Lessons I learn from my dog

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"The lesson which life repeats and constantly enforces is "look under foot."
You are always nearer the divine and the true sources of your power than you think.
The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive.
The great opportunity is where you are.
Do not despise your own place and hour.
Every place is under the stars, every place is the center of the world."

~ John Burroughs


Last Friday, my dearest friend Deb asked me what I was hoping to do on the weekend.
And I replied:
You know, I'd really like to spend some time with my dog Charlie. I feel like I have so much to learn from him.

I had some really incredible responses to my post about imperfect perfectionism. one in particular, the beautiful jenniwiffles, lovingly shared her story of chronic fatigue. and she said:

"what if leonie COULDN'T work full time, or go to uni at all, and simply had to BE? what would be ok, just ok, then?"

I've realised lately how much i put emphasis on producing my life. on doing.
on busily creating the life of leonie.
i'm want some balance back.
less doing, more BEING. just being.
lying on the floor with fluffy dog in my arms without thinking of how to contextualise it into words. presenting it as an image to the world.
just being there, letting it be.

trying to see that all i need is right there. in that very moment. not in the moments after. its right there.

charlie teaches me about being. he is, after all, the king of being.
he doesn't care if i got 84% in my art history test instead of my desired 90%.
if i tried to explain that to him, i don't think he would understand.
nopes. he would just look at me and proceed to jump joyfully over me.



charlie's priorities in life are:

those he loves.
cuddles on the couch.
frolicking in the back yard with his head in a plant bucket.
chasing his tail.
making passionate love to his favourite purple blanket.
jumping on our bed on sunday mornings.
crawling all over me as i write this post.


000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

those zeroes are actually from charlie. he just stood on the keyboard quite deliberately. i think he wanted to say HELLO to all :)

So it is in these small small moments I learn the biggest things of all.

love, and fur angel beings,
leonie