New Tricks for All Dogs

All habits can be used for good if we simply pay attention, identify them and then devise a work around.

New Tricks for All Dogs

I found myself counting, keeping score.  This one discovery changed everything about the webinar I was attending, hoping to learn how to use a new tool to enhance my business productivity.  That was my supposed purpose.  Unearthing my subconscious mind’s hidden purpose, exposed the internal battle of unwitting inconsistencies that we all face as we live our lives.  Of which, perhaps the greatest, is the idea that you and I live unconflicted, internally.

The meeting continued and something different began to happen.  I was learning something!  Not bad for an “old dog.”

You know that saying, “Can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”  Perhaps that saying should be something more along the lines of, “In order to teach an old dog new tricks, a deeper meaning is required.” 

Old dogs have adopted a way of doing, that has created a foundation for their success or failure.  Most of us try to learn from failure and adapt toward success.  Such an approach is easy for us to recognize as rational.  It carries a built-in motivation.  It works for sure, and this way of approaching change in life is incomplete.

Just because an old dog hasn’t tried a different approach doesn’t mean it won’t work.  Linear thought is just that.  It leads one to believe that there is only one way to do things.  That would be a realistic belief if the only type of dog in our world was twelve inches long, short haired, twenty-one pounds and brown, white & tan in color.

Old dogs don’t need to despair because there are differences between dogs.  Specific rules, laws and customs differ from place to place.  What does not differ is that in all places, dogs, by their nature are creatures of habit.  Yes. The same can be said of you and me.  It means we are hobble ourselves by pretending we are not living by habit.

Every dog, old or young, can pay attention to individual habits and use them as an advantage.  My dog, Merlin, is always wary.  He loves his freedom, home and routine.  He also knows that when I call him to come with me it could mean he gets to go out for a walk, or he could be going to the groomer.  So, he has a habit of two step obedience.

First, I call.  He responds by coming part way so he can determine if I’m calling him to go out for a walk.  He waits, to completely obey, depending on what he hears next.  If he hears the door to the broom closet open, he knows his leash is coming out for a walk.  Then, he runs over so we can go.

I know this about him, so if I want to be sure to get him to come I use his habit to my advantage.  I’ll call him and open the broom closet door just to ensure he comes.  Then, I take him to the groomer, if that’s the plan.  All habits can be used for good if we simply pay attention, identify them and then devise a work around.

When an old dog recognizes how an existing habit is creating internal conflict she has stopped pretending.  That’s when her approach to change becomes complete.  She sees her habit and opens her mind to explore other options for success.

I find myself counting, keeping score, looking for more routes toward success these days.  This one discovery, about recognizing the role of habit, can transform everything about approaching change in life. Unearthing the subconscious mind’s hidden purpose, exposes the internal battle of unwitting inconsistencies that we all face as we live our lives.  Of which, perhaps the greatest, is the idea that all dogs can indeed learn new tricks.

Feathering Your Nest

A small mother duck.  A showy duck.  A drab brown one, with a tuft of down decorating the very top of her head, incubating eggs in her nest.

Feathering Your Nest

She selected an unusual place to lay her eggs.  It was hard to understand.  That is, until later.  When this showy duck, a drab brown one, with a tuft of down decorating the very top of her head, would lay completely flat to keep her eggs warm and safe.  Then I knew she had chosen the exactly right place.  The place where her coloring blended perfectly with her surroundings.

“I’ll bet virtually everyone walking past here misses this sight.”  I whispered to myself as I stopped to look.  I also stopped just to make sure she was still alive.  She lays there so perfectly still, so pancake-like, it makes me wonder every time I pass.  At first, all I see is what looks like a stick attached to a rock.  But, what I really see is a beak attached to a feathered and down covered, mother duck.  And, upon more careful inspection I see much more.

The outer ring of her nest is a simple mix of dried grasses and down.  It’s the first time I’ve really understood the old term, “feathering your nest.”  And, it made me wonder, can a nest, a home, be simple, inexpensive, and yet, luxurious at the same time?  Well, apparently, this little, drab brown, yet showy mother duck answers this question with a huge yes.

We’re regular ducks, you and I.  We don’t “live large” with private jets, beach-front mansions, and seemingly unlimited money.  Yet, we can feather our nests just like the mother duck living on the edge of my street.  Here are some ideas to contemplate in this regard.

It’s all in your view.  I once received a pair of trousers as a gift.  I thought they were too small.  They were, in fact, but when I went to a particular store to exchange them a tall, thin, young man approached asking if he could help.

“These pants are too small, so I need to exchange them.”  I answered when he inquired.

“No sir!  They are not too small.”  He replied with a smile.

Then, before I could respond, he said, “They’re just not your style!”

He made me smile.  He made me happy.  He exchanged the pants with another selection, more my style!

The cost or size of a house doesn’t make it a home or, your style.  Making your house, your home, by filling it with people and things you love, is far more important.  And, there are other kinds of value.

Safety is critical to the creation of a happy home.  The world outside may not be safe in many ways, but the style of our home’s interior should always be safe.  That may mean many things to all of us.  Think about what it means to you.  Can the people you live with count on you to be consistent and loving?  Are you a great companion? Are you over burdened with debt?  Is your life over programed and so busy that you can’t enjoy the company of those you love?

Love is the most important element to feather your home with.  We should all work to give luxurious love, just like the down caressing a mother duck’s eggs.  Her down didn’t cost her any money.  That didn’t stop her from filling her nest with one of life’s most comforting elements.  Heartfelt love is the human equivalent to duck or goose down.  Feather your nest with it until it spills through your edges of your home.

When others view your home, they may think you’ve selected an unusual place live your life.  It may be hard for them to understand, only because they don’t understand your circumstances.  But, later, when they get to observe you and your loved ones they’ll say to themselves, it’s not expensive, it’s not a mansion on the beach, and these people don’t live large, but they’ve made it a showy place. That little house is a great to look at,  with a style all its own.  It’s simple, safe and filled with luxurious amounts of love! Then they’ll know you’ve chosen the exactly right place.  The place where every person living there blends perfectly with their individually created surroundings.

Then, you’ll whisper to yourself, as you stop in your front yard to look more carefully, “I’ll bet virtually everyone walking past this home misses its magnificence.” And, you’ll have to pause there regularly, just to make sure your still alive, and haven’t passed on to heaven.  That’s when you’ll see more than sticks attached to some bricks, stone, or stucco, covered by a shingled roof.  You’ll really see is a house feathered with love!

Drowning Turkey Eddy

One man’s rescue of a wild turkey.

Drowning Turkey Eddy

The Payette River snakes through southwestern Idaho for a little over eighty-two miles and it’s a major tributary of the Snake River.  Its headwaters originate in the Sawtooth and Salmon River Mountains with peaks towering above the-thousand feet.  You get the idea.  When you’re rafting there, it’s like living in a postcard.  And, the day of my adventure there included picture-perfect companionship to match.

What does one do when enjoying the river on such a day?  Take a break from navigating the rapids and pull over, through a gentle eddy, to a sandy beach.  So, that’s exactly what we did.  Our three boats glided to the shore and once beached, we pulled out some snacks & drinks and did a little swimming in the calmer water.

Jim. Ren and Bart were just upstream of me doing their best imitation of bobbing corks.  At first, the cool water stole their breath and then it did its best to wash away their fatigue while its flow infused them with reviving energy.  I watched it all, felt the flowing water, heard the laughter and marveled at what the river brought to us.

After a few minutes, my sight was captured by a different object brought by the flow.  It was brown and moving.  At first, I thought it was a beaver, hoped it was a beaver.  Then I thought it was a duck.  Then a pelican.  But no!  I watched as its beaked head flopped out of the stream and then splashed back down as I puzzled.

Bart was a short distance downstream from it and his curiosity caused him to carefully, smoothly swim toward it.

“It’s a wild turkey!” He yelled out to us in excitement.

Then, I watched Bart McKnight cautiously reach under the drowning bird so he could carry it carefully to the shore where turkeys live.  The poor bird was so weak, so water logged, it just lay panting in the shade of its rescue.  We left it there, to live another day, to recuperate, with offered hope.  And, we wondered why we were there.  Then!  At the time of saving.

We have no idea how the turkey got into the water, where no turkey should be.  It didn’t matter.  What mattered was that we offered kindness and respite to another creature who needed the help, all the while, hoping it was enough.  We’ll never know.

We climbed back into our boats, unknowing, with lighter, optimistic hearts.  Then, we used our oars to glide back into the river’s flow, back to life without the turkey.  Well, sort of without the turkey.  Its soaked, exhausted image has been etched into my mind.

It’s made me wonder about the many people we’ve all seen flowing in the river of life, in need of some kind assistance and respite.  How many strangers, our friends and neighbors have been caught in the rapids of life to be thrashed, beaten and exhausted?  We’ll likely never know how or why they got into such a position, right then and there, at that very moment in life’s flow with us.  But, if we follow Bart’s example, it won’t matter.  We’ll simply and cautiously swim toward them, and carefully lift them back to shore, so they can catch their breath and lay panting in the shade of their rescue for a while.  Then, we’ll hope our small gesture is soon enough!  There will be many times when we’ll never know.

We’ll climb back into our own lives, unknowing, with lighter, more optimistic hearts, while our life snakes through our neighborhoods and cities for a little over eighty years.  We’ll see high peaks and valleys.  We’ll hope that we, every one of us, can become a major tributary for the betterment of our fellow humans.  It’s a lofty thought for sure.  You get the idea.

Rafting through life is often difficult.  And, our days of adventure are more joyously lived when we become companions to match whatever challenges come our say, or the way of our neighbors.