A client was sharing with me the other day that her life has taken on a new purpose, a new direction as a result of her horses. Because her gelding has had digestive issues she was guided to learn all she could about natural care and feeding for horses. Then her mare developed a hindend lameness whose recovery perplexed the vets. She has sought out conventional and alternative means to help this horse and in the end, learned of her own gifts to help with massage, energy work and more. She is now studying to be an equine bodywork practitioner. She is learning all she can about biomechanics, anatomy, Reiki and anything that will help her bring her mare back to soundness. Her life has been given new direction because of the challenges she faced with the animals in her care.
Some might describe this as being inspired. And it is inspiration. But it is also, in my opinion, divine direction. I believe our souls have contracts with other souls, yes, even our animal companion souls, that sometimes lead us to find what we are really here to do. We may have begun walking our life one way only to have the love and needs of an animal companion spin us into a new direction.
It certainly happened to me. It started with Boo Boo, my Lhasa Apso that joined me as I left college. It took years before I would learn that his many health issues were due to a food allergy. With almost nothing produced commercially that he could eat I began researching and then cooking his own food. Then along came Tiger. I recognized the signs of food allergies immediately with him so he didn’t need to suffer…well at least not from food allergies. Eventually my desire to give him the best life led me to a raw diet. Back in the early 90’s not a lot of people or vets embraced this concept. Tiger continued to have some health challenges which led me to another vet, one who embraced the raw diet. I will never forget that first visit. He looked at Tiger’s records (they were extensive) and said, “you feed him a raw diet but you are still vaccinating him every year?” And I said, “Well, what do you mean? Of course, I have been told that is what I should do.” And thus began my research and revelation into the problems of over vaccination. When I reviewed his records more closely I immediately saw the correlation between his spring shots and his bouts of bloody diarrhea. On to more research.
Smokey also took me on a path of learning all I could about natural hoof care to help with his misshapen hooves created from his early years in the Tennessee Walking Horse Show industry. He taught me a great deal about what a horse needs to stay happy, sound and healthy.
Both Tiger and Smokey were there to wake me up to my ability to communicate with the animals as well. They worked tirelessly to get my attention and finally I listened. So eventually, with the divine direction of my animals, I left a career in marketing and business and here I am. It was never on my radar screen before they came into my life.
This is not unusual. I have heard many other similar stories. Someone is challenged with a health issue or behavior issue that leads them to research and before they know it their life has changed. Of course this happens in many ways in our lives. Oftentimes a tragedy sends someone on a mission to ensure it doesn’t happen to someone else. Or someone (two legged or four legged) comes into our lives and inspires us to reach further, dig deeper and somehow pull out that hidden fire within us to follow a passion. This is when life gets really exciting.
What about you? Have you been divinely directed? Feel free to share your stories here….in the comment section. Who knows, maybe you are here to divinely direct someone else today.
I have a horse with a metabolic disorder that was misdiagnosed for years. He foundered severely over three years ago, had “stress-induced” seizures and lost a dangerous amount of weight. I researched day and night about diet and tweaked his feed and supplements until we got it right. I also learned to barefoot trim him and he has finally grown a nice connected foot! He reminds me often that I know how to do Reiki and that I must practice on him. I am learning equine massage as well and having great results with him and my other horse who has some body issues. Essential oils is something else that seems to come up a lot in their healing and I love to research what each oil is recommended for. I also was a primary caregiver to a wonderful woman with Lou Gerhig’s disease. She was open to alternative therapies so I did lots of research for her as well. I would say there’s been lots of divine direction in alternative therapies in my life. Hmm…
Imagine my surprise to read your blog! Thank you for sharing my story, I hope it will inspire others to not ignore their calling even if it takes them out of their comfort zone. I always had a very intimate relationship with animals, even as a child. It seemed I always knew how they felt instinctively. My older cat Charlie had a severe UTI in 2003 and he really started me on the path of alternative pet/animal care since I didn’t like the vet’s treatment options (steroids, steroids, more drugs, fake food…). Later came the horses, both of mine came from environments they found challenging. It got me started on learning about natural horsemanship, creating partnerships and not taking myself so seriously. The health issues really only were the final push since I didn’t take the subtle hints of where I was supposed to go as seriously as I should have. I am very excited about the new direction (well, a bit scared too, but the regular paycheck thing will work itself out either way). My animals have truly been my guides, always asking me to look ahead, question the status quo, look for answers in unexpected places, to keep an open mind and consider myself a part of something bigger. I am very greatful for their patient and wise guidance. I now just have to decide what to do first! I am sure they will be more than happy to help with those decisions 🙂
thanks again for a great reading and sharing your gift
Daniela