The Buddha taught that all conditioned mental and physical phenomena are impermanent, but there is something that doesn't seem to change -- the dissatisfaction I have with my relationship with my wife.

The other day, my wife and I took our dog Molly out for a walk. We don't even seem to be able to do something as simple as going for a walk without getting on each other's nerves. I'm to the point where I'd rather not do anything with her except watch movies. We're great at watching movies together, since we don't have to interact. Once in a while we'll have a good conversation, but that seems to be rare, and I get lonely for someone to talk to.

Our dog can sense when something is wrong with me. It's not the tone of my voice or anything physical. After our walk the other day, I went into my meditation room to meditate for a while. On the other side of the door, I could hear Molly sniffing and scratching, and being generally upset. I didn't have much success meditating. Mara was a constant bother and I couldn't overcome my hindrances.

After the meditation gong sounded to indicate the end of the 20 minutes, I opened the door and Molly immediately moved towards me and sat on my foot, leaning against my leg. I gave her a pet and went into the bedroom to read in bed. Molly followed me and jumped up on the bed. She lay there looking at me concerned. She'd look at me, then look away, look at me for a few moments, then look away. I was pretending to read but I was watching her watch me.

Finally she sat up and stared at me with a big smile on her face. I couldn't help but smile back. We both sat there for about five minutes smiling at each other. It was very strange, but in a good way.

Molly seems to be one of those dogs who can sense problems. I had an irritation inside my nose a few months ago and every time she had the opportunity, she'd lick my nose. My eyes were bothering me the other day and she could tell. She'd lick them when I'd get on the floor to play with her.

With the physical problems, she probably smells something that indicates to her that something is wrong. But what about when I was feeling kind of bad emotionally and she was on the other side of the door? Do we emit some kind of smell? Could be. It's been said that animals can sense fear. Perhaps they can sense other emotions as well.

I don't know, but I think Molly deserves a walk. :)

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