Straight Talk From Animals
Our animal companions can give such excellent advice to us humans! I always love it when my clients’ animals share their unique perspectives about humanity during a conversation. When an animal’s wise words are especially profound, I often ask for their human’s permission to share these little snippets in my newsletter. But over time, that content gets buried and forgotten, so I thought it would be fun to start archiving a few of my favorites here on the website so they’re easy to find. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more!
Truffles (a Japanese Chen)
Have fun with everything you do! Make it all a game! You can’t work hard all the time; it’s not natural, and it’s not FUN. But work can be fun when it’s balanced with play, because then, the playful attitude extends into your work instead of being eclipsed by it. Remember why you’re HERE. You are the creative energy of the universe expressed in physical form for a brief time. Make the most of it! Yes, you CAN accomplish things, and you should allow for intense periods of goal-oriented activity, but those times become fulfilling when they are balanced by rest and relaxation, tomfoolery and silliness, gratitude and wonder. The times when you feel like you’ve fallen short and failed to use your time wisely or avoided doing what needed to be done are balancing the times when you worked too hard and didn’t give yourself permission to take play breaks. If you do not choose to have balance, then balance will be forced upon you through illness, pain, or self-sabotage. So make time to tend to your body’s needs: Rest, move, play, work; cycle through these periods in a balanced and mindful way. Enjoy your life; it’s what you’re here to do.
Sheba and Houdini
Sheba (a Chihuahua)
What do you wish people knew about life?
I don’t even know about people. (Despairing sigh.) Honestly, most of them don’t make much sense to me. I’m glad I chose to be with Mara, because she knows how to have fun, and she knows how important it is to make work fun. She doesn’t always do it, but she knows it’s important, and she does try. I’m here to remind her when she forgets. She is very good about being appreciative and attentive to life as it unfolds. I see a lot of other dogs with their people, and it’s pretty sad to see that some people walk their dogs but don’t pay attention to their dogs or to the world around them. I’ve even seen people walking their dogs and looking at their phones at the same time. Can you believe that? People need to learn to be where they are and experience their bodies and the world around them instead of thinking so much about the past or the future without even noticing what’s happening now.
Houdini (a Poodle)
What advice would you give to the dogs of aspiring writers?
Dogs have to help their people stay grounded, especially when their people have jobs—like writing—that require them to spend a lot of time thinking and imagining things. Their minds stay very busy, and sometimes their bodies lose contact with the earth. Dogs can help their people stay grounded by making them go for walks and encouraging them to play and do physical stuff that puts them back in their bodies. Dogs can also do grounding for their people by getting petted and then anchoring the people to the earth through the dogs’ paws. It’s best if the people do it for themselves, but if that isn’t possible, a dog can do it for them.
