As you are gearing up for the holidays and are making plans, to do lists, menus, guest lists, or travel plans please remember to keep your beloved animal companions in the loop of what is going on.
Here are some simple ways to make sure your animals know what’s happening…
If you are traveling and they are staying home – tell them the plans. Just like you are talking to a friend, tell them about the trip and why you are going, who you are seeing, what you are going to do. Then let them know the number of days until you leave by counting how many meals until you leave, how many meals you will be gone, and when you are returning home. You could even tell them who is taking care of them, how long they’ll stay, etc.
Are you staying home and hosting Thanksgiving? Maybe you are having guests stay overnight at the house?  Let them know in advance who the guests are that are staying, how many meals until these guests arrive, and how many meals they are staying.  Clue them in where the person will be sleeping and how having these people around may alter their daily routine. Start sharing with them the whole holiday plan: all the details, people, schedule, menu, etc.  Include, in the details, when they will be tended to as well as how you want them to behave when people come over.  The more you share and let them know what’s going on the happier they are.
If you will be gone away just for the day, let them know this and once again tell them where you will be going, what you will be doing, and when you will be coming home.
Remember animals read energy and live in our energy fields so they know when something shifts energetically and disrupts their routine, especially holidays and big events.  Talking with them as soon as plans are made the more relaxed they are – and the more relaxed you and your guests are!
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Two things that feed and nourish my soul are ceremony and animals.  I also take delight in playing with people and animals in exploring animals communication and intuition.  Combining the three of them is heaven for me.  The past two weekends was a slice of this heaven as I  lead Salmon experiences which entailed opening sacred space for people to listen to the wisdom of the salmon as they returning home to Piper’s Creek to spawn.  The creek was wildly different each weekend.  The first weekend it was calm, clear and shallow we saw many salmon navigating their way up the creek.  The second weekend was fast, murky and high.  It was hard to see the salmon and there were not as many as the previous weekend, yet each participant got something from the salmon.
Listening to the wisdom required presence and being open and receptive while holding an intention to learn from the salmon.  Messages came in many ways such as thoughts, feelings, body sensations, knowingness, images and hearing words.  As humans, we are constantly sending and receiving messages and part of these experience was gaining understanding just how each person received messages differently thus strengthening their intuition and ability to speak with the animals.
For me after a ceremony, I have observed anything that is not in alignment with the information or messages or deep work I did during the ceremony presents itself to be dealt with.  Kind of like upgrading your wardrobe and having to get rid of all the old clothes that no longer fit or are your style.  My ceremonies also have an energetic container that offers support for three days after the ceremony with the intention of easy body integration and receiving other messages via dreams or guides.  Today when I was out of sorts I knew the teaching of the salmon of to continually return to my own deep river of inner knowing was stirring the pot of where I had not been listening to my own intuition, my own river.  I was so stuck the pull of the old story of the spaces and places I had not listened to myself and self-judgment had me spinning and flailing, I knew the salmon were offering me another teaching and I couldn’t hear it because I just felt like I was going under.  Leaning back into the container I listened for guidance on how to continue up the river and I heard “ASK FOR HELP.”
So I reached out for support from a mentor to navigate this river of life and she gently and wisely reminded me that  “Elemental awareness can give support: the light-filled sky and the water and earth below seen through the salmon’s eye.  They breathe and move and negotiate every obstacle one thing at a time because all we can be in is the present moment after all.  The salmon love to come home and they are focused on this and stay present.  They are transformed by the present moment allowing the creek to move them back when they need to rest, catching the undercurrent to move forward.  Honoring life, movement and the moment.”    This settled my nervous system and allowed me to refocus on the present moment.
The salmon continue to teach me about returning home to myself with compassion and tenderness and staying present in the moment.