I can vividly remember many a cold Saturday morning spent with my sisters helping our Dad chop wood to earn our pocket money.   There he would be with his chainsaw at the bottom of our land, merrilly chain-sawing away, with us behind him gathering wood whilst I was secretly waiting for the world to end to put me out of my pre pubescent misery (not to mention hard work and the excrutiating noise).

So now each morning whilst on my morning dog walk around the mountain which crowns our village in the Pyrenees where we are temporarily staying,  I find myself once again gathering fallen branches, dead wine souches and twigs from the path to act as tinder for the bigger logs in the hearth.  I use this time to meditate and clear my mind. 

I fondly recall those wood chopping/gathering days and laugh at my younger self.  It is wonderful to be able to connect with nature in this way (albeit without the background racket of a chainsaw) and I feel that each branch, dead vine or twig I pick up has a story to tell.  I wonder how each branch came to be on the path in front of me, from which tree, and on which windy night did the tree let its woody tendril go; from trunk or bough?  I think about how the dead vines that are no longer required for the production of wine, now come to man’s aid once again to make fire; fulfilling man’s need to the end.  No one piece is the same, they are all individual and unique.   They all have their special powers and feel.   And later on as I place them into the wood burner I notice that they all burn with flames which although look the similar, are all exquisitely different.  

These pieces of tinder that help light the fire are no more or less important than the bigger logs that burn and smoulder the whole night long keeping the house warm and cosy.  This is the light and warmth around which friends gather and recall stories and share dreams.  And this is the way it has always been since time began.  Many a journeyman and hunter/gatherer has spent a night around a fire, the fire providing protection, warmth and a cooked meal.   By their very nature open fires are very primordial; how they connect us to the stories of our ancestors. 

And so I am happy to be an amateur fire maker, always learning and getting a feel for the right piece of tinder, the corrrect look and feel of the wood.  Because later on when the fire is alight, I am satisfied to have been part of the creation between man, nature and fire.    In the flames I can extunigish the past, light up the future, and be in the now all at the same time.   And if I look closely enough, I find I am at one with our ancestors, part of someones story, dreaming my world into being.

For years us humans have tugged, pulled and yanked at horses in a vain attempt to get them to bend to our will. We even use the term to ‘break a horse’. However, more enlightened equestarians of today realise that some of the old ways of ‘conversing’ with horses were cruel at best. Mainly because we were not conversing, we were bullying.

Surely the right way to get your horse to ‘dance’ with you is to firstly gain his respect; and this is not achieved by any amount of aggresive bullying, tugging and yanking. It is the same with us humans, one person will not respect another through force or bullying; its true that you might get people to carry out your instructions or you may force an action upon them, but you won’t gain any respect or love. And when something is not coming from love or free will; then it is not a choice or intention, its a command being followed out; often under duress.

I am learning this from a horse called King Arthur. We have a silent conversation where I ask him to move forward. I do not move my feet first; it is for him to yield to me. I do not pull or yank his head collar, instead I let energy and intention do the work. Okay its not easy, and at first I found myself very frustrated, but once you disassociate yourself from emotion, and feel the energy, then King Arthur miraculously seems to know what I want him to do. Its a partnership.

I am respecting King Arthur’s boundaries, by not pushing , pulling or shouting. I am being a gentle parent. And it occurs to me that sometimes humans make that very same mistake with each other in an attempt to get others to bend to their will. Instead of seeing all points of view, they enforce their own opinion or way of life onto others. True leadership, which is in effect a partnership, is not about bullying, pushing and pulling. Yes, on occasion these tactics may have a short term illusory gain for the bully, but never a long term one for anyone involved.

True union, or leadership if you want to apply such a term, involves respect, honesty, integrity, leading by example and unconditional love. You would not willingly allow someone to ‘lead’ you who does not show you any respect or care for your values or support you.

A horse told me this, so I know it to be true.

When we are worn down by other people placing a negative drain on our energies by criticsm or belittlement, or we are in despair, it is more often than not the animals we turn to for comfort.  Animals know love and can give it unconditionally.  They are non judgemental and not afraid to express their emotions.

Unfortunately in todays society many animals unwittingly play the part of the sacrificial lamb (no pun intended); whether they are unwanted christmas presents and end up in rescue centres or worse, or live a life of slavery in a factory farm only to be butchered later on down the line for food.

We are animals too, yet we seperate ourselves from non human animals as we assume ourselves to be of higher intelligence. Yet very few of us display any of the real survival instincts we once had in the wild. We no longer appear to be able to self medicate, or navigate using only our senses.  We place importance on materialism and ‘things’.   Animals have long known so much more than us.

We turn a blind eye to the cruelty we perpetuate by telling ourselves that its okay to kill animals if they are organically farmed and had a nice life and then ‘died’, or that we cannot live without animal products because we are omnivores, that we are top of the food chain, or that vivisection has made huge advancements for humanity. We could not be more wrong.

We create our own world view and then fit everything else around it.  Like the smoker who smokes yet knows its no good for him, and then goes to the gym in an attempt to ‘get fit’.

We are all very good at deletion, deleting the parts of our lives that we don’t want others to see or we don’t want to admit to oursleves. Its easy to be a sheeple. It is too convenient not to be.

Animals do not lie; they cannot.  They have shown us how to treat the earth, how to survive in the wild, how to self medicate and so on. Yet we have made our animals our slaves, our food source, our pets; the underlings.

We even make money out of training them the way we want them to be; to fit our lifestyles.  We sell products that are not even required such as expensive horse coats, pet shampoos loaded with chemicals, outfits, choker chains etc.  We poison our animals with commercial pet food and antibiotics and rape the land with pesticides and herbcides. We pollute the skies; the light that nourishes the plants, we even genetically modify the food that comes from the earth.  The list goes on.

We know what we do but its easier to live in a convenient pretend ignorance than admit an expensive and inconvenient truth.

We are all on a search for enlightenment, for the ultimate happiness pill, that one more thing which will make us happy; enhance our lives. Yet we are blind to the very path to the true source, the very things we constantly undermine and destroy – the love, protection and compassion of animals and nature.

There is nothing else.

When people antagonise you or belittle you or do any of the things that you feel are insensitive, immoral or just plain wrong. its easy to be reactive and think negatively. When people behave in such a way, one should try to remember it is them with the problem, not you. If you carry the negative thoughts with you, the whole world will look black as you attract more and more negative situations and even begin to act negatively yourself. It could be that you are actually creating the problem you wish to avoid. Quite frankly if people want to act like jerks toward you, let them….and move on…physically walk away. Another reason that you may be so miffed by another person is because you could be recognising a truth about yourself in their words or actions. I have to admit that some of the people I have experienced the most difficulty with in my own life, and have had an almost pathological aversion to, are those who are actually similar to me. I have not appreciated the reflection in the mirror!

It is easy to create unnecessary anger and negativity, its a lot easier and less time consuming than actually analysing the situation, learning something about yourself, accepting it and moving on. Hell – I can just blow my top instead – simple. I can work with the universe, or against it, I have the choice. What I feel inside, is projected and attracted outside. The hermetic saying of ‘as above, so below’ is from a longer prose which has many dimensions and translations of its ultimate meaning. For me it indicates that we are all part of the divine, all connected, the world is in you and one should strive to act for the higher good in all we do. Because you are part of the divine, then you are the divine, be this God or whoever you deem her to be. Therefore we need to be careful of what we are creating at all times, because you are what you think.

As above, so below. Its the answer to everything.

When I first heard this line it was a real light bulb moment for me and it has resonated with me ever since. At that time I was actively chasing happiness even though I did not think I even knew what happiness was or what it felt like. Was it an amount of money in the bank, a certain lifestyle, or status? I couldn’t even tell you what it was I was chasing. But this line said it all to me really.

Shortly afterward I was walking my dogs in the local woods, it was a glorious morning and Spring was in the air, I looked up at the sun and I felt truly blessed to be alive, to be with my dogs walking in abundant nature. To be honest, I was so happy I almost cried. And it was then that I thought of this line from the film….about the moments. I was experiencing bliss right then, in that moment, and I recognised it. Instead of thinking of the future; what might be, or the past; what had been – I was just caught in that moment. I now use that memory as an anchor, a well known neuro linguistic programming tool – so that when I am down I put myself back in that moment, I imagine seeing myself walking through the woods as if watching a film, and I feel bliss again.

Previous to this revelation, of course there were times in my life when I had been happy, but they were all ‘moments’, and I was expecting more. Yet these moments make up your life. I was looking for something external to make me happy, but happiness is internal; created within. Now when I am happy I sit and dwell in it, hell I bathe in the glory of being happy in that moment. I also remind myself that it can be fleeting, which gives it so much more power, and by giving it power, it is enhanced and lasts even longer. Sounds crazy but its true. Its one of those laws, and it absolutely works.

I always knew what I liked to do, but for some reason I was living my life for and most probably through other people. I was trying to live up to what other people expected of me, and therefore not finding my happiness. When I started to do what I liked doing, I found happiness. Oh how simple is that. I had heard people confirm that this obvious approach worked but for some reason I would sabotage my own dreams on a regular basis. I would sit there and give myself a mental list of excuses which looked something like this:

I have to pay the mortgage so need a job paying x amount so cannot possibly give it all up and do what I really want to do.
I am too fat to be beautiful.
I am not clever enough to be thought of highly.
I am not worth it.
Good stuff doesn’t happen to people like me and on and on and on.

I lived in that prison for years; not even recognising the moments. I have wasted half my expected life doing stuff I didn’t like doing. Well stuff that! I only have one life in this realm. So for the next half, I am off ‘moment’ catching.

‘And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it’s sinking.
Racing around to come up behind you again.
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you’re older.
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death’ – Time by Pink Floyd.

I found this out to my detriment recently when working with a lovely big dog called Macko at Siofok Animal Shelter in Hungary.   Macko, like many other dogs in rescue centres around the world, had a sorry past and consequently had lost his faith in humans, and it would appear; himself. 

Here was a dog afraid of his own shadow.  When I first met him he was curled up in the corner of the shelter in his makeshift basket, afraid and lost to the world.   Whilst all the other dogs in the shelter barked and run around for attention, Macko just cowered in his basket with his ears pinned back in fear.

Conventional wisdom when working with animals advises you to never let your heart rule your head and to keep an emotional distance.   Well I don’t quite work in that way.  When I work with dogs I am constantly sending them love, I go there with everything I have and I go there with all my heart.  When working with dogs I like to be in the moment and lost with them.  And so it was with Macko.  Each time I worked with him he was getting better slowly but surely;  the dog who was scared of his own shadow was definately coming round and selecting various oils as well as enjoying body work.

And then it happened.  On my last visit I could not get a connection with him.   He recognised me, knew the routine and was happy to see me, but there was no conection, he would not let me through his barriers like he had done in previous sessions.

Macko was like a completely different dog.  The session went well enough, but something was not right and by the time I got home I was distraught.   I felt completely lost and questioned my abilty to be able to help animals at all.  After the tears, I began to realise that I was upset because I was focusing on me, and my needs, not on Macko’s.  I had a magical number of three sessions in my head to get Macko ‘right’ and was certain that after this time, hey presto, Macko would be cured and off to a happy home.

Of course, in reality this chain of events was unlikely, at least not for a while.   The shelters in Hungary are full to the brim and unfortunatey the outlook is grim for some of the animals.   Whilst I do not have a magic wand to make everything well for all of the animals, I can play my part – minus the ego.

I now recognise that I am working to the best of my ability, I have definately helped Macko and will continue to help other animals too.  But Macko, by his behaviour, has taught me to let go of my ego, that its not about me, or whether something I am doing is progressing in the way I think it should or is ‘on time’, its about him and all the other animals that require our help.   Macko will process what he needs to deal with in his own time and in his own way, I can help with that, sure; but ultimately he will heal himself.

Macko gave me healing that day, of that I am certain. He allowed me to see things as they were, not as I wanted them to be. No one ever said the healing process was an easy one, just a worthwhile one. 

Animals are our teachers, and in helping them and conecting with them, they can teach us all the lessons we need, they are afterall a reflection of ourselves.   We are all connected.

‘Brothers and sisters I bid you beware of giving your heart to a dog to tear’

It leads me to wonder what exactly is the human condition?  When it comes down to it, are we just a mad intoxicating mixture of ying and yang, good and bad?  Or is that just what we are led to believe?  An excerpt from a book I used to read as a child asked ‘For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?’ This fascinated me.  I later learned this was from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, and many moons on I was to use prose by the same poet at our wedding ceremony. 

However this particular question always resonated with me.  It especially held meaning with me in the way we tend to view other species.   Why do we treat animals as if they are some kind of second rate species?  Is there something inherent in human nature which means we cannot be kind or good all of the time and apply it across all species?  What is the definition of ‘good’?  Is treating an animal ‘like an animal’ good? In fact, what does it mean to treat an animal ‘like an animal’?   After all we are animals ourselves.   To me treating another species as lesser than our own appears to be a mad dichotomy, or at best twisted logic.

We are all connected and any act of cruelty or indifference ultimately harms us all.  I love all animals but my passion is dogs, and I make no excuse for it.  I love and have loved all of my dogs, and they have loved and do love me in return.   We are absolute friends.  We understand that we are connected, that we are all of the same.   It’s not just a case of love me love my dog….its a lot more infinite; love me love my dog love yourself love the world and so on.  

Yet we as humans continue to overlook this interconnectivity; we raise humans as if we are above all other species, and we forget the ways that animals originally taught us.   It was the animals who showed us which plants to eat, how to heal ourselves, how to be, how to walk softly on the earth and to only use what is required.   And in return we cage them, experiment on them ‘for the good of humans’, torture them, belittle them, and yes – that’s right – we eat them. 

As Albert Schweitzer said; ‘Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight’. It would do us all good to remember that human life is no more important than any other life on this planet – all life is sacred.

I am not asking people to become vegetarian or vegan; it’s not for me to force my lifestyle onto others.   I am not even asking you to like dogs.    It’s not for me to justify my behaviour and passion, anymore than it is for you to justify your attitude.  But what I am asking is that we think and feel before we so readily dismiss another species as any more or any less important than our own.  That we have a thought for the universe and everything and everyone in it before we act, that we start connecting with all who we are and all who we can be.     Amen to that.

Everything that you have now, at one time you did not have, it is likely that a lot of the things you now have you yearned for in some way or they formed part of your goals. It’s easy to fall into the trap of taking things and people for granted. Don’t. Always be grateful for what you have and who you are now. And if you are going through a difficult patch, remember, this too shall pass. And although it sounds naff, be grateful for any experience you have; good or bad.

Be yourself

Don’t look to other people or other people’s experiences and opinions to form your own. Yes, take them into account, but find out stuff for yourself. We are all different and unique and steer our ships differently; be yourself instead of a second rate copy of someone else. It is in your individuality and integrity that you will find peace.

Be in the moment

Everyone talks about living in the now, but unless you are a dog it can be quite tricky to achieve. I believe it’s more in the knowing that you are here, now, that you will find happiness. How wonderful it is to be alive.

‘Be’ at a higher vibration

Increase your vibration so that you are a dynamo of positivity, even when you don’t want to be. Try not to lower your vibrations or think negatively or you may attract lower negative people, who keep you low. There is a flipside to this of course, you could be that person who inspires people who are at a low ebb. Try to keep on giving of yourself, even if it’s in little ways. It’s always the little things that tend to make a huge difference to other people’s lives, including your own.

Be persistent

Never let go of hope and never ever ever give up. Enough said.

Be authentic

If you have a yearning to do something in your soul, then do it and make damned sure you go there with all your heart. It doesn’t matter if you fail; it is the journey that is sometimes the destination. You will always learn something valuable about yourself in whatever path you take.

Everyone is beautiful. Everyone is individual. Everyone is unique. Everyone is blessed. ~ Namaste ~

Nowadays it seems we are all programmed to be the best in our field and that having a well paid job and an upwardly mobile career is the ultimate achievement.  It gives us some kind of free rein to look down on those who are perceived as less fortunate than ourselves. The money in our bank accounts represents our worth to society as opposed to our integrity and generosity of heart.  We live in a society where road sweeping is frowned upon but using animals as commodities for profit and material gain is seen as ‘success’.  

Although I do agree with the jockey inasmuch as doing half a job is not worth doing.  

For many years I was a passive subscriber to this society, not because I agreed with it, but because I was afraid to disagree, I was a sheeple.  I was well paid for doing a job I disliked, working on principles which went totally against the grain to all I was and all I had the potential to be. It was easier to have the mortgage paid and have a ‘steady’ job than rock the boat and lose all that ‘security’.   As it happens it was all an illusion.  What security is there in having a mortgage, working for a society that had no real foundation, based on profit and greed?   Ditching my job, selling up and setting off on an adventure is the best thing I have ever done, albeit not the easiest, there is a difference. 

For years I read motivational self help books, and whilst loving and lapping up the content, never really taking any action.  They acted as a balm for my dis-ease with my life.  I wanted to work with animals and give up my day job, I wanted freedom, I wanted happiness.   But I never lifted a finger to achieve any of this.  It was easier to say ‘too hard’ and wallow in self pity and wonder what might have been. 

But you see, that was all about ‘me’ and how I felt.  It was nothing to do with how I could reach out and be of some use, some purpose.   Now when I work with animals I realise how blessed I am to have the opportunity to help and to give of myself.  It’s not easy, the work can be emotionally draining and tiring, but it is worth it.  

And I suppose that is the key.  If you are giving your all to something passionate which you believe in, which is for the higher good and which resonates, then you are doing what you were put here to do.   Whether that is washing dishes or selling cars.  You may not even like what you do, but it may be a step to finding your purpose, or helping others. 

I am on a journey, the ride of my life.  I may be less materially well off, but I am spiritually rich.   And I would rather sweep a road and be of use to society than whip a horse any day of the week. 

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