February 16, 2010

let us micro sniff



The dog and I had a really nice walk yesterday morning. Our weekday morning walks usually last just about 10 minutes because I have tarried too long at the house and need to get off to work. There’s often some tugging involved- Sadie wants to linger over especially interesting and smelly areas (tug tug let’s sniff over here) and I want to get along with things (tug tug let’s head towards home). A dusting of guilt settles within me but I pull her home anyway.

Yesterday was luxuriously different and, as she often does, my dog reminded me of something good about life. I slept in (it was President's Day Monday) and we headed out on our walk shortly thereafter. It was just barely snowing and felt nice out, not too chilly. I let Sadie lead the way and I also let her pace our walk. She took us on our usual path around the park near our apartment but we proceeded to the Extra Good Sniffing Sidewalk which is adjacent to the Really Great Sniffing Park. I think these areas are frequented by lots of dogs -- dangerous places for dog-owners who are on 10-minute weekday morning walks because the sniffing is excruciatingly excellent. Yesterday I let her sniff her little heart out.

Sadie will sniff one particular little spot for a whole minute at a time - probably all day long if I let her. The sniffs are steady, intense, deliberate, focused. My friend L calls it “micro sniffing.” I’m not sure if she coined that term but I really like it. L said that dogs don’t *need* to micro sniff – a quick general sniff does the trick to assess the smell of something. So is micro sniffing just for the pleasure of it? The concept that a dog derives pleasure (or maybe a better word is satisfaction) from spending a whole minute sniffing one spot reminds me of something yoga instructors talk about – the idea that true happiness bubbles up when we are able to live in the present moment even if just for an instant. In my imagination, Sadie loses herself in those sniffs in the way that an artist loses herself when she is painting. Sadie forgets that she has an owner, that it is snowing, that she is a dog with a physical body and simply lives in the sniff.

I know that characterizing Sadie’s micro sniffing as transcendent is silly and a bit self indulgent. Really, she’s just a dog doing something that she’s genetically programmed to do -- for whatever reason –- and she’s glad her owner had some extra time to let her do it. But I’m happy that I slowed down enough to notice it yesterday morning and I think the lesson is a good one. I need to take more notice of the micro sniffing moments in my own life. Whether it is writing or reading or exercising or listening to music in the car, I would like to be more aware that I’m having such a moment –- a happiness-bubbling-up moment -- without bringing myself too much out of it. Yes. Like right now.