Kind and Gentle is Fundamental

Kind and Gentle is Fundamental

Interview Cancelled

The morning of July 11^th I was scheduled to be on TV, to talk about PetMassage for Dogs Day. As we were heading out the door to the interview, I checked my phone. A text appeared. The interview was cancelled because the reporter had been called to cover a shooting in our city.

Thinking the obvious

Another shooting? Is that more important than taking the best care of our dogs? PetMassage for Dogs Day is news that is positive, uplifting, and heartwarming. That’s what serves the public. That’s what they need to expand their awareness and make their lives and the lives of their pets, better!

But then, the news doesn’t put a priority on public service. It is in business to make money and attract eyeballs. The 99% are well adjusted, are law abiding people. The craziness of the irresponsible 1% is what grabs the headlines.

What a difference in the stories. One is about a deadly weapon in irresponsible hands. Hands of a perpetrator with little respect or value for life. PetMassage, on the other hand, puts a dog in the right hands, hands with the intention for creating balance. This comparison encourages us to focus on beauty. On wellness. On helping a loved and cherished family member get through a tough time. To me, this is newsworthy.

Recently, I had a conversation with someone who told me that she remembered an appearance I made on TV from over ten years ago! Because of that interview, she said, she began approaching her dog’s health care more holistically.

Context, this is not my world.

How is it that somebody who is in the wrong place, at 3 o’clock in the morning, (My mom used to say that nothing good happens at 3 in the morning!) with the wrong people, out of control with a toxic mixture of hormones, chemicals, summer heat, and explosively confusing social circumstances, and who is, of course, making a big mistake; how is it that this is more important, takes precedence over, people learning to help their beloved dogs live a happier, healthier life?

News Media Responsibility and Influence

How does knowing about this human tragedy make us anything but sad, scared, and paranoid? Our media is so accustomed to “If it bleeds, it leads” that they limit what we, their viewers can know.

We are insistently being directed to focus on the bleeding. A story like PetMassage for Dogs Day, one that is heartwarming and helpful, is cancelled. Something is definitely wrong, here.

We are missing out on so much that would be enabling, rather than stultifying. Can you see how our priorities are being shaped? Do you agree that what we focus on, we become?

Displaced Priorities

Local newsrooms have an enormous responsibility. They decide what we see, what we hear, what must be most important for us to know, and they feed us their facts. This is the content that determines our opinions. What we see and hear, shapes who we are, what we believe, and how we act. What we see and hear, shapes our cultural behavior.

Fundamental truths

The purpose of PetMassage is to build up, not tear down. What we do and teach and promote at PetMassage is on a more enlightened tack. With PetMassage our intention –and attention– is directed to the positives: health, happiness, peace, and a way for practitioners, dogs and their people to develop inner smiles. We teach and practice ways to direct our focus toward honoring and loving: dogs, our families, and ourselves. 

It is not necessary to have to stick our heads in the sand and ignore all the horrific events happening in the world. We must remember though, that we do have choices. We can be selective of what we expose ourselves to.

We can live in fear and worry; or we can devote ourselves to living in the energy of peace and the pursuit of happiness.

PetMassage is a way to help our animal and human co-travelers. PetMassage says “Namaste” and practices it. Let’s take a cue from such progressive thinkers as Wayne Dwyer, Marianne Williamson, and Krista Tippett, who might suggest another catchy phrase for an alternative determiner of what is newsworthy. How about: Kind and Gentle is Fundamental.

Fundamental: a basic principle, rule, law, or the like, that serves as the groundwork of a system.  As examples: air, water, sunlight, exercise, rest, food, touch, and affections are essential fundamental, for health and wellness.

Celebration of cultural evolution

It was not so long ago that even the notions of canine massage, bodywork, and the EnergyWork PetMassage_TM were incomprehensible to pet owners and the veterinary community.

There is now a growing acceptance, a cultural transformation, a leap in spiritual growth in our relationships with animals. So, the questions of: What is it? Why would my dog need it? How is it different from the petting and grooming I already do everyday? How does it integrate into veterinary medicine and rehabilitation? We seldom have to address these concerns, anymore. Consumers have learned. Evolved. Become enlightened. PetMassage for dogs is here; and it’s here to stay.

PetMassage_TM for Dogs Day

PetMassage_TM for Dogs Day is an acknowledgement and celebration of how our society has evolved. We are swiftly moving out of our limited belief that people are the only ones who think, feel, reason, communicate, figure stuff out, love, and have souls. We are swiftly moving toward accepting that all life –even mosquitos–has value. We are becoming more inclusive; understanding and accepting more about valuing animals, honoring their species-specific cultures, perspectives and abilities, acknowledging their pain, recognizing their emotional distress, and helping them, through massage and bodywork, to resolve their dissonance.

PetMassage for Dogs Day is more than just the anniversary of the beginning of our PetMassage school.

Our social progress, honoring the sanctity of life, reducing the distance between the spiritual human and the spiritual animal: that’s what we celebrate with PetMassage for Dogs Day. Thank you for joining us in celebrating you.

Picked myself up, dusted myself off, threw sawdust on it, and picked up my mobile to market some more.

Tragical to magical, the role of the entrepreneur

One cancellation is just a stumble. Disappointed, I began Tweeting to share with people who I had asked to watch the interview on TV.

I then Tweeted invitations to the other TV stations in the area. Within ten minutes, I was scheduled for another interview, later in the week.

The new interview will be with the TV station that helped us start PetMassage 19 years ago. July 11^th, the date for the PetMassage for Dogs Day is the date in 1997 when I was interviewed for a TV series on NBC called “Pampered Pets.” My segment was slated to be about equine massage, and started off with massaging horses. That quickly morphed into canine massage, changed the direction of my life, and ultimately affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of dogs and their people.

Has PetMassage changed you and your dog’s life? We’d like to know.