Tag: dogs

Infectious Happiness

~ Sasha ~ 1 Comment

Our new puppy is finally settling down. This means we get to relax a bit after the Defcon 5 of the last four months.

Having a dog makes no sense, really. They are expensive, inconvenient, they make it harder to travel and generally limit your freedom…

And yet I love them. What makes a dog worth it is two things:

  1. (for dog lovers only) Having a warm, fuzzy, living teddy bear in your house is pretty great
  2. (for the rest of us) Dogs go through life with infectious happiness.

When I pay attention to my dogs, I see their unbridled joy at the smallest things—a leaf, a smell, a toy, a squirrel, dinner.

It rubs off on me.

It reminds me that I can be more present, that I can take more joy in the small things, that there’s no reason to be stingy in giving away love and affection.

One thing I’m committing to in 2025 is to show up in a way that lifts others up.

What about you?

Morning Walk

~ Sasha ~ 1 Comment

Each day I see

One frame of the seasons unfolding.

A movie reel running so slowly I might miss it if I don’t pay attention.

Greens to yellows to reds

Leaves flitting down lazily

A gentle, one-time, kaleidoscope snowfall.

Trees become bare, preparing to stand stoically all winter.

To stop bending in the wind.

Each day the sun has a new angle, the light a new flavor.

Each day is a chance for quiet, for reflection, for breath, for presence

A chance I sometimes take and sometimes miss.

Each day I notice my body.

The little things that ache and, less often, the big things that don’t.

Each day I am the quiet before everyone else’s day has begun,

The rhythm of early morning before the school bells have rung.

Each day, near the end, I appreciate this time

Thankful to the canine whose fault it is I’m up so early.

Tomorrow morning, the alarm will ring, earlier than I’d like

And I will think, “Again?”

The lines between a chore, a discipline, a practice, and a blessing are blurry indeed.

 

Woods at sunrise Frost on the field Flowers first frost My shadow, and my shadow

New Tricks

~ Sasha ~ 2 Comments

On a run this past weekend, I turn the corner and see an old chocolate Labrador plodding its way down the street. It has a pronounced limp, it is moving slowly, it looks like maybe the walk is too much for it. It seems like it is suffering.

As I come up alongside the dog, I see something different.

Though its body clearly isn’t cooperating, its tail is wagging, its mouth is open a bit, it looks, as much as any dog can, like it is smiling. I see its owner up the street with two other, younger, dogs, patiently waiting and enjoying this family morning ritual.

Looking at the sun shining on this old friend on a quiet early fall morning, I witness its joyful spirit trapped within a body that isn’t keeping up any more. But her spirit is undeterred. Her spirit shows up in a slowly wagging tail and a spark on the inside, even as her hip aches and her body creaks forward.

We get so caught up in our limitations, big and small, that we can think that they are us.

These limitations can be physical, like a bad hip or a nagging cold. They might be our attitudes and behaviors, like when we give in to fears or get stuck in bad patterns. Or they can be external forces that are weighing us down.

Let’s not wait for things to get so bad, though, before we allow ourselves to see and rediscover the joy that lies within us. We have the chance, today, to experience a sunny morning. We have the chance, today, to be bathed in the love of a patient smile, or even the slowly wagging tail of a close friend.

If we can’t feel it inside of us, then we have the chance to surround ourselves with more people and more moments that bring it out in us, who help us turn up the fuel source on our internal light, beauty, and joy.

We always have time for that.