Super sized early riser today. I’m struggling to go to bed in such a way that I get enough sleep. I have to redesign my environment or go back to waking up at 6:30.

DailyDogo 150 🐶

If you wake up earlier, mornings are darker again.

DailyDogo 149 🐶

DailyDogo 148 🐶

Starting to wake up half an hour earlier on the day the clocks get adjusted for summer time was ambitious.

Puppy school continues to be great. If at first you don’t succeed use bigger treats. 30 Day Perfect Pup by Zac George. Reactive dogs, training in different environments. Steps back in potty training.

Trying to wake up half an hour earlier.

PuppyCast has been postponed until tomorrow.

DailyDogo 147 🐶

I had toyed with the idea for a while now: I have joined the ranks of the people who have their own newsletter!

Mine is called Notes On Notes and it collects and comments on a handful of links about notes and note taking that I found interesting in the last little while.

The thing is free and the first issue will go out tomorrow. I would be super thrilled if you‘d sign up.

The snow is back. And it’s windy!

DailyDogo 146 🐶

Looking forward to the weekend for different reasons. The current freeze-thaw cycle.

DailyDogo 145 🐶

Being conditioned to jump out of bed in the night as soon as the dog makes any noise.

DailyDogo 144 🐶

Update on the puking puppy situation (spoiler alert: she is fine). Thanks for all the sweet messages!

DailyDogo 143 🐶

Not my longest meditation streak (I did 365 days in 2017), but nonetheless I’m very happy with the result. Got back into meditation, as I tend to do after some months, in the last quarter of the year - when things got hard and being more aware of things, people, mind and self was needed. Becoming an early riser has really solidified my practice, too.

Not every day is an amazing day of tranquil calm. The dog barks, I get interrupted, I nod off, I can’t sit still. Does meditation even change anything? Do things get better through it? And at the same time it satisfies a part of my self that longs for exploring spiritual ideas. I am not religious. But I sometimes think I would like to be, in a sense.

The biggest fascination in that regard is the feeling of absence of anything greater. That might sound sad. And indeed I cried about it once or twice in the past when I could feel this absence while having a particularly intense meditation session. But those tears were tears of insight. And that great absence I felt was freeing and in a way maybe that spiritual connection I was longing for. This must sound crazy. But the absence just made it more obvious, clear, that we - the beings and things in contrast to that absence - are indeed all there is.

Meditation is often way more banal than this. Often it’s just a reminder of my ability to show up and do something that stays vague as regards to its meaning, benefit to my observational skills, positive or negative impact on me and my suroundings - many unexpected challenges in life have this quality. Its opaque paradoxical nature is fascinating and I think this is why I continue to do it.

No early riser today because the dog puked in the morning and we are going to the vet just to be sure.

DailyDogo 142 🐶

The dog has a little wound.

DailyDogo 141 🐶

The snow is melting.