Chapter one from a series of chapters based on a true story about how, through the toughest times, we discovered the power of our breath and stillness.
Have a listen to the podcast version here:
Woof , woof non-stop, constant barks all day long! Are they okay like?! I keep wondering if those dogs are truly suffering ? They shouldn't be stuck outside in that sweltering heat all day long. When I peep over into the neighbours' garden, the dogs look like they're only allowed on the side of their house next to ours, fenced into a small area of around 3m2, even though they've a fairly big space to run around outside of that of like 50m2. Why don't they let the dogs out into that bigger space to run around, I wonder? There are three dogs, one looks like the oldest, a Staffy, the one who barks the most, his name is Boss. We were introduced to the dogs when we first approached our neighbours one day, to tell them about our frustration with the constant dog barks. That was before it all kicked off.
There are two other dogs, one, a younger Staffy, and another one is a quieter, white, fluffy one, maybe a mix off a white Border Collie, but I'm not quite sure.
The dogs never seem to be walked at all, well, I've never seen my neighbours taking them out for a walk anyway, no wonder they don't stop barking. Poor dogs! I'm trying to have empathy for them, but at the same time, those constant barks are right beside my window while I'm working, so it's hard to not get driven up the bloody walls!
Breath in deeply...........Breathe out deeply........... breath in deeply....... breathe out deeply.......
I try to keep these deep breaths in and out going for as long as I can, it's hard to clear my mind of angry thoughts though, so I start to use my imagination with my breath...
I focus on my breath, and even though I'm inside my house, I imagine connecting myself to the earth.
I imagine big protective tree roots with lovely flowers sprouting out on them coming up through the foundations of my house and wrapping me in a cocoon-type tree-root-hug.
I feel safe and relieved here.
As I breathe out, the thought comes to my mind to breathe out that frustration, that anger, that stress, and allow the earth to take it away, to clean it, recycle it and make it pure again.
That feels a bit better...
Then I imagine breathing in the calmness of the earth, the peace she holds deeply under the surface, I imagine that peace so far under where no dogs bark, and no conflictive neighbours exist.
It feels cosy there.
I repeat this in/out-breath exercise for around ten minutes and it starts to make me feel more empowered and stronger.
My empathy grows and I begin to realise that it's not the dogs' fault. I feel a bit sad because I used to really love dogs and hopefully I still do, but for some reason, this neighbourhood has a questionable choir of different dogs barking any time of the day.
I think of asking my neighbours if I can take their dogs out for a walk, maybe that might help the situation and make the dogs feel happier, maybe our neighbours don't have time to take them out?
Another thought comes to my mind that it's not up to me to try to fix this situation, this situation can't actually be fixed, it's something deeper, I just can't see what it was right now.
I appreciate that thought, it's curious how wisdom comes through when I do this breathing/imaginary exercise.
We had moved back in March from an apartment block closer to the city of Madrid, where both Andrés, my boyfriend, and I, had lived for around 3 years. We were really happy there in the apartment, although, we used to have constant barks in the background in that place too, while we worked all day long at home. We both work from home so it's not unusual to be extra sensitive to these sounds, I suppose. We tried to just get used to them, but it wasn't easy.
One dog on one side of us was a little Chihuahua, so you can imagine how annoying those high-pitched dog- barks were, that went off at the slightest noise, even at the sound of a fart!
Then we had another dog in a distant flat, that seemed like an old dog, you know one of those ones that sound old and could even be deaf. He would just bark into the air, out on the balcony of the apartment, for no apparent reason at all. Andres called into that neighbour one day to ask kindly if there was anything they could do to help the dog stop barking a bit, but unfortunately, the owner replied that the dog was very old, and half deaf, so that barking was because of his age, and sadly, there was nothing he could do to stop it.
What could we say?
There was was a particularly hard time back then in our former apartment, just after Covid had started to die down, when it all got too much. Andres was grieving the death of his Dad, his job wasn't being very supportive, dogs constantly barking in the background, and then one day Andres opened up to the idea of trying out mindfulness & meditation, during a time when frustration was high, a feeling of helplessness, grief, loss, doom and gloom surrounded us.
He felt he would try anything at this stage..
Stay tuned for chapter 2 next week on how the story unfolds even further with more complex challenges..
Feel free to listen to my mindfulness- awareness- intention setting - energy release & replace audio below to help you through any frustration times.
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