The Benefits of a Power Outage

This weekend my power went out for over fifteen hours.  It was an adjustment as I started the day, as I realized how many things I couldn't do without power . . . I couldn't cook anything, I couldn't get on the internet, I couldn't watch TV, I couldn't use the house phone, and with only a small amount of battery left on my cell phone, I had to use my phone sparingly.

Kino, on the other hand, was very happy that we didn't have power.  Since he is normally competing with the phone, the computer and the TV for my attention - he got the benefit of having all my attention all day long.  He was in heaven.

We played ball, we played tug of war with his rope toys, we went for a long walk, we played ball some more.  He thought it was the greatest day ever. It seemed like every activity we did on Saturday centered around him, since I couldn't really do anything else.  At one point, I thought about the fact that I could dust and clean the toilets without power, but much to Kino's delight, I decided it would be more fun to play with him than do those chores and went back outside and resumed the game of toss with the tennis balls.

It got me thinking about how much our animals must enjoy power outages . . . when we don't have anything "electronic" to pull our attention away from them.  They undoubtedly relish in the benefits of our lack of electricity as they get to soak up so much more of our time and attention.  It made me wonder if we shouldn't act as if we're having a power outage for a few hours every day, regardless of whether we really have power or not.  Since animals don't need electricity, they probably wish we didn't rely on it as much as we do.

Yesterday, I was with a client, giving her dogs Reiki treatments.  She mentioned that she was bothered by the fact that her dogs will not settle down and go to sleep at night until she turns off the TV.  Before she could even finish asking me why that was, the dogs told me that it's not good for people (or animals) to sleep with the TV on and they wanted her to get better sleep.  I thought it was interesting that there was yet another related piece of evidence that our dependency on electricity isn't always a good thing.

This morning, I had to call the phone company to clear up a billing problem.  It was an arduous task that kept me on the phone for close to an hour.  During that time, Kino let me know how he felt about the fact that I could once again use the phone . . . he got into my purse and decided to destroy my favorite hair claw that he found in there, by biting off each one of the "teeth" that used to hold my hair into place. Clearly, he was happier during the power outage when he had all of my attention and didn't have to compete with the phone.  :-)

So, aside from not putting my purse on the floor anymore, my other take away from this is that it's probably a good idea to "unplug" a little more often and give him more of my undivided attention.

How often do you "unplug"?  I bet your animals would appreciate having more of your undivided attention.  Give it a try and see if there are any benefits to you as well!

Unconditional Love

On my wall calendar, in addition to a picture of a German shepherd each month, there is a quote.  The quote for May was from Gilda Radner and it said:  "I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love.  For me they are the role model for being alive."

I have been thinking about how true that is - not just regarding dogs, but all animals.  And I have thought about the message that many of my animal clients delivered to their guardians before they made their transition:  "Please be as kind and loving to yourself as you have been to me all these years."

Animals understand how important it is for us to love ourselves unconditionally, to be kind and gentle with ourselves.  Unfortunately, it's something that has been hard on the majority of us to actually do - I think in part because it is so ingrained in us to NOT love ourselves unconditionally, that we don't even recognize when we're not doing it.

I have spoken with many of my clients about how important it is to love themselves and I am often met with blank stares and confused expressions.  Maybe it's because we aren't quite sure what it really means.  If you treated yourself to a massage, yes that is being kind and loving to yourself, but it's beyond that.  If you've learned to take care of yourself by eating better or getting more sleep when you need it, that's wonderful, but it is beyond that as well.

Being kind and loving to ourselves has more to do with how we speak to ourselves, how we react to problems/issues that we encounter or mistakes that we have made.  When we accidentally eat the whole party size bag of potato chips while watching TV, do we berate ourselves? or call ourselves names? or do we say, "I must have needed to do that tonight, I'll do better tomorrow."  When we realize we made a mistake, do we feel shame? or criticize ourselves? or do we say, "I've had a lot going on this week that has kept me from concentrating . . . I am going to slow down and breathe more, so I can be more focused next time."  When we accidentally put a red shirt in with a load of whites, do we say "How could I be so stupid?" or do we cut ourselves some slack and say "It's OK, it could happen to anyone."

It seems more important than ever, right now in our evolution, to learn how to truly be kind and gentle and loving with ourselves.  Animals keep trying to give us the message, they keep modeling the behavior of unconditional love . . . showing us that no matter how late we were, how grumpy we were, how distracted we were, etc . . . that they still love us just as much as they did an hour earlier.  They keep hoping that we will see how they do it and that it will inspire us to start doing it ourselves.  They keep hoping we will realize they love us without conditions . . . and that it is more than OK for us to love ourselves without conditions as well.

So how about giving it a try?  See if you can talk to yourself more kindly, cut yourself some slack, trust that you are always doing the best that you can do in any given moment, love yourself even if you aren't at your ideal weight, or you lost your temper, or you are scared to face an issue that needs to be resolved . . . just love yourself anyway, just as our animals do . . . and then allow yourself to feel the peacefulness that comes with it.   I think if we keep practicing being that loving with ourselves, in time, it will become easier and eventually, we won't need to practice anymore.  It is a day that I look forward to very much.