Musashi's Dokkodo (The Way of Walking Alone)

Insurance Executive:
I agree except for those times when I don’t.
Boot is a six-pound Maltese dog, so white he looks like a cloud, so
sweet you just have to rain kisses on his head, so funny he always
makes us laugh, except when he gets into the cat box. He looks at
Lexii’s droppings the same way I see a bowl of M&Ms: Yum! Treats!
Is Boot’s trait disgusting? Very much so. Is it easy to break him of
getting into the box and walking around the house looking like a man
with a cheap cigar in the corner of his mouth? No. In fact, I bought a
book early on, titled Training your Maltese, and in one chapter the
veteran Maltese trainer wrote that no matter how hard he tries, no
matter how many tried-and-true training devices he employs, the
Maltese still can’t be broken from getting into the cat box.
So we’ve accepted that this icky trait is a less than charming part of
Boot’s nature. Now, acknowledging this doesn’t mean I like it any
better, but it helps—a little. Is there anything I can do? Sure, I can
make an extra effort to maintain a clean cat box. It’s a no brainer
solution but it goes a long way toward helping me accept Boot’s
natural love for cat stogies. In the end, I accept the way he is and in
a perfect world he should accept my role of taking away his treats.
But judging by the look he gives me, I think I’ve grown more in this
area than he has.
As is the case with Boot and his sick trait, we all have to do our best
to accept things. My husband is a writer and I’ve accepted that he
gets a little distant and grumpy when putting the final edits on a
writing project. Actually, sometimes he gets a whole lot distant and

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moody, so it can be a real test for me to be understanding and
accepting, especially when I’m not in the mood to be so. To give him
credit, he knows when he’s pushed the boundaries and he tries to
put on a cheerful demeanor. Likewise, I know when his attitude is
starting to get under my skin so I try my best to rein in my
impatience.
When we can accept things in life just the way they are our stress
level goes down, in some cases, a lot. But if we spend our day
thinking about, dwelling on, sweating over, and complaining about
the way things ought to be, it will quickly consume and destroy us.
Today we are bombarded with news stories, social media rants, and
cell phone videos about increasing tensions between countries,
ongoing war, and human tragedies all around the globe. Most often
this is repeated over and over until the horrors fill our heads and
adds even more stress to our days. While I might not have a choice
whether to accept this growing tide of man’s inhumanity to man and
nature’s vengeance, I can be cognizant of how much I permit into my
home and ultimately into my psyche. While doing my best to control
how much of this I will accept, I also look for ways to help where I
can.
This is because I don’t accept that there is nothing I can do as
thousands of people are dying or being torn away from their homes
by flood, soulless armies, and merciless diseases. I can choose to
help anyway I can by lending a voice of protest and donating money
to help those that desperately need it.
In the end, I will not accept everything just the way it is, but strive to
change what I can, and not let those things I can’t change destroy
me.