After various careers, I have honed in on making a living fulfilling three of my passions.
First and foremost, animal communication. Helping animals voice their thoughts. Their opinions. Their concerns. And their wisdom … is the best. And helping animals feel better because they are grieving, recuperating, stressing, or transitioning … also the best.
Secondly, we got a sweet Airbnb. A former flower barn turned get-away with a fenced-in yard for doggies. Loooove it. Many human guests love sitting on the covered porch watching their pooch cruise through the Goldenrods and down the mowed paths. We have many city and urban dogs who we FINALLY offer a backyard to sniff and toy around in without a leash.
Being a hostess of the mostess means laundry, ironing, folding towels, and getting the Studio cleaned and ready for our guests. Twice a week. Sometimes three times.
And thirdly, 14 hours a week, I manage a gallery owned by two incredible women artists who work in glass and ceramics. That’s where I learned to carve my tiles and coasters. During those 14 hours, I get to be around highly acclaimed artists who have made it. I get to help every artist we represent in the gallery bring their heart and skill into the world. And that feels really good!
Every one of those three - I am making quotation marks here - “jobs” is really important to me.
Each of these jobs feeds me on so many levels.
And yet … though I might have the most mindful and meaningful work. I needed a break last week. A serious one.
And, it had finally all lined up.
As you know, for us animal people, it's not so easy to line everything up. Because while everything else for the trip is lined up, we usually still need to find somebody who can take care of our animals. Always an interesting little challenge, isn’t it?
But our stars were aligned last week, and David, my awesome, and I drove down to the Cape to visit family and friends.
By the time we were on 495 South, the animals, and their care had left my mind. I knew Scout, our dog was in great hands, and our horses and cats were cared for by good friends as well. \We were a text away if they really needed us.
As we drove over the Sagamore Bridge, my energy changed. There is something intriguing about driving onto an island, or in this case, a peninsula, separated from land by a canal.
It felt to me that we were leaving our regular world altogether.
Ideas that had been lingering around the edges of my mind suddenly came into focus. They crystallized. Driving down the road in silence was the perfect portal for ideas and insights to emerge because nothing else was clogging my mind.
Do you know that feeling? When you have so many wonderful ideas but nothing is quite clear about the how, when, or where?
On the drive, a lot of those ideas came into focus.
At one point David asked me to listen in on an interview in which Jerry Seinfeld, the comedian, explained that he always edits his script down to as few syllables as possible. Instead of Roman Battleship, he would say Greek Battleship, Ro-man, Greek. Greek is faster. I love the idea of economic writing bringing a message across quickly and succinctly. And listening to Jerry talk about it inspired me. My brain was relaxed and open to receive.
At that point, I felt my body relax as well. I stretched my back and neck while driving and breathed in the raindrops that were bouncing off the windshield. All was good.
Nothing and no one to report to for 2.5 days.
The moment we got out of the car, I felt grounded. Made me think of my grandfather, who said, “The best vacation doesn’t mean doing nothing. It means to do differently.”
Walking down the hill toward the ocean was different. Usually, we hang out on a hill surrounded by mountains. Here, I got to breathe in the ocean. Got to hang out with family. Have lunch with a dear friend, and have conversations with no time limit. Sitting, walking, and living in the present moment.
And when I slowed down to what I now call my ‘normal’ speed, my speed, not the speed I had raced myself into, when I slowed down, all events of the day fell into perfect place.
I had scheduled a massage appointment for 6:30 pm and was scheduled to see my friend in the middle of the afternoon. Due to the rain, my friend closed her shop early and wanted to meet for lunch, so we did. That opened up the afternoon to spend time with family before I hopped on the massage table for the icing on the cake.
Why am I telling you all of this, you might wonder.
Because, at the end of the day, that's what our animals do all day long.
That's what they are trying to teach us. To be in the moment. Be in the body. And, because it is sometimes hard to decipher what being in the body means, let me share some details. When my friend asked to meet for lunch, I followed my body, who wanted lobster, and suggested a restaurant that served seafood. I went for walks when my body felt like moving. We stopped at a particular gallery twice because I wanted to look at a painting again. When I looked at the painting for the first time, my entire nervous system was activated to have a massive release. I shook from root to crown, top to bottom. The experience was so beautiful that my body wanted to be in its presence again. And my body had the same reaction shivers up and down my spine.
Following ease and what our bodies truly desire is such a delicious and rare occurrence.
Having lived it for a few days on Cape Cod, I understand why the animals are directing us to align with time and space. To experience the moment. To be in the experience. To hold ourselves in the experience rather than letting our mind process everything immediately. We are inclined to take a picture of a moment and immediately witness it rather than experience it. We share it with others on social media, so they have the experience we missed while taking the photo.
Yesterday, my sweet cat Flitzer sat on the deck railing, meowing me over to headbutt him. I did. Again and again, enjoying his soft fur on my forehead, feeling his deep desire to connect. I wanted to take a picture of the black cat against the blue fall sky, a hundred-mile view of the mountain range in the background. As you can imagine, I didn’t. I allowed myself to be in the experience.
Join me in being in the experience. Feel the fog on your face or the fur on your forehead. Follow your body’s desire and guidance …it will always look out for your best!
And, join us for the next open mic, where we talk with Pippa about time and space. And, if you missed the open mic, listen to podcast episode #23 Aligning With the Universe. It will get you started.
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