Winter Blues and Hopeful Bassett Hounds--A Monday VIDEO Journal

Tonight this blog-journal reaches another milestone by posting its first video!

Winter doldrums are upon us.  It's cold and damp and the snow just lingers. Our jobs get us out when it's dark, and home when it's dark.  That is, if we're working at all. 

The world offers us conflict and sufffering, and if these things do not yet affect us us personally, the news makes them unavoidable. We wonder if we can help, and do what little we can, and feel powerless to do more, not just in areas ravaged by natural disaster, but everywhere people are in need, even in our own cities.   

We look back on the collective surge of hope many of us felt almost one year ago, January 21, 2009, and wonder if we have strayed from our path, lost our way, and if we'll ever find it again.  We hate to admit that a golden opportunity might have been lost, and that one individual  from Massachussetts has the power to put hope to rest for a long while. 

Even as we want change, we yearn for some safety and permanence: the feeling of being needed in the marketplace and having our talents and efforts be recognized, and sustaining; of having our family members and loved ones always be there, not succumbing to age and the inevitable end of life; of looking toward a future many of us hoped we would grow old into, and worked hard to secure, even as that future keeps betraying us.

Well, it's often hard to find the energy to go another round on another day.  So I searched for those things that gave me that energy, that perspective, something to smile at, something to make the hard work worthwhile, so I can be there for my partner who is there for me, my friends who have been good to me, and those around me or far away, for whom I can do some good.

Warmth and sunshine....  Dogs... Music.... All provide the inspiration, like a good warm cup of coffee in the morning.  So many are troubled, and need more than simple pleasures.  But to be present for them, I have to find peace somewhere first; when the plane is in trouble, you have to secure your own oxygen mask before you can assist your neighbors with theirs. To be most helpful, I need to count on the presence of something good...even simple artistic expressions can get me moving again. 

So I found this little video...it's not a great video, but it makes me unusually happy, and gives me that little spark that energizes me.  I hope it makes you smile too...  The tail is almost wagging in time to the beat, and the sun will always shine again.....