The Good, The Bad and the Better -- A Lesson From Making Soap

It's a simple chemical formula combining different types of oils, water, lye and sometimes scent. If you want to impress someone, you can tell them that the chemical process of making soap is called saponification. That just sounds more impressive.

People have been making soap for a very long time. My grandma would talk about the lye soap her grandmother made that burned her skin. It probably burned because back in the olden days, they didn't have computer generated formulas that analyzed just how much lye was necessary to cause the transformation process to begin.

Lye is caustic. Gloves and eye protection are recommended when using it. It is in fact, the typical main component in products that aid in unclogging sinks. Picture a white powder than can eat its way through compacted hair and other disgusting oddities in your drain. Yuck.. Lye is that powerful.

Each ingredient carefully weighed in the exacting process of making goat milk soap

The formula generates its own heat as it is mixed
in the pot.

I continue to be amazed knowing lye is at the heart of the equation that produces such a gentle, nourishing soap I safely use all over my body.  If I were to apply lye directly to my skin, I would be burned and in pain. It would be an awful experience. It took me forever to actually make my own soap because I was so intimated by  the caustic lye.

Lye + oils =soap
Something harmful/bad + something else = good

We can't get through life without sad things happening to us and those we love. We fail, we're disappointed, relationships end. people die --- and on and on the litany of negatives  goes on. But the positive spin, is all the rest of the good things in life that are mixed in.  When it's all blended together, and if we are intentional about looking for it -- we can just about always find amazing things resulting from negative experiences.

Beautiful goat milk soap curing in the molds they were poured in.

Be The Change

What did you do to change the world today? I changed my socks. That counts.

At our local watering hole the other night, I had this napkin as I was eating my chicken wings and Coke.  I love it when common household items can be so entertaining! This is an unusual twist on one of my favorite quotes--

                                   "Be the change you want to see in the world"

                                                                                  --Mahatma Gandhi

Sometimes being part of the solution instead of the problem can be amazingly uncomplicated, albeit a bit more demanding than changing your socks.

People can be awfully quick to spew hatred, complain and otherwise make more trouble in an already trouble-filled world.  That approach  doesn't help change, that perpetuates problems -- hatred, destruction, lack of cooperation, fear, and on and on it goes.

How can one individual with limited power and means make any difference? You can be a positive voice in the orbit of your daily world.  The effect of smiling at people can be amazing.  Most people smile right back, probably glad to make a positive human connection.  My personal belief is that prayer is a very real way to deal with life and be an active participant in making the world better. If prayer isn't something you resonate with, how about sending good thoughts, positive energy or holding someone in your heart with love and care. If someone criticizes a segment of society, can you find an alternate opinion to offer that doesn't involve hate? Engage in gentle balance not argument.

You can change your world everyday. It's a very intentional choice to embrace the goodness of what life has for us and refusing to be lessened by the negative. 

Common Ground

Meet BonBon.  She's a five month old Yorkshire Terrier.  There's a reason why they refer to terriers as the terrors of the dog world.  They are wonderfully feisty and mischievous canines.  I happen to prefer terriers to all other breed categories.  They have the most delightful way at looking at the world and I love to be around them.  I happen to have two.  My other pup is a Miniature Schnauzer named Truffle. But I decided it was time for a completely portable, take anywhere kind of dog.

BonBon attended her first obedience training class last Saturday.  She was with a baby Rottweiler and a young German Shepherd. As you may know, small dogs never know they are small and large dogs haven't a clue they are big, so I think it's safe to say that the field was level for all.

To my delight, it was a very positive class.  I've seen too many trainers with a need for dominance and control.  I have rarely felt a need to prove my dominance and prowess with a thumb or demonstrate my brute force.  With a desire for true transparency, I must admit that I currently have a nasty male goat I'm using force with, only so that I can have a reasonable working relationship with him.

With the other 14 goats, my dogs and especially  BonBon -- I want an enjoyable camaraderie with them.  It's difficult to do that with punishment as the common mode of communication. 

Therefore, when BonBon does was she's supposed to do -- she receives a tiny morsel of goodness and my honest praise.  When she doesn't do something the way I've instructed -- that stuff is momentarily withheld until we get to the correct response.  That's learning.  If she does something bad, she hears a tone of voice that she find unpleasant.  We have a great friendship forming, she loves to learn and she learns quickly. 

My dad could change my behavior by the movement of his eyebrow.  Seriously.  He could arch it up like a chevron or an upside down v.  It was a bit terrifying. It always changed my behavior and I really hated getting that look.

I think animals and people alike are much more prone to learn in a positive setting.  Relationships are much more likely to form into something positive when the little things we do are appreciated.  When you are training a four legged animal, you reward the littlest behaviors that point to the ultimate behavior you are working towards. How amazing things would be if we took the time to "reward" all the wonderful little things that occur around us.