Lessons I’m Learning From My Dog

So this happened today 🙂 As I woke up, I discovered my exuberant pup, Zena, wildly thumping her tail…while staring at HERSELF in the mirror. I burst out in empathetic laughter, thinking she MUST believe she’s looking at another dog. She thinks she discovered a friend. Poor, crazy thing!And as I watched her continue to gaze and wag in the mirror, here is what emerged in me…

What if Zena is actually NOT crazy….what if she is wisely modeling for me the simplicity and joy of Self Love?

Huh…she certainly seemed to be having a better time in the mirror than I usually do when I take a peek and find someone snarling back at me with disapproving faces.

What if she is my teacher? So I tried this idea on for a bit…took it for a test drive. I physically gasped as I envisioned this shift, half out of joyful hope and half out of grief. I painfully saw just how hard I can be on myself.

Imagine how my life could transform IF I fell in love with the person longingly looking back at me from the mirror? What if I showered her with the encouragement, acceptance and kindness I show so many others? WHAT IF I learned to wag my own tail at the sight of my own inner beauty? I could feel this possibility penetrating my whole being. It was like a huge, soothing exhale. The word ‘Freedom’ popped into my mind along with ‘Vitality’. I could feel how draining my self-inflicted judgements had been. I had so willingly given up too much vital energy and power to negative self-chatter. Hmmmm…a gentle sigh of acceptance and forgiveness spread over me. With the next breath, I joined my pup on the floor to start my first lesson!

So I will resist heading down the timely path of boldly announcing and then ultimately breaking New Year’s Resolutions! Here’s to TODAY…and for today, I set my intention to not just tolerate myself in the mirror, to not just ‘love & accept’ myself – blah blah blah – but to let Zena teach me how to WAG my own spunky tail in total joy at the magnificence of my own spirit on my own journey…I’m good with that!

All my love and all my truth,
Christine