{"id":7287,"date":"2012-12-16T21:00:20","date_gmt":"2012-12-17T01:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ontapfortoday.com\/?p=7287"},"modified":"2012-12-16T21:00:20","modified_gmt":"2012-12-17T01:00:20","slug":"the-importance-of-being-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ontapfortoday.com\/2012\/12\/16\/the-importance-of-being-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Today: The importance of being together."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this fall I responded to a request seeking a visit at a local university during final exams, from our therapy dog organization. \u00a0I put the date on my calendar and all but forgot about it. \u00a0When the date (Saturday) rolled around, I didn’t want to leave the house. \u00a0I wanted to stay inside, thinking and praying and holding on to those I love. \u00a0Like everyone, surely, my heart just feels broken. \u00a0In seemingly hopeless times, though, I suppose hiding accomplishes very little. \u00a0I packed up my little monster and his therapy dog vest (I left his BC blanket at home), and headed to Boston University’s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MugarLib\" target=\"_blank\">Mugar Library<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the old days, when hockey rivalries mattered, I would have giggled at the fact that Clark chose to pee directly on the lawn in front of a bright red BU sign. \u00a0Having matured (slightly), I looked around sheepishly and hoped we weren’t late. As we entered the school’s library, and students came rushing to see Clark, I felt like we were getting a\u00a0<em>time out<\/em> from the world. \u00a0I spent a little over an hour sitting cross-legged on a carpet floor while Clark curled up with groups of four or five students at a time. \u00a0I chatted with the students about exams, homesickness, and the holidays. All the while, Clark purred and pawed and pranced.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" \" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i1352.photobucket.com\/albums\/q641\/elizabethev\/ClarkatBU_zps89bc0a7f.jpg?resize=538%2C717\" width=\"538\" height=\"717\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I am not sure how much good we actually accomplished (though I sort of wish we had rooms of puppies to play with when I was in school), but I know exactly how much good I received by being there: a lot. \u00a0 I was reminded of the power of connectivity, and how important it is to be together (even if it’s just for fifteen minutes, with veritable strangers) when our world feels so fractured.<\/p>\n<p>To quote His Holiness, the Dalai Lama (he says things so much better than I ever could, obvi),<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Love and compassion are not luxuries. \u00a0Without them humanity cannot survive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I was reminded of this again this morning during a nearly two hour (yes, really…) yoga class. \u00a0My friend Elizabeth and I took a little day trip to Salem and stopped at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenteayoga.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Green Tea Yoga<\/a> for a whole lot of <em>om<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i1352.photobucket.com\/albums\/q641\/elizabethev\/IMG_1839_zps7e237572.jpg?resize=645%2C484\" width=\"645\" height=\"484\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Throughout the class,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenteayoga.com\/yoga-instructors.html\" target=\"_blank\">Maggie<\/a>\u00a0–\u00a0our instructor and the studio’s owner – reinforced that we are all loving presences in the world, and that we are bound to take care of one another. \u00a0Her thoughtful comments and affirmations made our heart-opening poses all the more… welp… heart-opening.<\/p>\n<p>While I will never begin to understand why or how unbearable tragedies such as Friday’s happen, I know that we are so, so, so fortunate to have one another. \u00a0And we must be good to each other.<\/p>\n<p>Also <strong>On Tap for Today<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span class=\"Apple-style-span\" style=\"line-height: 13px;\">Getting my act together for the week<\/span><\/li>\n<li>On <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mindbodygreen.com\/0-7072\/let-go-of-detrimental-habits.html\" target=\"_blank\">letting go of detrimental habits from MindBodyGreen<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/cuteoverload.com\/2012\/12\/15\/me-sad\/\" target=\"_blank\">Everyone can use a hug\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What is your favorite way to volunteer?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Earlier this fall I responded to a request seeking a visit at a local university during final exams, from our therapy dog organization. \u00a0I put the date on my calendar and all but forgot about it. \u00a0When the date (Saturday) rolled around, I didn’t want to leave the house. \u00a0I wanted to stay inside, thinking and praying and holding on to those I love. \u00a0Like everyone, surely, my heart just feels broken. \u00a0In seemingly hopeless times, though, I suppose hiding accomplishes very little. \u00a0I packed up my little monster and his therapy dog vest (I left his BC blanket at home), and headed to Boston University’s Mugar Library. In the old days, when hockey rivalries mattered, I would have giggled at the fact that Clark chose to pee directly on the lawn in front of a bright red BU sign. \u00a0Having matured (slightly), I looked around sheepishly and hoped we weren’t late. As we entered the school’s library, and students came rushing to see Clark, I felt like we were getting a\u00a0time out from the world. \u00a0I spent a little over an hour sitting cross-legged on a carpet floor while Clark curled up with groups of four or five students at a time. \u00a0I chatted with the students about exams, homesickness, and the holidays. All the while, Clark purred and pawed and pranced. I am not sure how much good we actually accomplished (though I sort of wish we had rooms of puppies to play with when I was in school), but I know exactly how much good I received by being there: a lot. \u00a0 I was reminded of the power of connectivity, and how important it is to be together (even if it’s just for fifteen minutes, with veritable strangers) when our world feels so fractured. To quote His Holiness, the Dalai Lama (he says things so much better than I ever could, obvi), Love and compassion are not luxuries. \u00a0Without them humanity cannot survive. I was reminded of this again this morning during a nearly two hour (yes, really…) yoga class. \u00a0My friend Elizabeth and I took a little day trip to Salem and stopped at Green Tea Yoga for a whole lot of om. Throughout the class,\u00a0Maggie\u00a0–\u00a0our instructor and the studio’s owner – reinforced that we are all loving presences in the world, and that we are bound to take care of one another. \u00a0Her thoughtful comments and affirmations made our heart-opening poses all the more… welp… heart-opening. While I will never begin to understand why or how unbearable tragedies such as Friday’s happen, I know that we are so, so, so fortunate to have one another. \u00a0And we must be good to each other. Also On Tap for Today: Getting my act together for the week On letting go of detrimental habits from MindBodyGreen Everyone can use a hug\u00a0 What is your favorite way to volunteer?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[196,323,930,923,881],"class_list":["post-7287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-clark","tag-friends","tag-kindness","tag-pet-therapy","tag-yoga"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ 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