Spirit Animals and Humans. Can't we all just get along?

photo credit: PMillera4 <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/48227962@N04/25248425868">Snowy Owl</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">(license)</a>

So let's say you never delve into the world of psychics, palm reading and crystal balls, and have moved through life thus far without any need to know what might be, what will be, and what's on the other side. I too have been there, and I am telling you that no matter how much you block your intuition from the spirit world, it does indeed exist. It's up to you to accept and acknowledge that existence.

Animas are the most immediate ways Spirit communicates with us. Obviously if you live in an apartment building or work in an office and spend most of your time isolated from nature, you're not going to get those messages easily. But I'll bet you still access social media. You see your aunt's cute cat photos on Facebook, or your boss's latest post about office productivity on his blog, or maybe your high school friend is into bird watching on Instagram. Have you ever noticed a synchronicity in these posts? Your boss might have an owl in his post that day, and then your aunt posts something about an owl conservatory in town, then your high school friend links you to an event at the local nature center, and what's the event? Owl watching. Later on someone in front of you at lunch is wearing owl earrings, and after work the person in the car next to you has a bumper sticker that says 'Owl be watching you, a**hole.' Congratulations! You have just been given a message from Spirit. What is it, and why should you care? That owl you keep seeing is a warning to watch out for something important that's about to happen in your life. Maybe you find out the next day that a coworker stole your idea for a promotion, or you get a call that your girlfriend is cheating, or maybe you get a security notice that your credit card has been stolen. That owl was a message: keep your eyes open, be aware, something might be about to happen.

The problem is, most people don't know their left hand from their right when it comes to these messages. The Native Americans revered animals as great totems of Spirit and worked alongside them on a daily basis. Sadly, what was once a great balance of human/earth/animal/spirit through time became one dominant entity: Human. No guidance. No connection. Yet the messages are still there. As long as we live on earth, Spirit will communicate with us through nature. Personally, I see this as a gift, and where is why.

This fall I was going through a stress related sickness and was growing despondent. I felt depressed, alone, and it was a struggle to get up in the morning, to eat and to stay positive. Each day I fought to get by with a quiet determination to be strong for my children, but really I was stuck in a fog of migraines and pain all over. In the midst of this, I began to receive visitations from Spirit. One day while sitting in my back yard, a hawk appeared out off nowhere and flew by my face, so close I could feel the air coming off its wings as it passed. Mouth agape, I knew it must be a sign. A few days later I took walk with my dog, and another hawk--this time much bigger--swept down in front of me and landed a mere few feet away. Once again, I was in awe and full of questions. This particular hawk held the presence of a shaman. It wasn't long before my legs stopped feeling like jelly, the pain stopped in my head, and my energy and mood slowly came back.

We are guided, all of us. It is not a curse, but a blessing to walk alongside nature. We are all spirits, and the earth is our teacher. We're here to help each other along, to bring each other comfort and healing. How could that ever be a bad thing?

Near the end of my health journey I was standing outside on a grey, dreary late-fall day. My energy wasn't the greatest as the same stress from before had remained, though I had found positive ways to deal with it. That day I looked up just in time to see a crane fly over my head. Cranes are water birds and hold a rare grace. Their wingspan is majestic and creates a soft drape as they fly. It was so quiet and serene, legs tucked straight out in a perfect formation. Like the shaman I had sensed in the hawk, I now felt the presence of a Japanese Angel, perhaps another type of healer as well. A great peace came over me that day. I was being blessed and healed. And more than that, I was being given a message of love.

We are never alone. We are not cut off or divided. In our minds, yes, but never in spirit. You will always receive guidance and protection, even if you don't know it is there to be received.

Animals, from domestic to wild, are much closer to the other side than we are. They fulfill their missions faster and thus have shorter, but no less important, lifespans than us. Our missions are more difficult and often involve mental and emotional decisions that stretch out into the world, and which require a greater complexity of loss and risk. Both missions have the same value: to lift the veil of complacency and to know love. Together we can provide each other the help we need. We can coexist peacefully and bring love to one another.

Thank you for reading.

Allow Change

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/49208525@N08/27880071071">American Robin Chicks</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)</a>

The other week I noticed a theme in nature: extreme change and death. On my daily walk with my dachshund Henry, I saw littered along the sidewalk the effects of nature during a time of transformation. Baby birds who had fallen to the ground and died, most likely pushed out of the nest by their offspring, parents, or themselves--a first-flight disaster. Sad to see, but nature is it's own counselor and in some ways it's refreshing to see that that which is left unattended, attends to itself. I also saw unhatched eggs of delicate, sky blue. Shattered shells. Bunches of feathers from what appeared to be a hawk's feast. I also saw numerous snakeskin, all silvery and opaque, still holding the life-shape, yet not the inner workings.

That's another thing about nature, when one situation is too constricting, it's time to shed the skin, leave the nest, or be pushed out of the nest. There's none of this 'stay until you die' rhetoric which humans live by. 'You'll never get me to leave this crappy job. I've been here for forty years and no one can replace me. I'll die before I leave!' Even though the job gives you migraines, doesn't pay enough, doesn't let you take a vacation or sick leave, doesn't advance . . . But still , we persist. Or how about the relationship that runs into a toxic cycle of argument after argument, and both of you know it's over, but neither one is allowed to leave? Humans tend to live by an old doctrine of face it until it's dead. Literally dead. Physically dead. The truth is, spiritually it had died a long time ago but we refused to see it. We went through years of sadness and anger, we let it destroy our health, our happiness, all because we were told it was shameful and selfish to LOVE YOURSELF FIRST.

Loving yourself first doesn't mean you hate anyone else. It doesn't mean you want others to suffer or be hurt, or that you're better than them. It simply means that you know what is good and bad for you, and knowing that, you make decisions which are progressive and which will serve ALL PARTIES. Not just you, because a positive action will always benefit others. Loving yourself first means you love yourself, and everyone else, too. You are your sole provider on this earth when it comes to real, honest, decision-making, and you know that when you make decision based on other people's wants/needs/desires it will only end up bringing negativity into your life. That's where stress-related health issues come up, not to mention depression. It's not wrong to love yourself first, it's smart.

But it's also extremely difficult.

When making a major life decision, remember to list the pros and cons. Write down if the change will truly benefit you, or hurt you? And others? Look at it from all angles, and never make a decision based on anger or rash wants and needs. Look at the long term. Think about what you really want and if the grass is truly greener on the other side. Also, do think about if you're being selfish--and when I say selfish, I mean, am I doing this to hurt someone else on purpose? There's a difference between doing something you know is truly good for you and will help you on your path to being a better person but which might ruffle a few feathers, and doing something that has the intent of bringing pain and revenge. Of course, the latter would only hurt you eventually. It does come back, believe it or not.

On one of my walks I found a baby bird lying in the hot street, still breathing and very much alive. I approached it carefully, timid so that it wouldn't snip at me with it's tiny beak. It opened wide and squawked at me, and soon a flurry of other birds dive-bombed out of the trees, all crying out in warning. They didn't want me to help, the baby didn't want me to help. But I knew that it needed help, because if I didn't do something, a car would run right over it and never know. I grabbed an old bank envelope form my purse and scooped up the baby and hurriedly carried it to a patch of shady grass where it could either learn to fly, or die. My hopes were that it's parents would fly down and provide a makeshift nest on the ground to accommodate it. I couldn't guarantee it would happen, but at least now it had some hope.

In life there's always a choice. We dither and worry over change. We refuse help over and over again, because we're afraid, so afraid of the transformation. But believe me when I say there is a wiser, all knowing hand reaching out to us that wants us to beauty and joy of the newness that change brings. Happiness is not for certain people, it's for all people. Reach out for it, and know that there are many who will benefit.

Many blessings and peace.