Keep feeding them, and they’ll keep coming back

It was such a joy to see the sun splitting the trees today! I loved seeing the blue skies, feeling the warmth on my face and hearing the birds sing. ☀️ 🐦 🎶

It was such a nice day, in fact, that after I picked Eden up from school I thought it would be nice to have a wee picnic outside on our garden table (which we’ve hardly used since we’ve bought it; such are the joys of Northern Irish weather.) 🌞 🌧 ❄️

We didn’t bank on the chickens, though. Our chickens are bold wee things; they can’t seem to take the hint. When you try to shoo them away from the door, they just stand stubbornly stationary, even if you accidentally clip their toes trying to shut them out.

Well, as soon as we started into our sandwiches, the chickens flew up on our knees, pecking at our plates for a bite.

I thought- ‘I’ll give them a few crumbs, and maybe they’ll leave us alone.’

Big mistake; once they got a taste for it, back they came, again and again.

Eden said nervously, ‘I think I’ll eat mine inside,’ and trudged into the house, with the hens in hot pursuit.

It got me thinking.

How often do we make the mistake of feed ing bad habits, unhelpful thoughts, or unreasonable demands, thinking – ‘if I give in a little, they’ll give up’?

Let me tell you, this is the worst thing we can do.

Ever heard the phrase, ‘if you give them an inch, they’ll take a mile?’ The same principle applies to so many other things we let run free range in our life.

💭 Don’t allow yourself to feed your mind on negative thoughts – or you’ll come to believe them, and they’ll keep coming back.

🦶 Don’t dip your toes back in that destructive relationship; you’ll be pulled right back in before you know it.

🙋‍♀️ Stop trying to live up to everyone’s expectations, or they’ll keep overstepping.

We’re currently considering a cordoned off area for our precocious and pesky free-range hens. Perhaps they just need some firmer boundaries…

What do you need to put in place to ensure you don’t give the energy-drainers, joy-stealers and peace-takers in your life free range?

Otherwise, they’ll just keep coming back for more. 🐔

H x