Lesson from our fur-children

As humans, we need to try to be prepared for as much as we can to reduce the stress and worry in our lives. But still we worry about money, security, warmth, food, and yes love, as well as many more thoughts that can keep our brains feeling like scrambled eggs.  I look at my fur-babies and I try and decipher what is going through their minds at different times.  My oldest will sit and stare into the unlit fireplace; what does he see in that black cold space he is gazing into with intensity that I don’t? So of course I begin to worry that his age is catching up to him and he is going, shall we say, a bit bonkers.  What about when my youngest is staring at a tiny toad leaping across the grass? Is she thinking food, playmate, intruder, danger? Of course again I worry she may try to play with this tiny creature, kill it and then get sick from it. LOL I guess moms of any variety will always worry about her children, and like newborns, be curious what is going on in their thoughts and dreams that we are not privileged to.

As humans, we also make mistakes and fall down as we walk our life’s path through the good and the bad, the real and the unreal, the disappointment and the elations, the sadness and the glee, and the heartache and the exultation. When we encounter a sorrowful or heart-rending feeling or moment in our lives, we can easily trip and fall. What you do after that fall as you look up from that hurtful place on the ground that determines what will happen next in your life and what you can hope to obtain.

As when we were young children, our parents taught us right from wrong, how to act around others, proper manners, self-grooming, playing nice and sharing, and much more.  We also teach our fur-children similar lessons. My children are very well behaved, for the most part play nice, know how to treat others, and to use their manners; but when they reach an over the top emotion, sometimes all that teaching is replaced by actions that go against all the good we were taught. Emotion is associated with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, and motivation. Motivations direct and energize behavior, while emotions provide the affective component to motivation, positive or negative.  

I sometimes wish that my horrid past experiences and hurtful memories would just fade away into a section of my brain in which I never can access again. That would be nice wouldn’t it? To never re-feel any past hurt, pain, anger, rejection, or hateful actions thrust upon us. This we cannot do, but we can make ourselves learn from our past hurts and advance to a higher ground when we are forced to live them again both physically and emotionally.  Studies on canines, after a series of experiments showed that (similar to us humans) under conditions of long term intense psychological stress, around one-third of dogs do not develop learned helplessness or long term depression.  Instead they somehow managed to find a way to handle the unpleasant situation in spite of their past experience.

So once again dogs prevail over us humans. They seem to forget and move on and be happy in their day and we tend to submerse ourselves in pity and sadness. So today, I, a kind human and lover of all fur-children will climb up out of the black hole of my past and in spite of what I leave there I will be blissful, show love, live love, harbor no anger or hate, and be the pleasantest and easy going joyful  human I can. We only have this one life and this isn’t a dress rehearsal, so live it to the fullest every day. Do a kind deed every day. Love those that love you every day. Don’t allow your past to bully its way back in and wreck devastation and diminish your future happiness. Take a lesson today from your dog, wag your tail, roll in the grass, lick someone you love and forget yesterday because today is a brand new day!

Remember, Only God loves you more than your dog.