This post is also available in: Español (Spanish)
I am a dog person; I just love the way they are. I’ve noticed that most dogs on this planet are truly happy. They can show you what happiness looks like without using words to describe how they feel. However, I can’t say all of them are happy because I used to own a Chihuahua that I loved with all my heart, but my goodness! What a temper!
The reason I wanted to write an entire post about dogs is simple: they do something we usually don’t know how to do, and that is live in the present moment. Being able to do that makes a huge difference in happiness levels. If you aren’t a dog person or you don’t have a dog, that’s OK. Just watch them for a moment and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
When my ex-husband and I got married we talked many times about getting a dog, but we were hesitant to do it for few years because we did not want to commit to the huge responsibility that comes with dog ownership. After some time, and many failed attempts to have a baby, I became frustrated. So, one day my husband (at the time) told me: “We are going to see some puppies today, but please don’t get too excited. We have to think this through very carefully. I will be the strong one.” HA!
We got to the puppy place, and he saw a cute, fluffy, cloud-white Pomeranian. I looked around some more, however, and found a tiny ball of dark brown fur sleeping peacefully. I fell in love with her immediately. But my ex-husband wanted to check out the Pomeranian, so we played with her. For some reason, we didn’t feel like she was a match.
I then asked to play with the tiny brown angel, and it was love at first play. My ex-husband felt in love with her within 30 seconds as well. I told him, “Well, let’s see how much she’ll grow.” But his heart had melted, so we ended up taking her home that same day!
We named her Canella, and she changed our lives for the better from day one. I’m not saying that after you get a dog your problems magically go away, but they add so much joy to life that even in the toughest times they can make you smile. Canella was a huge help to me during the difficult times of my divorce. She didn’t need to talk to show me she loved me. And I’m pretty sure you know how important it is to feel loved when you are in the middle of a separation. If you are kind of a big deal to your dog, believe him or her. That can be a tremendous boost to your self-esteem.
As I said before, dogs see the world in the present moment. They do not have this crazy ticking clock driving them crazy the way we do. That’s why they celebrate you with the same amount of excitement whether you come home after three days or three minutes. They don’t let the past consume them with good or bad memories, and they don’t worry about the way they will feel tomorrow. They don’t overthink. They just live in the moment.
They don’t judge us for our skin color, shape, nationality, religion, or political affiliation. If you are cool with them, they are super cool with you, period. They don’t need words to show their feelings, and we don’t need them to talk to understand their level of unconditional love.
I really believe their degree of extreme happiness is based on the fact that they do not have the “judgement chip” installed, like all us humans seem to have. They are happy with life because they see it without any kind of judgment. Life is simple. We are the ones who create complications. We spend so much time in the past and the future that our present sometimes simply does not exist.
If you catch yourself spending too much time in the past or the future, watch a dog for a while and you’ll see that they were sent to us to:
- Show us how living in the present moment is easier than going back and forth from past to future.
- Remind us that happiness is not complicated. It is a state of mind we all have available 24/7.
- Show us that love should not have conditions, and it is best to give it away without expecting anything in return.
- Let us know that a grudge is an ugly feeling created by humans that only serves to steal away our inner peace.
- Demonstrate how words are not needed to show feelings.
- Teach us to celebrate the people we love with true excitement, no matter when the last time we saw them was.
- Show us how to not be afraid to ask for affection ☺ (They really know how to get us to pet them.)
- Remind us that life is simple.
Dogs are cheaper than therapy. ☺
Love,
Irene
