Vacationing at Home

This is Labor Day weekend, but we are not going anywhere. Our traveling days are over. But it's okay, because with the right attitude, you can enjoy a relaxing vacation at home.

Bow sunning himself in the outer pen yesterday

They say that one of the factors in premature aging is stress. There is even research on the topic that suggests that people who meditate are prolonging their lives by cutting down on the effects of stress. I am a bit skeptical, however, as how would the researchers independently verify that the people who were meditating were doing it right? And, in fact, wouldn't trying to adhere to a specific practice of meditating as taught by particular practitioners cause stress in itself?

Bow and I don't meditate, but we cut down on stress simply by giving in to our interest of the moment.

When Bow feels like doing something, he does. That freedom in and of itself is a stress reducer.

Bow  gives himself over to whatever activity has him engrossed at the moment, so there is very little internal conflict.

It's all about focus. For me, concentrating momentarily on a flower can have a calming effect.

Everything else in that moment fades away, and all I can see is the thing I am concentrating on.

 When we give ourselves over to the study of a tiny, damaged butterfly, the rest of the world recedes into the distance. Just focus. Even when we look away from the butterfly momentarily, it is hard to see anything else.

This does not mean that we should never get angry or never argue, in order to reduce stress. On the contrary, you should give yourself over completely to your anger, and then the anger can pass. You should argue with all your might, as if nothing but the argument matters. I can imagine taking my argument all the way to the Supreme Court, perfectly at peace with myself. Someday, I'd still like to do that!

"Drink deeply, but never too deep." --Kipling

When Bow takes a sip of water, he savors it as if he has never had water before. Then when he's done, he forgets all about it. We should all be like that!

Every sunset and every sunrise is an opportunity to get lost in the moment. We live in a beautiful, quiet spot. We don't need to go away to have a vacation. Sometimes all you have to do is just close your eyes and relax.

What I did on my day off

Yesterday was my day off, and I made my usual run to the grocery store and the post office and to Wal*Mart. But instead of going anywhere else to relax, afterwards, I decided to have a little rest and relaxation close to home. Sword and I discovered the back yard behind the back yard.

While Bow and Lawrence had a fine time in the outer pens playing, and then went in to have lunch on their own, I set up some lawn chairs and a folding table and a hula hoop and bubbles on the lawn just behind the fenced back yard. There, between two large pines, and with our woods as a peaceful background behind us, we had a nice lunch, and then blew bubbles and played with the hula hoop. We also brought out each of the dogs, one at a time, to play with us out there. (Teyman was offended even by the appearance of  Brownie, with whom she's usually on grudgingly peaceful terms, in this new setting,  so this necessitated the complete apartheid treatment.)

Sometimes it is not necessary to go far in order to have a vacation, or to spend much in order to enjoy yourself. For instance, the three dollar solar garden light I got at Wal*Mart provided me with plenty of amusement well into the night.

Bow gets a break from me on Wednesdays, as he has Lawrence to wrestle and play with. I can take a short break, too, and it does not require me to travel miles. A few yards behind the fence is good enough. Bow was aware of our activities, but he did not seem to mind.

This morning, after breakfast was cleared away, Bow asked to go out again. In this series of pictures, can you spot Leo in the yard behind Bow?