My two dogs are sisters.  Two of four pups abandoned at birth. We got ’em at 10 weeks and they’re now 4 years old.  With the exception of three occasions that I can recall, they have spent all day every day together.  Their interaction is a constant source of fascination, amusement and wonder for me.  This past Sunday afternoon our little skinny scared one Bluebell hurt her knee and we had to confine her to make her rest.  She has food and water and gets let out for potty breaks, but her anxiety level is fairly high even on her good days, so I know she’s pretty stressed.  Her potty breaks aren’t producing much. She’s not pooping because she’s not eating.  Less poop is great says I, not eating for much more than a day and a half is not.  And my own anxiety, no matter how much I try, just compounds it all. Interestingly, Blue’s sister – our big girl Daisy – has also not eaten (one who usually eats her bowl and half of her sister’s).  It struck me how completely in tune with each other’s senses they are.  There are no such things as why and wherefore with them, it just is.  Legs will get better, barriers will be removed, food eaten and poops pooped.  Normal life will return. But they don’t even think about that.  They are solely in the now.

But what of us and our complicated lives?

I’m the middle sister of three.  We are very close and even though I’m an ocean and a continent away, most of the time it doesn’t seem that way.  We have a strong and loving relationship and it’s part of my inner being, my core.  So now that I am in business in the virtual world you’d think maybe I’d have a slight jump on it.  But no, not really.  In business we are hampered by a whole other set of criteria that get in the way of our relationship-building.  Big things like making a living, and cyber communication; a culture of instant gratification being handled from cramped home offices with too many days of less than stellar self-confidence..plus the little things like deciding whether or not to use emoticons in your emails to people you don’t know yet 🙁 

These things are real and we don’t have control over much of that crap, but what we do control is ourselves.  So tune in to yourself, feel good about who you are and where you are.  And if you don’t like what you see, step outside and revisit that relationship you have with yourself.

It’s easier than you think.