My K9 Therapy Associate Sabre often teaches by example. He is in the moment. So this past week, in the middle of a COVID spike, and the longest stretch of frigid temperatures and precipitation, where his humans are distracted and his routine has been long interrupted, right in the dead of winter…..he stays there, centered in this, his present moment. The outcome is always to his advantage.
I think his inner process may resemble in a very basic way, the scene in Apollo 13 where the CO2 filter crisis turns a mission into a time sensitive emergency to save the men on board and the mission itself. The man in charge comes into the room with his team of scientists and several cardboard boxes, and empties them onto the table around which other great minds are gathered. He says: “The people upstairs have handed us this one and we’ve gotta come through. We gotta find a way to make THIS fit into ……THIS……using nothin but THAT (gestures to the stuff on the table.) Now let’s get it organized.” If you have seen the movie, you know that the eventual outcome is momentous.
Today Sabre shows us that even though we can’t be doing his favorite activities of dock diving, swimming, and napping in the sunny spot, we can take what we have and make something of it. We do have ice…..lots of ice, a perfect stick that has fallen in the harsh wind of an ice storm, and a willing friend who will be along side for the momentary adventure to create the next perfect moment of joy. This moment. Right here. Right now. Just because.
Like Sabre, we can look around us today, figure out what we do have, and follow the moment. Sabre had no idea I was watching…..and eventually you, the people he misses, would also be watching him pursue the next right thing. Triumph…….a moment of flight… right here on the ice. I believe the outcome may be momentous.
Here’s to the next right thing…..and savoring the simple joy.