Max: The Teacher of Joy and More

Meet Max, one of my greatest and wisest teachers, 14 pounds of terrier mix, the rescue dog who rescued me. His joyful nature helped me through a particularly low period in my life.

Besides being VERY cute, he is quite clever as well, and we quickly learned how to understand one another.

Max has devised a way of telling me “yes.” This is very handy for both of us, as in the question, “Do you need to go outside?” This shaking of his head – yes, he really came up with it himself – has a varying intensity of enthusiasm, according to his excitement level around the question.

What I’ve found so amusing is that the opposite to this response is either a blank stare or a slight “cock-of-the-head” – which I have presumed to mean “no.”

Now, in reading the Abraham material (me, not Max), I am grasping just how wise this little dog really is. I can ask him if he wants a particular thing, and his answer might be an enthusiastic “YES” or maybe he’ll just tilt his head slightly and give me an inquisitive look.

I finally GET that this “non-yes” response is not a “no.”

It’s more like, “Why would I want to focus on what I don’t want? I only want to think about what I DO want.”

As I said, Max is a very clever boy.
🙂