“Every dog has its day,
But a good dog has two.. “
Throughout my life I have been blessed with others who have helped me tremendously along my way as I hope I have helped them and who’ve shared with me what I refer to as their life’s snippets or pause points. A phrase or one liner quote that they would share at a pivotal point to help me through something that I or we were dealing with. When they would share, especially things I was supposed to really pay attention to, I would hear the words in a different key (so to speak) or feeling. And so I would take these words of imparting wisdom and I would mull them over in my mind until I could feel and realize what they were trying to say. When I was 19, my then boyfriend, RN, shared the above quote with me and it has been my go to ever since, more times than not, whether I am checking in to see if I am being a “good dog” or sharing that wisdom with someone else who really needs to know that they will have another day. My other old time favorite was from Pat, a colleague, who always shared her father’s wisdom with us. One of his favorites; “What good is being an idiot if you keep it to yourself…”. Amen Brother!
When I was 21, I remember distinctly standing at work in front of the contact lens drawers - I was the data entry clerk but was helping out my colleagues pull orders - and made a very definite and conscious decision of the type of person I wanted to be. It was precipitated by things that people were saying about me, the type of person they thought I was and maybe a little of what I thought I was, that were getting back to me. Not flattering things but none of it true. And though I don’t put much stock into what other people think or say about me - unless of course you truly know me then we can have that conversation - I did wonder what I was doing or not doing to make anyone even think those things. (I would later come to realize that sometimes there is no rationale for what people may think and/or say about another person and it is coming from a whole nother place, but I was so naive back then...). So I listed all of the things I wanted to be and be like as a person and then all of the behaviours that I would need to adopt to promote that. On the top of the list, I wanted to be a person of my word, to stand by my word. If I gave my word to someone or about something,I had to keep it; unless of course there was a natural disaster or really good reason. I was not going to make assumptions about anyone or anything, I would not judge and I would be honest, above anything else. I took what I felt they were doing to me that I didn’t like and made sure I would not be doing that to anyone else, especially not to myself. Later on I would come upon a book the universe had left for me to find called “The Four Agreements” by Don Miguel Ruiz in which I had already instituted three of the four agreements, but the last proved to be the most difficult for me to master; “Don’t Take Anything Personally”. Wow, I took everything personally, how could you not. Sigh. A whole nother story…..
This work on yourself, it is not easy. I had to be present and attentive to my words, thoughts and actions. To make sure that everything aligned. It was not difficult to do or practice, it was difficult to stay on top of it, be mindful and conscious of yourself all of the time, hold yourself accountable. At first, I worked on it all and found myself overwhelmed. So I scaled it back and chose one thing at a time; that was all I could handle and find some success. And so it was to be a slow and progressive evolution of me; when one became habit, I would move on to the next. Did I backslide, hell yeah, quite a bit. Did I take time out, unintentionally, because my attention was pulled somewhere else? Absolutely. However, the universe is kind of a stickler about that and will always bring you back to the work, so divergence is short lived, enjoy it!
Did it take a long time? Years and Years. But it is true what they say, “Practice does make perfect!” Did it take me extra time because I am stubborn and obstinate or had my “I don’t want to do this anymore” tantrums? Embarrassed to say yes.
Now that I am much older and a great distance from that beginning, am I the person I was determined to be those many years ago? Absolutely and then some. I try to be the best person that I can be each and every single day, even when it is a bad day. No more tantrums; I have surrendered to the higher power - evidently I am no match. I am a good dog and for the most part, I always do get another day.
So Dog, are we good?
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