dingolove

Dingo Love: Self-Love

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Love is Practicing Self-Love

Self Love WATERMARK

To purchase a print of this image, click the pic to visit my Fine Art America store.

Once upon a time The Dingo noticed he wasn’t really himself anymore. He started to feel worn down, exhausted and just plain tapped out. He was still exercising & eating right, but something was definitely off. “Maybe I’m coming down with a cold,” thought The Dingo, “I better make an appointment with Dr. Bear, just to be sure.”

With his appointment made and hope in his heart for a speedy recovery, The Dingo made his way out the door and to the doctor’s office.

“Well hello there Dingo! What brings you in today?” asked Dr. Bear as he walked into the exam room. The Dingo went on to explain his strange symptoms as Dr. Bear listened intently.

After a full check up, Dr. Bear couldn’t find anything physically wrong with The Dingo. No fever. No infection. Not even a sniffle, but he could tell that something was bothering his patient. After all, The Dingo was very well known around town. His purpose to walk in love was talked about all the time and word spread quickly about how giving and thoughtful he was. It was rare to see him not smiling or full of life as a result of his actions.

Dr. Bear had a gut feeling about what could be wrong with The Dingo, so he asked him, “When was the last time you walked in love towards yourself?”

The Dingo was confused by the question and asked “What do you mean?”

“Well,” said Dr. Bear, “as important as it is to walk in love towards others, it’s equally important to walk in love towards yourself. If you are always giving of yourself, but never taking the time to refill yourself with the same energy and love you show others, you eventually start running on empty.” Dr. Bear went on to tell The Dingo about a renowned psychologist & social philosopher named Erich Fromm that said that loving oneself was important in order to love others properly. It’s called self-love.

Dr. Bear went ahead & wrote his patient a prescription for a day of rest and relaxation which was to be taken as needed.

It never dawned on The Dingo that part of his purpose to walk in love towards others meant that he had to also purpose to walk in love towards himself. Having this realization made The Dingo start feeling better almost immediately.

As The Dingo gathered his things and thanked Dr. Bear for his help, he couldn’t help but walk away with a skip in his step and a smile on his face as he made plans for a day of rest and relaxation. Per doctor’s orders, of course.

Walk in Love.

Y.C.Lozano ©2014

The Dingo Walks in Love is a project that teaches lesson in love with the power of art, social media, books, pubic art, & random acts of kindness.

 

 

Dingo Love: Kind

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Love is Kind

Love is Kind

 

Love is Kind

Once upon a time The Dingo decided to teach little Max about what it means to be kind. Max had some very good habits that were instilled on him at a very young age like saying “please” & “thank you,” but The Dingo wanted to be sure that the little guy understood why these habits and many more like it, were so important.

First things first, The Dingo wanted to show Max the definition of the word “kind” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. So they both read it out loud together:

  • : having or showing a gentle nature and a desire to help others : wanting and liking to do good things and to bring happiness to others

According to the definition, being kind is about showing others you care for their happiness. It’s also about putting aside our own needs and desires so we may be more sensitive on how we may better serve others around us. More importantly, we have to make sure that all this is coming from a good place in our hearts and not being done for selfish reasons.

The Dingo went on to explain that the main reason we practice good manners, like saying “please” and “thank you,” is so that we can show our heart to those around us. Saying “please” shows that what we are asking for is a request and not a demand and saying “thank you” shows that we are grateful for what was given to us. While our words are important, it’s equally important that we also focus on our actions by finding ways that we can bless others with our service. It could be helping our parents with various chores or even finding ways to give back to our community.

Little Max was excited about what he had just learned and he couldn’t wait to get started. He even went as far as drawing some pictures of himself participating in random acts of kindness like picking up litter, raking the leaves, and he even had a picture of himself donating food to the local food drive.

Knowing that the possibilities of kindness were endless, The Dingo got that warm & fuzzy feeling knowing that the kindness of one can impact many and seeing that Max had just jumped onto the kindness wagon meant that many more people were going to be feeling the love and this made The Dingo very happy.

Walk in Love.

Y.C.Lozano ©2014

The Dingo Walks in Love is a project that teaches lesson in love with the power of art, social media, books, pubic art, & random acts of kindness.

Dingo Love: Not Jealous

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To purchase a print of Love is not Jealous, check out my Fine Art America Store by clicking on the pic above.

To purchase a print of Love is not Jealous, check out my Fine Art America Store by clicking on the pic above.

 

Love is not Jealous

Once upon a time, The Dingo and little Max were really looking forward to the fall season. Not only would there be a cool breeze in the air and beautiful color changes in the trees, but it also meant it was time for the Annual Great Pumpkin Contest in their town. The winner of this prestigious contest not only won a fancy blue ribbon and a pair of free movie tickets, but they also got their picture in the local paper with their prize winning pumpkin.

Several months earlier they spent a lot of time researching how to grow the perfect giant pumpkin and learned lots of stuff like: the perfect season for planting, the proper soil conditions, pruning, fertilizing, and they even went as far as buying pumpkin seeds from last year’s great pumpkin winner. The Dingo and little Max put a lot of hard work into growing their pumpkins and they were both ready for the big event.

As the weeks went by and their pumpkins got bigger and bigger, the buzz in the neighborhood was that Kitty Kitterton had been growing a pretty impressive sized pumpkin as well! Little Max couldn’t believe it. It seemed that every time he turned around Kitty Kitterton was one step ahead of him: first in line, first to be picked, and always winning first place in contests. It made little Max very jealous of her and it showed whenever he talked about it.

The Dingo knew that feeling all too well. It’s definitely not easy to be in someone else’s shadow, whether it be a sibling, a co-worker or even a classmate, but he knew it was important for the little guy to learn how to overcome this difficult emotion and rise above.

The Dingo started off by showing little Max the definition of the word “jealous” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

  • 1. a :  intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness. b :  disposed to suspect rivalry or unfaithfulness
  • 2.    :  hostile toward a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage

The definition contained negative words like “intolerant” and “hostile.” Little Max didn’t want to be any of those things and if that’s what it meant to be jealous then he definitely did not want to be known or seen as a jealous person. There was only one problem though: He didn’t know how NOT to be jealous of Kitty Kitterton!

The Dingo explained how in life, we have to learn to celebrate other people’s accomplishments & advantages. We should be happy for others not envious and if we know someone who does something very well, we should take note and learn from them. At some point, we need to celebrate who we are, be satisfied with what we have and accept our own level of strengths & weaknesses. We were created to be super awesome and to accomplish great things large and small.

It was a lot for little Max to take in and it was very hard on his pride to think that he had to be happy for Kitty Kitterton, but he promised The Dingo that he would try.

The day of the contest arrived and they both discovered that the rumors were true: Kitty Kitterton’s pumpkin was ginormous! She definitely deserved to win first place and the judges thought so, too. After the ribbons were awarded, to The Dingo’s surprise,  little Max walked over to Kitty Kitterton and congratulated her on a job well done. In turn, she congratulated him as well on his beautiful pumpkin and even offered to give him some pointers for next year’s contest and he graciously accepted the offer.

The Dingo smiled, glad to see little Max rising above and not letting jealousy ruin a wonderful moment and embracing an opportunity to grow in character. As he told Max before on several occasions: “We should purpose ourselves to always walk in love, never stop growing in wisdom & continue to work towards being a better person today than we were yesterday.”

Walk in Love.
Y.C.Lozano ©2014

The Dingo Walks in Love is a project that teaches lesson in love with the power of art, social media, books, pubic art, & random acts of kindness.

Dingo Love: Caring About the Environment

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To purchase a print of Love is Environmentally Aware, check out my Fine Art America Store by clicking on the pic above.

To purchase a print of Love is Environmentally Aware, check out my Fine Art America Store by clicking on the pic above.

Love is Caring About the Environment

Once upon, a time The Dingo decided to go on an adventure. It was a cool brisk morning, he put on his favorite hoodie, packed a few snacks and headed out the door to the woods near his home.

As a young lad, he loved to explore the great outdoors. He could often be found quietly observing the wildlife, making sure not to disturb or disrupt the environment around him, and best of all, just taking in all the beauty. As he got a bit older, life got busier and busier and he spent less and less time in nature. Today, he purposed to go outside and enjoy the great outdoors!

As he made his way towards the woods. From far away he could see a big section of trees that had been cut down from the forest. In their place was a new strip mall. It was sad to think of how many beautiful trees were gone now because of this new development. This was not an uncommon theme in his town, and as the years passed by, it only seemed to be getting worse.

Now in the woods, The Dingo noticed quite a bit of litter on the ground: glass bottles, fast food containers, cigarette butts, plastic soda can rings… There was so much trash everywhere!

What happened to the beautiful pristine utopia of his childhood? Why did it get this bad? How did it get this bad?

The Dingo had always been sensitive to the fine balance of nature. From the water in our oceans to the air in the sky, from the creepy crawly insects in the dirt to the birds that fly high, everything mattered and had it’s purpose. He knew how important it was to recycle, reuse and reduce as best as he could or knew how. After all, there really is no such thing as an unlimited resource and when resources start running out, prices go up and when prices go up those that suffer the most are generally the least fortunate of us. The Dingo realized right then and there that something had to change and change soon.

As a self proclaimed tree-hugger and friend to all woodland creatures, The Dingo went home & found the definition of the word “environment” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

  • 1 :  the circumstances, objects, or conditions by which one is surrounded
  • 2 : a) the complex of physical, chemical, and biotic factors (as climate, soil, and living things) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival: b) the aggregate of social and cultural conditions that influence the life of an individual or community

According to this definition, our environment is complex, we are all interconnected and what happens upstream affects those living downstream and everything and everyone in between. The Dingo knew it was time to empower the masses with the knowledge & resources to live cleaner and greener. It’s true that exploiting our natural resources can definitely help make a few people rich, but a clean, safe & thriving environment is priceless because it benefits everyone who lives in it.

The Dingo began his crusade by doing some pretty extensive research on several environmental subjects including climate change, littering, recycling, land fills, deforestation, and energy conservation, just to name a few; he wrote letters to his elected officials regarding the disappearance & neglect of the natural environment in his region and he got some of his close friends & neighbors to do the same; he arranged river & highway cleanup days with kids from local schools; and he even went as far as committing to participating in Meatless Mondays.

The Dingo smiled as the warm and fuzzy feeling of love overcame him. He knew that being environmentally aware not only impacted his neighbor next door but it also impacted his neighbors all the way on the other side of the globe and that was pretty awesome in his book.

Walk in Love.
Y.C.Lozano ©2014

The Dingo Walks in Love is a project that teaches lesson in love with the power of art, social media, books, pubic art, & random acts of kindness.