Simply Blessed » Dog

Musings at 5 am

heartsdeesire — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:09:19 +0000

God couldn’t be here himself
so he clothed his Helpers in fur
and sent them to Earth

be soft he said
and they were

lick he said
and they did

purr he said
and they did

love, love, love he said
as if nothing else ever mattered
and o, how they do.

©heartsdeesire

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I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life

heartsdeesire — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:53:55 +0000

I struggled a bit choosing which piece to bring you today to celebrate
love on this Valentine’s Day. I finally settled on this simple and beautiful
poem from Mary Oliver. Dogs are such givers of unconditional love and
if I were to live by Percy’s advice I suspect I would lead a satisfying and
good life.

Love, love, love says Percy.
And run as fast as you can
along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.
Then, go to sleep.
Give up your body heat, your beating heart.
Then, trust.

~Mary Oliver~
Red Bird: Poems by Mary Oliver

Dog Does The Work

heartsdeesire — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 21:56:19 +0000

This is for the lovers of Byron Katie’s work. A very funny, just over one minute, video of a dog doing The Work. If you are not familiar with The Work, you can find more videos under ‘The Work in Action’ at her website www.thework.com

Her work helps you to see who you would be without your story. Your story is what The Field Center terms the immersed point of view. It’s your thoughts about yourself, others and your experiences. Left unquestioned, these thoughts can lead to suffering. Field Center and BK’s work have similarities and differences but they have a common goal, to help us end our own personal suffering.

On another video I heard Byron Katie express: positive thinking will hold us on a lighter bed until we can get real, but it’s not enough, we have to get real. This, I think, is why Abraham’s better feeling thought will only take us so far particularly on things that continue to surface again and again. These issues that ‘stick in our craw’ call us to make a more thorough and honest inquiry of ourselves – what we are believing and who we are choosing to be so we can access the freedom we have to mindfully choose again.

And now for the lighter side:

War and Peace

heartsdeesire — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:15:50 +0000

War…

and

Peace.

Isabella

heartsdeesire — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:54:11 +0000

This is Isabella, our dog. Affectionately nicknamed Issie.

Isabella has a message for you:

when the going gets tough, the tough get going…

nah, that’s not the message she barks.

This is the message:

when the going gets tough

the tough lay down

Magic in the Air

heartsdeesire — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:51:15 +0000

I got in the car with Kayla, my youngest daughter today. Our cats were living the indignity of eating dog food, it was time for a trip to the store! To our right was sun and to our left was rain. I said to Kayla, today is a great day for rainbows and at that very moment I turned my head to the left and what did I see, not one but TWO rainbows and I could see one of them from end to end. I’ve seen rainbows a couple of times out here max and to have it happen today just after I re-found my alignment on a subject so dear to me was very beautiful to witness.

Anything is possible. It’s always been that way. I had a brief time where I had forgotten that I live in a Universe that provides completely and totally. Now I remember.

Love, Bethie

Funny, Strange, Amazing and True!

heartsdeesire — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:58:16 +0000

We are animal lovers. We live in a house with five cats,
one dog, two fish and one guinea pig.

Princess Amber Lynn is our youngest kitty. Yes, I know she
has three names. They evolved over time. :) She is
such a gorgeous little tortie, so perfect for autumn.
And she is a ‘teenager’ at 19 months old.

So here’s the funny, strange and amazing part:
last night I found Princess nursing on Isabella. What’s
strange about that? Princess is not a baby kitty and
Isabella is not pregnant or lactating. And Isabella is even
younger than Princess at 15 months of age.

Ok, weird but not that weird, right? But wait…

Isabella is our spayed DOG!!! I kid you not. This happened
not once but three times yesterday. Each attempt that Princess,
the kitty, made to nurse on Isabella, the dog – was met with
mixed responses. The first nursing episode was the longest.
I went and grabbed the rest of my family to show them. I knew
they would not believe it unless they saw it. Isabella finally
scooted her way out of kitty’s reach. The second time it happened,
I could almost hear Isabella utter an audible groan. And the third time
it happened, Isabella got up and glared at Princess, as if to say
‘back off boogaloo’.

Yes, strange, funny, amazing and true! I have no pictures
though, Isabella begged me not to immortalize it on film and I
promised her I would not. :)

Love, Bethie

The Revenant

heartsdeesire — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:56:19 +0000

I am the dog you put to sleep,
as you like to call the needle of oblivion,
come back to tell you this simple thing:
I never liked you–not one bit.

When I licked your face,
I thought of biting off your nose.
When I watched you toweling yourself dry,
I wanted to leap and unman you with a snap.

I resented the way you moved,
your lack of animal grace,
the way you would sit in a chair and eat,
a napkin on your lap, knife in your hand.

I would have run away,
but I was too weak, a trick you taught me
while I was learning to sit and heel,
and–greatest of insults–shake hands without a hand.

I admit the sight of the leash
would excite me
but only because it meant I was about
to smell things you had never touched.

You do not want to believe this,
but I have no reason to lie.
I hated the car, the rubber toys,
disliked your friends and, worse, your relatives.

The jingling of my tags drove me mad.
You always scratched me in the wrong place.
All I ever wanted from you
was food and fresh water in my metal bowls.

While you slept, I watched you breathe
as the moon rose in the sky.
It took all my strength
not to raise my head and howl.

Now I am free of the collar,
the yellow raincoat, monogrammed sweater,
the absurdity of your lawn,
and that is all you need to know about this place

except what you already supposed
and are glad it did not happen sooner–
that everyone here can read and write,
the dogs in poetry, the cats and the others in prose.

~Billy Collins

Dharma

heartsdeesire — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:20:01 +0000

The way the dog trots out the front door
every morning
without a hat or an umbrella,
without any money
or the keys to her doghouse
never fails to fill the saucer of my heart
with milky admiration.

Who provides a finer example
of a life without encumbrance —
Thoreau in his curtainless hut
with a single plate, a single spoon?
Gandhi with his staff and his holy diapers?

Off she goes into the material world
with nothing but her brown coat
and her modest blue collar,
following only her wet nose,
the twin portals of her steady breathing,
followed only by the plume of her tail.

If only she did not shove the cat aside
every morning
and eat all his food
what a model of self-containment she
would be,
what a paragon of earthly detachment.
If only she were not so eager
for a rub behind the ears,
so acrobatic in her welcomes,
if only I were not her god.

– Billy Collins

I Am in Love with my Dog

heartsdeesire — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:25:25 +0000

It happened. Of course it’s not uncommon in a world full of dog lovers – but me, I’m a cat lover. I had six cats or should I say 6 cats had me. Let me begin at the beginning.

My youngest daughter has been asking for a few years now, no actually, she’s not been asking, she’s been telling me quite emphatically: I want a dog. To which I always replied: you can have a dog when you grow up and you are on your own. Still she persisted. One day she told me: I had a dream last night, I dreamed I got a dog. And I said my usual schtick of you can get a dog when you grow up, cats don’t like dogs and besides we already have enough animals – 6 cats, 2 guinea pigs and 2 fish and I’m on a roll with even numbers…I can’t ruin that with one, singular odd numbered dog and no, we are not getting 2 dogs!

It happened on a Mimosa Saturday morning. Myself and my husband enjoying Mimosa’s in bed and we are having a Wizard of Oz party in our room. While we are watching the Wizard of Oz, we are playing the Wizard of Oz trivia game with our kids. And I don’t know it was something about Toto and how cute he was. He gets even cuter on Mimosa #2.

And so it happened on a Saturday in mid September, we got a dog. One little girl’s dreams came true – ever reminding her don’t give up on your dreams EVER no matter what anyone tells you to the contrary!
And ever reminding ME that Mimosa’s will screw with any decision making capabilities you previously thought you had.

So that’s it, I am in love with my dog. Her name is Isabella, she’s a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel mixed with a little Japanese Chin and one look at her and you will be in love, too.