Inspiration to Live By

The Spirit of Adventure

I live in the country and I go for walks several times a day with my border collie in the unused farmer’s field behind my property.

The sheer joy I witnessed in my dog EVERY time she knows we’re going for a walk, is priceless and fills me with joy. In her eyes, it’s an adventure EVERY time.

That alone is remarkable.

We walk the same path, again and again, several times a day. Yet, it’s as if it’s something wondrous and new to her.

There’s a variety of wildlife, small and large here, mice, moles, chipmunks, every color of squirrels, raccoons, porcupines, skunks, deer, and coyotes are all common. We never know what we may encounter along the way. But the real question is if anything?

There’s a raised shed along the footpath we’ve created.

Years ago, she and my husky discovered a rabbit under that shed. 

Border collies are sprinters and excellent herders. They are not hunters like the husky. The chase is a game for her.

What I marvel at is how exhilarating it is for her to speed off to investigate the possibility of a rabbit being there, this time, each time, without ever being disappointed when it isn’t there.

I compare this to a kid finding a cookie in a cookie jar this one time. Then checking that cookie jar day in and day out without any success or reward of discovering another cookie but never losing the excitement about the possibility.

This is something I wish I could as easily embody - being able to be present in life with that level of pure joy and sense of adventure, free from the expectation of what may or not happen.

My dogs have been teaching me this very valuable life lesson for more than 30 years but I have yet to master it, fully. I’ll keep practicing it though. I know that’s how I want to live my life, full of joy and with a sense of adventure, free from the expectation of what may or not happen.

What have your dogs taught you about life?

P.S.

I don’t know why sometimes I can resize an image and other times the very same process uploads as if I’ve made no changes. Is it me or Substack?

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