The Rats In The Dog Food

I have an incredible illogical fear of rodents. My body tenses right up with the thought of a mouse being around. Yesterday morning when the boys were getting their morning jobs done before school my 4 year old went over to the dog food bucket, opened it up, closed it quickly and with a terrified look on his face said, “there’s mice in ‘der”. 

Fear and anxiety ran through my body almost instantly. My mind began to panic, thoughts ran through my head quickly searching for a solution. I asked my 8 year old to confirm. 

My oldest being the natural born leader that he is walked over, opened the lid ever so carefully to peek in just enough. He looked at me and said, “There are two rats in there.” 

I thought to myself, he must be exaggerating. There is no way. I asked him how big were they? He took his hands and staggered them about 8 inches apart.

My first reaction is to call my hunky, strong, fearless man of a husband to save me from this unforeseen circumstance. I call and call, no answer. I consider calling my dad but he is out of state. 

Rats? I’ve had rats in my house unknowingly all along. I felt vulnerable and disgusted. How could this be? 

I knew I had to figure it out. I told the older boys to not worry about feeding the dog and to finish getting ready for school. I put them on the bus and headed back into the house to form a plan. 

Because there was no one else around to save me I decided to put my big girl panties on and take care of it myself. 

I put my hair up, my work gloves and my muck boots on and got to work. I go out to the garage to get a wheel barrow. I talk out loud to myself, “Okay Brooke we can do this, I got this. I’m safe.” 

I nervously secure the container closed and grab a hold of it and carry it to the porch to set it in the wheel barrow. All along imagining two large rats scurrying about inside the dog food bucket.

Me, my four year old and our dog Bella push the wheel barrow back to the farthest part of our property. With the hopes that these disgusting rats never to return to our home for their place of dwelling. 

I get to the spot for the release, pull out the container and decide to muster up enough courage to do a quick peek inside before I dump over the container and run. 

I unsnap the lid, take a deep breath and see…..

A big black sock. 

Yes, a sock. 

My shoulders relaxed and I began to laugh. I call over my four year old for him to see the rats. He looks up at me and smiles and relaxingly laughs as well. 

There is much to learn from this. 

First of all, WE always should decide for ourself if something is true or not. I took my 4 year old (and 8 year olds) word. Thoughts are the gateway to all our of self made creations in our life. Thoughts project our results. If we think there is something to fear, we fear. If we think something is wrong, we make it wrong. 

We always want to look at our thoughts with a microscope… really truly ask ourself. Could this really be true? Our brain wants to keep us so safe. It prefers to error on the side of caution. To the point that it creates hysterical, laughable illogical results. 

When we don’t override this brain. When we don’t step up and be the boss of it, it reeks havoc in our lives. 

Second, we project our beliefs. Whatever it is that we truly believe. (Side note, a belief is just a thought that we have thought so many times it transforms into a truth in our mind.) But whatever we believe is projected in our behavior. Because we are always thinking that “this is” or “I am” is reflected in the results we create. 

For example if we believe that ‘I’m inconsistent and lazy’ your brain is going to find constant evidence that this is true AND you will feel lazy and find yourself acting as a person who is lazy, ultimately creating a result that you ARE inconsistent and lazy, or at least finding much evidence that this is true. 

Therefore if we could flip this thought around and have a true belief that “I’m consistent and productive” your brain will find evidence that THIS is true and you will feel productive. When your feeling productive in your body, I’m sure you could take a guess, yes we are naturally more productive and the result you create is that you ARE consistent and productive. 

Can you see the difference? 

It seems too simple doesn’t it? 

Well it is. But that doesn’t mean its not hard. Rerouting our brain is a lot of work. I have thought “I’m scared of mice” so many times that I believe it. My brain has a belief that this is a true and never changing fact. 

I will end with this. Look closely and what your choosing to believe in your life. Ask yourself, does this belief serve me in my life? If it does, keep believing. If it is causing you negative outcomes, take a deeper look. Ask yourself what is the advantage of holding onto this thought? Is there a stress free reason to keep it? A lot of times the answer is no. Be intentional with your thoughts, power yourself up with thoughts that serve you, that drive you to be the YOU you want to be! (Not a terrified mom afraid of a big black sock in a dog food bucket)