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."

Dying To Be Me

One of my clients loaned me a book she bought called, "Dying To Be Me" by Anita Moorjani.  It is the most amazing book - one that I would highly recommend to anyone who is looking for guidance or trying to make more sense of their journey.

It is written by a woman (Anita) who had cancer.  The cancer ravaged her body for four years and after her body had withered away to almost nothing and her organs were shutting down, she slipped into a coma. It was then that she had a NDE (near death experience) and when she came back and came out of her coma, she completely healed from the cancer.  Her story has received attention from all over the world; medical professionals who wanted to understand how the "impossible" could have occurred and spiritual leaders who wanted to understand all that she learned on "the other side."

She brought back many messages from the other side, such as: We are all one, We are love at our core, We are magnificent, etc.  She learned that all judgement, hatred, jealousy and fear stem from people not realizing their true greatness, that lacking awareness of our perfection keeps us feeling small and insignificant and therefore, that's what we create for ourselves.

As I read her words, I could feel the "Truth" in them . . . I have always believed that we know how magnificent we are when we first come into this world and then over time, our beliefs erode and are replaced by new beliefs . . . and unfortunately, most of our new beliefs don't support the notion that we are divine, magnificent beings.  I believe that part of our journey here is about reconnecting with what we knew when we were born . . . tapping into that knowledge and finding our gifts, so that we can be the radiant beings we were meant to be.

She said that she learned that we are one with the universe and that our purpose is to be our magnificent selves.  She also learned that the external world truly is only a reflection of what is inside us, so she now lives her life from joy instead of fear.

She realized that before her NDE, everything she did was to avoid pain or to please other people.  She says, "I was caught up in doing, pursuing, searching and achieving and I was the last person I ever took into consideration.  My life was driven by fear - fear of displeasing others, of failing, of being selfish and or not being good enough  In my own head, I always fell short."  That part caught my eye because I know how many of us struggle with those very fears and I could see myself in that description for most of the first 35 years of my life.

She also said, "The external world mirrors what we feel about ourselves.  By letting go of any negative self-judgment, we allow our world to transform, and as it does so, we'll be able to feel greater and greater trust.  The more we're able to trust, the more we're able to let go of trying to control the outcome.  When we try to move with this flow, rather than adhere dogmatically to the doctrines of others or the beliefs we once had that no longer serve us, we more accurately reflect who and what we truly are."

It confirmed for me the importance of really loving and honoring ourselves.  When we truly love ourselves unconditionally and feel free to be ourselves fearlessly, anything is possible . . . it is from that space that I believe we are supposed to live.  That concept is a big part of the work I do with my clients, as well as the basis of the work I have done with myself.

And as someone who used to believe that our existence here was "hell" and we had to get through this experience to get to "heaven" . . . I can now say that I am finally understanding more about how to experience "heaven on earth."  If you feel moved to do so, pick up a copy of Anita's book.  Chances are, it will resonate with you in much the same way that it resonated with me.

Learning to communicate

About a year ago, one of my best friends from high school told me she was interested in learning to communicate with animals.  I encouraged her to explore it, as I believe we ALL have the ability and it's just a matter of learning to USE the ability.

Within a few weeks, she had picked up a few animal communication books and had been practicing a bit with her own animals.  She wasn't confident in her abilities yet, so when we got together for dinner, she peppered me with questions about how I communicate with animals, and how I learned to trust the information I was getting, etc.  We had a great conversation that night and it was fun for us to find yet another common interest after all these years.

Over the next month or so, I got frequent email updates from her about how her "communications" were going.  She was feeling more confident in her abilities, but still not ready to tell anyone that she could communicate with animals.

As time went on, she mentioned it less often, but we always have plenty of other things to talk about, so I didn't give it much thought.  She did tell me she had started volunteering at a horse sanctuary by her home up north and she was loving it.  Originally, she went because her daughter was interested in helping the horses, but within a matter of weeks, they decided it would be a mother/daughter effort, since they were both enjoying it so much.

A few months ago, she was in town and we were sitting at a coffee shop catching up when a black lab walked in with his guardian.  The dog made a bee-line for us and we were both more than happy to visit with him.  After we had both pet him and oohed and aahed over his silky black coat, he walked back over to my friend and put his head in her lap . . . and he stayed there . . . for at least 10 minutes.

His guardian really had to work hard to get him to walk away from my friend, but once they were gone, I asked her what was wrong, as she had a slightly uncomfortable look on her face.  She shook her head and said, "Nothing's wrong." So I said, "What did he say to you?" Her eyes got really wide and she admitted that she didn't know why he was so drawn to her, since I was the animal communicator and that it made her uncomfortable and she worried that it would bother me, etc.  I smiled at her and said, "We BOTH communicate with animals!"

Then I asked her again, "So, what did he say to you?" and she said that all she got was, "You can do it." but she wasn't sure what that meant and she didn't "listen" anymore because she was more focused on trying to figure out why he came to her and not me.  I told her that what I picked up from him was that he wanted her to trust her abilities to communicate, that there were animals who wanted her to listen to them.

Immediately, we both thought about the horses at the sanctuary, and I asked her if she had been trying to communicate with them.  She confessed that she hadn't, that she had put it out of her mind because she wasn't sure she could really do it.  I encouraged her to start trying again and she agreed that she would.

The next week, she called to tell me that she had been at the horse sanctuary and something compelled her to bring some water over to one of the horses . . . and when she did, he drank and drank and drank. She said, "I don't know how I knew but I knew he needed water," and I laughed and said, "It's because he told you!"

Since then, every time we talk, she excitedly shares stories with me about her communications with the horses, and she's never sounded happier.  It seems the sanctuary has become a sanctuary for her as well. We are both very grateful to the sweet black lab who inspired her to start trusting her abilities again . . . and my guess is, the horses are pretty grateful to the black lab as well.

Future Rescue worker

I don't intentionally eavesdrop on my next door neighbor.  In my defense, their 5 year old daughter really does talk loud so it's almost impossible not to overhear her conversations.  I also know that most of what is going to come out of her mouth is going to make me smile, so to be honest, I don't avoid listening either.

Recent activity has led me to believe that this sweet little girl might end up running an animal rescue group or an animal shelter one day.  She seems to really have the process down already.  I'll hear her asking her mom "Would you like a dog?  I have many you can choose from.  Do you want a Lab or a Chihuahua?"  (Her "rescue group" seems to help mostly Labs and Chihuahuas).  "What color do you want?" (and then she'll list off all the available colors . . . black and tan, black and white, solid black, brown, etc).  Her mom will graciously make her selection and then I'll hear her say, "Ok, stay right there, I am going to go get your new dog for you.  I think you are going to be very happy together."

They've been playing this "game" a lot lately and it just tickles me.  The other day, the little girl could see me through the crack in the fence between our yards and she yelled, "Maureen, do you want to see one of my chihuahuas?"  I said I'd love to, and put my face up by the crack in the fence.  She was holding up a plastic dog that was as big as a real chihuahua.  I told her I thought he looked like a really nice dog and she said, "I know, all of my dogs are really nice."  She hasn't asked me yet if I would like to adopt one but I have a feeling she may ask sometime soon.

It reminds me of a game that my friends and I played when we were little.  We pretended that we ran a Hilton Hotel that was only for people looking for a place to stay with their pets.  I have no idea where the idea came from but my parents were very supportive.  My dad gave us a phone to use (that of course was not plugged in) so we could take the calls that were coming in and my mom gave us index cards and a little recipe holder to keep track of the reservations.  We would even pretend to get calls from people who didn't have pets and we would tell them they should call another hotel, as our hotel was only for people who wanted to travel with their cats and dogs.

Many years ago, when I first heard about hotels that allowed pets, I was so excited.  I decided there must have been some other kids playing that same game when they were young and I was thrilled to know they finally made it a reality.  It makes you wonder how much we really do know when we are little about what path our lives will take when we get older.

The wonderful thing about my darling little next door neighbor is that even though she has all those dogs she is finding homes for, she still makes time for her "real" dog, Cricket.  The other day, I heard her say, "Cricket, do you want to go watch a movie together?" and then I heard her say a little louder, "Cricket, I am talking to you!  Do you want to go watch a movie together?"  He must have said yes, because I heard them both go inside and heard the sliding glass door close.  I hope Cricket enjoyed the movie but I am sure he was mostly happy just to be invited to join her.

The Joy of Opened Windows

The other day, my brother sent me a link to a video that he thought I would enjoy.  It was a video of dogs sticking their heads out of car windows.  I wasn't sure how exciting it was going to be but I gave it a shot anyway.  Much to my surprise, it had me smiling from ear to ear.

Seeing how happy these dogs were, with the wind blowing in their faces, I couldn't help but instantly be in a better mood.  It brought back memories of how much Lucky used to love sticking her head out the window and how patiently she would sit in the backseat, with her nose pressed against the glass, waiting for me to notice that she needed her window rolled down.

There were times when I was trying to concentrate on reading road signs and had to keep opening and closing the window for her . . .  and I wished I could teach her how to roll the window down herself.  :-)

And then I remembered the first time Lucky realized it was even more fun to put her head out of the sunroof.  She would put her feet on the console between the two front seats as we were getting close to the park and stick her head out the sunroof, looking as if she had just discovered the secret to happiness.

This little video made me smile so much, I am including it below so you can watch it too.  I dare you to try to NOT smile while you are watching it.

http://www.towleroad.com/2012/05/riding-in-cars-with-dogs-video.html