Meet Pepper! This is the latest addition to my family. Not only is she adorable and sweet but she comes with one whopping message that hits my heart spot on every time I look at her.
Now, she may look pretty calm and serene in this picture. I got her just as she was waking up, sunning herself in one of her new favorite spots.
This is NOT what she looks like at 4am when she thinks this would be a really fun time to wake up and start the day!!! Tail wagging a thousand miles a minute…. Nose diving from across the room onto the bed… Rousing the other dogs for an all out pre dawn raucous party. Whose idea was it to adopt another dog? LOL…
Pepper is a rescue. She was rescued by an amazing organization, (support them if you can–a unabashed plug here; they do amazing work) the Soi Dog Foundation, from horrific conditions.
Without going into too much of the back story, suffice it to say that her beginnings were the incarnation of the word trauma.
She still has night terrors; she sometimes wakes up howling or squealing–a horrible sound– clearly with no idea of where she is.
It’s heart breaking.
She can’t be around strangers, she starts to shake and growl. We may never be able to go out again! LOL.. Whose idea was it to adopt a dog?
She will carry the physical and emotional scars from her past for the rest of her life… And yet…
There is a spirit in her that refuses to be shut down. She has turboed into our lives and our hearts.
She embraces life with every fiber of her being.
How it is that some of us allow ourselves to do that and others of us wall ourselves off until we can barely feel the world is a mystery. But what I do know from my 30 years of working with people is that we can cultivate that heart opening and return to that place where life is something that calls us forward in the most incredible of ways.
Pepper has certainly earned the right to shut down to life.
To say “I’ve had it”.
“No… I’m done.”
“I can’t do this… I don’t want to do this…”
Nothing in her 6 years of life has taught her that there’s anything about life that’s worth living and yet…. here she is!
Here she is ready to make up for every millisecond she’s lost. Yes, she’s surrounded by love. Every time she falls back into her hell hole of memories, we’re there at the exit waiting to hold her and comfort her.
Pepper is my hero. I can’t look at her without being inspired and awed and challenged to step into my own life even more fully.
So, virtually, I hope Pepper can inspire and awe and challenge you too.
She’s a breath of fresh air.
A wake up call to the life that wants to course and live through you–out loud and full of joie de vivre and on purpose and unabashedly; without excuses or apologies.
Whether your traumas have been big or small, my wish for you is that you create an environment inside yourself that is loving and comforting. An internal environment that supports you thriving on every possible level.
I’m sending you Pepper sprinkles–may you catch a bit of her effervescence and pure love for life!
To life my fellow adventurers!
