Tag: German Shepherd

Your Soul is Whole

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“Every soul is whole, no matter how wounded the mind is.” ~ Native American (credit: Native Red Cloud @Native3rd, Twitter)

Your soul is whole, baby, and it is always, always with you. Your soul has been with you since the beginning, and it will be with you until the end of time. How do you get out of your overthinking mind, and into your ever-peaceful soul? Here are some ways:

  1. Take five deep breaths and notice the inhales and exhales.
  2. Think of five people, places, pets, or things which you are grateful for, and notice what gratefulness feels like in your body. (for me, it is a buoyancy in my chest, and an overall feeling of relaxation and relief, much like floating safely in a swimming pool)
  3. Do a body scan. Start at your toes. What are the sensations in your toes? Work all of the way up your body, to noticing the sensations at the top of you head.
  4. Say a prayer to your Higher Power, with just these words, “Let me hear what you have to say to me.” That’s it. Just sit with that prayer, and if your mind starts to wander on to other things, or you find yourself wanting to get into “talky” mode, repeat the listening prayer. Let the peace wash over you. (this is a sort of prayer and meditation, all in one.)
  5. Pick up one object that you like, say a “cherry”, and notice everything about the cherry. What does it look like? What does it sound like? What does it smell like? What does it feel like? What does it taste like?
  6. Think of someone who you love, like you love no other. Imagine hugging that person and transferring all of the love that you hold in your heart, to that person. Now imagine both of you covered in that swirling energy of love. Feel what that feels like. Gift that feeling to the next person you think of, imagining that person all of the sudden getting showered in the beautiful, powerful energy of unconditional love.
  7. When driving and passing people in their cars or on the street, think to yourself, “I love you and I bless you.” (this gives your mind and your heart a good job to do, without getting distracted by worries, or by anger about errant drivers. Your mind is just like a German Shepherd. It’s smart. It needs a job, all of the time. Give it a good job.)

Now if you prefer to stay in your overthinking, judgy, “stressed to the gills” mind/ego, here are some good ways to stay totally in your mindstate:

  1. Think of everyone and everything that annoys you (in detail) and think, with an air of superiority, about why you are right and they are wrong.
  2. Try to control everyone and everything going on around you, and sit in the feeling of utter, quickly growing frustration during this continuous, never-ending lesson in futility.
  3. Think of your own worst fears and worries and think of all of the worst case scenarios that could happen from your worst fears and worries. Obsess on these outcomes. Let them grow exponentially. Use your imagination.
  4. Spend at least two to three hours with Dr. Google, after experiencing a slight, but unusual pain in your neck.
  5. Keep the news on, in the background 24/7, and check other news stories, compulsively on your phone at the same time, just to make sure that your mind is getting fed all of the negative news that is available to you, right in the moment.
  6. Spend a good deal of your time beating yourself up for not being thin enough, or productive enough, or kind enough, or stylish enough, or smart enough. Be your own worst critic. Be creative with your harshness. Add a lot of sarcasm, just to be clever and cruel.
  7. Replay in your mind, every past experience that has already happened, and start making harsh judgments about the whole event. Cut down and criticize yourself, others, and all of the players who you can think of who were involved in the situation, until you are depleted and exhausted. Stew in your gripes. Be sure to be extra nit-picky and passive aggressive. Repeat on a never-ending cycle.

“Every soul is whole, no matter how wounded the mind is.” Your soul is whole, baby. Pick your soul every time. Your mind is just like a German Shepherd. It needs to be redirected to do helpful things for you, in your overall life. Your mind isn’t bad. It just likes to have a job, and to work all of the time. So give your mind some training. Make your German Shepherd mind an excellent working dog that does good, helpful work for you – work that supports you, and guards you from harm (especially from yourself). On the other hand, your soul doesn’t need any training. Your soul is the glorious, holy resting place for you, and your German Shepherd mind. Give your mind lots of breaks, just letting it relax in the whole of your soul. Your soul is whole, baby. It is your source of life, love, peace and replenishment. It is the perfect part of you, and it is available to you, forever.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

K-9

I hate to bombard you with dog stories, readers and friends, but hey, this is my life. This is my blog. And I have two dogs. I had to write this story down to help me to process, review and understand this unsettling true event that just happened to me. Yesterday, I took my dogs for a walk. I haven’t missed a walk with my dogs since I wrote Ralphie’s Revenge, for obvious reasons. (see previous blog post)

To give you some background, let me introduce you to my dogs. We have an adolescent male Labrador retriever named Ralphie, who might as well be named “Marley.” He’s textbook lab – high energy, HIGH energy, and overwhelmingly friendly. Ralphie is NOT at all clued in, as to when people and other dogs aren’t particularly friendly or into his friendliness and boundless energy. Finally, Ralphie is certainly not aware of his own strength. We also recently adopted a beautiful, sweet eight-month-old rough collie puppy named Josie. Josie spent her formative puppy months on a remote farm. We are trying to work with her, for her to realize “Josie, you’re not in Kansas anymore.” Actually, Josie’s from Wisconsin, but it’s the same idea. I think that she thinks that suburban Florida is akin to New York City. Josie is still getting used to anything louder and stranger than crickets. The thing about collies is that they have very skinny heads and long snouts. They humor you when they wear a collar. A collar is just “for show” when it comes to collies. Josie (as did our previous collie, Lacey) has the Houdini-like ability to slide out of her collar in seconds flat, no matter how tight you think you have it on her. I think choke collars would be pointless on collies. So the other day, when an older man got a little too close to us when we were walking, while he was driving a wee bit wobbly on his bike, Josie pulled out her collar instantly and I was left with a limp leash and an invisible dog at the end of it.

So yesterday, I was peacefully walking along with our dogs and I decided to take a side street, where I don’t typically walk along. I was enjoying myself and I just wanted to shake things up a bit. I was lost deep in thought, when out of nowhere, from a big, wide side yard, bounds an enormous German Shepherd. Now, I think German Shepherds are beautiful and in the right hands, they are probably fabulous family dogs. However, I have baggage. My husband still has a scar from being bit by a German Shepherd as a kid and I, myself, was bit by a German Shepherd right on my derriere, when leaving a small country gas station. I think that the shepherd didn’t realize that I DID pay for my gas. I am not a good Alpha when it comes to dogs. If we had a German Shepherd, or a Doberman or a Pit Bull, the first time it would show its teeth, even as a puppy, I would happily hand over, to the puppy, my house keys, and my car keys. I would offer to sleep in the garage, eat kibble, and give the puppy my steak. There is a good reason why we have a lab and a collie. They fit my temperament.

Anyway, in the split second that the ginormous German Shepherd is bounding towards us, I am flashing forward in my mind, to what I thought was going to happen. Ralphie was going to go into insane, overwhelmingly annoying mode and he was going to overpower my grip on his lead and break free. Josie was going to go into Houdini mode and quickly become fast-moving prey as she ran free from her collar, the leash and the frightening scene. Some way or another, I was going to become the German Shepherd’s dinner, trying to salvage me and my dogs. So, I started screaming loudly, “Hello!!!! Help!!! Help!!! Hello!!!” to try to preempt what was bound to happen.

Well, what actually did happen was really quite different than I had imagined. And part of me thinks that the way that I imagined it happening may have been a better, and certainly, a much less embarrassing outcome.

The German Shepherd stopped right at the edge of the yard and looked at me quizzically, as I screamed maniacally. He then turned his head back and looked at a big, huge, stern looking, macho man for direction as to what he should do about the crazy lady. The man appeared from behind a large white Bronco that I then noticed had the words, “Sheriff K-9” painted on it. So, it was just another day, on the job, dealing with high-strung crazies, for this police officer and his trusty K-9 . . . .

“Really, ma’am?!? Really?!? It’s okay,” is the what the perturbed man said to me.

I was truly horrified and mortified and everything-fied.

“I’m so sorry, officer. I’m sorry. I’m not crazy,” I stammered. “My labrador can sometimes be a big pain-in-the-ass and I was just concerned that he might trigger your dog.”

“Yes, labs (he said “labs” kind of pointedly, like he was really thinking something else) CAN be a pain-in-the-ass,” is what the police officer said to me and he looked at me and kind of sighed, probably sizing up what kind of risk I was to myself, or to my dogs or to the neighborhood. He then called his smart, Chewbacca-like companion to the Bronco and I quickened my pace home.

I’m not sure what the meaning or moral of this whole event was to me, or if there really even is, any kind of meaning or moral. I’m just happy that it’s over. And I am truly grateful for our wonderful police officers and our amazing police dogs, from the bottom of my heart. They have to put up with a lot, even when they are off-duty.