Dogs teach us how to stay present

We have lost the art of present moment awareness.

When we're too concerned about the world outside of us we become out of touch with our inner guidance, we don't hear our body's intelligence tell us to slow down, drink some water, take a break etc. If this becomes our way of life we become imbalanced and at some point our health begins to suffer.

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Lessons from Dogs

Notice that dogs are always in the now. They don’t drag their history with them into the present moment and they don’t project their worries into the future. They’re just here. Take them for a walk and they’re happy doing what dogs do, sniffing, being with you, getting some exercise, tail wagging and never missing the chance to sniff and explore.

There’s a lot we can learn from this. If we are not present moment by moment in our lives then we are not actually living our lives, we are merely drifting on autopilot and we are missing everything. We miss the chance to connect deeply with those around us, and the vital opportunity to develop the unique potential that comes with a human birth – to explore and grow our spiritual self.

The only thing we have that we can use to shape our future is this moment now, but if we are spending it worrying over something that may never happen, or arguing with someone in our head who served us an injustice five years ago the moment is lost.

worryWe are having to learn in a distraction filled world to be present in the moment. To make time to smell the roses instead of walking right past them worrying about our tax returns. We need to rediscover how to slow down, how to sit and breathe and watch the clouds, the birds, the stars.

(courtesy of livingbydesignonline.com)