There are few sources of unconditional love and acceptance as unwavering as from animals. Receiving this love helps imprints our systems so we'll more readily recognize it the next time it comes along, or we'll be better equipped to recreate this experience for ourselves.
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While spending time in nature and with the natural world is beneficial for our systems on multiple levels, interacting with pets can immediately activate the Care Circuit in the brain, which is also what a regular Self-Compassion practice does; building feelings of happiness, developing resiliency and decreasing feelings of depression.
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Did you know that simply petting a dog can also reduce your blood pressure and heart rate? This means that through soothing physical contact, your nervous system is getting the signal to deescalate from a conditioned "fight, flight, freeze" response to "rest and digest" mode. This is especially important when reprocessing anxiety or stress provoking material in a therapeutic setting and finding ways to integrate these experiences; we want your nervous system to lean that it's no longer threatened by these memories, and that you have the resources to care for yourself.
