The Honesty Within

My dog Naia, has got to be one of the most honest animals I have ever had as a pet.  She is a ball of crazy hyper energy coupled with the bark of a mastiff.  She's very curious yet never strays very far from sight.  When called, she's slow to respond unless there is food involved or her brother, Mac is in hot pursuit of a belly rub.  She's very affectionate with everyone yet only allows certain ones to get "close."  When I picked up this little girl a few years ago, she had come from very dire circumstances and needed to be loved.  Often times, she would sit on the other side of the room and stare at me for what seemed like hours--making sure that she wasn't going to be giving in too quickly. I will never forget the night that she decided it was okay to come over and place her head on my lap and let me pet her.  She instantly fell asleep and I breathed deeply a sigh of comfort.

You see, it took Naia a while to figure out her love, her situation and her agreement within.  Many days I'll find her sitting in the same spot in the back yard pointing her face northwest.  I'll watch her through the window.  She sits and stares off in the distance and lets the breeze blow her floppy ears up and down.  Sometimes I wonder---"what is she thinking?"  Could it be that she is just at peace with finding a home, someone to lover her?  Her brother Mac will waddle by--and in his attempt to pull her into play---she'll nudge him along and continue her northwestern gaze.

This dog has taught me a lesson.  That lesson being---it is okay to survey the landscape.  Often I am guilty of jumping in with both feet and then looking back to what it is I should have considered.  I'm finding the pause before the reaction will often give me a clearer understanding of present circumstance and inevitably cause me to look inward to ask the hard questions. Releasing our connection to the universe and quieting the soul takes practice.  It requires that we are honest within.  Inward honesty is often a reflection of our ability to love ourselves and to release the insecurity we use as our barrier to realizing what it is the universe has in store for us.  We are a limitless well of possibility springing up from a potential that is given to us by life.  When we perceive to know ourselves fully-it is in that moment that we must be wholly honest with ourselves. We must turn our gaze inward and believe that what we have as a source of strength is indeed our own ability to overcome struggle leading us to obtain all that life wants for us.