“Living in the moment” is a hot phrase these days, and rightly so. With everything that is going on in the world, trying to keep up with all the updates and news can make it difficult to stay focused. It’s not easy but being in the moment is worth every speck of work that it takes. Cell phones and a hectic lifestyle are the main cause of being elsewhere rather than where you are. How can we just sit and “be” when there are so many things pulling at us in different directions?
Dogs live in the moment…always. Yes they carry around baggage and some of their behavior may stem from their past life but they remain in the here and now. They aren’t sitting on your lap thinking about the dog they met in the morning. They aren’t playing with their house sibling, wishing they were on a beach somewhere else. They are here “in the moment.”
I try very hard to “be in the moment,” but like everything else in life, I can do better.
Moment - the present time or any other particular time (usually preceded by the):
The easiest way that I have found to be and stay in the moment is to pay attention to my surroundings. It is hard to be somewhere else when you are where you are. Hmmmmmm…read that again. Are you with the person and/or k9 you are with? What is going on right now? What are they talking about? What is your dog doing?
Living in the moment
Watch your dog. I don’t mean glance, I mean really watch, like you are trying to understand them kind of watching.
Put your phone down, have it with you but away except for cute dog pics. ;)
Stop thinking about the past or future and focus on the now. (this is a tough one)
Check in with yourself. This is often a neglected part of our day to day.
Are you interacting with your dog? I mean the connecting type of interacting.
Listen, the type of listening that comes from wanting to know more.
There are lots of things to help us stay in the moment with humans and our dogs. I often see people walking their dog while they stare at their phone. They have no idea what’s going on around them and sadly they are not out with their dog; they are simply the leash holder, if that.
We all have to use our phones and consider the past and future; but it shouldn’t take precedent when we could be “being” with someone or our dog. We need to work, we need to check in and we need to juggle life in general in our heads. But, when we take time away from “being with” and “connecting with” we truly miss out on the moments that matter the most. Some moments are completely missed by living in some other place or moment. Sad.
I believe that life is about the little things, the little things that make up the big picture of our lives. Just the other day Riggs was not sure he wanted to eat a new treat that I shared with both Elsa and him. He batted it around like a bug that might bite him; very much resembling a young puppy. It made me smile, it was a fleeting moment in time, the moment right before he decided to eat it. If I wasn’t there, watching and being “in the moment” I would have missed it altogether. I’m glad I was there.
Being “here” is a good place to be.