FEEDING YOUR SOUL

I was in the barn doing equine leadership coaching yesterday. I’m also exploring what Carolyn Resnick calls, "Sharing Territory."

Over the course of a week, I’ve shared territory with a squirrel, deer, horses and cows. Sharing territory is about fully inhabiting someone else’s worldview and listening deeply. It’s about trusting the dance of partnership. It’s about just being together before moving into work. 

On my walk up the mountain Monday, I came upon an industrious squirrel. Seeing me approach, he was ready to run. I stopped walking. I simply stood, noticing the sunlight reflection through the trees, rich red soil, and occasionally glancing at my squirrel friend. He went on eating, finding nuts, and hiding them. 

I thought about moving forward. He almost darted for higher ground. I walked slowly. Curious, he moved closer. I moved a few inches and then let him cross the road. It felt good, him trusting me to wait. It lifted my spirits, gave me confidence, and left me refreshed. 

Yesterday, entering the barn, I said hello to chickens, goats and horses. I assembled my tools and let the horses sniff my camera. These horses and goats have the freedom to be in the pasture and in stalls. Each horse moved closer; they let me scratch behind their ears. One moved her head into my chest. A goat bleated until I caressed him. 

It couldn’t have been clearer:  Humans have Facebook and email; animals have telepathy. The squirrel, deers and cows communicated to the barn about my new adventures in sharing territory. Without debate, the horses read my energy. I changed...and they knew it. We stood at their stalls in rich communion. 

 Photo by Karla Boyd, Copyright: Sky turning around for a better photo only by my thought

Later that day my friend, the ranch owner, opened up about changes in the herd. She shared personal events. I dropped into yet a deeper layer of shared engagement that continued into my client coaching and her big opening. 

Fast-forwarding to today, I received an email from another good friend who was acknowledging the need for our non-profit Namaste Global Vision leadership development work. Did I know that a well-known veterinarian had committed suicide?

Suicide. That’s one word I will be happy to NEVER hear again. How could this be that veterinarians have a high rate of suicide? Well, simple, it’s not; it’s a deep and long conversation. There are many layers to unpeel. These blogs explore a few issues rife in the animal steward community that contribute to that statistic and offer pathways to positive change.

 1. Burn-out and seeking help. 

2. We live in a western culture that promotes killing as a solution. We need to shift paradigms and worldviews.  

3. FIRST DO NO HARM is a deep look at responsible self-care and the need for leadership development in the veterinarian community. 

Equine-guided coaching is not fringe. Learning to share territory and space decreases isolation and feeds souls. Herd dynamics have a lot to teach humans about how to be in community. Leadership development is essential in learning how to stay in the game, aligned, whole and inspirited.

What change is being asked of you? And, dear Reader, what is one thing that you will do today to nourish your one precious life? 

Photo courtesy of Ron McGinnis, used with permission

Feeding Your Soul

FIRST, DO NO HARM: THE QUALITY OF CARE

Recently, I was asked to say more about what it means to care. Imagine my surprise when I “Googled” the Hippocratic oath:

I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to 

my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.

I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked.

As a child, I knew two doctors who abused this oath. In college, I found a caring physician who listened to my needs BEFORE prescribing treatment, putting me on extended bed rest. Late in life, I was privileged to work with a doctor who, through guided imagery, helped me resolve chronic health issues.

I’ve worked with many gifted doctors and healers. Cranial osteopaths helped me heal brain injuries and a spinal issue, thus avoiding surgery. The Osteopaths’ oath adds this to “caring”:

…keeping in mind always nature's laws and the body's 

inherent capacity for recovery.

                                         (http://www.osteopathic.org/inside aoa/about/leadership/Pages/osteopathic-oath.aspx)

After having been misdiagnosed for years, acupuncturist Dr. Yet Ki Lai moved me to tears. He knew my symptoms AND DIAGNOSIS. Without prompting, he described exactly what it was like living inside my body.

While many Western doctors were confounded, others invalidated me saying that I was not ill. Dr. Lai diagnosed me in the late stages of my illness. He told me to get a Lyme test. He knew that a confirmation would allow me to be taken seriously. Dr. Lai embodies Sun Simaio’s Oath of care:

I will be devoted to the task of saving the sacred spark of life in 

every creature that still carries it. 

Not to be left out in the conversation of care, the AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) revised its Veterinarian oath, committing to greater animal welfare:

I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of 

society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention 

and relief of animal suffering and the conservation of animal resources.

                                                                       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterinarian's_Oath

I give teary thanks to many gifted veterinarians and animal healers of Western, Osteopathic, Holistic, Acupuncture, Chiropractic and Psychomotor Therapy medicine. My beloved dog, Namaste, my niece’s beloved dog, Gertie, and my sister’s beloveds, Blue and Lancelot, would each have died prematurely were it not for many doctors and healers. Namaste and Blue received spiritual end-of-life care that few humans receive. Three of the dogs were in true hospice care, dying by natural means, in a loving environment.

Today I was with a client who has an injury. We had to forgo our equine leadership round pen work. This client did, however, make a commitment for personal health care; she realized without it, she would break her promise to the community of women in her care.

I asked her what she had previously learned in her equine work that helped her today. She said, “It’s simple. The horses are attentive and caring about each other in the herd. If I attend to my own personal health care, I will be able to listen and be empathic with others. I will be part of the caring herd.”

So, reader, what has emerged from your commitment to personal care?

CONFESSIONS OF A VEGETARIAN: Working My Way Back To You, BABE

Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends.

                                                                              ~George Bernard Shaw

The Long And Winding Road

Today I made my vegan version of a Philly Cheese Sandwich recipe. The truth is that I did not embrace this recipe in the blink of an eye. MOVE OVER PHILLY, THERE’S A NEW SANDWICH IN TOWN

In leadership and organizational development, we make declarations for what we want, integrating values and vision to support those stands.  A shift in paradigms leads to a peaceful, dynamic, non-conflicting life. We’re works in progress. When I’ve taken a stand, as when my clients do, it creates a new field of relatedness such that the entire universe and world conspires to support that new stand. New life is created from it, with all the resources needed to live it.

Through meditation, fissures or mind splits can be healed.  As I let myself breathe in and out, I watch thoughts and conflicts rise and fall. When I meditate on a meditation passage I let elevated words drop down into my consciousness like a balm, erasing negative conditioning.

I did not have those tools earlier in life. Inside of me, clashing values raged. Eating was deeply disquieting. (Please see my other blogs on the subject: CONFESSIONS OF A VEGETARIAN: The Day I Heard A Fis... and CONFESSIONS OF A VEGETARIAN: Seeking Freedom Living in a vegetarian collective helped me. But when I moved from that home, I still sporadically ate fish and fowl.

I was estranged from food. Often, I felt sick. I was consuming my own conflict. And conflict isn’t digestible. And after haggling with doctors pressuring me to eat more animal life, I finally found hope.

I became a Vipassana meditator. I met other vegetarians. Then one of my sisters asked me to find a holistic veterinarian for her dog, Lancelot, who had cancer. The veterinarian put Lancelot on a pure rice and vegetarian diet. While it did not cure him, it did give almost another year of life. My sister decided if Lancelot was to have that daily diet, she would too. While I was wrestling with vegetarianism, she became one. Overnight. Later when she gave birth, she passed that lifestyle on to her children.

I made a decision. My sister had health issues. If she did not get worse, I would be a full vegetarian. My sister got healthier; I became a card-carrying vegetarian. Magically, I got stronger and suddenly was in love with eating. I lost weight and loved cooking.

I come from a richly integrated family of blood and adopted family. My nieces, who were vegetarians as children, were star athletes; my brother, a senior, walks to work at 5 a.m.; my sister and I remain full vegetarians. I have another niece who is a full vegetarian and my other sister is a partial vegetarian. I have a whole social community of 100% vegetarians, forty or more sitting together on feast days. I have amazing friends and family, some vegetarian and some not, which share vegetarian meals with me. I am blessed.

Dear reader, what’s your journey into conscious eating? And what’s yours, vegetarians? As conflicts go, be sure to cash in on a happy ending.