Trust and have faith in the master
God, higher power or universe – you can even call it your angels – is there for us all the time, taking care of all our needs!
This also means that we should drop all expectations in life. As human beings, we tend to think we know what’s best for us. We try to plan our lives and have a great many expectations with regard to relationships, career path, status and so on. Most of the time, those expectations lead to frustration and resentment, making them counterproductive to living a happy life.
What nature is telling us is that there’s no need to do this. Our job is only to trust nature; to believe that the masters know what they are doing; to know that whatever life throws at us, it’s always for our own good; and that we should enjoy life as much as possible. It’s important that we accept whatever comes our way – be it a good meal, an outing in the park, or a trip to the vet.
Be dog, let go, and let God.
Live in the now
By looking at the past, we bring to our present, emotions such as regret, guilt and sadness. We go back along our memory lane and come up in the present with those memories that immediately interfere with our present feelings and manage to bring us down. At the other end of the spectrum is thinking of the future, which usually means constantly wondering what’s going to happen next, either with big expectations or with worries and concerns. Again, those thoughts bring stress and anxiety to our present moment.
Paulo Coelho, in his bestselling book The Alchemist, reminds us that ‘if you can concentrate on the present you will be happy’ as ‘the secret is here in the present’. Coelho himself might have been inspired by the Buddha, to whom the following quote is attributed: ‘Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.’
These examples show us the universality of the idea of living in the now. It’s the most interesting ‘rule’ for achieving a better life; nevertheless, it’s also the most challenging, as our mind is always pondering something or other, but difficult doesn’t mean impossible. In the end, the idea is to be inspired and try our best. We may not find it possible to live in the now 24/7 but several minutes a day could be a good start.
Be grateful and express gratitude
The third principle is being happy with what we have and not forgetting to express it – but what does that mean?
The dog is so grateful for that moment: he barks, jumps, wags his tail and is absolutely thrilled to see you. That’s where the miracle happens. His happiness is communicative. Somehow, his good mood influences you and puts a smile on your face. You tend to feel lighter when you see so much joy around you and may even reward your dog for this.
At our level, this principle means that if we act and show happiness to the world and the universe, the universe and our own master will also shower positivity and happiness on us. It’s really as simple as that. But, again, this is no more than the law of nature. If nature works like this for dogs, why shouldn’t it work that way for us?
You’ll find there are many ways to express gratitude. The easiest is simply to say ‘thanks’ to life, God or the angels, as often as possible. The idea, as you may have gathered, is not to complain about anything, but instead, try to be positive at all times. You can also jump around and dance to your favourite songs. This will immediately raise your energy levels and align you with other energies related to your own sense of happiness.
Communicate better
Happiness is all about communication. A dog may not have the ability to speak, but he does know how to express himself without concealing anything. How many times does a dog need to bark in order to get our attention? Be it for food or an outing, he always knows how to express himself in the right way. He’s never shy at those times.
When he’s happy, he shows it; when he’s upset, he shows that too and whenever he wants something, he’ll communicate that effectively. Does he care if it’s Sunday morning and you want to lie in for an extra hour before getting up and giving him his food? NO! He’ll still come and ask for it. He’s always straightforward – any time, any day!
The main difference between human beings and other creatures is that our ego is here to somehow change the communication flow and complicate it in many ways. Of course, the idea is not to pretend that we don’t have an ego – obviously that’s not possible, as it’s just the way we humans are – but being aware of when our ego is taking over, and acknowledging it, is a way of resolving the issue.
The idea isn’t to suppress the ego, then, but to cool it down and tame it. If we can train a dog, perhaps there’s a way to do that to the ego! Put your mind to the job. Maybe it could be interesting to reconsider the way you communicate – to try avoiding lying and just say what you feel. This small step can be very useful.
The following idea may sound basic; in fact, it’s so fundamental that we may have forgotten about it. Just speak out loud and ask for what you want! When your family sit down for dinner with a nice chicken marinated in mustard and cream gravy, you can be sure that your dog will soon join you and try to get a taste – even if he’s already had his own dinner.
We should just ask for what we want – while taking into consideration another parallel basic rule, which is that if you don’t ask for something, you’ll never get it!