A Promise Fulfilled

Many years ago, I was writing a book about my life with Lucky, detailing all the things we had learned in our years together.  Then for a variety of reasons, the book got set aside . . .  I promised Lucky before she passed away that I would finish the book but never expected almost three years to pass before I pulled it out again.

In July, one of my clients told me that Hay House Publishing was having a nonfiction writing contest and we decided it was time for me to dust off my manuscript and finally get the book done!

The last few months have been filled with writing, editing, rewriting and more editing and with the love and support of many friends I am happy to say it is now complete.  Today I submitted my book - and have breathed a huge sigh of relief!

The contest winners won't be announced until November 1st, but I know I will sleep well tonight knowing that I was able to fulfill the promise I made to my sweet girl.

Update: The plastic horse

A month or so ago, I wrote about a sweet little dog named Bijou who was unnerved by a life-size plastic horse in front of a pet store. Curiosity got the best of me, so I went to investigate the horse for myself.

While I was there, I spent time just standing next to the big plastic horse, trying to sense what may be so upsetting to Bijou. I discovered the following things:  Energetically, something did feel unsettling about the horse, although I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I noticed that when the wind blew, the horse moved ever-so-slightly and I wondered if that almost undetectable movement was what bothered her so much.

Speaking with the store manager, I learned that Bijou wasn't the only dog that had that kind of reaction to the horse, as many of their doggie customers also bark their heads off when they see the horse.

I decided to send Reiki to the plastic horse, hoping to clear any negative energy that might be attached to or around it. Then I had my friend take a picture of me with the horse.

I sent the picture to Bijou's mom and asked her if she would show it to Bijou, and tell her that I stood next to the horse and nothing bad happened to me.  :-)

A week ago, Bijou and her sister Sadie, went to the pet store and I couldn't have been more thrilled by her mom's update. Not only did I get a wonderful written update, but she also sent me the video she took of their visit, so I could see what happened.

The parking space right in front of the horse was opened, so they pulled into that slot. Bijou didn't react and neither did her sister Sadie. She looked at the horse but didn't snarl and growl at the window like she used to.  She didn't go into a frenzy as she always did.  She watched people come in and out of the store but just wagged her tail at them. Her mom was stunned and so was I when I watched the video.

So, I am happy to report that at least for Bijou and Sadie, the horse doesn't seem to be a problem anymore. This experience also adds some confirmation / validation for folks who wonder how sensitive animals are to energy and what they are able to sense that can't be "seen."

What beliefs do you want to change?

Many of the spiritual teachers that I follow have been talking a lot this year about how powerful our ability to manifest has become and how much more rapidly we can create things in our lives by what we think, feel and believe.

They say that if you want to know what the beliefs are that you hold, consciously or subconsciously, all you have to do is look at your life and see what's there.  Everything in your life is somehow connected to what you believe.  It is as if our lives are like a mirror being held up to us, showing us what we really believe.

For instance, if you notice that everything is a struggle for you, chances are you hold a believe that we are supposed to struggle in life.  If you notice that good things are happening in other people's lives, but not in your own, you may hold a belief that good things only happen to other people.  Conversely, if things come to you easily and you always have everything you need, you probably hold that belief . . . that life is easy and that you will always have everything you need.

The good news is that it is never too late to change a belief.  We can change our beliefs any time we want and we are free to believe anything we want to believe.  The energy on the planet right now is nudging us strongly in that direction . . . to take a look at our beliefs and figure out which ones are serving us and which ones are not . . . and then to change the ones that are not.

Since most of our beliefs were formed in childhood, we can often find the clues to where we formed beliefs by going back to our childhood . . . not to relive it or re-experience it . . . just to observe where we might have learned something.  From there, by showing ourselves a little kindness, acknowledging why we might have learned to believe something but also acknowledging what we want to believe instead, we can start to shift our lives. Sometimes, it's enough to just observe the belief, without having to know exactly why we formed it.  The important part is knowing if it's a belief you want to keep or a belief you want to change.

I used to hold a belief that I would always have to do everything alone, that I would never receive the support I needed from others.  That belief was reflected again and again as I struggled by myself to weather life's storms, always wondering why I had to get through it all by myself.  When I finally decided I didn't want to believe I had to do everything alone anymore, it was astounding how much things shifted in my life, how many people stepped forward, in big ways and small ways, to make sure I knew I wasn't alone.  I am grateful all the time that I finally challenged that belief, because life is so much sweeter when you can feel the support of those around you.

So, what is your life telling you about your beliefs?  and how many of those beliefs would you like to change?  You can change any belief you want and the exciting thing is that the energy has never been more powerful or more supportive to help us make those changes.

Everything Happens For A Reason

I believe that everything happens for a reason.  I also believe that while the reason may not be something we can see or understand in the moment, I always trust that it is tied to the bigger picture, part of a divinely orchestrated plan.  In moments, I feel this so intensely, I have no question that it is true and I had one of those moments this week.

A client of mine told me about an experience she had that was still upsetting to her.  She had recently witnessed someone getting hit by a car.  She rushed to the man's side to see if there was anything she could do for him, but he died before help arrived.  She said he was losing blood too fast and there wasn't anything she could do to stop it.

She felt sad that she wasn't able to do anything and she wondered . . . if everything happens for a reason, why was she there?  She asked me what I thought.

My mind and heart were immediately flooded with thoughts and emotions and images.  I told her I was sensing very strongly that she was supposed to be there, because the man needed to experience her kindness and compassion before he left this world.  He needed to feel the love of her generous heart and know that he wasn't alone . . . that her purpose in that moment was to be there, so that in his last moments on earth he knew that someone cared.  I told her it wasn't about saving his life, but about giving him the gift of love and compassion in that moment.

She got goosebumps when I told her that and it brought tears to her eyes.  I could feel her letting go of the judgement she placed on herself for not having been able to do more for him and she considered that maybe she did do exactly what she was meant to do.

Something similar happened to another client of mine a month or two ago.  She was out running an errand when she witnessed a dog getting get by a car.  She immediately pulled over and rushed to see if she could help.  A young boy had placed the dog on the open tailed gate of his truck and at first the dog looked lifeless, but then she saw him moving.  She had recently become a Reiki practitioner, and while she hadn't worked on anyone but her own animals, she decided to try giving the dog Reiki.  She said the scene was chaotic. A young girl, the dog's guardian, came out of the house.  My client quickly assessed that it was her brother who had picked the dog up and placed him on the tailgate.  Then the driver of the car who hit the dog came back, apologizing profusely for what had happened.  My client told me that the brother appeared to be in shock.  He kept wringing his hands and running his hands through his hair, unable to do anything else.  His sister was on her cell phone frantically trying to find an emergency vet that was opened on a Sunday.

My client continued to give the dog Reiki while she assessed the situation. She didn't mention that was what she was doing.  It probably just appeared that she was making sure the dog didn't fall off the tailgate.  Her mind was calm and she was thinking through next steps. She thought that if they were going to transport the dog to an emergency vet, they would need to try to keep the dog as still as possible. She asked the boy if they had a pet carrier, he said no. She asked if he had a box they could put the dog in and he said no.  She could feel how helpless he felt.  She suggested he get a towel or a blanket that they could wrap around him.  He dutifully went to get a blanket and he seemed relieved to have something to do.  She admitted she was surprised at how calm she remained through the whole thing, as she helped them sort through their next steps, never once getting flustered.

She helped them get themselves and the dog into the car and they left to find the emergency clinic. Later that day, she went back by their house to see how the dog was.  They told her that he died from massive internal bleeding.  She felt sad and like my other client, she wondered why she had come upon the scene when she felt she hadn't really helped.  She wondered why she had tried to give the dog Reiki, when it didn't help save the dog's life.  She wondered what the purpose of her being there was, when in her mind, her presence hadn't made a difference.

I could sense right away that her purpose was to be a calm and loving presence, not just for the dog, but for the humans as well. I could feel how her presence helped the brother and sister stay calm and how her gentle guidance helped them tremendously when they were feeling so afraid and overwhelmed. I told her that Reiki can bring an animal great peace, which was probably exactly what the little dog needed at that time.  I could see how her presence helped everyone, even the man who had hit the dog, since she was able to corroborate his account of what happened and probably put his mind at ease.

She was in the right place at the right time to help all of them in ways she hadn't realized she helped them.  As with my other client, her gift was being able to share her love and compassion at a time when it was really needed.

The Plastic Horse

I got an email from one of my clients that made me laugh out loud and every time I think about what she wrote, it makes me laugh again, so I have decided that I need to share it with all of you.

There is a local pet store that has a life size plastic horse in front of their building and this horse is giving her some problems. Every time they go to the pet store, her dog Bijou becomes absolutely unhinged when she sees the horse.

My client told me that she has done what any good mom would do . . . she has talked to Bijou, she has consoled Bijou, she has taken Bijou up to the horse to show her that it is plastic.  She has done everything she can think of to lessen her sweet little girl's reaction to the horse, but none of her efforts have made a difference.  Bijou still becomes unhinged when she sees the plastic horse.

On her last trip to the store, she said to Bijou, "I'm going to share with Maureen that you freak out over the plastic horse and see what she has to say." Bijou looked at her with a slight head tilt and then the words that instantly came into her head were, "She'll stay away from the horse if she knows what's good for her."

I am not sure if I should heed Bijou's advice and stay away from this particular pet store, or if I should go over there and see how I feel around the horse.  :-)  Right now, I am just tickled by what Bijou said.

It's a wonderful reminder that animals are thinking, feeling beings, with an enormous amount of personality.  How fortunate we are to be able to share our lives with them.

A Test of Faith

Before Lucky made her transition, she told me she would come back to me. She told me it would be a few years and I was ok with waiting that long.  I sensed that we both had some things to do before we were ready for our next chapter together.

A year and a half ago, I was thinking about her and wondering how I would find her when the time came, so I posed a question before I went to bed . . . I asked, "How will I know which dog is Lucky?" and in the middle of the night, I got an answer to my question - A german shepherd named Chance.  I sensed that it was still a good ten months away, so I filed the information away and went on with life.

Last August, eight months after my dream about her coming back as a shepherd named Chance, Lucky came to me in a dream and told me she was going to be delayed but not to worry, she was still coming to be with me again.  I didn't ask her how long she would be delayed, so I've wondered since last fall when the time was finally going to come.

In April of this year, a client and friend of mine, Debbie, found Chance on the internet.  It was a very exciting time . . . I hit it off with the guy who ran the rescue group who had Chance and through the course of several conversations he was sure I was the right adopter for Chance.  Then I got interviewed by Chance's foster mom and things were looking good.  I was going to go meet him and hopefully bring him home with me the following week.

There was a whirlwind of activity around here as I prepared the house and the yard for my new dog.  I washed dog beds, pruned trees and picked up all the things off the floor that could be chewed by a young dog.  I was happy every day, anticipating this sweet reunion.

And then the disappointment came . . . . Chance's foster mom decided that she couldn't let him go.  She said he was such a wonderful dog, she wanted to keep him for herself.  I couldn't believe it  . . . I couldn't understand it.  How could something that seemed so divinely orchestrated unravel like this?  Was it not really "my Chance"? or was it my Chance and she was interfering with my fate?  What was going to happen now?

When my emotions are running high, it seems to interfere with my intuition, so it has been difficult to get clear guidance.  Consequently, the last couple of months have been pretty up and down.  In moments, I have faith . . . faith that Lucky will find me again and she will come to me as a german shepherd named Chance, just as she promised.  Debbie has been incredibly supportive, continuing to search the internet and keep her "antenna" up.  She is as determined for Lucky and I to be reunited as I am and it feels good to know I am not alone in this quest.

And in other moments, I worry that I missed my 'chance" and that I will never find her again.  I cringe when I get advice from well meaning friends who tell me to adopt any dog and name him Chance, or to find a puppy that hasn't been named yet.  It confuses me because I don't know if the resistance that I feel is an indication of a deeper knowing or my determination.  I feel like I should wait to find another german shepherd named Chance, but is that a sign of my faith?  Or a sign of my stubborn bullheadedness?

Thursday the 12th was Lucky's birthday.  I thought maybe, on a special day like that, I'd get some insights on where she is or how to find her.  That morning, I watched videos of her last birthday and smiled from head to toe.  Then in the afternoon, I went to our favorite beach.  I felt anticipation and peacefulness at the thought of being with her again but I didn't get any clear guidance.

Later that afternoon, I was on the phone with a friend of mine, and I shared with him how disappointed I was that I hadn't found "Lucky Chance" yet.  He said, "Everything happens for a reason," and when I groaned, he said, "Aren't you the one who taught me that?"  I laughed and said, "Yes, i did and I do believe everything happens for a reason, unless I am not happy with the outcome."  :-)

So the quest still continues . . . Debbie and I are still on a mission to see my dream become a reality.  For now, I am going to continue to hold out hope that this really is going to unfold the way Lucky told me it would.  I am going to do my best to stay open to any guidance that may come to me and I suppose it's likely that I will still have moments where I wonder whether my determination is misguided.  I guess only time will tell.  To be continued . . . .

Planting Seeds

The other day, one of my clients was expressing the disappointment she felt over a friend who wasn't taking her advice. I said to her something I have said hundreds of times . . . "Sometimes we have to hear something several times before we're ready to hear it." I think that if we feel compelled to share something, we should share it. The trick is to not be attached to the outcome and trust that when the person is ready, they will be opened to it, that sometimes when we are sharing something, we are just "planting a seed" and the seed won't turn into a flower for some time.

My client knows how much I live by Louise Hay's book, "Heal Your Body," which is about the mind/body connection, so I told her that when I was first introduced to the book, I thought it was a bunch of "Whooey" and was completely closed off to it. I told her that it took years, and seeing the book multiple times, before I really "got it" and fully embraced it. As I was explaining the process I went through to finally embrace the mind-body connection, I realized it might make a good blog post, so I decided to share the story with all of you.

Back in the late 80s, I was struggling with a health issue and a coworker handed me a copy of Louise Hay's book. I looked up a physical ailment I was having and when I read what the emotional root cause could be, I didn't want to see what it said. I think it was because I didn't want to feel that "responsible" for what was going on with me physically and the last thing I needed was to feel like something else was "my fault" . . . so I promptly gave the book back to my coworker and basically said, "Thanks, but no thanks."

The second time I saw the book, it was about three or four years later. I was at the chiropractor's office, waiting for my appointment and I saw the book on the shelf in the waiting room. I picked it up and looked up "upper back pain" because that's why I was in that day and the emotional root cause was "feeling unloved." I couldn't deny that it kind of fit . . . as I had just broken up with my boyfriend because he was cheating on me and I was definitely "feeling unloved" so it did kind of make sense . . . but I still wasn't ready to fully embrace the idea, and I put the book back on the shelf and forgot about it again for several more years.

My third experience with the book was after I adopted Lucky. In our early time together, she threw up 10-12 times a week and had a myriad of other health ailments, like weird breathing problems, etc. I kept bringing her to the vet, having them run test after test, but they could never come up with an explanation for why she was throwing up or why she was having the weird breathing problems, etc. I was at my wits end, frustrated that I couldn't help her and fearful that I was letting her down by not being able to solve the problems she was having. That's when I picked up the book again.

As I looked up each of the physical ailments Lucky was experiencing, I could see how the emotional root causes listed for each ailment made perfect sense for what she had been through in her early life (used as pit bull bait, beaten by humans, thrown in a dumpster and left for dead). I had a grand "a-ha" moment - and I finally realized just how much sense the book made. I went back and looked up the physical ailments I was still struggling with and for the first time, I could really see how the emotional root cause for each one of them made perfect sense for me too. 

I think maybe the book was less scary to me then because I could see how it made so much sense for Lucky. I also knew that nothing that happened to her was "her fault" so it was easier to read Louise's book without feeling like I was being blamed for what was going on with me either. 

It was then that I began approaching healing from a completely different vantage point, focusing on the emotional root cause of what was being manifested. By addressing the emotional root causes, Lucky and I both healed. Some of them took a little while, but eventually, the physical ailments we were both struggling with subsided.

Since then, I have referred to "Heal Your Body" as my bible. I live by it, I use it for myself, I use it with my clients. It is always on the kitchen table because I refer to it so often and it seems that almost weekly, I get emails from friends saying, "This is going on with me, will you look it up in your Louise Hay book?"

I had the wonderful treat of reconnecting with that old co-worker a few years ago. I told her the story I just shared with you and told her how grateful I was that she had "planted that first seed." The funny thing was, she didn't even remember that I was so closed off to the book when she shared it with me. I told her it must be a sign that she truly was embodying the most important rule of sharing . . . that you aren't attached to the outcome. She felt moved to share the book with me and she never gave another thought to whether or not I was opened to what it said.

So keep trusting that if you feel compelled to share something, it means you should share it. And also trust that people will hear things when they are ready . . . that sometimes our job is to just "plant a seed."