What Equals Relaxed For You?
Editor's Note: This guest blog is from Southern California Mom
You know how
when you reach for the leash your dog knows it's time for a walk? Whenever I put my shoes on my daughter says,
"You're going out? Where are you going?" She has me pegged. I walk in the door to our house and the shoes
come off. 
It isn't a cleanliness thing. I am not trying to keep the outside dirt
outside. Dust gets tracked in by the
dog, three cats and two children. My shoes can't compare
to a long haired cat that has just rolled in the dirt as a conduit of dust. Nor is it a conscious
thing. I only realized I am normally
unshod at home when my daughter began to point it out.
There are those who say that it is important
to put your shoes on as you are getting dressed in the morning and keep them
on. It is supposed to psyche your body
and mind into being ready to face the day or something like that. But it
doesn't work for me. I've come to
believe that I need to be shoeless or in slippers in order to be completely
relaxed, perhaps because my feet spend a lot of time tucked under me, or
because I love to dance. I just can't
get a good twirl going in a pair of street shoes. Ultimately I think it is
a ritual I was not previously aware of. Relaxed equals no shoes. And, probably, if I
am seated, there is a dusty cat on top of me.
