The Size of a Puppy

Many thanks to my friend, Gail, who knew that I have a special love of dogs and puppies, and shared this story with me.

A picture of our puppy, Magic, taken at Christmas time.

This is one of the neatest stories you will ever hear. You will know precisely what this little girl is talking about at the end (you'll want to share this one with your loved ones and special friends)!

"Danielle keeps repeating it over and over again. We've been back to this animal shelter at least five times. It has been weeks now since we started all of this," the mother told the volunteer.
"What is it she keeps asking for?" the volunteer asked.
"Puppy size!" replied the mother.

"Well, we have plenty of puppies, if that's what she's looking for."
"I know...we have seen most of them," the mom said in frustration...
Just then Danielle came walking into the office.
"Well, did you find one?" asked her mom. "No, not this time,"
Danielle said with sadness in her voice. "Can we come back on the weekend?"

The two women looked at each other, shook their heads and laughed.
"You never know when we will get more dogs. Unfortunately, there's
always a supply," the volunteer said.
Danielle took her mother by the hand and headed to the door. "Don't worry, I'll find one this weekend," she said.
Over the next few days both mom and dad had long conversations with her. They both felt she was being too particular. "It's this weekend or we're not looking any more," Dad finally said in frustration.

"We don't want to hear anything more about puppy size either," Mom added.
Sure enough, they were the first ones in the shelter on Saturday
morning. By now Danielle knew her way around, so she ran right for the section that housed the smaller dogs. Tired of the routine, mom sat in the small waiting room at the end of the first row of cages. There was an observation window so you could see the animals during times when visitors weren't permitted. Danielle walked slowly from cage to cage, kneeling periodically to take a closer look. One by one the dogs were brought out and she held each one.
One by one she said, "Sorry, you're not the one."
It was the last cage on this last day in search of the perfect pup.
The volunteer opened the cage door and the child carefully picked up the dog and held it closely. This time she took a little longer.
"Mom, that's it! I found the right puppy! He's the one! I know it!" she screamed with joy. "It's the puppy size!"

"But it's the same size as all the other puppies you held over the
last few weeks," Mom said.
"No not size... the sighs. When I held him in my arms, he sighed," she said.
"Don't you remember? When I asked you one day what love is, you told me love depends on the sighs of your heart. The more you love, the bigger the sigh!"
The two women looked at each other for a moment. Mom didn't know whether to laugh or cry. As she stooped down to hug the child, she did a little of both.
"Mom, every time you hold me, I sigh. When you and Daddy come home from work and hug each other, you both sigh. I knew I would find the right puppy if it sighed when I held it in my arms," she said.

Close your eyes for a moment and think about the love that makes you sigh. I not only find it in the arms of my loved ones, but in the caress of a sunset, the kiss of the moonlight and the gentle brush of cool air on a hot day.

They are the sighs of Goddess. Take the time to stop and listen; you will
be surprised at what you hear.

Life Lessons

Many thanks to my friend Heather who sent me this great story of life!

Life Lessons:

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge
things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look
at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in
summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe
what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son
said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so
sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping
with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they
had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season,
and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come
from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.
If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring,
the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

 

A Cherokee Boy's Rite of Passage

Many thanks to my friend, Roxanne, for sharing this great story!

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage? His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.

He cannot cry out for help to anyone.   Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.   The boy is naturally terrified.  He can hear all kinds of noises.  Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. 

The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold.  It would be the only way he could become a man!   Finally, after a horrific night, the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold.  It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.  He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm. 

We, too, are never alone.   Even when we don't know it, Great Spirit  is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us.  When trouble comes all we have to do is reach out to Him. 

I Disagree With You, However, I Do Find Your View Interesting

 
An argument is the longest distance between two points of view.
--Dan Bennett

The point of view that we have on any topic is often formed by the information that we have from research, our own experience, and from our friends and family. Therefore it should come as no surprise that there are many differing points of view.  What I find fascinating, though, is that the person who disagrees with me continues to work very hard at changing my point of view to his/her viewpoint. I wonder about this trait in humans all the time! It seems illogical to me that another would want me to absolutely recant my views in favor of their view.  I guess this is not too much different than what the Catholic Church did with Galileo in 1616.

For those of you that don't know the story, Galileo is sometimes called the father of observational astronomy because of his intense use of the telescope and because of his observations and discoveries. Galileo believed that the Sun was the center of the solar system, that Earth is a part of it, and this belief is known as heliocentrism.  His view was not popular with the Catholic Church which believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe and that all things (sun, moon, stars, planets) revolved around the Earth - a belief system called geocentrism.  As an aside, this thought gives a whole new perspective to the saying "I am the center of the Universe".  Regardless of the "proof" supporting heliocentrism that Galileo had on his side, the Catholic Church said they were right - there was more of them - and that he was wrong, and that he better change his view point. In the first wave of the Catholic righteousness in 1616, Galileo did recant.  However, his original beliefs got the better of him by 1630 and by 1633, the Catholic Inquisition had placed him under permanent house arrest for disagreeing with the Catholic Church's view.

I realize that when some one debate's their point of view with you that they are not putting you under house arrest. They are working though, extremely diligently, at removing your power from you. This, in my opinion, is like putting someone under house arrest since this remains with you for the rest of your life unless you take your power back.  When someone harps on you to make you change your mind, they are actually making a judgement about your ability to see truth, and they have decided that they will give you the truth that you will use.  There are many natural laws that this action violates including the principle of non-interference, the principle of harm none, and the true north principle of integrity. 

Parents do this with children all the time because the child is young and therefore has no experience. The parent then provides the experience based on the parent's life experience.  The parent's life experience may come from their parent - etc.  This is how values and belief systems are propagated through time.  Is this wrong? No.  It is something that is.  What we do not do a good job of in child raising is teaching children that it is okay to learn or relearn things and form their own view which may be different than the parent's view. This is very necessary when the parent's view comes out in the form of statements such as, "You are worthless!", or "You are stupid!", or "You will never amount to much!", or even "There isn't any happiness in life so get used to it!".  The list of beliefs that pour out of parents' or teachers' mouths that influence the children well into adulthood is endless. 

Ideally, as the child grows, he/she will be able to see that the words do not have value for the child, that the words that fall over them, quite often in a thoughtless or careless manner, are empty words.  The child then has the chance to move forward and create their own truth.  Another idealism is to teach the children that everyone is allowed to have their own point of view, and that in the moment that point of view is real and true until the next experience comes along that changes that view point.  The best idealism is to teach children that all views matter, and that the background behind the view may be a fascinating story that makes the view point all that more interesting.

Working With Angels And Guides

Many people have asked me what it is like to work on a daily basis with your guides and to trust what they say even when the request for action goes against what your head/logic might tell you to do. This question is a big one for people that are just learning to consciously channel, and are not sure of what they are hearing/seeing or what they should be repeating.

First, let me say, that working with Spirit is a total commitment of Faith and Belief. One needs to have faith that the guides give you information for your greatest and highest good, and for the greatest and highest good of all concerned. One also needs to have belief that what you hear and see is in fact a reality even though no one else hears or sees quite the same thing.

If you think about it, this is not so different from every day life. When I was teaching Organizational Behavior at the University of Manitoba, one of my favorite exercises to do with a class was to stage an “incident” where individual students were willing participants in an altercation between teacher and student. We all had our scripts, and the rest of the class became “eye” witnesses. After the altercation, the students who participated would storm out of the classroom. I would tell the rest of the class that I would need incident reports from them to turn in to the University Administration. When everyone was finished writing their report, I would invite the offending students back into the class and as a group, we debriefed the incident. I was always amazed at the number of different “truths” that the students observed. Perception is definitely in the “eye” or “I” of the beholder. Yes, one’s ego plays a large role in what one observes and believes. To see this concept played out, see the movie “Runaway Jury”.

However, back to the point – when you see or hear something that no one else sees and hears, are you losing your mind? Is it real? Are your guides really talking to you? And, should you tell others about the interesting and often strange things that you hear and see, especially if it concerns them? I think each individual should decide this for themselves. I believe also in the Principle of Non-interference, or, as one of my friends calls it, “The Law of Mind Your Own Business!” A wonderful fable illustrates this concept with a story about a man flailing about in a lake. Anybody passing by would see him as drowning. When a student and his Master pass by, the student becomes concerned when his Master does not take action to save the man in the lake. The Master tells the student that the man has not cried for help, so they will not interfere, otherwise he may not learn to swim. The lesson for all of us is that by interfering in someone’s life, we may interfere with a life lesson. What usually happens when a lesson is stopped, it becomes slightly harsher when it is repeated.

You do need to determine though why it is you are being given the information. If I am to pass the information on to the person, usually my guides will tell me that this is the case, and they will also give me a time frame that I need to do this in. Additionally, if someone asks what it is you see or what it is you are getting, and they give you permission to tell them, then, by all means share your information.

A good example of when I was given information that I needed to pass on happened on one of my Microsoft business trips to a client site. I was working in an office on reports when a lady that works on the Help Desk popped in with some information that I needed. I thanked her and was going to turn back to my work when my guides said, “Ask her to sit down and chat.” Even though I was quite busy, I did this. With guidance, I then asked her what was troubling her, because she did look extremely sad. Our conversation was about the fact that she’d been diagnosed with a brain tumor on the right side of her brain. She of course was troubled about the outcome. My guides asked me to tell her about what she could do to help herself, and how she needed to care for herself, and that by following certain steps, her healing would be assured. She was very receptive to the guidance and asked for more over the next several weeks.

My time at that client site was four months, and before the work was complete, she did have the operation, and opted to return to work on a part time basis. It is in these situations where I can offer comfort and guidance that I am so very grateful to the service that I am able to provide to people with the help of my guides. Remember, I did not tell her what to do, I merely gave her guidance with her permission. I had faith in my guides and I believed that the outcome would be positive.

For those of you starting out, each time we work with our guides and follow instruction for being of service to others, we follow our own reality. If you feel uncomfortable with your information, ask for signs. Our guides give us many signs. If in doubt, follow the truth in your heart. All will be well!

Flight, Fight, And Prophecy

Behaviorists tell us that for every action there is a re-action, and then the re-action becomes the action for the next re-action, and so forth. Humans are funny creatures. We are part of the natural order (nature’s order of things). However, for some reason, we believe that we are outside the rules of nature. Therefore, many
times we re-act to what we think is an attack. We interpret an action as an act of aggression. Our reason or excuse for most actions is that “this person wronged me by “doing” a certain activity or by saying certain words. How many of you have witnessed a child acting out aggression because the other child “touched” them?

While many of us will fight based on an action, many of us would just as soon flee.
We feel threatened by an action, and rather than fight to protect our position, we leave the area as soon as we can. There is truth in the saying “He who flees or runs away lives to fight another day”. Yes the expression is changed with poetic license, but the message is clear. So what is the right thing to do, fight or not?

The right answer would be to figure out what it is that you fear, and deal with that before you either strike out at the person you perceive is wronging you or flee, leaving the person bewildered by your sudden action. Our ego exists simply for our protection, and many times sets us up to fail by prohibiting us from moving forward and dealing with fear. The exception would be when a person is fighting in a war and taking orders to fight or retreat.

It is for that reason that many of us consult angel oracle cards. The more we know, the more we can move forward with a more expansive response than just fighting or running away. Taking an action and analyzing it helps one make better decisions and gives one a safe environment in which to try new responses.

Prophecy is a set of possibilities based on the current trend of actions and responses. The accuracy of the prophecy increases as people lose the fear around the unknown. For example, would your response to being jilted by lover change if you already knew that a more suitable lover was on the way, and that your life would be much happier if you move beyond the current love? Most people will respond, “Of course you’d be happier!” It follows then that the sorrow and grieving that may follow a break up will be minimized dramatically, leaving the person clear to move on to other things. How many of us have carried sorrow and grief, like a boat anchor, from an action that we perceived as a “bad” thing? If this is true for relationships, would it not also be true of career, family, life purpose, and even finding hidden talent? When will you change your fight or flight response? The angels suggest that now would be a good time. ***