animal messenger

Chickadee Reminded Me of the Sweetness of Life

Posted by Barbara Techel

It can be easy to get lost in the chaos of the world.

Sitting at my art table this morning excited to work on my next project piece, this darling chickadee sat for the longest time on the suet feeder, while my laundry on the line blew in the breeze.

It moved me to tears. The sweetness of life, I thought. This is what brings such joy to my heart.

Yesterday I’d gone down the rabbit hole with all that continues to swirl in the world – so much that does not make sense to me. My heart hurt for all the suffering.

Later in the day, I’d recalled what a teacher who hosts a monthly group I’m taking part in said, “The mind can’t take it, but the heart can.” I wrote that out and taped it to the mirror on my vanity.

Though at times it feels like my heart can’t take it, it really is the mind that goes into fear, when the heart knows what to do.

The sweet chickadee reminded me that I can choose contentment at any moment, which after looking it up, is exactly what they symbolize — that, and happiness. A tiny bird that reminds us of the joy in simple pleasures.

I also read that Chickadee is a homebody bird. Well, if that didn’t literally hit home in my heart, as I am a homebody too. This soft place that I perch and take refuge in when the world around me is confusing…and how grateful I am for my physical home, but also my inner home that I’ve worked hard to stay in alignment with what is true for me.

Thank you, dear Chickadee, for your presence and the reflection that turns out to be the best present I could have asked for today.

XO

Barb

                  

Two Young Bunnies Reminded Me How Fertile with Opportunity These Times Are

Posted by Barbara Techel

This young bunny above is one I saw in my garden a few weeks ago. Today, during my morning walk, I saw another small bunny hopping through a neighbor’s garden. And then later this morning, during my meditation time the bunnies came to me with a message.

The last few days I’d been getting caught up in fear in my mind with all that is transpiring in our world. 

While on my walk, wrestling with not wanting to be in this space, I’d realized that when I let fear cloud my mind, I can’t see the joy that is present. I silently acknowledged to myself the fact that these times of uncertainty shake my foundation of my wanting to feel safe and secure. But I reminded myself that at that moment I was safe.

It was then that the light suddenly looked brighter, the leaves on the trees greener and the sky bluer. I then noticed the young bunny scamper through a neighbor’s garden and just ahead I saw a golden retriever frolicking in someone’s yard. As I neared home another neighbor had just turned on the sprinkler and this feeling surged through me of wanting to be a little girl again and run through that sprinkler! 

During meditation, I was reminded that fear is the shadow part of me, but there is also the part of me that is light. I get to choose which I will play in. But only can I follow the path of the light, which is my heart, by acknowledging the shadow of fear that’s been running through my mind, and understanding what it’s about.

It was then that I saw the bunnies in my mind’s eye and they shared with me what a fertile time this is. How we are being given this incredible opportunity to face those shadows of fear when they appear. How important it is to look at why the fear is there and to ask where is it coming from. And that is what I’d done while on my walk, which helped to shift me back to the fact I was safe and there was so much good to see around me.

What a change of events in my 45-minute walk and then time in meditation that I was brought to this new space of lightness. The bunnies’ message was so true that all that is unfolding around us are opportunities to look within and be with what scares us in order to find our way back to the fact that we can create a better, brighter, and more peaceful reality.

Every moment we get the chance to see the world anew again.

xo,

Barbara

Animal Oracle Guidance for the Last Few Weeks of 2019

Posted by Barbara Techel

 

I’d been waiting for this new deck for quite some time and they finally arrived last week. Yippee! So I asked the cards for all of us:

What animal ally is guiding us as we move through these final weeks of 2019?

You can read below or listen to the reading here on SoundCloud.

I’ll admit I was hoping to pull a cute and cuddly animal to share with you. When scorpion presented itself I hesitated whether or not I should go with it.

But alas, after simmering in scorpion medicine, I believe this is just the animal that will guide us in the most beneficial way. 

As I looked at the card I heard, “It’s true, sometimes life stings, but this is where the real value lies. Don’t look away.”

It’s in those goals we perhaps didn’t achieve this year that we wished we did, the emotions that come up for us over the holidays that are challenging, or the feelings of regret or loss, that we can learn from.

We can wallow in the uncomfortable feelings of those situations, or we can take the sting as an opportunity to be gentle with ourselves and look at how we can resolve to change and take what we learned to move forward in a more meaningful way.

There really is no such thing as failure, but rather just information for us to evolve in a new way.

How are you going to direct your life right now so that you move into 2020 with a new perspective? The number 9 on the card is symbolic of endings, so this is a great time to review and set intentions of how you will move forward.

You can do this! Without the sting of life, we wouldn’t grow, and so let Scorpion walk beside you as you boldly accept all that life entails as part of the journey of living here on planet earth.

xo,

Barbara

 

 

Card from: The Ark Animal Tarot and Oracle Deck by Bernadette King