Cosmic Dog Walk

As I walk my dog, early in the morning, I can't help but see reflections of my own reality. He struggles and pulls trying to go his own direction. The leash is an anchor, stopping him from chasing a squirrel on the other side of the busy road. "It's running, it must want to play! Who cares about those big fast moving metal things, they can't hurt me!"

I can only imagine, as he is caught up short trying to reach a cast out chicken bone or a bit of moldy bread, "Why is this so hard? I only want so little!" Sometimes he reaches the chicken bone, only to have it wrested from his mouth and watch it be, once again, cast out of his reach. Other times he eats the moldy bread, and becomes sick. He doesn't understand, in either case.

Of course, analogies always fail. I can't say that I see my reflection in my dog's desire to go out on our course. If he laid down and forced me to drag him from the house... Nor can I see a reflection in my dog's desire to pull me along the path in the proper direction, between his moments of distraction. No, I have many distractions broken up by moments of hanging back, not wanting to go forward.

There is much to be learned from a dog.