A wise old man was explaining to his grandson that there lives within each person two dogs, one dog that brings you joy and one dog that brings you pain -- and that they are in a constant battle for your attention. Give the dog attention and you will experience what he brings you -- joy or pain. The young man asked, "Which dog will win the battle?" The old man said, "The dog you feed." Have you found that to be true for you?
It seems to me that happiness is that way. In last week's blog I noted a definition of happiness as that state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. We choose in each moment, whether we care to admit it or not, what our experience of that moment will be.
We have both of those dogs, barking pain and barking joy, vying for our attention. We choose to feed one of those dogs at any given time. And we feed only one or the other in any instant of time. But each minute we feed one dog, we cannot feed the other.
The dog of pain thrives on anger, resentment, guilt, blame. You got anger in your heart right now? You're feeding the pain dog. The dog that brings joy eats only love. Your love nourishes only the joy dog.
Today you've got exactly the same amount of time as every other person on the planet -- 24 hours. Which dog are you going to feed this minute? If you feed one, you won't have as much time to feed the other. Which dog do you want to survive? Your choice.
When I was young, my brother made his own telescope, ground the lens and built the tube and all. He stayed up many a night, with my cat in his arms for warmth, admiring the stars and planets. I hope you get to meed him sometime, and compare notes on your telescope. I hope you have a cat to warm you. Thanks for all your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 11, my Mom managed a motel in Boulder (the Rocky Mountain), at which we had a fellow named Mr Kellogg stay for several months. He was a mechanical engineer that was also involved in optics. He encouraged me to grind my own mirror and he would help me put it into a telescope. Didn't happen but that was the closest I came to grinding my own :). As for warmth, I have this wonderful down ski coat (comes to mid-thigh) from the 1970's. I'm even using it this summer to mask my body heat from the mosquitoes because it lets so little heat out. I'll probably have to have it cleaned after the hot season is over :).
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