PetWise #9 Patrick's influence!

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­PetWise 3/28/11 #9 Patrick’s influence!

So many times other pet lovers and I have been unable to deny that our pets have profound truths to teach us. Recently I’ve been wondering why Patrick’s plight has touched me so very deeply, to the point of feeling that I’ve almost ‘adopted him’ as my own. Perhaps this is a part of why I’ve felt no urge yet to find someone to fill the huge footprints my boy Black Jack left behind.

Today I happened to turn to one of the most FUN and most insightful books I’ve ever read, GUARDIANS OF BEING. With the light hearted cartoons of the gifted Patrick McDonnell, the words of renowned spiritual teacher, Eckhart Tolle the messages seem to take on a joyful life of their own.

The explanation for my strong affinity to Patrick just might lie in this statement from the book, “They have been with humans for thousands of years and now there is a link between dogs and humans much closer than it has ever been.”

I was also touched by a lesson already evident from Patrick voiced herein, “You just watch the tail…with some dogs you just look at them—just a little look is enough—and their tail goes ‘LIFE IS GOOD! LIFE IS GOOD!’ And they are not telling themselves a story of why life is good. It’s a direct realization.” REGARDLESS of what we humans may judge to have been Patrick’s tortuous life thus far, without these judgments he is simply being Who he is & loving life in each moment (like breakfast this morning)!

Oh, how I long to transcend the wild thoughts of my human brain to live more simply in this ‘joy of being’…the tail wagging part might be difficult—LOL!

Speaking to the hearts of CHILDREN seems to be one of the most essential tools I can think of for responding to the urgent need evident today for the transformation of consciousness and the creation of a more enlightened humanity to come. Patrick has written two children’s books that might be a wonderful way for us to help them understand our oneness and thereby become compassionate citizens.

This is the link to McDonnell’s website where you can sign up to get daily messages http://muttscomics.com/default.aspx

This is the link to checking out the book from which I’m quoting

http://www.amazon.com/Guardians-Being-Eckhart-Tolle/dp/1577316711/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301338080&sr=1-1#reader_1577316711

Here is one of his children’s books, his 6^th picture book this one featuring his beloved Earl

http://www.amazon.com/Wag-Patrick-McDonnell/dp/B004HB1D4U/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301338080&sr=1-6#reader_B004HB1D4U

And another children’s book offered by Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Gift-Nothing-Special-Patrick-McDonnell/dp/0316054410/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301338080&sr=1-4#reader_0316054410

I strongly encourage you to check them out not only for yourself but for others in your life that you love and perhaps for future generations! I for one don’t want to miss any of the messages our pets so freely offer us…

PetWise #8 - IMAGINATION OR TRUTH?!

Have you ever had an idea or thought from ‘out of the blue’ that seemed either like it was too good to be true or too ‘far out’ to be do-able?

PART I: Mom did (and sometimes still does) often dismissing them, having grown up being told to be ‘realistic’. But working with our inexplicable “energy” always having surrounded her artwork of our images, we’re happy to announce that she’s finally learning to pay more attention!

“I helped!!” shouts Black Jack as he scurries past to his next duty. He suggested (through Kat) that Mom listen carefully during the artistic process so she could share that priceless interaction with the pets’ humans. “And she has (like with Mackenzie)!” comes the echo from afar. More about that later, but back to the message…

In the past Mom has had a couple of profound experiences with the energy of two of her ‘human heroes’, felt so strongly there was no denying it. Earlier this week her friend described a recent similar experience but decided she must have wanted it to be true so badly that it surely must not be the loved one she felt with her at all but a figment of her imagination instead. It took an unsolicited confirmation to convince her. This is Mom’s friend/massage therapist who can speak with other’s departed loved ones but ironically mistrusts her own intuitive gift for herself. This seems to be a problem with many of you ‘tuned in’ humans…

Now Black Jack stops by to share again, “Several times in the past weeks when Mom pulled into the garage, she vividly recalled how I would wait for her with my nose pressed to the garage door opening and upon hearing the car, howl my greeting. She also considered it only her imagination, deciding even if it were, it made her smile. I want her to believe I was really there instead of dampening the warmth of those moments with her doubt.”

“And,” he goes on, “what about those little black caterpillars Mom’s week pulling disturbed the other day? Could it just be, as she imagined, that I put them there to reminder her of the beautiful black butterfly I sent to her earlier?

Voices now unite to say, “Trust that when you think of us, we are there! We are One with you. Thoughts are indeed things and so we’re always with you.”

PART II Just like memories and imagination, Mom sometimes has ideas that seem to come from nowhere—but we all know they really DO come from SOMEWHERE. Until recently she has often put them aside immediately as being too grandiose.

First we need for her to know tif they keep returning she needs to take it as a sign that some Power bigger than she is wants her to take action on them.

While we pets just enjoy them in the moment, you humans seem to want to remember your dreams. Remembering dreams can be elusive, just like ideas. In fact Mom has a whole dream diary of her night time experiences, most of which are merely entertaining to her, sometimes, bizarre, rarely scary.

That “Bigger Power” (which includes us, of course) is what plants those seed ideas in Mom’s mind whether thought or dream. Then it’s up to her to nurture that seed with trust that the soil that is HER has what it takes to co-partner with the seed, creating something grand. Because these ideas can be lost in all the jumble of you humans’ busy minds and lives, we’ve urged her to keep paper and pen handy so she can take action—usually the next morning (sometimes in the middle of the night) as happened with the idea for this very blog article.

“Way to go, Mom!” comes the canine chorus.

SO our INVITATION to you all is: “IMAGINE what you “dream up” IS THE TRUTH! Then enjoy the warm comfort of being wrapped in that memory…OR move mountains with your ‘do-able’ idea!!”

P.S. this was going to be a short article, but once again, guess we had lots to say…

PetWise #7 - THE WAY OF THE ARTIST...

Mom’s natural gift for artwork has blessed the human families of our cousins, ancestors and buddies on the other side (sometimes human likenesses, too) for 25 years by preserving our memories on paper or in other mediums. “I get to take credit for that,” quips Bubbles, “since it was her grief and aloneness in my passing that started it all. Sure, she thought it was her own idea, but my image in photos moved her to draw me on paper to help her feel better.” We know her face will be red when we sing our ♫♪CONGRATULATIONS symphony♫♪ to her. We are so proud that she always honored that gift with only a few brief ‘detours’—but we were always able to get her back on course.

Now she has another very special love to memorialize with a pencil portrait. Here Mackenzie takes over, saying, “I got my momma and Judy together because I know they’re alike in heart. Seeing Judy’s artwork, my momma knew she wanted Judy to recreate my loving eyes for her to gaze into for the rest of her life. They agreed that it must be inspired (by me) so there’d be no deadline for completion.”

He adds wisely, “Since Judy has an otherwise full life I didn’t begin reminding her (speaking to her) until a couple of days ago and then I was all she could think about!”

“First the design” Mackenzie continues, “Momma wants me drawn as a puppy and also in my final years, standing looking back as if to say a final good-bye. (I may convince her to add a ‘teen’ picture yet…) But with the 2 poses she wants, my face will be pretty small to show my soulful eyes, so I need to help Judy figure out how to do that. Judy seems to be resisting, so I’m working with her to get past her preferences and that her gift really lies in expressions, not so much all the hair I had.”

“So,” the rest of the gang concludes, “as is Mom’s way, she’s mulling over the situation/visualizing what needs to be done. This always requires some quiet time, therefore the project has slowed…good thing there’s no time limit. Seems this is the way many artists do their best, most inspired work! We can’t wait to see it finished…no, wait, it’s agreed, no rush—ha ha!”