Me & My Monkey Mind

All actions, all thoughts and all emotions of sapiens have some sort of preconceived notions.  For centuries, few wise men knew this. 

Buddha focused on the eight fold path with a prefix of "right" for each path and Immanuel Kant unleashed categorical imperative which taught us do what is right as an end in itself. In general, this wisdom meant - not to look for magic, self interest and virtue signaling.  

Of course, since Max was a puppy I have been trying to heed to these wise thoughts. But when I usually unpack those moments as and when it happens, I wasn't fully acting on those wisdom. Although, I had mostly eliminated magical thinking and virtue signaling but there had always been some sort of reminisce of preconceived notions and self interest.

I never consciously observed myself on this front when Max was alive but now, it has become self-evident that Max gave me a gift to subside this monkey mind of mine. 

Thinking of my life with Max makes me sometimes  spontaneously smile and other times spontaneously cry. There are no hidden motives or agenda and these emotions surface as an end in itself. It might sound mundane and simple but this is a powerful tool. With this gift from Max, I can think of Max at any situation when my monkey mind surfaces. This has become my own "impartial spectator" that Adam Smith wanted every human to cultivate. 

In simple terms, this gift makes me focus on gratitude and helps to curb any unnecessary arguments and  abstractions. 

So what exactly I mean by Max "taught" me? 

Did we sit together and have lessons? Of course, not. Living with Max for 13 years wasn't just living but spending most of the microseconds of those 13 years with him in and out, had an impact on my body and mind. Max became part of me and I became part of him. It's not just me who changed but Max changed too. 

The life that society preached went way and we both lived our lives in our own way. When society was busy preaching the "benefits" of 20 minutes daily meditation; we already were living a life of meditation. 

An ordinary man and an ordinary dog decided to spend the most precious thing on this planet - "time" with each other. I am eternally grateful for that decision and each one of those moments. 

Now, all these gratitude and my lucky 13 years of life with Max is done. That is past life. And to put it bluntly - all that would be useless and self-centered life if don't act on that gift for rest of life. 

Yes, its self-centered to keep talking about it and not living and acting on that gratitude for rest of my life. 

Maybe, the reason I am living without Max is exactly for that reason. 

How am I acting on that gift for the past 23 months since Max passed away? 

I will write about it soon.