Welcome to a hit of hope.
And fair warning,
This one might be a little bit salty.
So if that is not your jam.
As you find something else that speaks to you and your spirit.
I walk.
A lot.
And when I'm walking,
I often have my Chiweenie.
Part Chihuahua,
Part Doxie.
With me,
Alfred.
And Alfred and I walk and often pass other dogs.
And some of these dogs want to play.
Some of these other dogs want an Alfred sandwich.
They snarl,
They pull.
They strain on their leash to try and get at him.
Owners will do different things.
Some will make them sit,
The dog sit,
And give them a treat.
Others rush past as quickly as they can.
Recently,
Alfred and I were out walking.
And we passed a German shepherd.
Who indeed.
Wanted to have a piece of Alfred.
And his owner made him sit.
And as we passed by,
She repeated.
Be gentle.
Be gentle.
Now,
The dog.
Did not want to be gentle.
The dog wanted to go all ballistic.
And the woman just kept repeating.
Be gentle.
You could hear in her voice.
Tension started to creep in.
The more the dog strained.
The more she had to say.
Be gentle in a way.
That was new.
Longer.
It was full of stress.
And strain.
Just like the dog.
Polling.
On its leash.
And in fact,
I have a feeling she probably wanted to shout,
Be fucking gentle.
As we walked by.
I've thought about that moment ever since it happened.
We can be.
Watching all of this happen,
Walking by with Alfred.
We can be Alfred.
Who is clueless,
Wondering what the big deal is.
We can be that German Shepherd,
Wanting to sink our teeth into this thing.
That's right there in front of us.
We can be that woman.
Holding on to that straining beast.
Saying.
Be gentle.
And I think each of those ways of being.
Are pretty natural.
And especially that impulse to suddenly break into a yell,
Be fucking gentle.
When everything in us is draining.
And snarling.
And wanting to go after the thing.
Reset.
We breathe.
We know our different ways of being.
And sometimes we manage it.
Just walking on past whatever thing might trip our trigger.
Sometimes this beast in us.
Might feel like it just rises up out of nowhere.
And all we can do is drain to sink our teeth into that thing.
Am.
Here we are.
Practicing.
Being.
Being.
Oh yeah.
P.
A.
In this moment.
So if there's a thing in your life right now,
Like there is in mine.
That has you straining and wanting to lunge after it.
Think about that.
Take a moment,
Take a step back.
Okay?
It's there.
That energy is there.
Can we listen to the voice?
That is asking us,
Inviting us.
To be.
Gentle.
We noticed.
We might even feel that energy.
It's there.
We're gonna breathe.
We're gonna drop those shoulders.
Bring some space and ease into our jaw.
Her eyes.
We're going to ground.
Drop into our center.
And say,
Oh.
Okay.
Maybe I don't want to go after that one more time.
Maybe today is the day.
I just walk on.
Because it's a pretty big fucking amazing world out there.
So what is?
We be gentle.
What if we be centered?
As we walk our way.
Not straining,
Not stressed,
Not pulling after the one thing.
Because,
Oh my goodness,
This world has so many things.
It's ready and waiting.
To offer us.
And all we have to do Let's be gentle.
And walk on.
Take care of you as you live light and shine.
