Keep Your Eye on the Ball
Keep your eye on the ball.
Or if you’re a dog, in your mouth.
I have a somewhat reactionary dog. When we’re walking through the trails, if he’s off his leash, running free, he likes to warn me of anything slightly suspicious. Suspicious things might include large men, tiny women, anyone with a backpack, anyone standing still in a trail meant for walking, people without dogs, people who startle him, people who are limping, the downtrodden. You get the idea. There isn’t a lot of rhyme or reason to it, that I can figure out at least. Sometimes we will come across someone for whom I am sure he will sound the alarm, but he trots on past, giving them a wag.
So.
As you might imagine, this can be stressful. For everyone involved. He’s large, his bark is large. There are occasions I don't mind it - honestly, it’s quite useful to have a 100lb dog barking the alarm if someone is creepy. Most of the time, however, it is unwarranted and annoying or, worse, scary for the person being barked at.
Give him a ball to carry, however, and it’s smooth sailing. Unless something is really worrisome, he will trot on down the trails past all manner of formerly bark-worthy distractions, holding his ball and enjoying himself. He’s got a job to do, a ball to guard, things to sniff, and places to go. I think it is part pacifier, part purpose. Suddenly he is calm, collected, and grounded.
There’s a metaphor in here somewhere, I’m sure.
Sometimes in life we get overwhelmed, distracted, anxious. The sky seems to be falling, and we lash out at those around us, willy nilly. We might know, logically, that we are behaving irrationally, or we might not. Often our outrage has very little to do with what we are outraged by. We are freaking out because a tiny woman is holding an umbrella, all the while missing the beauty that surrounds us.
When life feels like this, it helps to slow down, find a ball, and carry it. It helps to take a few deep breaths, focus on the next task at hand, hold it in your awareness and let distractions come and go. We don’t need to get pulled this way and that, dragged into every battle, sounding the alarm for every misstep. When we are feeling overwhelmed, it helps to give ourselves constraints, bring our focus down to the present, find the thing that keeps us on track. A mantra might help, or a meditation practice, or maybe a list, that we can methodically cross things off.
May I suggest starting with deep breaths, and then going from there? We can’t do it all right now, anyway, so let’s slow down, find the ball, whatever that ball is, keep our eye on it, all the while enjoying the sights and smells and sounds of the trail we’re on.
