Diving for Presence
This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.
"Why are you eating sand? What's going on?" I ask Leo. Seda studies our dog. The wind changes directions. Leo blinks and turns his back to the smoke from our campfire.
"I'm switching his food. There must be some mineral he's not getting," I tell Seda. Three times now he’s been eating sand.
I unwrap a graham cracker. Carefully, I balance three broken chunks of chocolate and a marshmallow on top.
"What's he got in his mouth?" barks Seda. I throw my uncooked s'more onto a camp chair. Diving fast, I sweep my fingers through Leo's mouth. I fish out a sinewy leg bone of some animal. I study it up close. Rabbit? Maybe it fell off the last camper's frying pan. No wonder he’s been eating sand!
"Your s'more!" cries Seda. I turn swiftly to extricate what's left from between Leo’s lips.
"He already ate it," says Seda glumly. "It's gone."
Some of the chocolate remains on my chair. Thank God. No stomach pump needed. Dark chocolate can be deadly to dogs. A near miss.
My heart pounds. I begin to re-create my dessert-in-the-wild. Leo looks apologetic.
I sigh. My nervous system begins to chill. More oxygen to the brain, and I would have set that s'more out of reach.
Not my personal best — this time.
More presence is possible. It takes practice. I have tools to return to. Countless people in our community have told me that these tools make a world of difference to them, too.
Tools that help us find effectiveness and grace. Tools that form a safety net to fall back on when we wugg it up and wish we’d done better. We practice aligning with our best selves, day by day. In community.
I’m feeling empowered as I practice priming for optimal health and connection with my dog. Priming is just one of the skills in the Core Alignment with Joy series.
Join us and build your skills with joy. Check out the digital course here.Practice makes better.