Do you remember the “Be like Bill” memes that took over the internet a few years ago? Bill would do something that seemed common sense, like being kind or not promoting himself for doing something kind, and it would end with, “Be like Bill.” They were usually obvious things that most of us should know to do, but the fact that so many times we choose not to is what makes it actually funny – at least in a head-shaking, forehead slapping kind of way.

Sometimes it’s the day to day, simple choices and decisions that can trip us up, like getting lost in in the minutia of a matter instead of taking a step back and getting perspective, or weighing pros and cons incessantly until the opportunity to act slips away.

And then there are the worriers, who try to be optomistic, but there are so many things that could potentially go wrong, the “what ifs” eventually steal whatever joy was to be had simply because worry overshadowed it.

Not Boaz.

If you’ve not yet met, Boaz is our 7 year old Australian Shepherd, and let me tell you, this dog could teach human-training classes on living in the moment. He can be snoozing in his favorite backyard sunbeam or laying quietly at the bottom of the stairs, then spring like a spaniel the moment a human picks up any spherical object that may potentially become a projectile that, when tossed into the air, becomes a matter of immediate importance, and an opportunity not to be missed!

Boaz is joy personified....dogonified?…., and we often say he’s never known a bad day in his entire life. He lights up when someone enters the room, even if they just stepped out two minutes ago and came back in. He loves to be near his people (sometimes even ON his people) and it takes so little to make him do his side-walking-wiggle-dance. He can wake up from a sound sleep, step out of his tent (yes, he sleeps in an indoor dog tent!) and immediately start doing a drowsy version of his signature wiggle until he wakes up a bit and puts his whole doggy self into it.

There are moments when his little dog heart is sad and he lets us know it, usually by staring at a ball, then up at you, then at the ball, then up at you….but he rebounds in a jiffy with the slightest encouragement and all is joy and bliss again.

I think there’s an important lesson we can learn from this cheerfully optimistic canine, when it comes to living in the moment. There will always be things to worry about, and I am certainly not minimizing the hard things we face, but wouldn’t it be great if we could once in a while just let go of all the “what ifs” and see what’s in front of us that brings us joy?

This is Boaz.

He’s really good at finding joy in every day.

Be like Boaz!

Loving these moments with you,

Shellie