Animal Instinct

As I sat down in front of the classroom, I was going through materials, preparing my thoughts for the next portion of the lecture while the students were on a 10-minute break. I was immediately distracted by a medium-sized, short-haired dog. It had trotted in from the door in the back of the class, glanced at me, while walking up the aisle, and stopped at a seat that had been occupied by a student. The dog’s tongue was hanging out, slightly to the side, and he was wagging his tail excitedly. He bounced a little, walked back towards the door, and came back to the seat. He kept looking at me.

The dog wasn’t physically present, but he was definitely aware that I could communicate with him. I “tuned in” to chat, and was amused when I heard, “I found him; I found him! It’s been a long time, but I found him! He’s here!” The dog paced a few more times, eager for the man to return to his seat. As the student walked in the door, I saw the dog run to him, and walk along side with such excitement, sitting down when the student took his seat.

Then, the dog looked at me, “Tell him! Tell him I’m HERE!” I tried to draw my attention back to my papers knowing class needed to start in the next few minutes. I could see the dog out of the corner of my eye. He looked back and forth, from me to the student. “I can’t,” I thought. ‘How?” But I kept hearing a voice, not just from the dog, but from elsewhere, a guide or an angel, saying, “Yes, tell him.”

I tried to be casual. “Hey, do you have a dog?” I asked.

“Yeah, we got two,” said the student.

‘Have you ever had a dog that was about this big?” I motioned with my hands, “and black? Very hyper?”

“No, we don’t have a dog like that.” The guy looked puzzled.

“Not now, but ever. Like, maybe when you were a kid? Around 10 years old?” I saw a flash of an image of the guy as a young boy in the yard, playing with some other kids, and the dog was running through the yard towards him.

“Oh my gosh - YES!” the man confirmed. “I forgot about him. That dog hated everyone but me. I was the only one the dog liked, and he loved me. He followed me everywhere. How did you know?”

“Well, um, he’s here.” I said. The look of confusion on this poor student’s face was memorable. I continued, “I can do readings, and see things sometimes. The dog came running in …” I finished describing what I had seen. “He is so excited he found you and wants you to know he’s around.”

“Oh, Okayyyy.”

“I know, it’s woo-woo … but I was told to tell you.”

The student nodded.

“It is what it is,” I said. “But know that if you ever hear clicking noises on the floor in the kitchen while you are in bed at night, it’s the dog walking around. So don’t worry.”

Yeah, that went well.

Don't pray for me

“When a butterfly flutters its wings in one part of the world, it can eventually cause a hurricane in another.”

— Chaos Theory, Edward Norton Lorenz

Though the gesture and ceremony of prayer is well-intended, people must be careful with their words because they are so powerful in communicating to the source of creation.

Prayer is talking; meditation is listening. Too often we are so busy talking, we don’t hear the messages that are given to us. Sometimes we refuse to listen because it isn’t what we want to hear. In the depths of despair, when a person feels so isolated and alone, and asks, “Why me?” there is a response. A voice of comfort may quietly speak words : “You are not alone. You are loved.”  The presence is strong, yet a person engulfed in frustration, anger, and denial will proclaim the words heard in her mind to be untrue. Rather than listen and receive comfort and an answer to prayers, a person will choose denial of self-worth.

When people pray, they often ask for healing or a cure. “Please give that little boy a kidney so he can have his transplant,” they beg. And miraculously, the kidney arrives. But at what cost? Someone had to die. Yet, as long as the child in need gets his kidney, the people praying have no concern over the family that lost a loved one. That person is invisible to the prayerful. What if the kidney is rejected? Or perhaps the child receiving the kidney has additional issues, and really all he wants is to be free from his earthly confines.  Maybe his work in this realm is done and it is time for him to go, and on a spiritual level, he knows that. 

I heard a story about someone that was ready to pass on, yet his family kept getting people to pray for him.  He had three kidney transplants – each time, the kidney was rejected. Some people wait years for organ donations, but the power of prayer was evident for this person.  Yet, the person didn’t want to be saved. He was ready to go, and ultimately did.

People pray for what they think the solution to a problem is. Instead, they could pray for an outcome that is best for everyone concerned, and that the outcome be brought with grace and ease for everyone concerned.  It’s simple, profound, and unrestricted.

So wish me well, send light and love, and pray for the best outcome for all concerned. Just please, don’t tell God what you think is best for me.