Dog Dreaming

Dear friend,

Zara is staying over tonight.
She’s aware of it.
Since listening to the first two series of The Telepathy Tapes,
I’ve developed the habit of telling her the details we’ve arranged for her care.

She’s staying over tonight,
and then Katie will get her tomorrow evening.
Zara doesn’t like Katie being away —
but explaining it to her clearly makes a difference.
She’s calmer and holds eye contact while we communicate.

Black fluffy ears like semaphores,
signalling consent,
albeit with a sigh and a groan
and a settling into the walls of the dog bed.

She’ll have a treat around bedtime.

We all know the routine.

I’m taking it easy and resting my foot post-op as much as possible.
Reading a lot.
I’m enjoying Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children—
and though I’m not always following the thread,
it’s joyful to fall into the juicy depths of his prose.

I’ve stopped looking at current affairs for a little while.
Just long enough not to feel overwhelmed by it.

How much of our days do we spend connected to the living earth
and to living things—
and how much time focused on mind-made concepts?

Dropping into presence I get that feeling I recognise
from before I had to be useful to feel okay.

Sitting here with Zara,
and the light drizzle,
and the slight throb where my foot is healing beneath its blanket of bandages.

I watched Scott and Goze and their kids,
and Chiara, Scottish country dancing last night
at Roger and Alexia’s wedding anniversary celebrations in Blackheath.

It was good to feel the joy of everyone
wheeling and linking arms together,
whirling around the hall.

The velvet backdrop for the musicians etched in stars.

Every person in that hall knows the pains and struggles of life.
All of their parents.
And a lot of the kids too.

We’re all connected.

You could say we share a mind—
each one of us with a unique window into the world.

The coming years are the times
where more and more of us feel it intuitively.

If you’re looking for a podcast
and are in the mood for mind-expanding stories,
I’d recommend The Telepathy Tapes if you’ve not tried them yet.

Zara’s falling asleep—
at least that’s what it looks like to the untrained eye.

The minute I make a move from the table, she’ll be monitoring me.
Maybe she’s dreaming my writing?

Could I be a character
in the dream of a dog?

Who and where then would I be
when the dog awakes?

This dream stuff.

Till tomorrow
Love
Mikey