Have you ever been so stuck in unhealthy patterns that you wonder if change is even possible?
Do you feel like you are so close to the problem you can’t see what is likely right in front of you?
Do you spend hundreds maybe thousands of dollars on physicians, therapists, coaches for answers only to say, “Oh man, I knew that!!”
Yeah, me too. Then, I began noticing what the animals (and nature) were communicating to me. 100% of the time it was something that helped me gain more clarity on topics that I sometimes didn’t even realize were the core issue of something that was troubling me. Let me give you an example:
22 years ago, when I was a rebellious teenager in a 20-somethings body I was determined to experience all that life had to offer. When I was gifted an opportunity to swim with the dolphins in the Florida Keys, I jumped at the chance. While I had yet to embrace my ability to communicate with animals, I did care about animal welfare and it meant a lot that I was going to a rehabilitation center where the dolphins were cared for and not simply ‘on display’.
The facility offered two different ways to interact with the dolphins. One was where we got in the water with the dolphins while the trainers guided the dolphins to let us hold their fin and carry us across the pool. I couldn’t wait to physically touch them.
The other one was a free swim. An interaction I almost didn’t participate in because it didn’t seem as exciting. A handful of us got in the pool while the dolphins simply swam around us. We were reminded that it takes effort for dolphins to swim at our slow pace so if we found them swimming alongside us, it was because they were choosing to make the effort.
Swimming facedown at the top of the pool, I watched as a dolphin swam up near me and matched my pace. I was breathless. He chose me. It seemed as though he was guiding me somewhere so I followed (despite being cautioned what might happen). Next thing I knew, I bumped heads with another person doing the very same thing I was doing. We had been played. The dolphins quickly swam off while I am certain they were giggling to themselves that another set of humans fell for their game.
Despite being humiliated – I felt completely in awe of the connection I had made with those dolphins. I knew something important happened that day. I could feel it in my bones (or more accurately – my energy field) but I didn’t know what yet.
Years later I found myself unhappy with my life and afraid to experience all that life had to offer. It was during this time that I began my animal communication journey. After a few years, I recalled that moment with the dolphins. I had expected to love the first interaction more, the one where I got to touch them but every time I talked about swimming with them, I only ever shared the free swim. It was so much more magical and connecting to me than actually physically touching them.
The dolphins weren’t done connecting with me. In that moment of recall, they reached across time and space to impart the deep lesson they left with me that day.
Like them, I was confined by humans. The social structure I grew up with boxed me in, encouraging and guiding me to live by its rules. They showed me that sometimes living within this construct is necessary (the structured swim) for my survival as I had most of my life.
They also showed me the absolute power and force I can have when free to do as I please (the free swim). That power is awe-inducing. It’s deep, inspiring, grounding, and more connecting than the more obvious physical connection.
They showed me – even before I embarked on some hug journeys (more about that here!) that while physical connection is wonderful, the connection between two (or more) souls who are free to swim in each other’s presence is the greatest connection of all.
May we all be so free.