Dogs = Happiness. It’s confirmed

Passionate about so many things, I am frequently sent cuttings, reviews and miscellaneous “stuff” pertaining to them from my friends. Dogs (quelle surprise) feature high on my pash-list. My lovely friends and fellow scribes, Ann and Peter, who escaped the rat race a few years ago and decamped to the Isle of Lewis, are regular nurturers of my variety of appetites. The review of the book into which I’m currently dipping was a veritable delicacy from them. It is a collaborative effort from father and son team of Deepak and Gotham Chopra: ‘Walking Wisdom: Three Generations, Two Dogs and the Search for a Happy Life’ and was released in the US almost exactly a year ago. How could this have evaded me until now?

Not only is this book a wonderful tribute to how dogs enrich our lives and can teach us so much about how to live those lives but it offers a personal insight into the dynamics of the incredibly gifted and successful Chopra family.

Deepak is a hugely respected medical practitioner, a world-renowned authority in mind-body healing, a bestselling and prolific author (his ‘Seven Spiritual Laws of Success’ should be required reading for anyone … well, human really), columnist, the founder of the Chopra Center for Wellbeing in California, an international presenter and keynote speaker and devoted family man and, most importantly, dog lover. http://deepakchopra.com

Gotham’s credentials are no less impressive. An award winning journalist, author, blogger, http://www.intent.com/gothamchopra/blog documentary film maker and co-founder of a company specialising in graphic novels and adapting them to film, he is also a dedicated dad and dog lover. This is a strong, unified family and dogs are an integral part of it. Gotham says he learns simplicity, innocence, devotion and spiritual freedom from dogs whilst from his father he learns wisdom, curiosity, open-mindedness and a passion for knowledge. What better qualities could anyone aspire in order to live a balanced, content life?

I envy dogs … and not only mine who have an envious life by anyone’s standards, but the general canine perspective of being rooted in the moment and living in a totally present awareness. I also envy their ability to forgive (let’s not go there!) and their enormous capacity for good, old-fashioned play. Don’t we all want to “play” more?

‘Walking Wisdom’ could be considered a handbook for how to be happy at one level (glossing over the Michael Jackson section) but whether you are interested in dogs (which I will impertinently assume you are by the very fact that you, dear reader are following this blog), spirituality, the dynamics of family life or indeed the Chopra family in particular, which is in itself fascinating, this book has a place on your nightstand … or in my case my bag. No point in wasting those precious idle moments in the supermarket check-out queue or walking from my car to my door when there is dog-wisdom to be absorbed.