What a Dog Knows (Or Doesn't)

So much has been written and researched when it comes to our happiness, but if we were able to understand how dogs think we would have all the answers to our questions.

So, what does a dog know that we don't?  I think the better question is, what do we know that a dog doesn't?  What we know is that life gets difficult and as we get older we are expected to "grow up" and eliminate the amount of "play" in our lives.

We have a terrible habit of slowly eliminating the amount we play in our daily lives as we grow older because of the pressure to make money, have children, a house, a spouse and, of course, a dog.  The irony here is that each of these things are good reasons to play instead of keeping us from doing so.

Listen folks, we are all in this big world together--why then, do we choose to make our lives so much more complicated than they need to be?

This is where my analogy about dogs comes in handy....Dogs aren't racist, prejudiced or materialistic--those are all man-made features.  Dogs represent what we used to be when we were naive and carefree children.  They live to play!

I'm actually glad we can't communicate easier with canines because that would give us the opportunity to infect them with our views of the world, which, in turn, would cluster their lives with information detrimental to a carefree existence.  But I do wish we could take some hints from our furry friends and collectively realize we are way off track to the true course of happiness.  Dogs embody happiness because they don't know how to act any different. Further, when a dog encounters something it doesn't like, it doesn't do it!

A quick aside:  My mother hated it when I tried to feed the dog people-food because she said it was bad for its health---so, why the hell do we eat 99% of the crap we eat if it isn't even good enough for the dog!!!?

Dogs don't have to ask themselves why they do what they do.  They simply exist and do it happily.  We need to eliminate the things in our lives that keep us from this type of existence. An existence where it is second nature to only do things that make us smile, to only eat things that are pure and good and to build relationships around a focal point of carefree living.

They say that dogs are a man's best friend.  That's because deep down we really wish we could be more like them.

We make hundreds of choices every day. What proportion of the choices you make are likely to please the dog?




--Schmidty

True Olympic Spirit.

One of my favorite books, Blubberland, written by Australian author Elizabeth Farrelly states in chapter 5, "Fat and the Family Home,":

"We worship thin but, increasingly, do fat. Indeed, the more desperately we crave thinness, the more elusively it seems to float from our grasp and the fatter our bodies, our culture and our lives become. Thin has scarcity status."

Now that the Vancouver Olympics are upon us, I see this hypocrisy playing out before my very eyes--the world's elite competing in the newest, most grandiose sports venues on the planet--for 2 weeks. Then what?  The spirit of the Olympics has little to do with the facilities and everything to do with leveraging competitive spirit into a neutral medium for nations of all shapes, sizes and beliefs to do friendly battle on a level playing field.

Each Olympics the media hones in on a few "feel-good" stories and have you ever noticed that these stories always revolve around athletes from the poorest countries?  We feel uplifted and so proud of these people but never consider how ridiculous the polarity we are seeing really is...I'm not suggesting that we live in poverty. I'm suggesting that we consider the notion that to compete on the world's largest stage does not require the best facilities, the best coaches or even the most talent.

In fact, if what Farrelly writes is true, we might all be able to live perpetual feel-good stories if we reconsider how much is really enough.  Just because your stomach is growling doesn't mean you need to eat.  Just because you have millions of dollars doesn't mean you need a 10,000 square foot home.  And conversely, just because you hardly have a nickel to your name doesn't mean you can't have fulfillment.

Life, contrary to popular American thought, is not about the acquisition of possessions. Life should be about the acquisition of friendships, experiences and learning to live with people from countries of all sizes, shapes and belief systems.  If we can develop this attitude, we should all be considered Olympians.



--Schmidty