I’ve published a few posts sharing lessons from dogs before, but this is the first video I’ve found that illustrates some of those same concepts–and what an awesome video it is! Which lesson do you need the most today?
In case you’d like to check them out, you can find those posts I mentioned here:
“Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” ~Karl Barth
We were lying in bed. I said, “We can’t do it.” She said, “I don’t see what else we can do.” We lay there in silence, trying to figure it out.
It was the third big decision of our relationship. The first was when I asked Nicole to marry me. The second was when she said yes. And the third—the one we couldn’t figure out—was what to do about Ralph.
She’d had Ralph—a female German Shepherd—for a little over a year. Nicole had been waiting for years to get a dog, and now she’d found one, and it all felt so right—the timing, everything.
What she didn’t expect was meeting me.
And that I’d be allergic to dogs.
Nicole was heartbroken, but decided that the only way we could live together would be to find a new home for Ralph. So we did—a nice, older couple who’d lost a dog years earlier who looked just like Ralph. We went to their house, and Ralph loved it there.
But something in us just wasn’t ready to let Ralph go.
So we lay in bed and tried to come up with a solution. We were getting nowhere.
Then I surprised both of us by saying, “We’re not giving Ralph away. We’re just not.” We didn’t know what the solution would be, but we went on faith.
I ended up trying new allergy medicines, and here we are ten years later. Ralph, hard to believe, is almost eleven. Our decision to keep her turned out to be one of the best we made—not just because we love her (and dogs in general), but because Ralph has been such a spiritual teacher.
The first thing Ralph taught us is that you can’t predict the specifics of your life. You just can’t. You can envision the future, but life often turns out to be not quite what we were planning.
And this is a good thing.
So often we strive for control, certainty, predictability, but imagine how dull life would be, how much less wondrous, if we knew the specifics of our lives—the challenges as well as the joys—before they happened. (more…)
“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” ~Marianne Williamson
Are you a dog lover? I know I am.
Animals of all kinds can bring us so much joy, not only when things are going well, but also when we feel pain and are suffering.
“Man’s best friend” can be our true and faithful companions through thick and thin. We look to our pets when we are ready to play and laugh, and they instinctively know when we need their support.
I’ve had a dog most of my life. From purebreds to mutts, I’ve loved them all. It has always felt comforting to me to have a dog around. The joy dogs provide is well worth the effort.
We all have struggles and challenges in our life, and it’s during those times that our pets can really come in handy to help us find our joy.
One of my most stressful challenges was discovering my daughter’s addiction to crystal meth. I felt blindsided by this discovery. I knew she was struggling, but this was something I had never expected.
I learned from this experience that the time I have spent working on myself, as opposed to the time I have spent trying to fix her problem, has been the most meaningful and the most productive. Despite having addiction in my life, I could find my joy again.
For parents in the midst of addiction with their children, it can be emotionally exhausting for long periods of time. It’s easy to let the stress of the situation overtake you.
I am one of the lucky ones. My daughter has gone on to seek recovery for her addiction. She has grown and matured in ways I would never have expected.
We have both learned life lessons, and have evolved into new and hopefully better people. We both know to take it one day at a time.
From this experience, I found I needed to change. I needed to approach life in a new way.
As I watch my dog go through her day, I realize the lessons are really right there in front of me if I care to pay attention.
Here are some of the ways I can be the person my dog wants me to be, and be the person I want to be as well. I know that whatever life brings me, joy is still always there for the taking. (more…)