Finding Calm In Stress; how my dog locked me out of  house and helped me find peace of mind

When my dog locked me out of the house Sunday night, I was able to find peace of mind in the stress.

It all began Sunday morning. After getting only four hours of sleep Saturday night, I had to get up and spend eight hours in a strategic planning session in San Francisco. I don’t know about anyone else, but after six hours my mind had to work extra hard to make sense of information. Eight hours was my limit.

I got home mentally exhausted and wiped out. I decided to spend some time in my backyard. There were ten plants still in little green boxes threatening to die after sitting in the yard for four weeks. It was time to save them.

I am by no means a gardener, but I couldn’t just let the little plants expire.

As tired as I was I went in the yard and began digging, pulling weeds and taking the plants out of the little boxes.

I had to put my sixty pound lab/ Shepard mix in the house because he was trampling the potential flowers.  I could hear him in the house barking to get out, and pushing to open the door. But I was getting into the whole “earth, dirt and nature thing,” and ignored him.

After four hours outside, it started to get dark, foggy and very cold. Being wet and muddy hadn’t bothered me while the sun was out, but it got uncomfortable very quickly as the fog rolled in. I had reached my backyard limit when I accidentally stepped on a spot where my dog had relieved himself that I had missed during the clean up.

I couldn’t wait to get into my house, take a shower and put on dry clothes.

There was a slight problem however, I couldn’t open the door. I pushed harder thinking it was stuck until it became apparent that my dog had somehow managed to lock it, when he tried to get out.

He stared at me through the window glass and I could just hear him laughing at how he got his revenge on me for keeping him inside.

I called my fifteen-year-old son who was several miles away.  He  “tore” himself away from his friends to come home and let me in. 

As I waited for him, my first thoughts were of how miserable I was, and how the last few hours of relaxation were ending with one major stressful incident.  I caught myself whining and realized that I had some choices about how I perceived the situation. I thought about how funny I looked sitting on my porch, wet and muddy.  Since there was nothing I could do for awhile, I could take some time to appreciate the work I had done, meditate and clear my mind. No one could call me because my cell phone was in the house. I couldn’t check my email, nor could I work on any projects. I could either stress out waiting or let go and relax.

It took my son forty-five minutes to get there but the time went quickly and when he arrived I was calm, and refreshed, and my mind was at ease.  You never know when you’ll have the opportunity to relax, and sometimes we have to find the relaxation and calm in our stress.

Simma Lieberman