Diane Halperin

Spiritu, Our Dog, Embodies the Spirit of the Season & Everyday

Spiritu, our 5-½ month tri-colored cocker spaniel, daily lives the Spirit of the holiday season – love, peace, joy, community, kindness, and giving from the heart.

Much of the time, our boy is a “delight”. And, when he is not, it’s most often because our communication is out of sync. Usually, I’m not understanding what he needs or wants. Sometimes, he’s “asking for a time out or time alone”; sometimes he’s hungry or needs to go outside. At the moment of our clashing, I have a choice to make. I can get into a power struggle which ends in either/or—either he gets his way or I get mine. Or, I can divert his attention and we both “win”. His unwanted behavior evaporates and he’s excited about the new diversion. We move on.

A Resource for English and ESL Teachers: Lives Well Lived

“May your nachas, your happiness, live in each of us, and may we give with open hand, open heart, and magnanimous spirit to all people everywhere.”

Lives Well-Lived: I Remember Baubie and Zadie is a love story that takes the reader from the schtetles (villages) of Russia to America, “the Land of the Free”, at the turn of the 20th century. It’s a chronicle of the dying art of living life with honesty, humor, commitment and unconditional love, with an emphasis is on heroes, positive role models, family values, and holding each other in the highest esteem. This is a story that emanates warmth, hope, and inspiration, and provides many marvelous examples of “lives well lived”. It is an immigrant’s journey.

Looking for Inspiration

Sometimes we need inspiration. Each of us has our go-to place: music, poetry, scripture, sayings. Today, I wanted a focus, a surprise—but I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for.

So, I used my book, Sides: Conversations with Dad, as a spiritual oracle—very much like Affirmations, Tarot, I Ching, or Runes. As in preparation for any sacred act, I quieted myself, took a long slow breath and opened my book.

Trusting that whatever conversation appeared would most assuredly have a lesson or kernel of truth needed in this particular moment, I was not disappointed. Here’s a paraphrase of the gem that was bestowed upon me:

“Remember what you look like through Spirit’s Eyes. If you forget what you look like in Spirit’s Eyes, it’s very difficult to see Spirit in everyone else.”