3 Life Lessons from a Dog

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ou know that feeling of being incomplete? That feeling of emptiness when the one you love is not right by your side? It’s like a slice of your heart has been sectioned out, and you suddenly don’t feel so alive anymore. I get that feeling a lot when I’m not with Missy.

Missy is my dog. She is my best friend, and more than that, she is family. We welcomed her into our home in 2004 and still to this day, she is brightening our lives with her enthusiasm, charisma, and boundless love. I remember the first night she was with us, and I cried (and kicked and screamed!) because I wasn’t allowed to spend the night with her in the kennel. I was only four. Even then, we were inseparable.

Fast forward 11 years and now she’s 15, and I, 18.  We have grown up together, side by side. When I’m miles away in a faraway land called Sydney, the pain from separation lies especially leaden on my throbbing heart. I feel incomplete but don’t we all when distance threatens to pull two soulmates apart?

Having spent nearly the entirety of our lives together, our existences have become symbiotic and our hearts pulse as one.

It’s pretty amazing how even though we don’t speak the same language, we can still learn so much from dogs. It’s like owners and their pets share the same sort of heartbeat, you know? (Ok, enough with the heart references!) When I’m far away and missing her, I think of the billion and one things Missy has taught me about life. In this post, I want to share with you 3 life lessons she’s taught me along the way…

Life Lesson 1:

Dogs will love you for who you are on the inside! They can see right into your soul and they love you just the way you are! Imagine how much better your relationships and friendships would be if you cherished people for what they radiated from the inside, and you judged them by their hearts and not solely by their looks. Just like dogs do!

Missy taught me this when I came home one day feeling down and unsure about whether I measure up to expectations. People can sometimes focus on surface-level things – I do it all the time as well – but Missy has this ability to see beyond all that superficial kerfuffle and wholeheartedly accept me for who I am, imperfections and all. She didn’t care how I looked or how popular or successful I was. All she wanted was my company and time. Firstly, “thanks Missy”, and secondly, “can I take what you just taught me and write about it on my blog?” I think she said yes?

Life Lesson 2:

Give the most energetic greetings! Greet people so enthusiastically and show them how happy, excited, lucky, and grateful you are to see them!

This has to be one of the most important lessons Missy has taught me. Give energetic greetings! When people say “Hi”, I think it means so much more to them when you reply, not with a half-hearted hey, but with a greeting as bouncy, wide-eyed and toothy-grinned as a dog’s. Everything minus the tongue lolling haha! We should wave our hands like a dog wags their tail, and most importantly, make people feel like you’ve been waiting all day to see them!

Life Lesson 3:

Isn’t it just amazing how we can love our dogs more than anything in the world? And how our dogs can see into our souls and seem like the only ones who understand us the most. You both love, heal, and need each other so strongly and yet you speak entirely different languages! You hold them so dearly to your heart, yet you don’t speak dog and your dog definitely does not speak English! And yet, the love you have for each other is the most profound in the world?

It just goes to show that you don’t need words to have the strongest, most pure relationship. What is most important is your heart and the love that shines from your soul to theirs. That’s what matters most in love. You don’t have to speak the same language or look the same, have four paws, or two legs; all you need is unconditional love and time for each other. Then, love can conquer all.

In order to speak from the soul, all you need is the language of the heart.

What more can I say, other than, ‘dogs really are the best teachers.’

~~~

Distance can be a sorrowful thing to two souls bound together by the proverbial Cupid’s arrow. But only if you let it. When I’m distant from Missy, yes, it’s heart-wrenching but the lessons she teaches me in life give me great comfort and reassurance.

I think there is a lot we can learn from dogs. No matter how long they’ve been a part of your life, they really do transform you in the most miraculous of ways. As the saying goes, “What a beautiful world it would be if people had hearts like dogs.”

I truly hope you enjoyed these 3 life lessons from a dog. I can’t wait to share more with you soon because dogs will never cease to show us how to be kinder humans.

Love, Young and Unheroic (and Missy!)

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