Happy Valentine's day. The animals have asked me to deliver a message of love for you today.  They want to start off declaring every day is a day to celebrate love and to invite you to pause throughout today and everyday to savor the moments of love that are happening constantly throughout the day.  

Here is what you need to know about love according to the companion animals.

The frequency of love is sparkly and alive. It is has a clear connection that feels like being out in nature on a walk.   Love flows with connection, unconditional acceptance, compassion. 

Love is like a river it has many different qualities of flow it can be dynamic like rapids, it can be smooth and still like a inviting swimming hole, it can be gently burbling along, or it can be rushing with eagerness to get to the sea, and it has a constant flow.  

Love grows through the care and shared experiences with your animal companion and through these experience their loving acceptance and knowledge of you grows.  Since the animals speak the language of energy they track you, your moods, your patterns, your routines.  For you are their world and they accept you and love you just as you are - unconditionally.  They are your life witness, your comfort, your constant.  

Reflect on  their unconditional love for you and how they have been your life witness. Breathe in the love.

Love is the routine you have together.  The morning snuggles, the walks in the woods, the pocketful of treats, the playtime, the time you work, the quiet times, the dinner routine and the bedtime routines all of it is love. 

Pause now think about about your daily routine with your beloved companions. What part of the routine do you feel the love connection the most? Breathe in the love.

Throughout the past year your companion has felt the collective energy and has observed how the roller coaster of energy affects you.  The fear, the anxiety, the uncertainty of the future as well as many distractions which cause disconnection within your own system and upset in their world - you.  They track at the moments of disconnection you have lost the thread of love - most importantly self love.  And they feel it's their job to help return the focus of the energy back to love, back to flow and connection.  Connection not only to them but more importantly connection to yourself brings their world into balance.

Think of the antics they have gone through this pandemic to get your attention - sitting on keyboards, barking non-stop so you have to get up and move,  finding you in your lowest moments and offering a gentle paw, squawking to get more food, stamping their hooves and refusing to budge.  All of this is to break the energy disconnection -  to refocus you to the moment at hand - and demand your presence.  

Okay moment of reflection again - think of the antics they have been doing to refocus you.  Can you see how they were loving you in those moments? Breathe in the love.  

Now back to the metaphor of the river of love.  At times this river of love may feel like it is dammed by a pile of logs that are preventing the flow and yet the water pools and gathers trying to find a way through.  Think of the times your animal companion was doing something you couldn’t understand or tolerate: peeing outside the litter box, chewing holes in your coat, refusing to lift her hoove for cleaning, pecking at you as you tried to clean the cage, swiping you with claws.  This is them trying to bring attention to the fact that there is a dam, a big energy blocker that has interrupted the flow of love and in danger of diverting it for good.  Their behaviors called you forth, called you into the present moment to connect. Demanding you to connect with yourself. Giving you an opportunity to evaluate what you want, to assess the situation, to reset the intention of connection, to take action if needed and bring balance back to you, which means to them. For you are their world.  

Another moment of reflection. Think of some of the dams in the river of love.   How has your presence and attention helped the balance of love return?  Can you feel the love of your animal during those damming (pun intended) moments?  What lessons were learned?  Breathe in the love.

Your animal companion is grateful for how you love and tend them.  They invite you to think about how you tend to yourself.   Is your self care as attentive, loving and as kind ?   

• Have you gotten yourself a favorite treat or toy lately?  
• Have you made sure you get your daily walks or the thing your body and soul hungers for? 
• Have you stopped yourself from over indulging because it might upset your system?  
• Have you paused to brush out your energy at the end of the day like you brush knots out of their fur, or groom them? 
• Are you diligent in not interacting with people, ideas, distractions that can cause you to disconnect?  
• Do you notice you are reactive to certain situations and steer clear of them?  
• Do you let yourself out daily to get fresh air, touch the earth and move your body?
• Do you make sure to play everyday? 
• Do you reward yourself often and lavishly?

Love yourself as unconditionally and as compassionately as they love you.  Loving yourself and tending yourself  brings balance to their world. 

For you are their world and they love their world!!!  Pause and let that sink in.  
 Breathe in the love !

​Photo by Valerie Elash on Unsplash

Here we are 11/20/20.  Just right here. RIght here in this moment just like when your cat or dog engages with you.  They are ever present in the moment.  Not thinking of the cat nextdoor that crossed the fence line yesterday or what they are going to be doing in 20 minutes. Instead they are right there in the moment Being with you.

I highlight this because I have done a lot of explaining to animals during 2020 about what is going on their people and why they are distracted.  Animals also want me to explain the reason for the unease and uncertainty in the collective energy field and how it affects their people directly.  And now with the holidays approaching and the worldwide quarantines the animals notice the energetic collective upheaval coupled with the natural world's cyclical slowing down and turning inwards.  There is curiosity from the animals of why their humans can't be present and allow the emotions - the energy that wants to be in motion in the moment, to move by acknowledgement, by expression, by allowing so people can get back to being in present.  

The natural world is also providing glorious examples of honoring one's own cycles and following the impulse within our bodies and allowing the natural unfolding of life to embrace us.  As trees release their hold on their leaves and the leaves dance down to the earth it feels as if there is a big exhale and a settling in.  Here in Seattle we are on the tail end  of migrations of following that deep instinctual drive within. Allowing the impulse to fly, to burrow or to swim to move wild animals to return to more hospitality environments or to home.   Just like the animals are suggesting with the emotions by allowing the impulse of the emotion to return you home to you in this moment.   

I end here with love and gratitude and the beautiful poem Wild Geese by  Mary Oliver

Wild Geese 
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

​You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
​

I am looking forward to opening sacred space for the Day of the Dead Celebration for the animals on November 1.
As I gather items to create the shrine for my dearly departed companion animals I am bumping into all sorts of repressed emotions: grief, anger, confusion mixed in with love and joy. As I thumb through pictures searching from my childhood animal companions. I am seeing my younger self again. The little girl who was loved and tended by these sweet beings.  Due to circumstances I did not get to say goodbye properly to these sweet dogs.  And then I was not supported through the stages of grief from losing my best friends. Leaning into these emotions and meeting my little girl I can now allow the emotions to flow and be the parent for myself that I needed then and allow their spirit to surround me again. WIth the new perspective of being the loving parent to my younger grieving self I can know delve into the impact this pups had on my life.
​
The Day of the Dead is not simply a day about mourning your loved ones and telling stories of them; it’s a day about remembering their lives and the impact they had upon you.   As well as keeping in mind that just because they’re no longer with you doesn’t mean that they’re entirely gone, because you keep them alive in your hearts and memories.

Around this time of year there is much talk about “the veils are thinning and the spiritual world is moving in close.”   What does that exactly mean- veils, thinning and why should you care?   And what does this have to do with you or your  beloved pet?  
​
The best explanation I came across for the meaning of veils thinning and why is from Tess Whitehurst, a soul sister who believes like I do that “Life is Magical.”
“At Samhain/Halloween, that relentless, all-pervasive Mystery is as close as it ever gets. And now we’ve arrived at what we mean when we talk about “the veil.” You might say it’s the place where the everyday illusion of separation brushes up against the divine truth of eternity and universal interconnection. The place where form meets spirit, seen meets unseen, known meets unknown.

Why does the veil thin at Samhain? Because the days are getting shorter and the natural world is preparing to temporarily withdraw from the realm of life and growth. The harvest cycle is waning, but it’s not gone. This means Samhain is a transition: a doorway between the season of life and the season of death. Beneath this realm of constant change, there is a wide open space of eternity. A place of stillness in which the appearance of change arises. A serene openness to which we will always return, and with which we are one, even at this very moment.”

Now what does this have to do with  your beloved pet? A lot, since animals are much more energetically attuned with the earth and the spirit world.  As the veils thin the animals feel the closeness of the spirit world.  If  your beloved is elderly and ready to cross they feel the  pull and sense the ease on which to cross over back to spirit form.  Psychic abilities are enhanced at this time as well so have a conversation with your elderly pet and hear their wishes on how they want to move on so you can honor and support them.  

For your beloved pets that are in spirit now is a good time to connect with them. Honoring them and remembering them by sharing stories invites them to come closer.  Then you can tell them what's on your heart and listen with all your psychic senses for responses.   Imagine how wonderful it will be to feel their presence - the soft head nuzzle, the weight of them in your lap, the pleasant familiar sense of them. Don't trick yourself that you won't feel them.  Instead treat yourself to the mystery of life - connection and love.  The animals always come when called.

Join the 1st annual Day of Dead Celebration honoring your past companion animal/s.

Photo by Karly Jones on Unsplash

​The animals are such great teachers about energy.  Today the wasp teaches about clearing off energy that can get stuck on you when entangled in someone else's web -  dream, energy etc. And to thoroughly clean yourself off before flying off into the next moment.

Being spider web season here in the PNW today  there is a lot of activity around the webs.  Today I observed a paper wasp cleaning every part of its body.  Balancing on the front four legs as its back legs cleaned off its abdomen then moved up to thoroughly cleaning its head off. 

I was curious why there was so much cleaning?    As I was thinking this a spider shimmed up into the center of its web and the paper wasp launched itself trying to grab the spider.  It was an unsuccessful attempt since the spider had dropped quickly between the deck boards.  The wasp investigated all around trying to find the spider to unavail.  It then zoomed back up and flew aggressively back and forth through the web destroying the web.  Then the cleaning started all over again. 

Here are some of their suggestions for you to become more present.
 
















​Leave the computer, the phone and any other electronic device and get outside. 

“The idiot box or energy drain” is a term often used by the animals when talking about computers or  phones.  When you engage with the computer or phone to them it's as if nobody is home in your body.  This makes animals very nervous and worried for you because  you are not present.   Their suggestion is:

​Get outside, move around, feel your body.    

The animals have once again tapped me on the shoulder telling me then have PSA that needs to be delivered NOW!  Their pleading has been so great that I left the delicious embrace of my garden to be of service to them. 

Here is the weekend PSA from the animals:

Hello my favorite human,

I observe that on weekends you are able to rest and relax.  You become much more present in your body and you are more intune with the flow of energy and listening to what your body really wants to do.  This seems to well deserved break for that grueling activity you call WORK.   

I  invite you to think of  weekend R&R as a training session for work. Just like when you are training me and I do the desired behavior you heap the praise and treats  on me. Now as you rest and listen to your body and make choices that promote staying connected to yourself I want you to imagine me saying in a loving, approving voice “Good job!  That’s right, good listening! You are so smart. That’s what I want more of.”  


My intention for this training is that you can find a balance in your life where all your days can be in a good flow and you are tuned to your needs and approving of yourself and treat yourself kindly.  Because as this day starts to draw to a close I feel your attention start to shift out of the present and orient to this thing called WORK.  And all the training progress we made goes out the window.  Like when I pee outside the litter box or lunge at the annoying dog passing by and you are frustrated - I feel the same bewilderment of "Wait what just happened?  "

So now we need to talk about this thing you call WORK?  Here is my observation of work. 
This WORK energy feels out of balance.  It feels there is an urgency, a push, a demand that this WORK thing is more important than you and the connection to yourself.  After these two days of being present in your body and allowing your body to direct the flow, you engage WORK and you drop the connection to yourself as if you dropped my leash.  And you seem to jump into that energy with your mind without taking your body along.    


You sit in front of those boxes that light up and tippytap on those boards.  Those boxes and screens mesmerize your attention. Your breathing gets really shallow and your body, your poor body is forgotten, it is as if you vacated the building.  


I am trying to do my part of being a good Trainer and  redirect your attention back to your body - by sitting on the keyboard, by barking or by coming in and out or by staring intently at you. Instead of yelling at me, and being annoyed with me for god sakes, people thank me.  It's a celebration!  You just moved, you came back to your body, your home.

Take a moment before going back into that WORK energy and wiggle those toes, run your hands along your legs, swing your arms around.   YOU HAVE A BODY.  BE IN IT! BE PRESENT!
Here are some questions I have about this WORK thing and I am seeking clarity about. Please take time to think about them and tell me the answers before tomorrow's WORK thing starts.  Literally, talk out loud, trust that we are connected and communicating.   
With all of your answers see if you can talk to me from you belly and see if you can feel the answers for example if you say “Yes it brings me joy.”  Let me feel the joy it brings you. ( Here’s my loving training voice “You are so good. I know you can do this. Just be in your body, trust you body.”)
Do you like  your WORK?  Please tell me from your body not your head what you like about it.  I need to feel it. 
I see you talking to people and doing stuff on your computer. What does your WORK do? (Besides disengage you from your body.).
Neave's translation here is to tell them the name of company you work for and literally tell them about the company, what they do,  why they do it and what your role is. 

Are you happy? 
Observing you at your computer where you are in your head, not breathing or moving that does not look happy to me - just saying. Convince me with your body.  OR if you are not happy - let those feelings be felt as well and tell me about them.

Why don’t you move around?  What ways can you think of to be more present in your whole body at this WORK thing? 


Thank you for telling me about this WORK thing and going through the questions.  It helps me understand what’s up with you and how to be a better companion and trainer for you.  
You are a HUMAN BEING.
Not a Human Doing - so BE  a HUMAN Being in your body.


Please observe and join me often, I  have got this presence thing down - I AM a MASTER TEACHER.  
Lie in the sun with me for a while till your bones feel as if they are going to melt.  Take delight in the birds flitting about . Bark at the delivery man- we have to let him know we are watching him.  Pause and groom yourself clean off the energy.  
All of above suggestion moves the energy and lets me know you are alive!  
Each time you do something to bring yourself back to your body and back to the present moment! Remember I am praising you and saying "Yes, More of that behavior, more of that!"
I am looking forward to relaxing and a more present WORK week with you.

Much love my sweet person!


As I say often we are the lucky ones to have share our lives with these wise beings

The Intuitive Playground with the Animals intention is to awaken people to their innate intuitive abilities through communicating with the animals.  Your body knows how to communicate with animals and all of nature.  Intuition is  the first the universal language  spoken and you were well versed in it before you had words. At the Intuitive Playground for an hour and a half we connect with animals allowing your body to remember how easy it is to be open and receptive to converse with the animals.  

At this weeks Intuitive Playground with the Animals we connected with wild animals that have been repeatedly showing up for people. The intention was to let them know the delight that is felt in being in their presence as well as to ask if they had a message for the person. 

We started with a Cooper's Hawk who often is seen in Maple trees of a backyard. We were all able to connect to that particular bird by having the person whose yard it visits visualize the bird. Each of us felt the strong presence and his willingness to engage with us. We shared the delight in connecting with him and how she enjoyed his visits. He sent a reciprocal pleasure in being acknowledged. We learned he lives in the woods a little ways away from her - by seeing pictures he sent us. The message he share with us was a message of love and connection to the web of life.  We asked him to show us what it feels like to fly.  Each of us experienced it differently -  some people visually saw through his eyes navigating through trees and felt him soaring as well as pulling up and  landing on a branch.  Others felt the movement in their chest of the beating wings. And another felt the wind caress feathers.  We then  let him know that the Chihuahuas are not on the menu.   He let us know he doesn't eat them anyway. 

We then connected with a flock of bushtits that visit my garden daily and there is one particular bushtit that seeks me out.  She comes to find me what every room I am in my house and clings to the screen and flaps her wings to get my attention.  I held a picture of my garden in my mind's eye and called to the bushtits. We were able to connect with them and felt their lightness and flutterly presence. We shared my delight with sharing the garden with them and then we asked "Why are you seeking Neave out?"  Immediately we both heard "We are friends." I let that fill my heart. The next day when I heard their chitter chat I went out on my deck and the bushtit flew to a nearby tree and I felt a deeper connection as we greeted each other with a "HI friend." 

You are invited to join  Neave and the Animals at the Intuitive Playground.  For more details and to register