My insistence is on you. Character and behavior are secondary; the essential you is the primary thing. Don’t pay too much attention to what you do – pay much attention to what you are. Being should become the focus, and doing should be left to itself. When being changes, doing follows.
—Osho
★ Breathe
★ Explore
★ Hug a tree
★ Practise reiki
★ Go to the acupuncturist
★ Get organic food and wild spring water
★ Obsessively talk about dogs to everyone who listens :-)
Life is made up of millions of moments, but we live only one of these moments at a time. As we begin to change this moment, we begin to change our lives.
—D. Trinidad Hunt
❤ Reiki
❤ Spring
❤ Healing
❤ Good coffee
❤ The smell of new books
❤ Long discussions with other dog people on different training philosophies
❤ I love my new hair! I’ve always been blonde so it’s fun to have a darker hair for a change. I wonder if my reiki teacher will recognise me.
❤ My new furry four-legged family member is almost one week old and everything looks great at the moment. Only seven weeks to go and she’s all mine! :D Not that it’s entirely sure this is my puppy. Can’t make the final decision until actually meeting her and seeing how she turns out. But I love her parents and I love the breeder.
I seem not to have many words within me at the moment, and sharing all the turmoils that are going on isn’t quite what I feel like putting any energy on, but I do miss 43Things, and hope to find a way to fall in love with it again now that I have a bit more energy to be on the computer. I miss the ever-so-wonderful 43Thingers so much, but somehow the spirit of this site feels stagnant and even quite dead, in a way. It’s just not the same as it was in the past, but there’s no use missing how things were, so perhaps it’s just time I found new ways to use 43Things.
I haven’t shared too much about how crazy I am about dogs here, but having a dog is actually one of my biggest dreams. Especially during the past ten years I’ve read hundreds of books on different training philosophies, hobbies and nutrition, and spent hundreds of hours online reading pretty much everything I’ve been able to find. I’ve gone to several dog shows and agility competitions to get a better picture of different breeds, discussed with breeders and professional trainers, and just kept my fingers crossed that one day, some way, I’d finally get the opportunity to adopt a dog of my own. Now I think is the time – not because the timing would be absolutely perfect, but because I see now that it will never be. This moment is just as good as any other, and I can say that I’ve done everything that has been possible to do to prepare myself to be the best possible pack leader and owner to a dog.
The biggest issue in the past were my allergies, but according to the tests and my own experiences it seems I’m only allergic to cats and not dogs anymore. My health generally though is still a big issue, but I’m feeling confident that I can handle having a dog of the breed I’ve chosen. Is this an absolutely amazing moment to get a dog? No, for sure it isn’t. But sometimes you just know when it’s time to take action and simply do something you’ve always wanted to do. Everything has been pointing to this direction. Plus my friends think I’m being ridiculous and take getting a dog more seriously than most people take having a baby. They’re probably right :-)
After a lot of searching, I’ve found a breeder I love (which isn’t quite as simple as it is in the US as breeding is very small-scale in Finland and we don’t really have kennels; good and reliable breeders only have one to two litters a year, often less), and if everything goes as planned, I might have a puppy within a few weeks. I’m thinking about trying to rekindle my love for 43Things by using it as a photo journal to document the life and adventures of the puppy, which I realise probably only interests me, but oh well. :D Not really sure if I’ll have much else to share during the next few months because they’ll most likely revolve around trying to grow my puppy into a balanced, healthy, happy dog. As usual, I’m also trying to improve my health, improve as a reiki healer, and generally focus on inner growth, but I don’t seem to have much to say about anything else than dogs at the moment. :-)
Wherever you go, you are the eyes and the ears of the Universe, seeing and hearing what could not otherwise be seen or heard.
—Mike Dooley
There hasn’t been one single day of your life when the world hasn’t been made a better place by your presence in it.
—Mike Dooley
Take risks. Be a gambler. What can you lose?
We come with empty hands and we go with empty hands. There is nothing to lose – just a little time to be playful, to sing a beautiful song, and the time is gone. Each moment is precious.
—Osho
Respect yourself. Respect your own inner voice and follow it.
I am not guaranteeing you that it will always lead you to the right. Many times it will take you to the wrong, because to come to the right door one has to knock first on many wrong doors. That is how it is. If you suddenly stumble upon the right door, you will not be able to recognize that it is right.
In the ultimate reckoning no effort is ever wasted; all efforts contribute to the ultimate climax of your growth. So don’t be hesitant, don’t be worried too much about going wrong. That is one of the problems – people have been taught never to do anything wrong, and then they become so hesitant, so fearful, so frightened of doing wrong, that they become stuck. They cannot move, something wrong may happen. So they become like rocks, they lose all movement.
I teach you: Commit as many mistakes as possible, remembering only one thing: don’t commit the same mistake again. And you will be growing.
—Osho
Would you rather…
1. ...be a lawyer OR a secret agent?
2. ...be a gardener OR a farmer?
3. ...be a philosopher OR a psychologist?
4. ...be a novelist OR a poet?
5. ...live in Paris OR in Rome?
6. ...date Marilyn Monroe OR Audrey Hepburn?
7. ...have lunch with Indiana Jones OR James Bond?
There is always something good, even in the worst situation – that nothing remains forever. You come out of it, and then you feel a tremendous freedom, joy and understanding.
—Osho
