Dove Guides Us this Week to Grace In the Stillness

It’s a week that Dove is encouraging us to make sure we set aside time for self-care. Just like anyone else, I too fall off track sometimes and this week’s message from Dove speaks to me. I hope it will be helpful for you too.

I really appreciate oracle cards and animal wisdom as tools for my own self-care. It’s a way to open to perspectives I might not consider, and both have helped me time and again with shifting my awareness and gaining insight I’d not have in any other way.

To journey alongside the message from an oracle card or the wisdom an animal shares always helps to shift me from a stuck place to a new opening and seeing something I’m struggling with in a way that guides me to be proactive instead of spinning my wheels and not getting anywhere.

It’s hard not to see a Dove and feel a peaceful shift come over you, don’t you think? While birds, in general, are symbolic of connecting earth to heaven, whenever I see Dove I feel that even more deeply because there is just something so spiritual about the dove.

This week I asked the question, what will be of help to us this week?

Toward the end of last week, I was carrying a heaviness on my heart because of so much that is going on in the world. Talking with a few friends, they too, have been feeling the same. Many said they feel helpless and aren’t sure what they can do to help change things. For me, I didn’t listen to the news at all over the weekend or check any online news sources. I just needed a break to clear my head and connect back to myself.

I see Dove as such a beautiful guide of reminding us that the way to true and lasting peace begins with each of us. I’ve said this time and time again here on my blog and in my general readings and one-to-one readings because it is what I believe at my core. And it’s something I continue to practice also. Even though again, I sometimes also fall off track, but now that I’m more aware of that feeling that comes over me, I am able to jump back on track much quicker these days.

When we feel helpless it’s good to also ask ourselves why that is. So much of what comes up during challenging times as we are experiencing in the world right now are actually clues for us to look within and why it is that we are feeling triggered – and not to make light of what is transpiring in our world as it is some tough stuff to witness. But where is that coming from for each of us as individuals in our own lives that I see as what we need to ask ourselves?

Dove guides us to go within and to not only connect with our wise inner self but to also connect with that energy of the divine (no matter how you define it). Take time to really listen to what your heart is trying to convey to you – even if it is hard to look at or hear because it may feel painful. But just allow whatever that is for you to be heard or seen. Perhaps write it down in a journal or speak it out loud to yourself. So often just doing this is all the release we need to become aware and then begin to let it go.

The world is being shaken up, that there is no doubt, but it’s also helping to serve as a reflection of what we need to heal within ourselves when we feel scared, angry, helpless, etc. I see Dove as the great encourager to find grace in the stillness within ourselves – that this is where we can receive the message we need to hear in order to move forward. The more of us that can do this, the more positive vibration that puts out into the world, and the more chance we have of shifting our planet to a more peaceful place for all.

Dove – the symbol of peace – just being with her energy as I sat with the image on the card and then writing this post I already feel a shift of serenity within myself. 

Wishing you each a peaceful and gentle reflective week…

xo,

Barbara

I recently gave my one-to-one oracle readings a name: Wisdom in the Pause. If you are in need of support and someone who will gently hold space for you to explore what is on your heart, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.

Card from The Ark Animal Tarot and Oracle Deck

Late Spring At My Writing Cottage. Come Walk with Me through the Garden.

My writing cottage

View out the front windows of my writing cottage

Columbine

White bleeding heart

Gidget’s memorial marker and resting area

St. Francis watching over Gidget and all the many critters that visit

I have a few rocks with words written on them that I’ve placed throughout

Peace rock plus this planter chair my dad made for me years ago

Grateful rock

Welcome to the dancing fairy area

Cast iron birdbath

Butterly flower

Thank you for walking with me!

xo,

Barbara

 

 

When a Snail Follows You Home

So I bet I know what you are thinking. You’d have to be walking a-w-f-u-l-l-y s-l-o-w for a snail to follow you home, right?

Well, not if you are a snail that got to ride in the front basket on my bike.

But you see, I had no intentions what-so-ever of having a snail join me for a ride through Elkhart Lake.

After a stop at the post office and then to drop a loaned book in the library book depository, it was riding past a new little shop in town that I saw the door was open.

I’d been walking past this shop every morning the last few weeks wondering what it was all about with the name, Elkhart Lake Trading Post.

And my bike just happened to stop outside the building today so I could take a peek inside. I’m so glad I did.

A couple, Tim and Sara, who moved here from Vermont have set up shop to support local artists and vendors, along with the back part of their shop being home to their photography business also.

I just love and appreciate their shop with it supporting small business and the talents of the locals. It’s a win-win! 

After chatting with Tim I perused the shelves and just around the corner I spotted this snail…that I just had to have…to add to my growing critter collection that resides inside the walls of my writing cottage. And anytime I can support a local business and an artist my heart lights up with joy!

This sweet snail is made by a young artist. Her name is Sarah and her studio is called Hidden Roots Studio. I just love that name! She features other critters too and fondly calls them “maminals.”

Under her profile on her website, she states that she makes things for the home that are mostly nature-inspired because her passions are science and interior design. She says, “Every piece I make is unique and whimsical, perfect for the adventurous spirit.”

I could definitely feel the energy of the adventurous spirit in this snail because after all, it’s not every day that a snail follows you home by riding in the basket on your bike.

What I appreciate about the snail is the symbolism of taking life slowly. Let’s enjoy the ride and keep our eyes wide open to what we will see along the way by moving at a slower pace.

xo,

Barbara