Stand Your Ground

I love how perfectly answers arrive when I ask, What do I need for today?

I randomly opened Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals to Skunk. My first reaction was laughte. Spirit was toying with me! Then I read the entry:
"Be assertive and stand your ground..... Make your self-respect and dignity a top priority, offering the same respect to others.
You're taking yourself far too seriously and need to relax, play, and trust that everything else is all right.
It's a good time to deal directly and honestly with that person in your life you find so irritating and overbearing."

After reading that, my immediate response was to laugh out loud with a "what the hell?" attitude. It fits entirely with my current situation. In general, I have no difficulty standing my ground. Like the skunk, I am the ultimate peacemaker ~ sometimes allowing others to run over me in order to keep the peace. What I need in my life right now is the discernment of whether peacemaking is the right option or respectfully and firmly standing my ground. I don't need to scream or demand when I do that ~ or get whiny or bitchy. I can be self-confident and self-assured, showing respect to all (myself included). I don't need to "put on airs" either. Standing my ground, if it's fair and reasonable, is enough.

What do you do to stand your ground? In what area or areas of your life might that be an important rule? What can you learn from Skunk?

Investigating Adventure

Over the past several nights, I've awakened from the same dream scenario:
I'm at the edge of a wood looking down a sand dune onto a beach. On the beach is a white horse, obviously waiting for me. I walk/slide down the sand dune and get on the bare back of the horse.

There have been slight variations to this beginning. In one, there are a number of people emerging from the wood with and/or behind me. There is a sense of camaraderie and cooperation as we move forward onto the beach. I have the strong sense I'm leading the people somewhere safe and important.

In another, there are people waiting for me ~ or for someone to mount the horse and ride. The feeling senses are similar: camaraderie and leadership and safety.

Whether alone or with others ~ who often wind up on their own horses' backs ~ the strongest feeling is freedom.

In Dr. Steven Farmer's Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals, the horse is about an unexpected adventure ~ and quick movement into that adventure once it begins. It's also about freeing myself from any constricting aspects of my life, having stamina, strength and power, and carrying a strong and balanced warrior spirit.

He also has a particular section on the White Horse:
"You're very well protected from any negative or harsh psychic attack.
You're being called to investigate other spiritual realms and dimensions through meditation, a vision quest, or shamanic journeying.
Let go of any shame or guilt that is the result of childhood conditioning."

As I read this, I felt awash with peace and knew that my current choices and journey are the right ones for me. I felt protected ~ if and as I let myself move into those other realms and call on that protection, the spirit of the White Horse, to carry me forward.

There are some changes on the move in my life currently. Although I've been open to them, I've also been avoiding them ~ aware that they are leading me into unknown territory. Since the dream continues to recur and to bring the White Horse to lead and serve me, I am committing to investigating the adventure of change.

Are there changes happening in your life? Are there changes on the horizon for you? What adventure would the White Horse bring you? How would you feel about it?

Seeing Snakes

Often lately, while I'm walking around the neighborhood ~ or more precisely, the newly-being-built part of the neighborhood ~ I'll see one of these little garter snakes. Although I am fully aware that they are not harmful, their rapid movement across my field of vision startles me. I'm certain they're startled by all the activity happening in what used to be their home territory.

On my last walk, the snake was simply stretched across the road directly in front of me. I easily walked around it. Before doing so, I paused to acknowledge Snake in my life and in my path. It stretched, head up, looking in the direction it was traveling, yet, at the moment, motionless. I thought, 'How fitting! I am fully aware of this tiny creature yet it seems unconcerned about my huge presence right next to it.'

How often do I do that? Stop in my forward motion, perhaps because something seems odd or off in that motion, yet without truly seeing what the cause of that sensation may be. Recently, that seems to happen less. I'm growing more aware, more awake, more conscious. For that I am grateful.

In Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals, Dr. Steven Farmer says:

You're about to go through some significant personal changes, so intense and dramatic that an old self will metaphorically die as a new self emerges.
You're going to feel a surge of energy that will sharpen your senses, alert your mental faculties, and open up new channels of awareness.

From http://www.linsdomain.com/totems/pages/snake.htm:

The Snake is wisdom expressed through healing. It is a protector and guardian totem, along with its sister totems, the Dragon and the Serpent.
Snake energy is the energy of wholeness, cosmic consciousness, and the ability to experience anything willingly and without resistance. It is the knowledge that all things are equal in creation.
Snake is fire medicine, the medicine of transmutation.
On a material level, it is vitality; on an emotional level, it is ambition and dreams; on a mental level, it is intellect and power; on a spiritual level, it is wisdom, understanding and wholeness.

 I'm looking forward to increasing my awareness ~ my healing senses ~ my connection to fire! I feel my resistance to intense changes... this may be a wild ride Spring!

What creature has shown up in your life? What is it teaching you? What are you willing to learn? How do you express your gratitude for the lessons?

Condor in my Life...

As I was waiting for a massage, I opened a book I had recently purchased, Pocket Guide to Spirit Animals by Dr. Steven Farmer. Being a new book, it didn't exactly fall open. When I grabbed some pages and opened the book, the Spirit Animal I found was the Condor. This is what the book had to say:

Andean Condor (from Wikipedia)

In spite of the dire circumstances you find yourself in or the losses you've sustained, you'll eventually find the gifts in this experience that may not be immediately apparent. It's time to clean up the clutter or messes that you find around you. Develop new and creative solutions to those problems that you or others would prefer to ignore. You'll find that your tastes, cravings, and possibly your entire diet will soon change, so pay close attention to your body's response when you eat certain foods. You need to take all those material items that no longer serve a purpose and either recycle them or get rid of them.

I hadn't been thinking anything in particular, no question in my consciousness. My intention was to check the book out, to look for specific Spirit Animals. When I saw the page, I paused and began reading. What I read reminded me that everything happens for a reason. The Condor speaks to me. Dire circumstances? There's been stress floating through my life... sometimes taking up residence for a while. I need creative solutions to my problems ~~ and how did the book know I'd been ignoring them? What a wild synchronicity.

What better time than Lent to pay attention to food and diet! I noticed that certain things were leaving me ever so slightly uncomfortable (like one of my favorites: Trader Joe's Inner Peas!). Not overwhelmingly so or intestinal distress, simply a bit bloated. Something I wouldn't have noticed ~ except that it was Lent and I was paying attention to details I often ignore.

What new things are you noticing in your life? What changes are happening in your life right now? What animal draws you? calls to you?