Dear Spirit to Spirit friends,
So many animals are adopted into our families from shelters and rescues. Whether the animal is young or older, we often know little about the circumstances of our beloved's earliest beginnings and can only imagine what his/her life was like before coming to be with us.
And we so want to know, don't we...what was our animal's life like before us?
Especially if our animal family member seems to have experienced disruption/trauma and/or is stuck in mental/emotional or behavioral patterns that might be related to early life experiences.
In healing sessions, animals who choose to speak of this time of their lives refer to it as the "before-time." Before s/he came into our family. Sometimes they want to share- thoughts, images, feelings, sensations, scenarios of that time. Sometimes not.
When animals want to share about this time, it is often because there is some kind of healing needed. Either there is something important about who they are that they need us to know about them. Or because they are aware that there is an imbalance arising from something in the "before-time", something that they cannot shift on their own.
For some animals who have experienced significant disruption or trauma in their early lives- coming into a loving home and family, feeling safe and secure- they can simply put the past in its right perspective, close the door, and live joyfully in the present. For others, the disturbance may be too great for them to find their natural inner balance no matter how loving a home they enter.
Offering an animal the opportunity to be assisted in making a shift around whatever is tugging on them from the past is a healing journey we can take together. Finding peace and release from the past can be soft and gentle as we listen deeply and follow the pace that the animal sets. Just like us, some animals move more quickly through, for others the relaxing occurs slowly over time.
And, isn't it grace for our animal when we, the human family members, become aware of how the past is impacting his/her present life. And grace as we hold our animal in kindness and softness and understanding around that. That, in and of itself, is healing.
In opening the door to healing for our animal family member, in essence, we open the door of healing for ourselves and for our entire family as well. That is the beauty of healing.
In Gratitude & Love, Joanna