19 Jan

Walking Monks with a Dog

Posted by DOGKISSES in Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

The Buddhist monk’s Walk for Peace, from Texas to Washington, D.C., has been a breath of fresh air for many Americans to see, myself included. I must admit, their loyal companion dog, Aloka, captured a piece of my heart right away. The way he walks is with purpose and a prance. He reminds me of my girl, Bella, who is my own little Peace Keeper.

Peace-Dogs!

Above Image Link: https://share.google/S2mEbAMqAvlb8ycUr

Aloka is now recovering from recent surgery on his leg. A veterinarian practice in SC performed the operation as a gift. Rest is a part of his journey in the Walk for Peace.

Aloka has his own interesting backstory. He was a stray dog in India, getting into garbage and fights with other neglected dogs. Once Aloka saw the monks walking, he joined them right away. The monks say several dogs attempted to walk with them, but none lasted long. Only Aloka.

I’m happy that the monks decided to accept Aloka as family. I believe a dog is the perfect messenger of Peace in America. Dogs get our attention. We can trust dogs.

As I write, Aloka may be the most famous dog in the country. I love that so many of us wish to meet him.

Shows Monk with dog, Aloka.

“Now, as we walk across America on our own journey for peace, we carry Aloka’s spirit with us. His unwavering presence reminds us that loyalty, devotion, and companionship are languages every heart speaks. Like Aloka chose to follow the sacred footsteps across India, we too can choose each day to walk beside what matters most—peace, mindfulness, love, compassion, and unity.”

“May you and all beings be well, happy, and at peace.”

Source: Walk For Peace – Aloka: A Heart of Unwavering Loyalty

We are now witness to widespread fear, suffering and an ongoing division within our own country. The images and headlines we see on our televisions are often too disturbing. Many people find them difficult to endure.

“I stopped listening to the news,” is a common phrase these days.

Seeing the walking monks for the first time surely caught my attention. I’ve been stuck at home a lot. My television has been on more than usual. Ignoring news is not always easy. Mostly, every channel shows shock and violence. Headlines are enough to put fear in the mind and heart.

I’m not alone in wondering when or if our country will settle down. Will we ever find common ground again? This applies not only between political parties, but also at our own dinner table, so to speak.

I’m grateful that my adult son and I have similar world views. The division between left and right is great.

Walking more than 2000 miles, the monks are spreading the message of peace, compassion and unity.

Peace. Compassion. Unity. In America.

My first instinct when I learned about the Walk for Peace was to tell someone. I called my son. He said he saw some monks on YouTube. Later, we’d talk about the walk and what we understand it to mean. We also both love Aloka.

As I write, the monks are in my state, North Carolina. I’m listening to a speech one of the monks gave in High Point, NC, yesterday.

“Breathe in and breathe out,” I hear him say. “One. Breathe in. Two. Breathe out,” he continues.

The monk is talking about bringing the mind to the fresh moment. Counting the breath helps train the mind, he tells us. Creating a path to peace for ourselves.

“There’s a light on the left side. A light on the right side,” the monk says.

“Reach to it (the light), ” the monk continues. “Try to find joy.”

The monks talk about the mind. They discuss how we chase after thoughts. This habit can take us away from our own inner peace. Counting the breath, while not giving attention to thoughts can bring us to the current moment.

Listening to the monks talk reminds me of sitting in meditation classes in the late 1980s. Hearing the talks aired across national television channels in the United States is a true gift!

I’m personally grateful to the monks and Aloka for their Walk of Peace. I needed to see something positive and hopeful going on in our country. The monks are sharing with us a way to peace. I walk in spirit on this great journey!

Peace be with us.

DOGKISSES.

Learn/Source: The Ancient Sacred Buddhist Scripture Stupas (https://dhammacetiya.com/Dhammacetiya).

16 Feb

Bella the Peace Keeper

Posted by DOGKISSES in Canine companions, companion animals, relationships. Tagged: , , , .

My sweet dog, Bella, has a splendid personality. Her nature is patient and loving. She’s generous with other dogs, allowing them a time or two of less-than-stellar behavior. I think she has higher expectations for us humans.

Fourteen pounds of love!

There’s a lot that I love about Bella. She brings me joy and laughter, comfort and love, and all the amazing wonderful feelings we dog lovers get to experience.

On a most personal level, I am moved by Bella’s way of expressing her needs. Particularly when she focuses on peace in our home and family.

Bella knows when I feel frustrated. In fact, she knows and has a strong sense for all emotions. She not only senses my emotions, but others’ as well.

My adult son and I have been coexisting for more than a year in my studio apartment. He has his own place, but has been staying with me part of the week for a nearby job. We’ve been in a limbo as a result, but are living this way by choice for now. There’s advantages to our arrangement, but a downside is the space doesn’t allow for much privacy. As a result, sometimes we get on each other’s nerves.

Bella will not stand for either of us raising our voices or an argument she deems is going too far. She barks in a loud way, looks upset, and runs to her bed. This behavior sends a message to my brain and heart. I promptly quiet my voice, as I’m most often the one who first verbalizes frustration. My son tends to hold his tongue.

I am incredibly grateful to Bella. Her ability definitely keeps peace. She loves us very much. I guess it’s simply her nature, but she’s like a child who needs her people to be okay. I get that.

Dogs are amazing companions. Every one I’ve had in my adult life has had a unique attribute that I need. Bella is sweet as strawberry pie. Still, when she needs something like a walk, she certainly knows how to ask. She knows how to ask for food. She also knows how to make sure her people are okay.

Dogs are teachers. Us humans have only to listen and learn.

Thank you for visiting my blog, DOGKISSES!

Michelle and Bella.

29 Jul

Life and Loss

Posted by DOGKISSES in dogkisses, health, hope. Tagged: , , , .

Struggling to Find Uninterrupted Time for Writing and Reflection

My hands and fingers started bothering me more over the past two years. My vision is compromised. Writing once came so easily and I adored the process. I identified with the craft as an important part of who I am.

Bella still offers up her bright eyes every day. She prances about like she’s the happiest dog in the town.

I was diagnosed with another autoimmune disease. Mixed Connective Tissue Diseases. Doctors and their diagnoses do not impress me. One says one thing and another says a different thing. After years of this dynamic, I don’t know if I should trust any diagnosis.

I miss writing. I miss the home I left in 2014. I miss the many birds who visited my yard. And to my own surprise, the butterflies that started visiting my mostly shaded moss covered yard.

I had dozens of plants! The butterflies first enjoyed the Lantana. By the time I moved, I had almost every plant I had ever dreamed of having.

The birds that came into my yard felt like they were mine. Believe me, it was really sad after I left. I thought of them every night when I lied in bed. I cried for the best of a year.

Everything I lost was because I made a choice; many choices, that I believed at the time was what I should do for someone I dearly love. Now, I think perhaps I was blinded by my motherly instincts.

I have to go to physical therapy now. I’m not progressing. PT is all about the patient doing the exercises at home. Like writing, my time is interrupted.

I wish I had a more positive post. I figured why not just write. Right?

Until next time, which I truly hope is not months and months in the future, I wish you, my readers, a good day!

Very truly,

DOGKISSES.

18 Jan

Dreamwalker’s Roasted Red Cabbage

Posted by DOGKISSES in health, Home. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

Roasted Red Cabbage

Thank you to my friend, Sue, author and creator of Dreamwalker’s Sanctuary for a wonderful and warm cabbage recipe! I’ve made the dish several times and I love it! My son likes it too and his opinion of food is nearly a professional one. He started asking to, “speak with the chef,” in restaurants, around age four.

Quite the curious child, he would inquire as to how the food had been prepared or cooked. We met many chefs throughout the years. Each one always thanking him for what they knew was a genuine compliment.

Enjoy! Thanks again to one of my very favorite people, Sue Dreamwalker. This post includes a link to her blog, Dreamwalker’s Santuary, and also a direct link to her recipe(s). See links above.

With the warmest wishes,

Michelle @ DOGKISSES’s blog.

20 Jun

Bella

Posted by DOGKISSES in Canine companions. Tagged: .

Little and Mighty Bella

Bella weighs all of thirteen and a half pounds. Sometimes, I’m baffled that so much love can come from such a small creature! Bella is always affectionate and playful. She loves my son and I a lot and brings a great many smiles to the people who meet her.

Bella’s long legs give a slight impression of a larger dog. Her bark is loud. She barks when she needs to communicate something important. I love this about her. I love that although she’s small, and perhaps because she’s small, she speaks up for herself! Go Bella!

Living with Bella is fun. We go out and about in our big, small town.

Walking around the block is our most regular outing. I window shop while we walk and Bella looks for people who might pet her. She is never shy. I think Bella has met every business owner on our block. Mostly, she knows the patrons. The locals. Bella is on the map!

Bella and I recently enjoyed sitting outside at the new bakery in town. I chose a table and Bella lied down on the cement in the morning light by my chair. She was obviously relaxed.

Sundays are quiet downtown. I didn’t see anyone out and about at first, but after a few minutes, I noticed people looking at us from their cars. They started to stop soon afterward. This made me feel happy. I want the bakery to be successful.

I noticed how pretty Bella was lying there in the sunlight. The outfit I’d worn was for comfort, but the colors were nice and made me feel good. The painted blue metal tables and chairs went perfectly with the white china cups and plates. The coffee was good. The chocolate eclair was heavenly.

In that moment, things seemed just fine, and they were.

Bella awaits as I write. She’s asking to go outside.

Thanks for visiting DOGKISSES!

30 Dec

Almost A New Year

Posted by DOGKISSES in dogs, hope. Tagged: , , .

Keep Hope and a Dog

A new year brings hope to my heart. In 2023, I hope I can write regularly in this blog again. Write like I once could. I loved it! I miss writing. I miss the blogging community. I hope!

Bella is my current dog. She’s beautiful and mighty powerful. All 14 pounds of her! She turned five years old this year. I hope we enjoy many more years together!

My son is approaching 40. Wow! He’s a good person. I’m blessed. I hope to grow older and older, with better health, and have many more years with my son!

Good thing I had a child when I was relatively young or I’d be pretty old. I can say that now, I hope, with genuine respect for aging, since I’m in on that, and without offense to anyone who considers herself old, because I’m not so young myself anymore.

My late friend, Sonny, used to say he felt like a nineteen-year-old trapped in an old man’s body.

I can relate to that a little, but I don’t feel nineteen. Or 40. Or even 50. I do however feel my own spirit, and that has always been the same. In this way, I can relate to my friend’s experience.

I hope to always feel my own spirit! I hope it keeps lighting my way!

I hope you, dear visitor, also have hope.

I hope the year 2023 is a year that I will live my life more. Life is for living, a wise man told me. I believe it is true!

I hope 2023 brings more healing to us humans and softens some our hearts.

Hope. It’s a good thing!

From Michelle, your blogger at DOGKISSES!

PS: I do not benefit in any way from ads you see in this blog.

31 Oct

Happy Halloween

Posted by DOGKISSES in poetry. Tagged: , , , .

T’is Halloween, the sky is dark

Stars are out, glow over the park,

A dog on it’s own, walking the path

Caked in mud, needing a bath,

He meets a black cat, also alone

They travel together, find a bone,

Tea’s been had, splash in the pond

Dog and Cat, now have a bond,

An eerie feel, the moon is bright

Witches around, give a fright,

Cat follows Dog, he’s going home

To feel safe, loved, no longer alone.

time for home,

By Belinda Ellingham

Source: (https://www.craftsuprint.com/card-verses/miscellaneous-other/halloween/)

29 Oct

Butterfly ~ An Invitation —

Posted by DOGKISSES in Green Healing, health, Home, Nature, outdoors. Tagged: , .

The Tiger Swallowtail arrived before the plants did.  A single large butterfly with tails intact and colorful vibrancy innocent of the inevitable markings to come. Winged on Verbena The winds were picking up. The purple Verbena had grown several inches. The blooms moved up and down with each gust of wind. The big butterfly glided […]

Butterfly ~ An Invitation —

Click above link to read from my Green Healing blog or leave a comment here at Dogkisses.

Happy Autumn!

Your blogger,

Michelle.

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