The other day I spent the afternoon on my favorite beach. As soon as we set up our chairs and settled in, an adorable seagull trotted up and stood in front of us. His energy was delightfully relaxed (very unlike the legendary seagulls in Finding Nemo!). I sent him some gentle heart energy and apologized that we didn’t have any food. He appeared to be totally fine with that, tucked his legs underneath him, settled his body onto the sand and stayed a while, right next to my boyfriend’s chair.
During our brief intuitive conversation, the seagull told me that he enjoys the current spacious beach situation, as opposed to a crowded summer beach, where often too much is going on for humans and gulls to really connect if they wanted to. My boyfriend and I loved his very special energy and that he generously shared that energy with us for a while, on his beach. I never expected to encounter a host like that.
It reminded me of when I was similarly blown away by hospitality in the Bahamas. A few years ago, I traveled there to swim in the open sea with wild dolphins. Every afternoon, our group’s boat would sail out over an hour from the beach, and every afternoon a pod of dolphins would show up at our boat to play with us. We’d dive in and spend a very cherished part of the day frolicking with them. I couldn’t believe how close they’d get to us and how incredibly friendly they were. We were the awkward land creatures diving into their home, and they couldn’t have been more welcoming and playful with us.
I loved that the wild dolphins had the choice to hang out with us and the freedom to leave when they felt like it…When they chose to, they’d instantly vanish. And there we’d be, left floating in the sea feeling an incredible high from their presence.
In my first visit to a Costa Rican retreat to do soul work with horses, Mr. Big chose me. At this workshop, the horses had the freedom to choose whether they wanted to work with someone for the week or not. And if they wanted to work with someone, they had the right to choose their person. And when I say “work with”, I mean we had the privilege of them willingly being our therapists and teachers for the week while we explored our intuitive connections with them.
One day when our group was sitting in a circle in an arena, our horses were free to roam throughout the space and do their own thing. We’d been taught the day before how to respect the horses’ space and how to approach them with the utmost regard for their feelings and sense of safety. In this moment in the arena as I was considering all of that, I simultaneously felt huge love for Mr. Big and wondered if it would be ok if I spontaneously hugged and kissed him when I felt the urge. (That would seem to contradict what we were taught, I thought.)
Just then Mr. Big, who had been relaxing with some of the other horses in the herd, made a bee-line across the arena for me and pressed his mouth quickly on the top of my head, just like a kiss. As he then walked back to his friends, the workshop teacher asked what was going on with my energy in that moment that led Mr. Big to do such a thing?
My energy had been holding a question: Could I express my love to Mr. Big whenever I wanted? He showed me his blatant answer: “Absolutely! Here, let me show you how.”
I guess I will always be blown away when animals again and again share their open, welcoming energy and wisdom with us, by their choice. When we humans sit on their beach, dive into their sea, venture to their home ranch in Costa Rica, they meet us with love. They are never not their authentic selves.
Imagine if we all showed up as our true loving selves consistently? Purely accepting one another, respecting, embracing, and holding space for our differences. I think we’re here to learn how to do that. Don’t get me wrong, I feel we’re doing our best on this journey. And we’re humans, so we’ll always have our moments… But what a gift that animals are here to show us how to be present and real and really good to each other. I love being inspired to act like an animal, as often as I can. 💜
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