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Tag: Stella

Victory Laps

Every time my dog poops she takes a victory lap around the yard.

She celebrates her small victories.

You should, too.

Before It’s Taken

My dog plays with her toys until she gets bored.

And then she could care less about them.

It’s only when I take one of them away that she suddenly cares again.

And cares a whole lot.

We are so much the same.

We don’t really care about what we have until it’s gone.

If only we could enjoy what we have like it was already taken, maybe we wouldn’t have to get things taken before we could truly enjoy.

We Fear What We Don’t Understand

My dog will BARK and YELL and RAGE and fearlessly advance towards even the most vicious looking dogs.

But, pops, cracks, and whizzes from the fridge?

Terrified. Whimpers. Needs to be held.

These noises, of course, don’t scare us because we understand them.

But, failure, aloneness, suffering?

Leaves most of us terrified, whimpering, and feeling like we need to be held.

Maybe it’s the case that these things aren’t inherently scary, but we’re just scared of them because we don’t fully understand them.

Maybe if we spent more time learning how to fail forward, enjoy aloneness, and channel our suffering—we wouldn’t be so scared?

Things become less scary once we understand them.

This post became the introduction for: 13 Rousing Delia Owens Quotes from Where The Crawdads Sing on Abandonment, Love, and Self-Reliance

A Small Moment Reminder (For Now And For Later)

While I was walking my dog, I stepped right into the heavenly scent of backyard cookout for the first time this season and was lifted.

It was one of those “small moments” that had me utterly present and, at least for that short time, made me feel like nothing else mattered.

I’m sure you can think of a time when you were similarly swept off your feet by the majesty of a moment—that place where all of your “matters” seemed to briefly fade away.

Well, here’s the thing: there’s no shortage of “small moments.” And there’s certainly no shortage of things that could captivate your senses.

What we’re actually short on is attention. And what we’re missing is the ongoing opportunity that’s available right in front of us—now, and again, and again…

This post became the introduction for: 19 Quotes from Narrow Road To The Interior on Solitude, Travel, and Poetry