The Thing About Border Collies

Posted by The Divine Cowgirl on May 4th, 2009 at 01:16pm

I loved my Border Collie. His name was Joker. And he lived up to his name. Active as a puppy, as an adult he had a one tracked mind and that was WORK. He definitely needed a job and if he didn’t have an appropriate job, he made one up. He’d herd the chickens or he’d herd the cats. Actually the cats just got bored with his attempts and either laid down in front of him purring or they’d jump up on the fence and twitch their tails.

At the time that I was ready to partner with a new dog, my vet talked me into the Border Collie. I had experience with several other breeds like Great Dane and Doberman – all rescues and I decided I wanted a breed with more coat or hair for the winter. The debate was between a Standard Poodle and the Border Collie.

My vet being the more cowboy type didn’t think a sissy poodle was the best choice. He voted and lobbied hard for the Border Collie. I relented, although I did wind up with a Standard Poodle later and if given the choice again it would have been for the poodle hands down.

Joker was bred to work. His whole reason for being was work. And though I had a horse farm, I had a hard time providing him with the amount of work he needed. These intelligent and magnificent animals are the perfect partners for cattle and sheep ranchers. They are tireless in their vigilance for where they might be needed.

Like Border Collies we humans have a mind that needs a job. If we don’t give our mind a job it will find one such as worrying about the future or getting lost in replaying the past. I have discovered that my mind needs as much training as a Border Collie. Left on its own, my mind can get into all kinds of trouble. It is my mind that informs my body about stress responses and how to worry at 3 a.m.

My mind has a cast of characters that seem to join the chatter. Like the voice of doubt, fear and even a prototype of “Henny Penny” – the chicken that kept shouting the sky is falling. The more I try to ignore this chorus, the louder and more insistent they become. My only solution so far is to actively place my mind in training, a sort of boot camps for over active minds.

One of the first steps in training has been meditation. Sometimes I have trouble in sitting meditation, and have to physically move my body – like cleaning stalls. I find an activity that the body engages in a repetitive routine task while I focus on my breathing or contemplating a piece of poetry or a spiritual concept. When my mind pops up with some idea, I simply say to myself, “distraction” and bring myself back to my breath or the concept. What I know is that training my mind takes effort and consistency and requires I attend and focus even on days that I don’t feel like it.

Eckhart Tolle, the author of The Power of Now, tells a story about how he was torturing himself with worry and fear about the future. He finally brought himself to the NOW moment by asking if he was alright in this moment. He was in a warm bed, in an apartment and had what he needed in the present moment. How many times do we torture ourselves with fear and worry about what is going to happen a day, a month or a year from now?

When we are in fear, anxiety and worry we can’t see creative options because our body and mind are in the fear-flight mode. It is only when we can be present that we can begin to allow creative ideas to surface. It allows us to unwind and be available to new possibilities.

I don’t know about you, but my mind needs constant reminders about its role in my life. Getting out of my head and into my heart has been my journey and I can tell you it still takes practice. My commitment has grown over the years as I have seen the remarkable results in my life as I have given my Border Collie mind a job and have practiced meditating.

As a Divine Cowgirl committed to the inner journey, are you ready to give your Border Collie mind a job? Are you ready to do the training required?

The Divine Cowgirl

Tags: appropriate job, Getting out of my head, mind in training

Under Divine Cowgirl+ Relationship+ With ourselves