When people come to the house, it doesn’t matter if they are family, friends or clients, my dog greets them all with complete enthusiasm. He pants and dances joyfully around them. I swear if he talked, he would be saying, “Hi! Hello! Welcome. I’m so happy you are here! Thank you for coming. Come in! Come in! Come in! Gosh! I’m so happy to see you. I’m so happy you’re here!” During those initial moments, each recipient has rockstar status.
When I leave for a few hours and return, I get the same. Guess what? Not gonna lie. I. SUCK. IT. UP. There is something about his greeting that makes everything right in the world.
I admire my dog. I aspire to be more like him in that way. Well, not the panting and the wiggling of my butt, rather, the joyful way he greets whoever arrives. I admire his complete lack of filters or preconceived notions. I admire the all-encompassing joy he expresses towards someone for simply showing up.
This past week, whenever I saw Cody-Bear do this, my first though was, “I’d like to be more like my dog.”
Seriously!
What if everywhere I went, I treated everyone this way? Regardless of the mood that I was in at the time. What if I smiled and greeted them with enthusiasm just for showing up in my world? Grateful and filled with joy that they were there with me?
I see the smiles and laughter that my dog’s behavior brings to others when he greets them. If I started doing this, how would that one shift impact the connection between me and those that I met?
All-encompassing joy? Uh…yeah! I’ll have what he’s having!
This week I am down 22 pounds. Yes! And fun fact…Cody went for his yearly vet appointment, and he shed 8 pounds too! He is finally at his “goal weight.” It looks like getting in our steps has paid off for both of us. YAY!!!
