Center for Workplace Happiness

What is that voice inside your head telling you about yourself? And if you just thought, I don’t have a little voice inside my head, that was the voice inside your head talking!

Most humans got programmed early to believe bad things about themselves – that they can’t do things right, they’re not smart or pretty or athletic enough – all kinds of bad things. And they heard them early and often enough that they believe those things, when they’re probably not even close to true! When that voice inside your head says something bad about you, just remember that’s an old fairy tale that was never true and you can ignore it.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Have you heard people talk about the power of being in the moment? What does that even mean? Shhhhh…here’s a secret…it means being more like me! OK, pretty much all dogs and cats and gerbils and goldfish live in the moment. We are good at it and you can be, too.

Instead of letting your brain chew over things that happened in the past or might happen in the future, let it really see, hear, smell, taste, touch and deeply feel what’s happening right this very minute. The power of it is that you won’t miss important things in your life while your brain is chewing over other things.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Want a brain trick that’ll help you solve problems and be happier? When something looks like it’s going wrong, find three good things about it.

Let’s pretend I was riding in the car and someone hit us from behind. That’s not good – that’s the way I get in and out of the car, so can I get out or am I stuck in here forever??? Three good things – I was in a crate so I didn’t go bouncing around, mom was buckled in so she didn’t either and the fire truck is here to get the back hatch open.

Finding three good things to focus on keeps you from focusing on all the bad things and helps you figure out the best next steps to take.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Do you feel powerless sometimes? I do, especially now that Mom got a more secure crate for me. Escape just one time and it’s Fort Knox!! If you’re feeling powerless, think about the words you use. When something goes wrong, do you make excuses or do you own your part of the mishap and move on? Every time you make excuses you give away a little bit of your power. Listen to your words and start owning your actions so you can own your power.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Sometimes questions are no fun, right? Like when Mom says "Who Did That???" Somehow, it’s always my fault. There’s a good question you could ask yourself when it feels like something has gone wrong – "how would it feel if I knew it would all work out?" When you think about the possibilities it keeps you from jumping to conclusions and maybe reacting to something that didn’t happen. Now, if Mom would just ask herself that when she sees a mess I made…

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!

Did you know that the way you breathe might be making you anxious? When I pant it cools me down – when humans pant, their brain thinks something is wrong. When humans are stressed they take shallow, fast breaths and that tells the primitive part of their brain that it’s time to fire up the fight or flight engine. The brain fires up the chemical factory, flooding the body with stress hormones, causing more fear and anxiety. Pay attention to how you breathe and when you find yourself just breathing into the top of your lungs, take two minutes to breathe long, slow, deep breaths that poke your belly way out. It’ll put the primitive part of your brain out of your misery.

I’m Kacey and I love veterinarians!