Tuesday, August 18, 2015

No Shirt No Shoes No Service: Not a Tale of My Dog

Image result for bulldog 


 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2NaHBVVYzY 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7licGkKp48


  Lyrics to Them Shoes
-Patrick Sweany

My mind is filled with ghosts
They're more than most of all my loves gone wrong

My mind should be the way
Most people say that I should just move on

My mind is focused on
Things past and gone when I have no control

I can't forget there used to be
I used to see but now no more

Think I'm living in a past life...

In a past life, too,
it's a kind of thing that
Catches up to you
I guess I just believe that
It's the thing to do
So here's a little feedback
You gotta wear those shoes

No one said it would be easy
Sometimes it is hard to do
It isn't like the TV
You see the cold hard truth
And the things you see in movies
Just don't come true
So here's a little feedback
You gotta wear your shoes

I will live a half-life
It'll have to do
Now you can have a love life
You have loved me, too
You can see me in the evening
When the weather's cool
But here's a little feedback
You gotta wear the shoes  
   


          I don't think I've mentioned, or perhaps I have briefly, in passing in other blogs, that I have a dog.  She is a nine year old English Bulldog and I love her. Yes, I said it, I LOVE HER even though she burps in my face, snores, and farts continuously!  It was a shock to find that I have become one of those second half lifers who dote on their pet.  But I cant help it, she literally demands attention.  Truly...she has a way of letting everyone know what she wants and sets about getting it subtly, but effectively.  What I like best about her is that she gets to go barefoot always; I think that is why I like dogs in general really. Any who my dog is not the topic here what is, is what I do with her and how it changed something that I have done for years.  That is walking.
          We have always had dogs.   Eevee, my bulldog, is now the 6th dog hubby and I have had in our 33, almost 34, years together.  We have always walked our dogs.  Not religiously like some people who are out there the same time every day walking their dogs come rain, or shine, I'd say snow but its Florida, power walking their dogs the same path everyday, but we have walked them.  We have walked them with the intent of giving everyone, dogs and humans alike, a work out.  Usually 1-2 miles of brisk, pretty fast paced, walking fast enough that the dog(s) come back with their tongues hanging out and dripping saliva, in the case of our bully her tongue is dragging on the ground. 
          I have always liked walking the dogs; for me it is alone time with them.  I spend time training them to sit at curbs, look for cars, watch out for bike riders and other walkers on the side walk, even sometimes social time with other humans and dogs.  Its time with hubby, and with our sons, when most of them were still living at home and younger. 
         Other than who I walk the dogs with the routine has been pretty much the same.  Put on walking sandals, I don't like to wear tennis shoes except at the gym.  Grab some water if its really hot, grab phone, pull hair back, spray myself down with bug spray, leash dog, who is jumping around like a bunny with a bee sting, vibrating with excitement, open door, let everyone know I'm taking dog(s) for walk, and head out.  We immediately start a brisk pace before we even reach the end of the drive way.  I keep the dog leash loose so I can swing my arms getting the most out of my walk and to raise my heart rate.  This has been my routine for as long as we have had a dog, but recently I had an epiphany and became mindful of the way I walk. 
          The other day Eevee and I were taking our usual walk up the road, it was hot and muggy, even though the sun was starting to go down, Eevee was happy to be out and walking with me. I was having difficulty keeping my usually brisk pace and noticed that even Eevee wasn't feeling it.  Suddenly it hit me...why do we have to?  I go to the gym, I swim, I'm not super active but I'm definitely not sedentary either so why do I have to feel like I need to power walk, get my heart rate up, break a sweat, and tire myself out every time I walk the dog? 
Well I don't.
          I stopped, took my shoes off, and started strolling bare footed with my dog.  Her attitude changed also.  When she stopped to sniff, I stopped and took a deep breath, I took time to look around, to notice neighbors, hear birds, other dogs, kids playing, even cars driving up the street with their stereos blaring made me smile.  I smelled cut grass, barbeque, green, the slight smell of the ocean breeze.  It was nice and I smiled some more.  I finally really understood what mindful meditative walking is and I felt the stress ease off of me more effectively then a power walk.
          As I strolled I recalled a memory of how, when I was a kid, I never wore shoes.  Never.  My mom had to make sure I was wearing shoes, or at least bringing them every where we went because there were a couple of instances where I didn't have them and couldn't go into a store or restaurant.  I loved being bare footed and didn't care that my feet were callused and dried out. Being barefooted brought me joy and I didn't much pay attention to, or care about, the nay sayers who told me that I should be wearing shoes.
          Some where down the line, I can't pin point exactly when it happened, I started wearing shoes all the time.  Perhaps in adolescence as my universe expanded and I started spending more and more time in society; schools, work, etc. 
          Unconsciously, as the years progressed and in an attempt to hold on to the joy my feet always brought me, I started painting my toe nails, getting pedicures, rubbing lotion on them, soaking them, taking a pumice stone to them and basically giving them so much attention that I started making sure that all the attention I was giving them wasn't being wasted.  I adorned them with toe rings, sandals and flip flops of all kinds and colors.  No one really noticed my feet except me; I kept on trying any ways.
          When we lived in New Mexico I was thrilled to find there was someplace in the United States where people wore sandals year round even when it snowed, everyone just put socks on with those sandals, and no one snickered about how it looked, because almost everyone was doing the same thing.  In fact if there was snow and you didn't have socks on with your sandals people would ask,"aren't your feet cold?  Why don't you put some socks on?"  In Florida it never snows so I can wear flip flops all the time and do.  But the memory got me to thinking.  At what point do we spend so much time taking care of something that it stops being a good thing? 
         As a Social Worker, and Child Development person, I have spent a lot of time on my feet.  One of the reasons I started painting my toe nails was because the baby's, and toddlers, in my care liked to see pretty toes, they would grab them and contentedly investigate my toes and it brought me joy.         
        I've had friends, still do actually, who said I should go get Pedi's with them; it was a fun relaxing way to spend time with friends and in the end I also had pretty toes.  My feet hurt a lot so the massage from a pedicure felt great.  At the end of every day I would soak and/or rub the aches and stress of my day out of my feet. 
       Years ago I had a massage person who found that when he rubbed the arch of my feet he could get my stomach to growl.  This prompted me to investigate how feet are connected to other areas of our body and this in turn encouraged me to continue taking good care of my feet. 
       I have always bought good shoes when I have to enclose my toes for any length of time; my work out shoes, hiking shoes, heels, etc. are not cheap shoes.  Except for my flip flop obsession the majority of my shoes last me and my feet love me for the choice.  In the midst of all this caring for and pampering, and lets face it conformity, of my feet I forgot something very simple.  I love being barefooted.  I love feeling my feet against the earth, whether it is pavement, grass, soil, sand, even rocks, having my feet next to something that is solid and enduring is grounding for me. 
        The Pith of the Matter is this.  The simpler we make our life the more mindful we become to the fact that we don't need a lot to make us truly happy.  While nail polish, foot massages, cream, foot soaks, toe rings, expensive shoes, and more, are all great, and all things that I will continue to give to myself, I receive more joy from simply being able to walk barefooted.  Feeling the warm or cool ground underneath my feet after a long day is healing. 
        We spend so much time away from home, the place where we are allowed to just be ourselves, wearing something like shoes for instance, an item that we put on to conform, we are, to an extent, conditioning ourselves to forget the simple pleasures of life.  The simplicity's that brought us joy when we were young.  
        Daily we do things routinely that help us be successful in society.  We dress a certain way to fit in at work, to fit in at school, going to the movies, even at the grocery store.  I mean seriously, no shoes, no shirt, no service!  We get tattoos but make sure they are covered.  We get piercing's, put have to put bandage's on our nose because someone might find the nose ring offensive.  We can't use perfumes because the odor may bother someone.  There is a multitude of things we CAN"T do in public because someone some where may find it offensive.  So we conform.  We put our shoes on walk out the door everyday and do the best we can with what we got.  Our life becomes almost a never ending stream of just doing the best we can and often many of us ask, "what was/is our best and was it really the best?  If it was who will know? Who will notice all the effort I put into my feet?"
          So here's what I have decided to be mindful to; at the end of the day who really gives a shit?  Just kick off your shoes and put your feet up, wiggle your toes, put them into some dirt, I mean really put them in there.  Go barefooted while you do anything around your home.  Garden barefooted, vacuum barefooted, cut the grass barefooted, do dishes barefooted, walk your dog barefooted. Breath deeply and think about how great it feels to have your shoes off. Home is the one place in the world that you don't have to conform, you don't have to think about how others perceive you.  In your home you can be bare footed, and not wear a shirt and still get service.  Immerse yourself in the pleasure and beauty of simplicity.  Right now?  I'm barefooted and wearing no bra...heaven.  ;)
Namaste Peace out

C. JoyBell C.
“The only people for me are the ones who spill things, the ones who drop their cups sometimes, the ones who get dirty hands and messy hair, the ones who can go barefoot if they feel like it, the people who forget things, and can laugh at themselves every day...”
C. JoyBell C.