Have you heard of the howling dog story? It goes like this:
Tim just moved to a new neighborhood recently. He likes his house and the environment, but there is one thing he doesn’t get.
His neighbor has a dog that keeps howling non-stop. Day in, day out.
Initially Tim thinks that the dog is just going through a phase, so he ignores the howls, thinking it will eventually stop howling.
But the dog continues to howl.
One day passes. Nothing changes. Two days pass. Still howling. Three days. Five days. A week. A month. Still howling, with no signs of stopping.
Finally, Tim can’t stand it anymore. One fine day, he walks over to his neighbor’s house to see what is going on.
Sure enough, there is the dog, sitting on the front porch, howling pitifully to whoever is walking by.
On the other hand, his neighbor is sitting on his bench in the front yard, leisurely reading his newspapers and sipping a cup of coffee.
So Tim walks up to his neighbor.
Tim: “Hi, I’m Tim. I live next door.”
Neighbor: “Hi! I’m John.”
Tim: “Is this your dog by any chance? It’s been howling non-stop.”
John: “Oh yes he is. Sorry about the howls, I hope they are not bothering you.”
Tim: “Why does he keep howling?”
John: “Well… that’s cause he’s sitting on a nail.”
Tim: “Sitting on a nail??”
Tim looks at the dog, bewildered.
“Alright… why doesn’t he just get away from the nail?”
“Well, Tim……,” John takes a slow sip of his coffee before replying. “…… That’s because he doesn’t find it painful enough yet.”
Are there nails in your life that are poking you?
Some of us have career nails. Jobs we don’t enjoy. Work that drags us down and sucks our life away.
Some of us have relationship nails. Not being able to find our desired partner. Or being with someone but not sure if he/she is the one. A partner who is domineering/ insensitive/ uncaring/ emotionally unavailable.
Some of us have academic nails. Increasing backlog in school work that we need to catch up on. Upcoming exams we’ve not studied for. Pending projects and assessments that we’ve not completed yet. Revision that should have been completed long ago, but isn’t.
Some of us have health nails. Bad eating habits causing weight gain. Too much junk food, not enough healthy food. Drinking soda when it’s bad for us. Eating too much flour, oil, sugar. Bad posture that we should be correcting.
Some of us have dream nails. Dreams that we really want to pursue but aren’t for some reason. Dreams that we have been thinking about for a while but haven’t acted on yet. Dreams that we are scared to see unfulfilled when it’s too late for us to do anything.
And there are so many other nails. Friendship nails. Family nails. Passion nails.
Each of us has different nails poking us. Some of us have a couple of big nails that poke us every once in a while. Some of us have several small nails that poke on and off. Some of us have multiple big and small nails that poke repeatedly. Rather than take action, most of the time we just sit and howl. Cause the pokes aren’t painful enough.
Are there any nails in your life that you are not addressing?
Why? Is it because they are not painful enough yet?
What are you going to do about them?
Will you act immediately or only do something when it’s too late to do anything?
Don’t wait until the nails really hurt before you take action. Because when that happens, that usually means it’s too late to do anything.
Read:
- What Are You Running Away From? (Dealing With Escapism)
- Not Getting What You Want? Time To Change Your Actions
- Are You Facing Repeating Patterns in Life?
- How To Overcome Procrastination (5-part series)
For more moral stories, read:
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I think this happens with relationships a lot, people know they shouldn’t be together, but neither one wants to be the bad guy, so they stay “on the nail” until they can’t bear it anymore.
Celestine,
very inspiring story. I love it.
All the best,
Boris
Such a great story and a great reminder! It’s so easy to sit with something uncomfortable that we’d like to change, but often we wait until it becomes really painful before we take action. I’m taking this post as a reminder that I always have the power to change what I want and there’s no need to wait! Thanks so much!!
Warmest regards,
Kendra
Momentary.org
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Life for many is a pleasure or pain experience balanced like a see saw. Those in pain would like more pleasure but, in the same way as the dog, find it’s not painful enough to move. If that pain simmers for years at a standable level a life passes by and then looking back refelction says, “What did I achieve?”. Life can be simple and full of pleasures but pain is not one of them. So if you’re hurt try moving toward something that makes you smile, or feel good or you love.
A beautiful story complete with an important message.
A great parable and powerful message. I used to have a friend who said it was more painful to be nibbled to death by piranhas than to suffer one shark bite. Sometimes the pain of change can be big too, but ultimately it’s the lesser of the two pains and it allows us to heal and move on to pleasure and joy.
This story is also a great reminder to use our “emotional guidance system” to monitor our thoughts and focus. If we’re aware of any pain, we know we’re not focused in a positive direction. Pain–emotional or physical–is helpful information of contrast, information we can use to redirect out attention and energies.
Great post.. new to blog. I don’t like complainers, and if they don’t do anything about it even worse. It may be they fear the worst( shooting yourself in the foot), if they do make those moves to greatness. Realized that a while back, it is very tough and climbing the ladder slowly, but I’m climbing. It is so worth it.. Just knowing you a chance, than not doing a thing and for sure not reaching anything is not even imaginable.
The best are having friends, keeping up with bloggers ( like you) that are working harder and better than myself to really push and stretch my abilities
Hey Herman, welcome to the blog and look forward to connecting more :D
Hi Celes,
Good article. I also agree with your latest comments; it’s about passive vs. active. About waiting until it has reached a level at which you can’t take anymore vs. creating the circumstancing in which you can be successful and lead a happy, nail-free life.
To much people don’t realize that they can define the outcome of their. Everybody can deal with their nails. Thank you for the insight and inspiration.
Best, Simon
It helps to both create massive pain to associate to the pain of not changing, and to create massive pleasure by both visualizing and writing about the benefits of the positive change that we are working to achieve. This idea comes out of both the psychology of change and from some of Anthony Robbins’ writings. Now excuse me, I have to get off of this nail! :)
This is one of the main tennants of NLP. You must associate enough pain to any given habit and then replace it with something of equal or greater pleasure for any true change to take hold. Great post Celes!
Just wondering – do we have to jump at every pain that hit us? When do you compromise & tolerate?
I’d say the message of the story is about taking action to create what we want vs. our approach to pain. Often times, many people complain about their current situation and talk about their wishes, but they don’t take action. More action and less talk is the key.
So true! I have been there and struggled deeply before I have done anything. It might be the hard and it might drag you down everyday but very often it takes that awful atmosphere before people realise its not what they want. Great post thanks!
Celes, they say the best leaders use stories to tell their messages. Stories make the message unforgettable, so great job using this technique. Who can forget a howling dog sitting on a nail?
Oh I have addressed so many nails in recent years I think I am lying on a bed of feathered pillows lately and for that, every day grateful but I shall share this with some friends. Thanks!!!!
This post is a very deeply thought one. I've had problems in my life and never thought about doing anything about it. You have really made me conscious by introducing the nail as the metaphor.
Kudos.
Great port, thank you for sharing!
I did not know the story, but it relay put things into perspective. It sounds relay silly that the dog does not move, and yet we do it all the time and it seams no one cares!
Profound. This has opened me up to a new level of realisation.
So true, but does that mean you have to have a big enough problem to want to take action?
That’s how some of us do it – wait until it’s really “painful” before we take action. However, if we take action right before it blows to such a big problem we will spare ourselves and others around us of all the drama.
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