Just as I sat down to write this column, the power went out at my house. Love the laptop's long life battery!
Actually, a transformer blew from a crow. "It's a crow call" is the exact term BC Hydro used when I called to inquire about the electricity problem. You can probably Google it to get the explanation, which is rather interesting, but since I was never an electrical engineering buff (animal science was more my thing) my explanation would just sound ridiculous.
In the small picture it means barbecue for dinner (yes!) no TV or radio, no Internet, no power to the front gate, which means no unexpected visitors, and since my phone battery is running low, soon no phone (yes!). In the big picture it means hanging out with the dogs, watching the sunset and the horses grazing. .. double yes!
Since the temperature hit close to 28 degrees today in my neck of the woods, the shade under the big maple tree is a hit with my dogs right now. Raider is oddly sprawled in a position that I am sure is an advanced yoga pose with his legs pointing one way and his head twisted backwards, yet hanging over the edge of my lounge chair. Zumi, forever on guard, is perched in a perfect, yet alert, down position which allows her to watch both the back yard and the front gate at the same time. And Piper rests in the cool grass beside me, his head against the rocks that surround the fire pit, happily passing gas.
I envy my dogs. .. a lot.
Well, not the gas passing part, but rather because for them, every day is like this moment I am experiencing right now.
It's not just the peace and quiet (you have no idea how much electrical stuff hums in the background until the power goes out) or the lack of commitments, it's the fact that there is nothing to entertain me, to occupy my time or to distract me except the beauty of nature.
Dogs live in a constant state of meditation - a state that I try to find for 15 minutes twice a day. That is just 30 minutes out of 24 hours. We call it meditation when we try to find time in the day to quiet our minds and escape the hustle and bustle of the world we live in, but do we ever really get there? Do we ever find peace of the mind? Dogs don't have to find time in their day to find their inner peace for 30 whole minutes. They live with inner peace 24/7. Can you imagine just sitting with your eyes closed and spending an entire afternoon listening to the sounds in the distance or the soothing melody of a song bird? How about lifting your nose into the breeze and smelling the stories that the wind carries in. Or watching barn swallows as they perform outrageous aeronautical manoeuvres as they dash and dart about, chasing down bugs for their dinner.
It wasn't too long ago when life was like that for us bi-peds - a little more than 100 years ago in fact. Even as I enter my 50th year I am shocked at the speed of change in such a short period of time. I can't imagine how those who are in their 90th year of life must feel. But what I find disturbing is that children growing up in this electronically stimulated, fast-paced environment may never experience the sort of peace that was once taken for granted. And as I watch my dogs sleeping in the fading evening sun I am reminded of how precious that quiet time is. It's not about trying to do as much as we can in the shortest amount of time, but doing as little as we can for as long as we can. "Wu wei" is the actual term for what I just described - the art of doing nothing - and is the central principle of Taoism. Dogs are natural Taoists, no practice involved!
I now find myself longing for that uncomplicated, simpler life. Now it's all about appointments, commitments, deadlines, schedules, paying bills. An entire gorgeous sunny day can pass right by running from one errand to another.
Was life really meant to be spent like this?
Are dogs in our lives just to tease us with a life of glorious simplicity? Or are they here to show us that we can find time in our days, in our lives, to do absolutely nothing and it is perfectly and exquisitely acceptable?
Joan Klucha has been working with dogs for more than 15 years in obedience, tracking and behavioural rehabilitation. Contact her through her website k9kinship.com.
