I Have Slowed Down Enough to Notice

Lately, baby animals keep appearing.

A baby bunny.

A baby chipmunk.

Two young deer.

One after another, these beautiful little beings have been showing themselves to me.

And today, during my channeled writing, I asked why.

Why are these babies showing themselves to me?

Is this a message from Spirit?

From Mother Nature?

The answer began somewhere I wasn't expecting.

“You are learning the rhythm of nature.”

The Rhythm of Nature

I've been paying attention to nature differently lately.

The leaves are beginning to fall.

Annuals are fading.

Perennials are changing.

Birds are migrating.

Animals are gathering food.

Nature is moving.

But she isn't rushing.

She isn't desperately trying to hold onto the season that's ending.

She isn't checking the calendar and worrying that she hasn't accomplished enough before fall arrives.

She simply moves with the rhythm of what is happening now.

I've been learning to do that too.

To slow down.

To listen to my body.

To leave space in my days.

To sit with my animals.

To notice the sunrise and the birds.

To become a little less concerned with how much I'm doing and a little more interested in simply being.

For a long time I've wondered:

What does Being actually look like for me?

Maybe this is part of the answer.

Then Came the Babies

When I asked about all these baby animals, the message I received was:

“Babies are signs of life, birth and bounty. Babies are new beginnings. Babies in nature show abundance and safety.”

New beginnings.

That made me pause.

Because I don't think a new beginning always arrives with some enormous announcement.

Sometimes it happens quietly.

Something inside us changes.

We release an old way of living.

We become willing to experience life differently.

And suddenly we begin noticing things that may have been around us all along.

You Asked to Be Closer to Animals

Then came the part that touched me most.

“You have asked to be closer to animals.”

I have.

And perhaps I imagined that becoming closer to animals would mean I needed to reach farther.

Learn more.

Practice more.

Become more intuitive.

Do something.

Instead, I've been slowing down.

My cats have been sitting with me.

Chonkie spent two weeks snuggled beside me while he recovered.

And now baby animals seem to keep appearing.

The message continued:

“You have slowed your mind and your pace enough to be present and to receive.”

There it was.

Maybe the animals didn't suddenly begin appearing.

Maybe I became quiet enough to notice them.

The Conversation Was Already Happening

I think about this often with animal communication.

We can make communication sound like something extraordinary that happens only when we receive a clear sentence, image, feeling, or intuitive knowing.

But perhaps communication begins much earlier than that.

It begins with attention.

Curiosity.

Presence.

Noticing another living being without immediately rushing past them toward whatever is next.

I've been asking to feel closer to animals, plants, water, and Mother Nature.

I've been asking:

What are you showing me?

What wisdom do you have for me?

Perhaps the answer isn't that the living world suddenly started speaking.

Perhaps I've finally become quiet enough to hear more of what has always been there.

You May Be Wondering…

How do I become more connected to animals and nature?

Maybe we don't always need to reach farther outward.

Maybe we begin by becoming still.

Put down the phone.

Step outside.

Sit with your animal without needing anything from them.

Notice who's visiting your yard.

Listen to the birds.

Watch the season changing.

Pay attention to what repeatedly catches your eye.

And don't immediately demand an explanation for it.

Just notice.

I've spent a lot of my life moving quickly enough that I could walk right past something beautiful without ever really seeing it.

I'm beginning to understand that slowing down isn't taking me away from life.

It's allowing me to experience more of it.

I asked to become closer to animals.

Maybe they were never very far away.

Maybe I just needed to become still enough to notice them coming toward me.

May you see the world through the eyes of love, remembering that we are all part of one living, sacred whole.