number four, acceptance Without resistance. I always say this resistance is going to keep you stuck. And what I love about Rusty and what I've learned by observing him is he doesn't resist his blindness, he just adapts. And how often do we make life harder by resisting reality? Acceptance doesn't mean giving up, it means finding new ways to move forward. And I just love that. So acceptance of what is it? Is what it is. I say that, and it's not spiritual bypassing, it's not positive thinking. It's just letting go. Accept without resistance. Rusty doesn't fight his blindness. He doesn't complain. He doesn't dwell or ask Why me? He simply adapts. That's resilience. And how often do we make things harder? By resisting what is and instead of flowing with it. I want you to think about that. So lesson number four is acceptance without resistance. Lesson number five is joy in the present. He's not thinking about his blindness, he's just enjoying his walk, his nap, whatever he's happens to be doing his breakfast. Whatever, and I wanna add something here, because he's blind, he can't jump on the furniture anymore, and so he hasn't had. These injuries that he had been having. He was actually having injuries in his legs and his back where he couldn't walk at all and I'd have to rush him to the vet and get a steroid for him and that would help him, and that has not happened since he's gone blind. Another thing that hasn't happened since he's gone blind is he hasn't had seizures, knock on wood. Granted, he's on seizure medication, but those seizures. were an overstimulation of his brain, and I'm thinking that because he's blind, he can't see. And so he's not getting his brain overstimulated. So he, he's got joy in the present moment. And you know, he's not thinking about his blindness. He's just enjoying what is happening in the present moment. And how to apply this. Mindfulness is simply being here now. Right now is all you have. That is where peace lives. Rusty enjoys his life. He enjoys his walks because he's not bumping into things and he feels free. He's not thinking about the fact that he's blind. He's just in the present moment. That is mindfulness at his best. Like I said, he's teaching me so many cool lessons about life. So let's get to lesson number six, companionship and Support Systems. So Rusty walks better because I am with him and I'm his companion, and I'm his support. And I have to say that in the last six to eight weeks, I have made the best friends. I have made so many cool connections and leadership in the community, and I've been networking a lot in my business, and it has made a thousand percent difference in my life. I. Missed being around people. I started going to coffee shops and just working in coffee shops because I wasn't around people and it just was something I was missing out on. And so I started joining networking events and I met the coolest people, things that transformed my business like. Quantumly majorly, and in a good way, it also transformed my life. I've made a lot of new friends and a lot of great connections, and I'm doing things that I did not think I would be doing a year ago. Because a year ago I was in a small little world working in corporate America, in a job that was not fulfilling, not completing me, and now my whole life is a hundred thousand percent difference. And I can look back at that old corporate America job and go, Ooh, that was so, so, so tiny, such a small. Small place and the world is so much bigger and so much more beautiful and awesome. And that is also the companionship and support systems that I have made over the last year, and that's lesson number six with Rusty. Because even though he can't see, he's not alone. I am always beside him and he knows that and he just trusts that. And this shows up in the power of support systems. We don't have to walk our hardest roads alone. And I was walking my hardest road alone, especially when I worked back in corporate America because it was not rewarding, it was not recognized. All of the hard work that I did, and I was barking up the wrong tree. And Rusty doesn't bark up the wrong tree anymore because he can't even see, and he just has the companionship and support, and he trusts that. Remember that was number one, the trust. Lesson number seven, redefining strength. Rusty's strength is in his willingness to be guided. You know, true leadership isn't doing everything yourself. It's knowing when to lean on others. And when I say others, it's also using discernment and not leaning on people who are not gonna support you like I was in that small corporate world. It was just so teeny tiny. And I have learned so much from my mentors and coaches and fellow partners in leadership. It's just been amazing. So when I'm talking about redefining strength, lesson number seven, strength isn't about being able to do everything yourself. It's about being able to lean on others and still move forward. And Rusty embodies quiet strength by allowing himself to be guided. Lesson number eight, blind faith. Rusty literally walks by faith, not by sight. That's the reminder I needed. And maybe you do too. Even when you can't see the path you trust it's there. And when I'm walking rusty, I often think about this because I'm like, okay, universe just surprised me today. I've started saying that. And when I started saying that, I was like, oh, that's like walkin rusty, because he's just. Leading by blind faith, and I'm just surprising him. Look what's next. We run into other friends of his other dogs when we're out on our walk, he can't see them. Oftentimes he'll smell them or he'll hear me talking to somebody else and he just starts looking around, wagging his tail because he knows they're nearby and it's just the coolest thing. Anyways, let's get back to blind faith because that might be the deepest lesson. Rusty literally walks by faith, not by sight. That's a metaphor for our own journey. You know, trusting that things are working out even when you can't see the evidence yet. Like I said, that blind faith is probably the biggest lesson. The biggest lesson, and that's one that I really want to stick with you. So in my hardest seasons, I had burnout. I had a toxic workplace that I used to work in. Even in building my business, I couldn't always see the way forward, and I hit some pretty heavy roadblocks. But Rusty reminded me that joy, trust, and blind faith are enough, and it's so freeing, it's so releasing. Like Rusty, I had times where I couldn't"see" and in quotations that way forward. But trust, resilience, and movement helped me heal. I healed through that. And business growth. I'm often in a season of planting seeds without knowing which ones will bloom. I've planted so many seeds in the last two months, and I'm just trusting blindly that they will come to fruition when they're supposed to. I'm not digging them up, I'm just trusting, and Rusty teaches me that trust. The unseen progress is still progress. And relationships and boundaries. Allowing others to guide me or stepping in as a gentle guide is part of love and connection, not weakness, and I have made the best connections recently. On top of that, I have some of the best mentors and coaches out there, and they have really stepped in as a gentle guide. One of my favorite mentors is Gieo, and Gieo has actually been the best coach and he, I strive to coach like him because he does not ever just give me the answer. He always leads me to the answer and I can't figure that out until I connect the dots looking backwards, I'm like, oh, yeah, now I see how he led me right here, which is the sign of an awesome coach and mentor because when they do that, you figure it out on your own and the lesson is learned a lot quicker. So in the workplace imagine this wellness angle. Imagine if leaders and teams embodied Rusty's lessons more trust, more presence, more resilience, and I, I've got to add more emotional intelligence because that is so true because Rusty doesn't feel sorry for himself, and that's emotionally aware if you think about it, because he's not worried about anything else, but everybody being happy. When I laugh, he starts wagging his tail and I'm not even laughing at him. How cool is that? That right there. Trust, presence, resilience, emotional intelligence. That's what makes workplaces thrive. All right you know, rusty may be blind, but he sees life better than most of us, pun intended, and maybe that's the reminder we all need. To walk by faith. Enjoy the moment and trust that even when we can't see the way we are guided. All right, that's my episode for today. I trust that you found it helpful, and if you know someone who can benefit from this, please share it with them. And until next time, I will see you next time. Peace out and namaste.