LESSONS FROM A DOG BLOG

Three years ago, Emma wrote an article called "Emma’s Principles to Live By,” which I included in an issue of my Silver Linings e-zine this past summer. If you haven’t read this article, or would like to refresh your memory of what it said, you can click here to read it in my blog. Since Emma’s writing of that article, I have toyed with the idea of having a blog called “Lessons From a Dog Blog. The idea was that I would take each piece of advice in her article, follow it, and blog about my experiences doing so.

Well, it is now time to act on that whim. However, I am not going to do this as a separate blog. Instead, I am going to incorporate it into the blog that I established a few weeks ago. I will write about it in my blog, include the postings in my e-zine, and you will get to find out how it changes me.

I thought that I should start with something simple. For instance, I am not quite up to following her advice about greeting those you love enthusiastically, yet. I do hope to get there soon. I need to start with something that is not such a stretch for me.

I would love to start with her advice to take frequent naps. Unfortunately, I need to be busy most of the day, right now. I will definitely enjoy trying that one, though. So, what to start with? I am leaning towards either “eat with gusto” (that seems too easy, but maybe “too easy” is a good place to start), or “do everything with enthusiasm,” which I guess includes eating with gusto. Then, again there’s “play whenever you can.” I like that one. I am going to have to wait on that one, though, for the same reason that I am holding off on the naps.

All right, I’ve decided. It makes sense to start with “eat with gusto.” From there, I can move into doing everything with enthusiasm, and then, well, we’’ll see. Here are Emma’s exact words on the subject: “ Of course, food is important, so eat with gusto, even if you find that you are eating the same food over and over. Always take new foods when they are offered to you. If they taste funny, try to eat them, anyway."

Now, as the one that provides Emma with her food, I have observed that her enthusiasm for eating starts as soon as she thinks that food is forthcoming. If that is part of what I have to do, this may not be as easy as I think. The other thing that comes to mind is that I don’t want to eat with such gusto that I put myself in danger of choking on my food. Emma can eat extremely quickly. These are things to think about between now and tomorrow (Wed, Jan 3, 2011) morning, when I will officially start with eating my breakfast with gusto. Oh, and I don’t know how much I’ll be willing to eat in public, right now. LOL!

This process is going to be fun. I hope that I will grow from the experience, as well. And, I hope that you enjoy reading about it. Stay tuned……