Healing Pups

Lulu & Milo

By Cara Chang Mutert

For me, nothing else brings me back into the present moment like my furry little best friends. When I’m sad, hurt or down, my primary emotional wave pattern, my dogs’ sweet willing curious eyes, inquisitive eyebrows, shiny cold black noses, and unconditional hearts remind me that life is still good, and that it’s going to be o.k. Like with our kids and grandkids, all I need is to look at them, and the love endorphins just come rushing back into my cells, infusing me with the comfort of what is now.

In those difficult moments, I’ve given a lot of thought to the post-pandemic effect on our mental health, my own as well as others. We are coming out of a time that brought so much fear and division, anxiety reached an all time high across the globe. We all endured 3 years of egg-shell-like uncertainty, amid the death of family and friends, months of extended isolation, and the collapse of small businesses and local economies, our health system, and our government.

Anxiety is the primary human psychological element that all of us experienced, many of us at a depth we’ve never felt before. Suddenly, we were all fearful of losing our lives, our families, our friends, our businesses, our country. Even within inner circles, the circle of trust was broken. Families became divided. No one knew who or what to trust anymore.

Yet because of our resilience, life has resumed at almost a faster pace than before, along with rising costs and inflation. Although the pandemic has thankfully passed, it doesn’t mean the lingering anxiety was vaccinated away. More than any other long-term side effect from that time in history, anxiety has been the antagonizing culprit of what remains.

So now, as we pick up the pieces, we can’t forget about the morphing pieces of our own mental health. I think it’s important to acknowledge that we’ve all come out of a difficult time, to pat ourselves on the back for making it through, and to remember that many are still struggling. While the rest of the world focuses on the external, yoga reminds us of the importance of also staying vigilant within the internal realm of our existence. Easily forgotten, yet always present, the internal effects of each of our individual stories of trauma and loss have taken a silent toll on every one of us.

We all suffer from anxiety, confusion, depression, sadness, grief, and despair. That’s part of what makes us human. However, so does love, joy, happiness, and contentment. And thankfully, everything that comes in between. Just like sunny days wouldn’t feel as bright if it were sunny all the time. Life isn’t as sweet if we don’t suck on the bitterness of it sometimes too. But it’s those in-between moments, sometimes even those perfectly mundane moments, that are just important to notice and appreciate.

So when life hands us a bitter pill, it’s really up to us to decide how to ride out the nausea. Do you fight it? Do you lay down? Do you roll over? Do you wait it out? Breathe through it and let go? Until it subsides, I’m going to work on minimizing my pain, work really hard to figure out what I’m learning, and savor the little things by taking in my heart-healing mutts’ simple living wisdom as they wrestle, lay down, sit, roll over, stay, and drop it.