I am making this short and sweet today (pun intended!) as Miss Gidget and I are off for our 2-hour road trip shortly to see holistic vet, Dr. Andrea. It will be a full day of travel and consultation.
So today’s wisdom: Live from the inside, out. In other words, listen to that beautiful, full, pumping heart of yours and follow it’s lead. Always.
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My dear friend Marie says that every thing we do, from washing dishes, cooking dinner, working, art, or anything in life really, is to approach it as a blessing.
It’s a way of being mindful and in the moment of each task that you do, instead of jumping ahead in your mind of what needs to be done next.
I can’t help but think how my dogs teach me about mindfulness. When I devote my total attention to them and not worrying about what I might need to do next, it is a blessing indeed with many rewards. I also have come to see it as a meditative practice, too.
Jon Kabat-Zinn was on Super Soul Sunday this past week talking about mindfulness. It struck me how he said that when you are taking a shower, he said, to just take a shower. Don’t think about what is ahead for the day. It won’t make those things get done any faster. Isn’t that the truth?
As I brushed Kylie last night I thought about this. And how just brushing her and not worrying about when dinner would get done or what I was going to do after dinner—it would all work itself out. It always does.
How much time we spend in this “what’s next” and “what if” thinking stage that we miss out on the moment right in front of us. And when in the moment, if we can practice mindfulness, how calm and at peace our minds can truly be.
Dogs do this every single moment of the day. Did you ever notice that? I know it’s why I love being in their presence so much. Even when I’m not practicing being mindful, oftentimes just seeing them reminds me to slow down, savor, and drink slowly from the gift of life.
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I think perhaps Gidget isn’t practicing mindful thinking in this photo as it appears to me as if she is saying, “When’s it my turn mom? I want to be next. Please brush me next.” Gotta love dogs.
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Let go. Is this not the hardest lesson to learn?
I have a feeling if we really got it and I mean really understood this one lesson…well, then the word struggle would cease to exist.
I can say that each one of my dogs have absolutely been a teacher for me in this one lesson that I need reminding of quite often.
With Gidget’s third episode of a seizure, this time while I was not home on Sunday, the letting go of worry and fear really got my attention. I could stay in this place of fear for the rest of her and my life… and then neither of us would truly be living…
Or I could trust and let go that all will be well or be whatever it is meant to be. We think if we hold on and try to control that nothing bad will happen.
But we aren’t in control. Even though we like to think we are. While we can do our due diligence in taking steps to learn all we can to make our lives and the lives of those we love as happy and good as it can be, the rest is learning to let go and trust what is.
Maybe others don’t see it this way and that’s okay. Sometimes I don’t want to believe that letting go is the right thing to do – but then I believe that is only because I’m trying to control some outcome that I’m imagining- one that may never be. And control really does come from a place of being in fear.
So to let go is to live fully. To trust that our lives are unfolding just as they are meant to be.
Gidget is certainly my reminder right now of that. It is so close to the surface pulsing through my many thoughts. So I’m being reminded once again– let go and trust. And to deeply appreciate and savor each moment of this delicate dance we do while here on this earth.