Life Lessons from a Shiba Inu: Embracing the Journey and Finding Joy in the Small Things

Hi friends,

In today’s post I just wanted to share 5 short things that I’ve learned from my dog, a 2-year-old Shiba Inu.

1. Stop and smell the flowers - literally

• Sago always takes his time to smell the flowers, even if it’s the third time today smelling the same flower patch. He taught me to try and appreciate the journey, and not be in such a rush to get to the destination. A secondary lesson that I’ve learned from him is that I shouldn’t get bored smelling the same flower patch over and over, as appreciating the subtle nuances of how the flowers change over time is a joy in itself.

  
  

2. Don’t worry about things you can’t control

• Sometimes we just have to deal with things we don’t enjoy but have to do anyways. When we first started grooming Sago, it was apparent that he wasn’t the biggest fan of clipping his nails and trimming and combing his fur. Once he realized that it wasn’t something that he could control, as it was something we would do regardless, he stopped fretting about it, and just allowed it to happen. Sometimes I need to remind myself that I needn’t focus on things that I can’t control, instead focusing on the things that I can.

3. Be overly happy for the small things in life

• Sago is always running in circles out of happiness when he knows it’s time to go out for a walk. That has challenged me to try finding the joy in the mundane. In the beginning, I was viewing Sago’s morning walk as an errand I just had to do, but nowadays, I view it as a great time we get to spend together, because I realize that we won’t always have this time to spend together forever. It makes me search for all of the positives of going for a walk instead of always dwelling on the negatives.

4. Always greet people when they come home

• Sago, being a Shiba Inn, is sometimes not the warmest towards people. However, whenever he greets me when I come home, it’s a small gesture on his part, but it means a lot, especially after a hard day of work. It reminds me that gestures that may seem small to me, may mean a lot to other people.

5. Always wake up early to watch the sunrise

• Early bird gets the worm! Sago taught me that waking up early to spend time on what you cherish is time well spent.
  

As someone who can easily get caught up in the day to day of running a business, I’ve learned that slowing down and appreciating how far I’ve come, and to just enjoy the journey, is a lesson worth reminding myself. Have any of you out there learned important life lessons from unexpected sources? I would love to hear from you if you have!

Stay tuned for more updates on our journey!

Best regards,

^{Kevin Ng, DDS}