A Karmic Bond and My Mood Stabilizer

If words could describe this special bond

Photo by Joe Caione on Unsplash

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A Sanskrit word, “Runam,” translates to “something which is owed, e.g., a debt.” Growing up in an Indian household, I’ve heard the common belief that dogs enter our lives to give us an opportunity to repay our debts from a previous life by taking care of them.

As a Hindu, I believe in reincarnation, which holds that once the soul leaves the body, it is reborn into another body. To that end, we are all part of a cycle of rebirth, and our timing varies according to our karma.

Although I am a dog lover, I resisted my children’s pestering request for a dog for the longest time until I finally relented, and Max entered our lives. As expected, I became his alpha in lightning speed. Over the years, I’ve written about Max and his antics, my walks with him in nature, and taking him to work as a stress buster. I’ve written about the life lessons we can learn from our interactions with dogs, but one memory stands out above all the others.

I had lost my father the previous year to cancer, and one evening, I was particularly sad and grieving his loss. That’s the first time, as a puppy, Max came to sit on my lap and placed his head on my shoulder as a way of consoling me. I was touched by…