healing trauma

Video Book Excerpt Series: Animals, Oracles, Healing & Love

When I look into the eyes of an animal I don’t see an animal. I see a living being. I see a friend. I see a soul. ~A.D. Williams

Today, May 11th marks the two-year anniversary of Gidget’s soul passing on to greater adventures.

As a tribute to Gidget, my desire to help others understand how animals are these incredible, noble beings of light guiding us, and along with my desire to continue to encourage and inspire others to walk their own healing journey, I’ve put together a series of videos with an excerpt from each chapter of my book, I’m Fine Just the Way I Am – Healing Emotional Pain through the Wisdom of Animals and Oracles.

The gift of this tiny dog with the heart of a Buddha walked ever-so-lovingly and patiently beside me on a self-healing pilgrimage during the time we were together. This continues to be one of my greatest treasures and stays with me as one of the most profound and positive impacts on my life.

Each day I’ll release a new video until the afterword conclusion has been reached (though disregard I’ve stated in the earlier videos I’d be releasing them weekly. A girl has a right to change her mind!)  🙂

You can follow along with the daily excerpt videos right here on my YouTube channel (by subscribing and clicking on the bell you’ll be automatically notified when a new video goes live).

Other social media areas I’ll be posting a link to the videos are:
Instagram
Facebook

We are never alone on our journeys though at times it can feel that way. So again, I hope the sharing of the healing journey Gidget and I walked, shared in these bite-size pieces will be of value and benefit and encourage anyone who needs these messages…

and that we may all begin to really know and trust that we are all fine just the way we are.

So without further ado click here or on the graphic to the preview kick-off to my book excerpt series:

XO

Barb

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

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

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