ABORIGINAL TRUTH - MATURE EMOTIONALLY

4. Mature Emotionally

We each express all the emotional feelings, including anger,
frustration, depression, hopelessness, guilt, greed, sadness, and
worry, as well as joy, happiness, hope, peace, love, and so forth. As
you mature and gain insight into what it is to be human, the goal is
to grow, to discipline and select your emotions. As someone famous
once said, "you are as happy as you will let yourself be."

Relationships and incidents are circles. They start, continue, and
stop at some point. If you mature emotionally, there is no difficulty
with closing each circle, leaving no frayed edges, no negative
feelings.

It is hoped that you experienced being angry as a child, early in
life. You can determine how it feels physically to have your body
filled with rage compared to how it feels to use understanding,
flexibility, and inner peace. The only way your soul has to connect
to your brain awareness, is through feeling. If your back hurts, for
instance, you should ask why. What does it represent? What can you do
to change it? What can you learn? Then take care of what needs to be
done physically to correct your body, but don't overlook the thought
process and spiritual lessons.

There is also the place of honoring your emotions, especially joy and
grief. To suppress either of these can cause physical health
challenges to emerge.

One of the most important emotions for the health of any individual
and for the health of our planet is the use of laughter. As a human,
you are given the awareness, the gift of humor and the ability to
express it. Through laughter and lightheartedness, the body can
remain healthy, and health challenges can be corrected. Humor is a
problem suppressor; it adds strength to relationships and brings joy
to others. The things we consider humorous and laugh at are to be
analyzed closely. The challenge is to avoid being destructive in any
manner. Humor is so important to your well-being, do not close your
eyes for the night's rest unless you have experienced some laughter
or joy during the day. If you haven't, get out of the bed and find
something to be happy about.

Clowns are special people, found in every culture. There is a clown
in each of us and an appropriate time in our life to expose that
aspect of ourselves. We never grow too old to enjoy ourselves as
clowns.

But truthfulness is the key. You can't seek the truth about who you
are, why you are here, and how you are doing unless you speak only
the truth.

 Always.

THE ART OF FLUM....Part two

I sat outside in the sun with Flum for an hour to get to know her while Beverly prepared the paperwork. The next morning, at
 7:00 AM the phone rang and it was Beverly's partner saying he was driving into Home Depot and to meet him in the Southwest corner of the parking lot in a half hour.....he was bringing Flum with him. The Dog Sanctuary is 25 miles south of Santa Fe, so they only come into town for a specific reason, and it turned out that Flum couldn't wait till Wednesday!

She was immediately welcomed with open arms.... within a few hours Knockers showed her how to use the doggie door and how to walk up and down the ramp up to the bed. She was a good eater and an ever better sleeper. The first night, we listened to her walk down the bed ramp towards the kitchen and out the doggie door all by herself. She came back in, walked up the ramp and snuggled back in with us. All this at only 8 weeks old. Knockers had always been a great teacher, and Flum was an excellent student. 

Flum's Libra Sun balances my own Sun and her Sagittarius Moon sits in my first house. We understand each other completely, we know each others thoughts and we finish each others sentences. She laughs like a human and she's a giggler too. She has a better personality than most people I know. The group at puppy class started calling her *Miss Congeniality* because her manners are impeccable and with her Venus in Sag as well, she's quite popular and adored by all, including cats and crows. 

Flum has many special gifts which bring people together, giving them a reason to join in  conversations and helping them to heal their loneliness. She is particularly wonderful at teaching little bitty kids that dogs are nothing to be afraid of... No one has ever been able to walk by us without mentioning how beautiful and shiny she is and how devoted she is to me. She deserves a humanitarian award for her effortless efforts.

To know her is to love her.

She's a star.

THE ART OF FLUM....Part one

It was a bright Saturday morning when I was jolted from sleep.... it was time again, and I needed to prepare. Given the usual week to get organized, it'd been 9 years since I'd brought a new canine soul into the house. I had no time to waste... pick a name, have a chat with Knockers, clean the house from top to bottom and buy new toys. Eerily enough, I already knew her name, I had used it several times that week. In keeping with indigenous Welsh Folklore, I was to name her Flummery. Now, where oh where would I find her?

I skimmed the newspaper and was happy to find that 4 separate, dog adoption extravaganzas were scheduled for the following Saturday. The December weather had been beautiful and I was sure this day would be spectacular as well. The dogs and prospective parents would be warm enough in the warm sunshine. My favorite dog sanctuary, Bridging the Worlds, was bringing puppies to the biggest adoption site, so I marked that first on my agenda. I needed to find a puppy who would be 40-45 pounds at full grown size. At the time I installed my doggie door, I was told I'd never be able to install a larger one because it would interfere with wires and metal inside the wall. The only thing I knew for sure is that this puppy had been born a girl.

When the following Saturday rolled around, Knockers and I were up at 6 AM ready to meet the world and to welcome our new family member. Unfortunately, the adoptions didn't open till 12 noon. I spent time writing down the names and phone numbers of friends in case they asked for references, then emailed them with the good news. I put the list, the paper and my checkbook on the counter and walked off without them, I was far too excited and nervous to remember them. I was told it wouldn't matter.

Being an hour early, I decided to stop at TARGET on the way into town and buy a digital camera, it was the last thing on my list. By the time I got to the adoption site, everything was set up. Eighty puppies scrambled about and 30 full sized dogs waited excitedly for their future homes. It was a candy store full of fluff, kisses and woof ! I walked around twice and examined every batch of puppies and then stood there confused and disappointed. I couldn't see her anywhere, I was being told she was there, but where? 

Beverly, from BTW found me lost and discouraged, so she waltzed me over to her section and introduced me to a woman who was snuggling her puppies. I talked with this woman for 5 minutes and looked at the puppies but most of them were way too big, their feet would certainly grow into 60-70 pounds of love. In frustration, I mentioned to her that I needed a medium sized dog because of the medium sized doggie door and she said, "Oh, you need to adopt this little girl!" She'd been sitting under several blankets and removed the top cover to reveal a tiny, little red puppy who'd been sleeping next to her warm body. I had found her, it was Flum ! 

    

  

To be continued.......