In my next life, assuming there is one, I am definitely coming back as a dog.

I make this choice not because I am lazy and wish a life where everything is provided for me, not because I envy a life that would allow me to sleep twenty hours a day, not because I wish to be showered with treats for accomplishments as minor as peeing in the appropriate place, not because everything I will come across throughout the world is a toy that I can chew until I destroy, not because most people would find me adorable and would want to rub my tummy, not because I wouldn’t have to brush my teeth at the start and end of each day and not because of any of the many other reasons that suggest that a dog’s life is preferable to mine.

No! As enticing as each of those reasons appear to be for my wanting to come back as a dog, it is because of something far, far different.

I’m coming back for a far greater reason than all of those above. 

This is why I am coming back as a dog.

Dogs lives are not bound by the shackles of conditionality.

Everything dogs do, they do unconditionally.

Dogs don’t love us if we feed them, dogs don’t love us if we hug them, dogs don’t love us if we treat them well, dogs don’t love us if we meet their expectations, dogs don’t love us if we buy them toys, dogs don’t love us if we bring them jewelry, dogs don’t love us if we send them flowers.

Dogs love us because they love us.

Dogs don’t care if we’re in good shape or if we’re slugs, they don’t care if we’re drop-dead gorgeous or butt ugly, they don’t care if we’re rich or poor, they don’t care if we live in a mansion or in a shelter, they don’t care if we get to our destination by Bentleyor by bus.

Their love is unswayed by what we have or don’t have.

Dogs don’t view us through the tarnished lenses of judgment and labels. They don’t think of us as being stupid or lazy or morons, or cheap or wasteful or boring or tiring or draining or dull or any of the opinion altering labels we frequently use to distort our views of, and hence, our attitudes towards those against whom we have accumulated negative emotions. 

They view us purely as objects worthy of their love and then treat us as such.

Dogs don’t have to learn to practice forgiveness.

There is nothing to forgive.

They don’t have to acquire acceptance.

It’s factory installed.

They don’t have to practice patience.

They don’t know impatience.

They only want two things:

They want to love us and they want to play with us.

And they ask nothing in return.

Could there possibly be a better way to live?

That’s why I’m coming back as a dog.

Who wants to adopt me when that happens?

Till we read again.

P.S. My friend and social media coach and guru Kelly Martin has set up a new Facebook page for me. She tells me we need 30 “Likes” before we can do some other stuff. Please go to www.facebook.com/strategicpathways and “Like” my page. I can’t wait to see what the other stuff is.