Charlie Calling—Or Is It My Soul?

It’s not that I don’t like dogs, mind you.  It’s just that I like them a whole lot better when they belong to someone else.  Nope—no dog for me.

Get a dog.

Gee thanks, but no thanks.

And a few days later—

Get a dog.

The banter went on for weeks.

I was emphatic.  NO!  I don’t want a dog.  Ever.  I don’t want the responsibility, the expense, the restriction, the dog hair in the butter, the walks in nasty weather, the accidents on the carpet, the health issues, the suffering through the loss at the end.  No.  No dog for me.

Get a dog.

Finally, after several months of serious resistance, I gave up and got a dog.  Surrender Dorothy.

Enter Charlie, a Japanese Chin named Charlie Chin—a caramel sundae of a fluff ball that stole my heart and changed my world forever.  It would take too many words to tell you about the wonders or Charlie, or the gifts that he brought into my life, but maybe another day.

Even now after twelve years, it is difficult to fathom the profound lessons that came along wrapped in the package with Charlie.  Among the many, the one that stands above all others is the willingness to heed the call of the Inner Voice that knows what is best for the growth of the soul.

Trust me, I’ve heard about a bazillion voices throughout my lifetime, most of them annoying, confusing, obnoxious, and just plain downright not nice.   Thankfully through trial and error, I’ve managed to narrow them down to my favorites, the ones I call the committee in my head.  By the way, and just so you know, I never thought of myself as crazy.  Maybe a little misguided from time to time, but never crazy.  Misguided would be courtesy of listening to a bazillion wrong voices.  It pays to hear with a discerning ear.

Dogs don’t need to learn how to hear with a discerning ear because they already know.  Charlie was wise.  He knew how to just listen and be.  Sometimes I called him Yoda.  Charlie Chin Yoda.

I want to be just like him when I grow up.  I want to just listen and be.  I want to develop that inner wisdom and knowing that lives within the animal kingdom, and that also lives within us two-legged creatures, if we will just be still long enough to seek it within ourselves.

As we stay cloistered within the walls of our own homes, what better time to do just that—practice our communication skills with the wise Voice within—the voice that leads unfailingly down a path beyond fear and toward love.  We’re all going to get where we’re going eventually.  Guaranteed.  It’s just a matter of how long we’ll linger along the way.

Me?  I prefer sooner rather than later.  It’s why I got a dog.  And quit smoking, and knocked off the wine, and signed on for a daily blog.  I guess I’m in a bit of a hurry.  How about you?

Note:  The photo above is courtesy of New Waves of Light, a website designed by anonymous individuals around the world who share the intention of bringing light and love to a world of darkness and chaos. (newwavesoflight.org or NWOL.us).