My sweet, mindful girl: She knows what matters most.

My curmudgeonly friend John Brzostoski, a Quakerly Buddhist (who was friends with the Dalai Lama before the rest of us even knew who he was) once told me: Live like a dog. As in, jump around joyfully when people you love walk in the door! Love everyone! Kiss them juicily, breathing in their scent! Insist that a partner, child, friend or co-worker take you for a walk! Devour your next meal with gusto! Be here, now!  Mindfully, in the moment, in other words.

Shadow Edelman, right, is our 12-year-old English Spring Spaniel. She’s soft as velvet, funnier than a clown and the best therapy any one of my five-member family could need. Now she’s also teaching us about growing old with grace; she’s slowing down, her hips hurt, and she’s going deaf, but she’s just as sweet and loyal as ever. I should be so grand when I’m an old dame.

She lives in the moment, the way I aspire to because it’s the only real way to be fully, totally, joyfully alive no matter what’s going on around you. Shadow’s  my mindfulness idol. Who’s yours?