Beauty. Balance. Harmony. Art within Indwelling Presence. Selfitude. Reality. Actualization. Sovereignty.
I am definitely finding that the presence of the dog is like a giant magnifying glass on my life. Quite remarkable. One of the things that is magnified, as we work to train her, is the Balance of Chesed and Gevurah required in the process of building relationship. With her - a canine - this is made very clear. Treats, treats, and more treats! Chesed city! Boundaries, boundaries, and more boundaries! Gevurah-ho!
Having been working diligently on two amazingly simple exercises given us by a professional trainer just over a day ago, I am already seeing a shift in the relationship. She is more attentive, and I can show a slightly softer strength behind my asks. We are falling into a Balance.
Needless to say, as this continues, there is more Harmony in the household. I know she will respond more readily to the sound of my voice when the cat is around, so there is less tension in the air, so she is less interested in the cat. (It turns out that, wonderful guard dog that she is, she probably thinks the cat stresses us out and she needs to take care of that for us. That, and she just wants to play with her...)
It was hard to believe in these two little exercises yesterday. I understood intellectually, but could this really do what he said it would do? Enter Shechina, my comfort and companion during this time of upheaval. I just keep going back to the Reality of that Presence and deciding to trust all the things that people who know better than we do tell us as we continue in this time of adjustment. I work the Art of Balancing Chesed and Gevurah and it turns out a new Reality can start to emerge.
It’s a Beautiful day to live in this Reality.
A tired dog is a happy dog.