I reckon our pets, or all animals for that matter can teach us incredible pivotal life lessons. From their calm and humble demeanour to their ability to forgive and forget, they really are the cutest little spiritual masters. When I see my cat sleeping for 10 hour stints, I think to myself "you a***hole" no, no I really think how easy that make it all be, how they only seem to live in the present moment. But there is someone in the human world that oozes this instinctual animalistic quality of living in the 'now' too, and that man is Cesar Milan.
Firstly, let me just say Cesar Milan is a magician. An energetic dog magician of all things great. If you've had the chance to watch one of his TV shows called "The Dog Whisperer" you'd agree the man has some talents when it comes to rehabilitating dogs and training people, yes that's his catchphrase and it's great. Have I said that already?
Being a fan of his show for some time now, I practised putting some of Cesar's techniques onto my dog. I mean my friends dogs, I mean strangers dogs, at dog parks, where I sometimes walk, I mean where I walk every day to get my daily hit of dog time. And for the most part his techniques have worked, but I tell you what, it has all depended on how I am feeling on the day, and not the dog.
And I'll tell you why. In Cesar's episodes he talks about energy and how our stressed out, anxious, fearful energy is picked up by the dog and can basically fuel the dogs negative behaviour. For example, feeling the owner's fear, it then strikes at another dog because it feels their the dominant one in the pack, not the owner.
This case is shown over and over again in his episodes and once he explains what's energetically going on with the unstable owners, something beautiful happens. The owner has an "AHA!" moment and just like a spiritual awakening they appear to get it. Their face changes, a calmness fills the air and the fear dissolves. The present moment sparkles and guess what happens? Magic happens. Their unruly aggressive dog becomes placid, calm and well balanced.
Obviously there is a structure to his method too, from repetitive behavioural training and being patient with the dog, so overtime the dog "gets it". But the essence of what he teaches is that nugget of joy, 'being present' not in the past, nor the future, but NOW. Along with his 3 house rules; exercise, discipline and affection. Dropping all the fear, anxiety and worry from our minds and being void of negative emotional mind dribble. Ahh it's so refreshing!
And this is why he's my spiritual guru. Just like a Mexican Buddha, when Cesar walks calmly and confidently into any ferocious situation with a crazed dog, his energy chills the dog right out. His 'presence' says it all. How beautiful, how apt for anybody in any situation, not just an owner with their dog. But with all of us, for me, who wishes she had a dog, but doesn't. There's so much gold in this guru and his simplistic method of teaching says it all. And you know what, most of the time our life lessons come from the person you least expect it. In this case, the Dog Whisperer.
Have a good week.