2024 - live like a dog!

 2024 has arrived!  I'm not much for making resolutions.  If they work for you, wonderful!  But data shows the vast majority of people completely abandon their resolutions by 30 days in.  

Concrete "resolutions" are easy to make.  Losing 25 pounds, quitting smoking, working out for 30 minutes per day 5 days a week are measurable.   What most of us should be committing to is living like a dog.  That's the commitment I'm making.  It's much harder to measure, but if we lived that way, a lot of those other goals would fall into place!

I thought a lot about this today.  We had no plans and at this morning made a spontaneous decision to head to Onondaga Lake Park to walk some trails.  As the dogs saw us getting ready they were so excited!  They were living in the moment - not worrying about things that kept creeping into my head, like how much work awaits me when I return tomorrow, or what else I "should" be doing.  It's called mindfulness and I struggle so hard with this.

So we arrived, parked and started walking.  The dogs were having a fantastic time.  And I'm sure they were living totally in the moment.

We returned to the car and they happily ate the food we brought - without worrying about how many calories they were eating!  They eagerly looked to us for what was next, and after lunch we decided to walk a little more on a more crowded trail.

Both were convinced that every single person they passed was just a friend waiting to happen.  They didn't judge the old man with the scowl on his face or think mean things about the large woman struggling to keep going.  They calmly walked by the dog barking and lunging.

And on they way home, realizing today's adventure was done, they curled up neat to each other and slept peacefully.

So that's what I'm trying to do this year.  To live like a dog!