The Bees came back

A month or more ago, I wrote a blog about the strange incident I had, where on one particular day I kept finding bees in the house. In the previous 15 years I have lived here, never once did a single bee come into the house, so I found it extremely odd that so many bees would find their way into my house on that one day.

Well, it happened again this Wednesday, only this time it was different. From the first bee I found, I knew they weren't here to deliver the same message as the previous bees, because the energy of these bees was so different.

Last time, the bees that I was rescuing from indoors were somewhat docile, seemingly appreciative of my help in transporting them outside, but this time, the bees were feisty and on edge. I couldn't believe how hard they made me work to get them into a cup, for their trip out to the yard. One bee insisted on walking on the ceiling, where I couldn't reach him, so I went and got a chair and as soon as I stepped up on the chair, he flew to another spot a couple feet away and began walking on that part of the ceiling. I worked harder at getting the first two bees out of the house than I did getting the previous seven out of the house. I couldn't figure out what in the heck was going on.

After I got the first three bees out of the house, I pulled out my Animal Speak book (Ted Andrews) and looked up bees to see what they could possibly be trying to tell me. There are many different things a bee can be trying to tell you when they "show up" so I read through all the possibilities. One line in particular kept grabbing my attention, and it was NOT the line that grabbed my attention the last time I was visited by so many bees. This time, the line that jumped out at me was, "Are you keeping your desires in check so they can be more productive?"

I have to admit, while I knew that was the message I was supposed to get, I had no idea what it really meant. As I was sitting there trying to open up my heart to better understand the message, I started to hear the familiar buzz again and looked up to see two more feisty bees in the front window of my family room. I can't tell you how long it took me to finally get the two of them in the "transport cup" but I had worked up quite a sweat by the time they were finally relocated to the backyard.

I sat down again to try and figure out what that line really meant, and could feel irritation in my body. I just couldn't believe how difficult they had all been. All five of them made me really work to get them out of the house and it made me mad. I missed the previous set of bees that came to visit, as they were so much easier to work with. As I sat there, realizing how edgy I was feeling, the message finally came through clearly . . . I had been having a tough couple of days and I realized in that moment that I had been focusing for days on what I DIDN'T want in my life.

I happen to believe that our thoughts manifest our reality, and given where I had been focusing my attention, it was clear I was on the verge of bringing a whole lot more of what I didn't want into my life. The bees were trying to give me a wake up call.

Just then, I heard the buzzing sound again. I was dumbfounded. After I got the last bee out of the house, I checked every window in the house to ensure there were no more bees and I made sure the backdoor was closed so no one else could come in. I have no idea how he got in, but there he was.

As I was chasing him around with the "transport cup," I explained to him that I had finally gotten the message and asked him to let all his friends know that I finally got it. I asked him to let them know I appreciated them all for making such a big effort to get through to me. I promised him that I would keep my thoughts focused on what I DID want in my life (keeping my desires in check) so that I could bring in more of what I wanted.

Interestingly enough, not a single bee has come into the house since then. Over the last three days, I have had the back door wide opened (I think I mentioned before that I don't use my screen door, since Lucky was kind enough to make german shepherd size holes in it for me) and still, not a single bee has come into the house. Clearly, they knew their message had been received and they didn't have to try to communicate with me anymore.

I am determined to keep focusing on what I DO want in my life, so they won't have a reason to come back and give me another wake up call. :-)

Learning from our animals

A couple weeks ago, I was having dinner with an old boyfriend of mine. We haven't been in touch much in the last 15+ years, so there was a lot to catch up on. As we talked, I kept noticing this puzzled look on his face when I would speak about the work I do now, and what I believe about animals. It made me laugh when I realized why he was so confused.

He knew me back in the early 90's, when I was working in the corporate world and had not yet reacquainted myself with my intuitive abilities or studied energy healing, therefore, the things I am doing now are quite foreign to him. On top of that, he is now a biology professor, so in many ways, he can't quite wrap his mind around the things that I believe, because he is used to having a lot of "proof" and a lot of scientific evidence to support his beliefs.

Through out dinner, he would occasionally ask me questions about his dog and when I would answer, he would look at me with confusion and mild disbelief. Such as, when he asked me what I sensed about his dog Oscar, and I said that I felt he was insecure at times and seemed unsure in moments that he was loved. He seemed surprised that I knew that, but admitted that he felt that too.

Then he asked what he could do about it. I told him it would help if he could give Oscar reassurance, let him know that he is loved, that he will always be loved. He stared at me blankly for a few minutes and then said, "But how do I do that?" and I said, "You just tell him that" and he said, "But he's a dog, he won't understand what I am saying."

He was very serious, so I gently explained to him that animals learn our language the same way babies learn our language . . . . by hearing it. I told him that the more exposure babies have to people talking, the more words they pick up, and that animals are no different. He sat there, staring at me, trying to wrap his mind around what I had just said.

While I was explaining this to him, Oscar came and sat next to me, and kept looking up at me with appreciation. My friend asked, "What is he telling you?" and I said, "He's really happy that I am educating you about this, because he wants you to know that he can understand everything you say." There was dead silence for a while, as Oscar continued to wag his tail and lean into me.

After a while, my friend said, "You said before that animals come into our lives for a reason, so what is the reason Oscar came into in my life?" I told him that animals often help us learn by mirroring the same things that we need to learn, and that by helping them, we discover we can help ourselves too. He looked really puzzled, so I gave him a few examples, such as by finding ways to help Lucky heal from her emotional wounds, I found I too could heal my own emotional wounds, or a client of mine whose dog was anxious all the time and when she found ways to help ease her dog's anxiety, she realized that she too was anxious all the time and used the same things to help herself be less anxious.

He still looked really puzzled, so I said, "Do you see any of yourself in Oscar?" and he said, "Well, we were just talking about how Oscar is insecure sometimes and worries that he isn't always loved" and then he was silent. I waited for a while, and then I said, "Is that something you see in yourself?" and I saw all the color go out of his face and he looked really uncomfortable. After a few more minutes he said, "I guess I have a lot to think about."

I didn't want to make him anymore uncomfortable, so I decided to change the subject. I said, "You said earlier you were thinking of repainting a couple of rooms, do you want to show me the colors you are considering?" and it was obvious by how quickly he jumped up and grabbed the paint samples that he was really relieved we had moved on to a different topic. :-)

My hope is that some day, both he and Oscar will no longer feel any insecurity and that they will both know, every minute of every day, that they are loved. After all, isn't that what we all deserve?

Animal Apologies

Earlier this week, when I was giving reiki to one of my cat clients, we had a little mishap that allowed me the witness the depth with which animals feel.

It happened when we had just gotten started. I was sitting on the floor cross legged and the cat had settled down in my lap, stretched across my left thigh. His guardian was seated on the couch in front of me and his dog sibling was sitting on the floor next to us, waiting for her turn. I was just tuning into his body, getting a sense of how he was feeling physically, when the dog got a tickle in her ear and shook her head. The sound of her ears flapping against the sides of her head startled the cat with such intensity that his fight or flight instinct kicked in. It all happened in a matter of seconds, but in some ways, it felt like it was happening in slow motion.

In a few rapid seconds, I felt claws simultaneously digging into various parts of my body, as he attempted to spring off my lap to safety . . . a couple of swear words sprung from my lips as I felt a searing pain from one of his claws puncturing one of my fingers . . . the dog jumped to her feet, in a panic . . . and the guardian yelled "Oh no!"

We went from peacefulness to total chaos in a split second. My first thought was to apologize for the stream of swear words that flew out of my mouth, I was really embarrassed about that, but the guardian interrupted me with a wave of her hand and said "I would have said worse."

Then she said, "We've got to get your cleaned up and you should check your clothes, it sounded like they got ripped somewhere." As she walked towards the bathroom to get bandaids and neosporin, I looked down at my hand and realized that there was blood everywhere. I think every one of his claws must have made contact with my hand as he was making his get away. I checked my pants and didn't see any rips, which surprised both of us.

I went into the bathroom and started cleaning up my hand, when I felt a tickle on my ankle. I pulled up my pant leg to look and realized it was blood running down my leg from cuts on my shin. We laughed when we realized the 'ripping' sound we heard was probably my skin ripping, not my clothing. It took a few minutes, but eventually we got everything bandaged up and went back in the front room to resume the reiki treatment.

I sat back down on the floor, the dog sat down next to me, the guardian sat back on the couch, but the cat was afraid to come back on my lap. It surprised me at first. In all the chaos, we were so focused on just stopping the bleeding, I wasn't thinking about how the cat felt. Once I tuned into him, I could tell how bad he felt about what happened. I assured him that I wasn't mad at him at all, that I knew it was an accident and that I was sure I was going to be fine. He walked across my lap a few times but seemed afraid to sit back down. I admitted to him that I was a little nervous too and suggested he sit in between my legs, rather than on them. He liked that idea and immediately settled into the space between my legs.

He asked me a few times if I was sure I wasn't upset with him and each time, I assured him that I wasn't. Finally, I realized that each time he asked, it was right after I had been thinking about how that one finger was still throbbing, so I explained to him that while I was aware of how my finger felt, I wasn't concerned with how it had happened. I told him I could never be mad at him, that I adored him too much.

Several hours passed, as I worked with his dog sibling and then his guardian. I had forgotten about it completely by the time I was getting ready to leave the house. As I was standing by the front door, fishing my keys out of my purse, and saying goodbye to the guardian, I felt paws against my knee, and I'll confess, I did tense a bit when I felt a couple little faint pricks of a cats claw coming through my pants, but when I looked down and saw his sweet face, all the tension faded immediately.

His guardian looked at me with a surprised look on her face and said, "He never does that," and I had to admit, I had never seen him do that either, but he was intent on getting my attention. He stretched his little body up as high as he could, inching his paws up over my knee and it made me think that if he could have, he would have found a way to look me in the eye. I looked down at him and made eye contact, and he told me again how sorry he was that I had gotten injured. It was the sweetest gesture. He really didn't want me to leave until he was sure that I wasn't upset with him. I assured him again that I was not upset at all and told him how touched I was that he wanted to make sure everything was OK before I left.

On the drive home, I kept thinking about him and how touching it was that he wanted me to know how sorry he was and that he wanted to make sure we were OK. I know humans who would be less concerned if they hurt me. :-) So once again, I was given the opportunity to savor the sweetness that exists in our relationships with animal companions and to be in awe of them, for their depth of feelings and their capacity to express themselves. I believe we really are lucky to be able to experience animals and the breadth of their compassion. I also believe they have a lot to teach us if we're willing to listen.

Animals give thoughtful answers

This past week, when I went to give a reiki treatment to one of my animal clients, her guardian told me that she and her husband had been trying to figure out if their dog would like another dog companion. She asked me if I could talk to her dog about it, which I was happy to do.

It was such an enjoyable conversation and a sweet reminder of just how robust the thought processes of animals are. They think, they feel, they process information, just as we do, and they really appreciate it when all those thoughts and feelings are acknowledged.

When we started talking about it, her first question was, "What would the dog look like?" Her guardian confirmed that if they got another dog, it would be the same breed as she was, so the answer was "He or she would look a lot like you." She was quiet for a few minutes and I could tell she was really thinking about how she wanted to respond.

When she was ready to talk, she told me she was not sure if she wanted another dog in the house. She explained that she was conflicted, because she really did like playing with other dogs and she thought it would be fun to have someone around to play with all the time and at the same time, she wasn't sure she wanted to share her mom and dad with anyone else. She really wasn't sure what she wanted.

We told her that we understood how she felt and that there was no pressure. She asked if we could check in again in six months and ask her again. Her mom smiled and said, "Of course, we can talk about it again in six months."

This sweet little dog thought about it a little longer and then had some more ideas. She wanted to know if her mom and dad could babysit some other dogs in the next six months, so she could get a feel for what it would be like to have another dog around all day and night. She thought that it would be important for her to "try it out" and see what it was really like to share her mom and dad with someone else, especially at night. Her mom agreed that if the opportunity presented itself, they would certainly babysit the dogs of any of their friends who were going out of town, so she could see what it was like.

This pleased her immensely and she seemed so content. She appreciated the fact that her mom and dad were interested in her opinion and she was so happy everyone understood her concerns. She closed her eyes and just soaked up the reiki after that. She got so relaxed, she even fell into a sound sleep during the last part of her reiki treatment.

One of the things I love about the work I do with animals is they never cease to amaze me. Even though I know they think and feel and process things, to have the opportunity to witness it again and again is still one of the sweetest parts of my job. I am in awe of animals, of their minds and of their hearts . . . and I think I will be for the rest of my life.

Reading body language

I often tell people that even if they can't receive telepathic messages from their animal, they can still communicate with them. It's just a matter of watching their animals' body language when they talk to them. Animals will give you answers and show you what they think of what you are saying, through their body language. By watching them, and their reactions to what you say, you have a wonderful way to enhance your own communication with your animal.

I find that I coach my clients a lot, to help them better communicate with their animals, so that they don't always need someone like me. It's not that I want to put myself out of a job :-) I just believe very strongly that the better we can communicate with our animals, the stronger our bond can be and I want to do what I can to help strengthen the bonds between humans and their animals.

Recently, I was at a client's house and she was telling me that one of her cats was driving her batty because she didn't know what she was asking for when she would meow loudly. She was telling me that when her cat starts meowing like crazy, it makes her crazy because she doesn't know what she needs . . . Is she hungry? Is she in pain? Does she just want attention? Is she trying to tell her something else?

I suggested that she tell her cat, "If you're trying to tell me this, then this is what I need you to do." She looked at me with a puzzled look on her face and just as I was trying to figure out a better way to say what I had just said, her cat came into the room and started meowing like crazy. Her guardian said "See, this is what I am talking about." I asked her, "What do you think she's trying to tell you?" and she said, "I don't know, maybe she's hungry" so I said, "Well, then tell her, "If you want food, I need you to go stand by your bowl" and immediately, her cat walked over to her bowl. Her guardian giggled with delight over the clear communication she was receiving and promptly opened a can of cat food and put it in the bowl. All was quiet, as her cat happily devoured the can of food.

The next time I was at her house, she said, "I need you to talk to my other cat Niko, he's been beating up one of my other cats recently and I don't like it." So, when Niko came into the room, I started to talk to him, explaining that it wasn't ok for him to beat up his brother and immediately he turned his head the other way, refusing to look at us. His mom and I couldn't help but laugh, seeing his obvious reaction to what I was saying to him. We started to talk about something else and Niko began having eye contact with us again, but when I went back to talking to him about how he needed to stop beating up his brother, once again, he turned his head away, refusing to look at me while I was talking to him. Clearly, he was telling us that he didn't want to hear what I was saying.

That was just a few days ago and I'm still waiting up an update from Niko's guardian. If there hasn't been any change in his behavior, I'll need to talk to him some more the next time I am there and see if I can find out why he's suddenly so intent on beating up his brother.

I think you will find that you can increase your understanding of your animals if you observe their body language more closely. Talk to them and see how they respond. They may surprise you, by showing you they know exactly what you are saying to them.

Animals as Guides

I believe that all animals are willing and able to serve as our guides while we are here on earth. The key is whether or not we're paying attention enough to receive the guidance they are sharing with us. While we most often think of our pets playing this role, the truth is, any animal, bird, reptile or insect that we encounter, may be attempting to give us guidance.

I have written about this before in past blogs, and mentioned one of my favorite books, Animal Speak, by Ted Andrews, that I frequently refer to when an animal "shows up" in a way that catches my attention. I emphasize "show up" because when we are getting guidance, the animal (or bird, reptile, insect) will make a point of getting our attention.

For instance, I see crows in my neighborhood all the time, I see and hear them when I am sitting in my backyard but I don't necessarily see that as "showing up." On the other hand, the other day, when I was sitting in the backyard, a crow landed on my fence right in my line of sight and then he sat there and stared at me for quite a few minutes, not moving, not adjusting his gaze. I knew he was "showing up," so I went inside to get my Animal Speaks book and see what guidance he was offering me.

The other night, I was leaving a clients house and she mentioned that a couple nights earlier, a friend had driven her home and they were sitting in the car visiting. They saw an opossum walk in front of the car, not once but twice. I told her my assumption was that the opossum was trying to get their attention. Of course, we can interpret the presence of an animal anyway we want. We can think "Ick, what is that thing doing in front of my house?" or we can consider that maybe it is trying to give us a message.

I mentioned once before that a friend of mine had been doing a lot of hiking with his wife and several days in a row, a badger crossed their path. The badger was close enough to make his presence known, but he didn't do anything to frighten them. He and his wife thought it was odd although they didn't give it much thought beyond that, but when I read to him, from Animal Speak, what a badger represents when they "show up" his jaw dropped. He said he couldn't believe how clearly the "message" related to the very things that were going on at the time for he and his wife, the very things they had been discussing while they were out hiking.

And just a couple weeks ago, I had an experience so strange, I feel compelled to share it. It was a warm day, so I had the back door opened. (I don't bother to close the screen anymore, since Lucky was kind enough to make german shepherd sized holes in it for me. I am sure she was thinking it would be helpful to me if I didn't have to get up and open the screen door when she wanted to go out back). :-) So, the backdoor was wide opened and I was up in my office. I heard a strange buzzing sound and looked behind the blinds in the window and realized a bee was buzzing against the glass. I told him to follow me and I'd show him the way back downstairs and out of the house but he didn't follow me. :-)

I got distracted when the phone rang, then got busy doing other things and finally went back up to my office to send some emails an hour or two later. When I sat down, I heard the buzzing again only this time it was louder. I looked behind the wood blinds and saw not one but two bees. I rushed downstairs, got a cup and a piece of paper, since I now knew I wasn't going to get the bees to follow voice commands, and went back up to begin the rescue mission.

I gently scooped the first bee into the cup, put the paper over the top so he wouldn't fly out and then deposited him on some flowers in the backyard. When I came back in, I closed the door, so he couldn't accidentally come back in, then headed upstairs to rescue the second one, only to discover there were three bees there. One by one, I gently scooped them into the cup, brought them outside, closing the backdoor behind me to ensure they didn't come back in.

Once I got all four of them safely outside, I heard the dryer buzz, so I went to the laundry room to get my clothes out of the dryer when I heard that familiar buzzing again. I looked around and sure enough, I found another bee in the laundry room. I went and got the cup again and got him transported to the flowers outside.

After I folded the laundry and put everything away, I sat down on the couch and once again, I heard buzzing. I couldn't believe it. It felt like I was in some alternate universe. In all the years I have lived here, never once has a bee come into the house. I looked behind the shutters in the front window and found two more bees. Once again, I got the cup and piece of paper and one by one, brought them outside, closing the door behind me each time.

I was thinking to myself "What in the heck is going on?" and "Why did all these bees want to come inside the house today?" when all of the sudden it dawned on me . . . they were clearly trying to get my attention. I grabbed my Animal Speak book and read up on what it means when a bee "shows up" in your life (or seven of them) :-) I smiled as I read what they represent, because they were things I definitely needed to hear that day.

So, I encourage you to pay more attention, whether you are at home, or out in nature, or on your way to or from work . . . are any animals, birds, reptiles or insects "showing up," trying to get your attention? They just might have an important message for you.

My Uncle Jim

This past week, my uncle Jim unexpectedly passed away. It came as a shock to everyone because he wasn't ill and seemed to be in good health. When my cousin (his daughter) asked if any family or friends wanted to write a favorite story about her dad, I knew it would be a good thing for me to do, since writing seems to be one of the best ways for me to process my feelings when someone dies.

I sat down and wrote out a few of my favorite memories of my uncle Jim, then sent them to my brother and sister, to have them check facts for me, since I wasn't sure if my memory of the events was accurate. Apparently, either my memory is great, or theirs are no better than mine because they didn't see anything that needed to be changed. :-)

I decided to share one of the stories in my blog this week, in part to honor my uncle Jim and also because it's a story about one of my favorite childhood dogs, Clancy, and it was fun to remember how he ended up being a permanent member of our family.

We grew up in California, so we didn’t get to interact much with all our relatives on the east coast. We got to see Uncle Jim more than anyone because his work would often bring him out to the west coast, but I still didn’t know him well. I had always assumed people on the east coast were no-nonsense types, conservative, more formal, and less emotional than those of us in California. I have no idea how I formed this opinion, but thanks to uncle Jim, I learned that those generalizations I had made about east-coast folks were wrong.

One year, back around 1979 or 1980, uncle Jim was in California on business and came over for dinner. We had just adopted a new dog a couple of days earlier and my parents weren’t sure they were going to let us keep him. Us kids, of course, had fallen in love with the dog and were determined to keep him.

Somehow in all the commotion that evening, our new dog, Clancy, slipped out of the house. When we finally discovered that he was missing, we were all frantic. I don’t even know if we were done with dinner yet, but immediately everyone was up from the table and out the door, in search of our missing dog.

This was when I began discovering my misconceptions about uncle Jim. I assumed that he would think we were all crazy for making such a big deal about a dog we had only had for a couple of days, but much to my delight, he joined in the search and seemed just as concerned as the rest of us that the dog was missing. There he was, walking the streets of a neighborhood he wasn’t familiar with, yelling “Clancy, Clancy!” along with the rest of us.

After an hour or so of combing the neighborhood, we came back to the house to regroup. Uncle Jim and I were walking into the kitchen together, when I heard my mom talking out loud to God. She said that if he helped bring Clancy back, he would never have to leave again, that we would for sure keep him. I don’t know what I was happier about, that I heard my mom make this promise to God, or that I had uncle Jim as a witness.

After several more hours of frantic searching, we finally found Clancy! When he was safely back in our house, us kids were excitedly telling him that he was going to get to stay forever, when my dad said, “We don’t know that yet.” I quickly pointed out that I had heard mom make a promise to God that he would get to stay. I saw my mom hesitate for a minute, so I chimed in with, “And uncle Jim heard her too.” And that seemed to be all it took to secure her promise and give Clancy his forever home.

I was delighted to find out that night that my Uncle Jim had such a good and caring heart and that he was willing to side with the kids when it came down to parents vs. kids. After that visit, I had a whole new perspective on my uncle Jim and looked forward to his next visit.

I sent the above story, as well as another one to my cousin and the next day, I got an email back from her telling me how much she, her mom and her sister had enjoyed the stories. She said the stories made them all laugh and cry and she wanted me to know how much they appreciated them.

It got me thinking about how much it means to someone to know what their loved one meant to other people, whether that loved one is a person or an animal. To know how someone's life was impacted by the deceased shifts the focus to their life, rather than their death, and to me, that is one of the most important things we can do . . . to honor the life, instead of focusing on the death.

So if you encounter someone who has lost a loved one, whether it's a person or an animal, and that loved one touched your life or impacted you in some way, I hope you will let them know. You will be giving them a great gift, helping them to focus on their loved ones life, helping them to remember why that life was so important . . . and giving them something positive to focus on in the difficult weeks and months that lie ahead.