Things I Love Thursday

Witnessing moments of growth

Lovingkindness practice (in Buddhist terms) is based on cultivating loving kindness towards yourself, then your loved ones, friends, teachers, strangers, enemies, and finally all sentient beings. It is something I struggle with only when I am conscious of it. I would be happy to struggle with this daily, but it is regardless immensely gratifying to witness a moment of growth, and it was only with therapy and sporadic lovingkindness practice that I have even been able to identify these moments. It could be that you are fighting with your significant other, and the fight and the anger could carry over for days. Then, in a moment of clarity, you might realize what separate issue you were fighting about all along. The anger dissipates, and eventually recedes, and you two are left closer than ever. Or it could be that a family member surprises you by catching a habit that they would like to stop participating in before they are helped. Either way, it's a brief and beautiful reminder that no matter who we are, we can still grow.

Nintendogs

I adopted a new pup a few weeks ago. His name is Snausages O'Houllihan, and he's smart as a whip and really great at agility training. He's a corgi.

Oh. And he's a Nintendog—trapped in my Nintendo DS. I watch videos of real dogs doing real training, and I'm all, "My nintendog totally does that. Whiffed it. Geez. Dogs." We also recently moved into a country home. It was a good move, lots of birds and nature and stuff, very relaxing.

On other fronts: oh my god my husband needs to get me a dog. Or professional help.