An Attitude of Gratitude

There is tons of documentation all over the internet about how adopting an outlook of gratitude improves your life, your health and most importantly your happiness. Regardless of who you are, there are so many opportunities everyday to look at your glass half full but each of these opportunities also give you the chance to look at reverse should you choose. At at recent trial I attended it struck me how negative people can easily become. Here are a few comments I that I overheard all before 8 AM on the first day!

One person asked the judge “can I walk the course with my daughter, she is new to the sport and needs my help.” To which our soft-spoken judge replied, “no, I am sorry the CKC will not allow that.”  To which the woman said “so what can I do, she is a new handler.”  I was nearby and said, “you know I am in the novice classes all weekend (with Feature) and I wouldn’t mind walking with your daughter.” I was given only a polite glance as the woman continued at the judge questioning how unfair the system was rather than taking Susan Garrett up on her offer to coach her young daughter at her first trial. Next, during the judges briefing someone asked if there would be a second judge to step in for those who get 2 qualifying scores in the same class (since you need 3 legs under 2 different judges to move up to the next class). Sure two judges would have been nice but there was only 175 runs per day, hardly warranting a second judge at the one ring trial. Again the judge said, “no, I am your only judge for the weekend.”  The woman snapped, “well if I had known that I never would have entered.” Even though it was clearly printed on the entry form that there would only be one judge for your 8 runs that weekend she continued on “what a waste of a long drive up here, not to mention the money”. Ouch!  Can you imagine the welcome for that judge that flew over 2000 miles to be there must have felt, and it still wasn’t even 8 AM yet! I offered up a solution to the woman that if  she where fortunate enough to get her 2 qualifying scores under the judge today she could drive home and have an unexpected Sunday off, how great would that be? She turned to me and said, “aah, I have another dog I am running in the Excellent class so I HAVE to stay!” Great I said, if you are fortunate to get those 2 Q’s you will have 2 more runs to try out new handling moves, or turn your run into a training session (testing independence on the table or weave poles or contacts). No response from her at that time, but I did over hear her call her dog an “idiot” and a “jerk” during her non qualifying runs over the weekend. Wow, I was just happy to get a chance to run my dogs and then head home after almost 3 weeks on the road.

No one is perfect, and I am far from it, we all have our bad days but luckily life and our friends forgive us. But really you create your own misery or happiness. I got home yesterday at 2 AM to discover I had no internet connection at home and no one could come out to look at the problem until Wednesday at the earliest.  I packed up my laptop this morning and headed off to Starbucks, feeling gratitude for their free internet service and their new location just minutes from our home. I arrived, said good morning to everyone and ordered my herbal tea. Just before she opened the tea bag I realized I didn’t have my wallet with me, oops!  Crap, I told her to forget it and she told me to forget it that this tea was on the house! How cool is that! I promised I would be back later to pay for the tea but was grateful for the generous start to my day.

I am not writing this to be preachy or condescending, I just know how upbeat my life is and I love it! I haven’t always been the person I am today but I am grateful for the path that life has taken me on. Recently someone forwarded me a blog from the UK where someone dedicated her entire blog entry that day trash talking about me and this blog (and yet as far as I know I have never met her). She claimed to be a clicker trainer, but I know better. A true clicker trainer looks for the good to reward, and ignores the things they don’t like. Looking for the best in people and in life makes your life better, it is all about energy. So stop watching CNN, and how many got gunned down at the local 7-11 store today. Spend your time listening to things like The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Milliman and you will look at yourself and others (and perhaps even this blog:)) differently and good things will come to you,  the law of attraction can not be denied!

Today, in addition to my Starbuck’s tea,  I am grateful that Encore and I have been named to the CKC World Team representing Canada at the FCI World Championships in Austria this fall.