V2, I5

"I am the Allower of my own Wellbeing"

A monthly newsletter written by Sherry Dell, PhD, CN

Volume 2, Issue 5
November 2008

Sally's Words of Wisdom

Sally's Lessons in Feeling Good

For anyone with the required courage and fortitude, here is my best advice:

	Always sleep when you are tired; this also means, never work, worry or eat when you are tired
	Stretch many times every day and I mean really long, deep stretches
	Never pass up a chance to meet someone new but then use your common sense if it turns out they don't smell right
	Let your glee out at every opportunity (I squeak and wag my tail, but you can find your own way); especially if you haven't seen one of your special ones for a while
	Keep your loved ones close and kiss them as often as they will allow
	Suffer no fools; especially if they're interrupting your nap
	Play EVERY SINGLE DAY; this goes for smiling too
	Campaign for the best possible food you can get and chew it slowly (I know not all dogs do the slow chewing part, but I'm working on them)
	Get every nice person you meet to pet your ears because it makes you feel really good inside
	Now go get outside; now.

Sherry is always writing on the computer. I'm not so sure it's a good thing. In fact, I only allow her so much time each day to be near that thing. After that, I make sure she goes for a walk in the woods. The woods is the only place I know for sure where she will find her smile again. And I'm not kidding around about this.

So I've finally talked her into letting me do some of the writing. Of course, she still has to do the typing which means she's still near the computer. But I'm watching closely how long it takes her to type what I say. We're going for a walk yet this morning no matter what. It's really warm and sunny outside and how often does that happen in November in Colorado?

As you can see from my photo, I am a stunning mix of Border Collie and Huskie with a luscious brown coat that makes people think I'm a Labrador. But I'm not. Not even close. No offense, because my brother is half Lab, but I hardly think you'd catch a Lab trying to write this newsletter. The Huskie in me has wisdom I can't even tell you about and the Border Collie in me is going to make sure you listen closely.

Okay the first thing I've been meaning to tell everyone is this: Be kind to yourself.

I sure know what it's like to not have control over everything that happens in the day, but by kind, I mean: don't do anything yourself that causes you pain or suffering. I know sometimes I have a tendency to be a little bit too serious myself, and that isn't the kindest thing for a body, but I do know when enough is enough.

I've been thinking about what makes humans so hard on themselves. It looks to me that they have so much freedom to do just what they want when they want, but still they make crazy choices. I know I have to work day and night in my own household to keep my pack in shape. They want to work almost all the time and this seems just plain crazy to me. Sometime I'll have to let you in on my secrets for creating harmony in a home, but for now I'll just say, somebody in the house (namely me and my brother, Jedd) has to be slathering love around the place 24/7 to make up for the imbalances.

Anyway, you'll know when you're being kind to yourself because you'll start taking naps when you're tired (instead of drinking that smelly coffee). You'll start playing with someone you love on a regular basis and you'll be making sounds of pure joy whenever you can. You'll make sure to eat when you're hungry and it will be the best food you can get your hands on. And you'll be standing up for yourself when something needs protecting.

I really hope you'll take my advice because me and all the doggies love you so much You see, our noses tells us that you're chalk full of love that is just waiting to spread all over the place if only you can get yourself feeling good enough to let it. If I could come to your house, I would herd you right into shape. But since I can't, I'm just going to remind you: be kind to yourself and go get outside, now!