Many of you have written that you have received animals signs. 

I've found that animal communication happens in three ways:

• As telepathy with an animal. You have direct understanding between the animal and you. 
• As animal totem: the animal you see has a symbolic meaning, such as a frog meaning vulnerability or an owl meaning clairvoyance, or your see your spirit animal. 
• As animal sign. You see an animal right at the exact moment when you are thinking about a particular person or situation. The animal (it could be any animal) shows up and helps you pay attention to your thoughts

All of these are ways the Universe communicates with us using animals. And sometimes, the Universe is pretty insistent! 

Becuase I live close to nature, I see more animals that I might if I lived in an urban area. Still, nothing could have prepared me for the three very clear animal contats in the last three days. 

Recently, I disobeyed a sign that said "Road Closed" and found myself biking along the Willamette River, where an American Bald Eagle flew directly above, his head and tail flashing white.

The very next day, I was out for a walk along the same river, but several miles upshore, when there was a commotion to my right, and I looked up and there was an American Bald Eagle (Same one? Different?) circling above me. 

And on the third day, I was at home and just stepped outside for no reason at all. And suddenly I heard a loud squawking and there was an American Bald Eagle, 40 feet from the house, passing in front of me. 

Three days. Three eagles. 

The Universe was trying to tell me something. 

For me, eagles always are a sign from my father, who passed 16 years ago. He's been in my thoughts lately, as the  New Year begins. These eagle sightings, three in three days, helped me connect to his spirit. I don't know yet what he is trying to tell me, but I know he is there. 

If you've had animal signs lately, think about what they mean. Are they direct telepathy, are they sybmolic, totem or spirit animals, or are they meant to bring your attention to something in your life.  

Nothing is random. 

​Some of you know I read surfer magazines.
 
I love them, because they’re all about the hero’s quest: the surfer as seeker, traveling all over the world in search of the perfect wave;  the surfer’s experience with the wave itself, and the immense humility that every surfer reach at some point in his or her life: the understanding that there is no room for ego, because the ocean in charge.
 
The ocean.
The waves.
All creatures of the sea.
 
And this most curious phenomenon of all, the phenomenon of schooling fish, which is when all the fish swim together one way, and then suddenly begin to swimming together another way, all at once.
 
All at once.
All together.
Over and over again.
Perfectly attuned to each other.
Acting as One.
 
Psychic Migration is a name of a popular surf movie, and I guess that sums it up. It’s what happens when we all move together, because we are all in tune with each other.
 
 “Hey, guy… let’s go this way”.
“Okay, great”
“Me too.”
“Right with you, guys”.
“Here I come!”
 
The thing is, we’re always in tune with each other. As humans, as animals, as beings on this planet, as Souls in the Universe.
 
There’s no time we’re not deeply affecting each other, following each other, leading each other, being a part of each other’s lives, feeling each other’s feelings, living life on multidimensions, past and present and future all the same big ocean of Now.
 
We’re always in psychic migration.

The Catholics have two periods of time in their calendar called “ordinary time”: two periods in the year when there is no feasting and no penance.
 
It’s the time of everyday life, ordinary stuff: no big highs, no big lows. 
 
If you’re Catholic, you started ordinary time today yesterday. If you’re not Catholic, or not Catholic anymore,, it’s likely that after all the holdays we've just finished, your life also suddenly seeming more ordinary.
 
We’re back in the groove, although f you’re paying attention, you will notice that the groove we're in now is not the same groove we were in before.

These past few months have opened us up, helped us learn, given us experiences that have altered us completely, given us ways to identify what we care about and what is important to us as a whole .

Right now,  these changes are subtle, like tiny flowers just beginning to open.
 
Ordinary time is a useful time to relax, get back to routine again, and in this very simple way of living life—of taking care of all the things and people you need to take care of—we are integration what we have learned.
 
Not in the intensive integration of working at it. But in the softer integration of letting it all move through you, as you inhabit your life in an everyday kind of way. 
 
There is nothing ordinary about this time, or about you. 

Right around now, people are already burnt out on the kale and the gym and the futile resistance to chocolate/booze/shopping/internet... whatever it is for you.
 
We are all in the habit of making New Year’s resolutions: “I hereby solemnly proclaim I will lose X pounds, eat clean, live within my budget”… whatever it is for you.
 
The thing is… making a New Year’s resolution seems so lofty.
But from soul persepective, it's a proclamation that you don’t love yourself as you are.
 
It’s saying “I’m not enough”.
 
I’m not enough with my extra twenty pounds.
I’m not enough with my addictions.
I’m not enough with my distractions.
 
Yes of course, it is useful to live a more clear and balanced life.
But overall, the Universe doesn’t care about your habits.
The Universe cares about your expansion.
 
If you (and I) were to stop trying to control the symptoms (the addictions, the distractions) and instead sink deep into spiritual practice where we have daily connection to our soul… well, eventually, over time, all the symptoms would go away.
 
We would love ourselves as we are.
We would understand that we are works in progress.
We would be gentle and kind and compassionate to our selfs: beautiful humans, far from perfect, walking the path. 
 
Instead of making a bunch of resolutions this year, consider making un-resolutions.
 
Resolve that you’ll first attend to your soul.
 
The inner work always shifts the outer.
That’s the place to start. 

We took down our tree early. There’s never been a year I can wait very long.
 
There are all kinds of ways people do Christmas trees: small, big, bushy, skinny, no tree, living tree.
 
For me, a tree is a marker of the all the celebrations bundled up at year’s end: Thanksgiving, Solstice, Christmas, New Years. 
 
I love the tree: I find it magical. Those twinkly lights and green help get us through all of winter’s dark.
 
Yet even though I would like to be the kind of person who can keep the tree up all the way through New Year’s, I can’t.
 
I get antsy. I’m ready to move on. I’ve had my fill of holidays… the bleak, pale possibilities of the New Year beckon.
 
We took the tree down in just a few minutes this year, dragged it outside to where it will go back to the earth very soon.
 
The room, once magical and festive, settled back into its regular sparseness with a sign of relief.
 
With the tree gone, we suddenly notice the barren branches outside, the greyness of the sky, the lichen on the trees.  We find ourselves in the middle of winter, and we return again to our long hibernation.
 
The tree was put up. The tree was taken down. The twinkly lights and ornaments are stored away for another year.
 
It is very still, and we are waiting. Here in the stark, cold beauty of January, we are waiting for what is next to come.