-image-Good Morning Day!
I’m not sure if I mentioned to you before that my house is a mini-zoo in and of itself. My son and I love animals and so we’ve got a little collection going. There’s three birds (two cockatiels in one cage and a lovebird in another), two degus, a chinchilla, a guinea pig, a bearded dragon (definitely the Kung-Fu Master’s pet), and two dogs.
Yep… it’s a lot of animals.
I tend to think of the dogs as medium size dogs; to me a mastiff or a great dane is a BIG dog, what I have is medium compared to them. But, most people react as if my dogs are big dogs. I suppose it’s all about perspective when it comes to size.
We bought our first dog as a puppy. Her mother was part german shepherd part huskie, and her father was part lab part huskie. We just say she’s half shepherd and half huskie - I suppose there must be a bit of lab genes in her, but you couldn’t tell from looking at her. We named her Katrin because we thought it would be funny to have a dog named Cat.
One day, Katrin escaped and spent a whole day wandering our little town only return well and truly pregnant. That’s where Samson came from. Now, Samson doesn’t look (at least at first glance) anything like his mother. In fact, he looks exactly like a golden retriever; unless of course you compare him to a pure golden, then his differences stand out. Needless to say, we’re pretty sure that his dad was a pure breed golden retriever, and I suppose his mom’s lab genes must of found an outlet in him too.
The dogs generally sleep in the Kung Fu Master’s room. The practice started when our house was too small to set up crates for both dogs. If we left them out over night they were Very Bad Dogs, so a solution needed to be found. Wakizashi and I didn’t like the dogs sleeping with us - they were bed hogs - so that left the little Master (well, he was little at the time). He had tons of bed space, the dogs kept him warm, and he liked their company. Years later they still share his room (although they now fight over the bed space and blankets).
Each morning when the Kung Fu Master gets out of bed, he opens his door and the dogs come bounding up from the basement. Their first concern, of course, is going outside. Once bck inside though they do a quick sweep of the house to find any other people who might be home.
Once they find me they begin to hop around and run back and forth and get generally over excited. They lick me and want me to pet them, but then have a hard time sitting still long enough to get said pettings. Every morning is the same thing (unless Wakizashi is home in which case they are even more excited). It’s like, even though they saw me last night before they went to bed, and even though I’ve been here every other morning in the history of their lives, they are still overjoyed - and slightly surprised - to find me in the house.
This has baffled me for years. Don’t you think they would eventually get used to my presence? Through out the day they behave normally, as if I’m just a piece of the furniture (which talks and feeds them, and if they are lucky takes them for walks). But every morning, without fail, I again become the most wonderful discovery.
The other day I was pondering this odd behaviour, and it finally occured to me. What if there’s nothing at all wrong with the dogs. What if the problem is in the way that I look at life?
Maybe it’s not that the dogs are so dumb they are surprised to find that their owner still lives with them each and every morning. Maybe it’s that we have started to take each wonderful new morning for granted. We take each new day, each new breath, and the fact that we get to spend one more day with the people we love for granted.
Maybe my dogs have it right. Maybe each morning should be greeted with overwhelming joy and energy. Maybe we should start each morning with a small (so as not to wake the neighbors) “Yahoo” and jump around for a bit. Maybe, we should act a little more shocked, and pleased, that we get the pleasure of waking up next to our spouse and hugging our children yet again.
You see, it’s finally occurred to me that what the dogs are doing is taking a few minutes to greet the day. They wake up each morning, go pee, and then begin their ritual of saying, “Good Morning Day” just as loudly and happily as they know how. Hmm.. That’s something worth thinking about!
Wow, it turns out that those “Everything I Need to Know I Learned From My Dog” posters were right!
Posted by Megan @
10:31 am |
-image-So Much to Do, So Much to Say
Have you ever heard the Bible verse that describes God as being able to do “more than you could ask or imagine” (Eph 3:20)? It seems like a relatively simple and self-explanatory description of God, but I’ve been discovering over the last year or so that what I thought I understood, I clearly did not understand.
I think it’s because the things are truly beyond anything we can imagine we just can’t truly grasp, or even begin to understand, just how big that description is. Until, of course, truly big things beyond your ability to imagine start happening around you. Which is what’s been happening to me lately.
If you had told me, say, four months ago, that I would be doing what I’m doing right now I wouldn’t have believed you. I tell you, it hadn’t even occurred to me that it would be possible. Which is why when I occasionally find myself baffling at the course of events I’m currently caught up in I can’t do anything but ponder just how big a statement “more than you can ask or imagine” truly is.
You see, since last August I’ve been working on starting an online store. It was my secret project that I’d been slaving away on (and then of course avoiding when it got a little too scary). I had the whole thing planned out, budgeted, and product starting to collect in my office. I only had a few key things left to do to launch: print labels, get photos done, finalize the website.
I had wanted everything to be up in time for Christmas sales. But due to certain factors (mostly my avoiding the to do list when I became overwhelmed) it, clearly, wasn’t ready for the winter. I spent a month or so being pretty disappointed in myself, and then decided enough was enough and I needed to push through and finally set a launch date. I figured everything could be ready for March - everything would be ready for March. No more procrastinating.
And then in February something happened. A serendipitous event, sparked an idea, which caught fire and sparked action and… long story short: We are opening a real store this April.
Yes, a real brick and mortar store with walls and doors and regular hours. There’s a cash register and shelves and everything. (See what I mean about the more than you could ask of imagine thing?) The bank loan is in and all I’m doing now is finalizing my product orders and waiting for all the STUFF to arrive.
I have to say, I’m a little overwhelmed.
The store - believe it or not - was born out of Everyday Renaissance and my coaching business. I started with the simple online store idea: sell products and kits that will encourage women to take time out for themselves. It was going to be an online store dedicated to the idea of Solo Moments.
Then I started taking an Aromatherapy course. I wanted to include essential oil blends in my kits, so the course seemed like a wise investment. But, the more I read, the more fascinated and obsessed I became with learning about health and well-being. I started having epiphanies about how my coaching should be more holistic; I figured if I was coaching people to make changes in all aspects of their lives then they’d see results faster, feel better, and the changes would stick better. I was suddenly toying with the idea of being a coach who focused on Holistic Well-Being.
(Actually, typing this all up is making me all excited again!)
At the same time that I was becoming so fascinated with health and well-being I’d also made a few key decisions about my product sources. I tried as much as possible to support small businesses - especially women in business and in the arts - I’ve got all kinds of hand-made products which I’m immensely proud to carry. I’d also chosen to go fragrance free; the boys in my house are allergic to perfumes so all my products were scented with essential oils rather than chemical fragrance. So, while I was at it, it wasn’t too big a jump to, as much as possible, choose products and companies that were eco and health friendly.
I didn’t really plan it that way, but that’s what started happening. So of course, it seemed only natural that, as I became more and more passionate about the subjects - and realized how overwhelming it can be and how much I wished there were simpler ways to make good decisions - that maybe we should try and do something more.
And that, my lovely friends and readers, is how Every Day Well-Being was born.
Well, there’s a bit more back story as to how it got from the web to the real world, but remember, I’m trying to make a long story short.
Every Day Well-Being is all about making it easy for you to Live Well - how ever that looks to you. We’ll be carrying eco and health friendly body products, make ups, and cleaning products. Essential oils and essential oil blends, as well as lots of things to help the environment and things to help you take care of your soul too. It’s all about being healthy and balanced in your whole self - body, soul, & spirit.
I am SO excited!
We’ll still be putting the store online (so all of you too far away to stop by and visit can still check out our awesome stuff!) - that’s been delayed to coincide with the actual opening of the store doors (April 19th - write it down people!). We’ll also be making some changes to the blog so that I can include articles and tons of info on any and of all the subjects that catch my (and your) fancy.
And, in addition to all that, I’m still doing my coaching (of course, because coaching is what I love and who I am) and I’ll be starting to speak at workshops and conferences. The plan is to have everything coming together all at once in April.
Now, if you’ve been wondering where I am or what I’ve been so distracted by that I can’t be bothered to blog you now know! I’ve gone from being frustrated (with not launching in time) to being washed away in a giant wave of more than I could possibly have even begun to imagine. Phew…
By the way, if you’ve got any ideas for the store or anything you are just dying to see me offer or do I’m ready and eager for your thoughts and ideas. After all, my inspiration for all this has always been you ladies. Now, I’m off to check on dinner and start shopping for the store again - sigh… shopping! I’ll talk to you again soon - I promise!
Posted by Megan @
6:39 pm |
