Today I was able to practice something I like to call a “Zen Moment”.

This is where in the midst of something chaotic or upsetting happening, one is able to step back and calm themselves and really appreciate a situation for what it is.  It’s a time for when you can just be at peace within the moment and not let whatever is happening around you to affect your current state of peace.  Easier said than done, right?

After returning home from getting some groceries, I was greeted at the door by my two fun loving dogs Kobe and Zoe.  They were happy to see me, and all covered in feathers.  As they ran past me out the door to the yard, I thought to myself…Hmmm…this doesn’t really look good.  Of course I knew right away that they had taken a pillow and shredded it to pieces, but I was hoping I was wrong.  I wasn’t.  As I got closer to the living room, more and more feathers appeared until I saw what looked like a floor made entirely of feathers. 🙂

So, as I’m standing there looking at this mess I started the beginnings of getting upset.  I stopped myself right there and thought about whether this situation was worth me getting mad about. Sure, there are feathers everywhere…sure the dogs just ruined my last favorite pillow I brought back with me from Moncton…but really, they are just feathers and it was just a pillow.  I then started to laugh.  I pictured in my mind how the dogs looked as they went running outside and then I thought about the fun they must have had ripping up the pillow and how silly they looked doing it.  Then I thought that maybe once they finished and looked around at the mess they created, they might have realized how much trouble they were in…like little kids.

I did this all in the matter of seconds, and I was able to bring myself back to the moment of just being.  Just a presence of calmness.  In reality, the dogs probably didn’t realize what they had done and maybe they just sat there ripping the pillow up with no emotion, but in order for me to get into the state of just “being”, I needed to imagine them looking goofy and then thinking about getting in trouble.  It really helped me to change the perception of the situation.  That this moment in time didn’t need to have a negative emotional impact on me as it would have in the past.

Then I decided to have a bit of fun with the dogs and went and took some pictures before the clean up process would begin.

Above you saw the mess that was made and here below are the guilty suspects:

I haven’t been able to get either one of to fess up to who was the instigator of this whole fiasco…but I am working on them.  Although, it does look to me that Kobe might be more guilty by the sheer number of feathers he has stuck to him.  However, that could be the plan of the mastermind Zoe had to divert the guilt away from her.  Guess we will never know!

🙂

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