Receiving…
Dear Friends,
Here we are in 2025. I’ve been actively resisting the sense of urgency that grips me during top of the year goal-mongering. With much going on globally and personally, grounding and growing slowly is turning into a necessity. I am yielding and decelerating.
I have been learning from Zoe (the goldendoodle) and her habit of stubbornly staring off into space. I have observed many dogs and none have done this with the same intensity and duration that she does.
When she first got to Athens, I thought she did this because she was overwhelmed. I reasoned that her change of life was drastic and she simply didn’t have the processing power to take it all in. She would stop short, jerk me backwards, and remain motionless until I physically nudged her with my leg. I would look for evidence of distractions like squirrels on the power lines but there never were any.
It has taken 8 months of feeling her body through the leash to understand what she is doing. She is not senile or overwhelmed. She is engaged in the powerful act of RECEIVING.
RECEIVING is a skill she has cultivated through her experience of trauma and the intensity of her sense of smell. When humans are traumatized, we bound from task to task, problem to problem, or person to person because we have the capacity to override uncomfortable sensation with cognition. Zoe does not. She cannot do anything but open herself to every molecule of information entering her nose. It’s really deep for her and I wish I could know what she perceives when she slows down.
What I do know is that it satisfies her and calms her down.
I have been challenging myself to pause and do more RECEIVING. It is not as easy for me as it is for Zoe when stress hormones run amok, but that’s sort of the point. RECEIVING is a strategy to reunite thought and feeling through brief moments of intentional stillness.
At a time where many of us are pushed toward too much emotion or too much rationalization, RECEIVING is a way to re-orient. Much like meditation, RECEIVING focuses our attention on the senses. I find information received through the skin particularly calming. RECEIVING can be done anywhere, but is especially available outdoors in the sun. I’m finding even the ultra cold weather is conducive to RECEIVING when the sunshine can only warm the tiniest bits of visible skin.
When we invest in perception, we gain access to intuition.
The characteristic of the intuitions and insights that have come through this practice have been sanity producing in the ways I imagine they might be for Zoe. They come from a place where the inside gently meets the outside. I am finding it vitally important to exist in both spaces.
It is especially wonderful to learn how to be human from emulating my dog.
Before I close, I want to express that the pace of the letters has slowed and may continue to be a bit slow in the coming weeks. I’m back in vestibular rehab which is another letter in the making. It’s really important for me to rest and limit my screen time during this period in order to get the most out of the experience. That said, I really feel sad when I don’t write, especially because there is a lot going on and the connections that have developed here are so rich. If you need to reach me during this quieter time, please email me. I love hearing from you and look forward to advancing the love, care, connection and strength we’ve shared over so many years.
With folded palms,