About Presence, Trust, and The Lessons Animals Can Teach Us

A little story of Animal Communication and healing with animals, exploring the wisdom of Buttercup the sheep and the lessons she teaches about presence, trust, connection. And how her way of being could help us reclaim our own wholeness, just that little bit more.

What if I told you that last week I got humbled by a sheep.

Buttercup is her name, and she lives with 3 other sheep, a handful of alpacas, a herd dog, and a few roosters on a pasture somewhere in the Seattle area.

Who, right after I connected with her in our Animal Communication session, let me know she was currently occupied with grazing. (I could sense her ripping out mouthful after mouthful of grass.) That’s what she was busy doing and there was everything right with that.

She shared a lot about grass with me that day–the different states it comes in: dry, soggy, slightly frozen (not her favorite). About her love of food in general (hay, treats, a certain type of buttery flower), her routine (which she loves). About the changing seasons, her herd, her human and underneath all that: about connection, safety, presence and deep trust.

Buttercup’s Way: A Tale of Grass, Routines, Deep Presence and Giving In to Joy

This is what she choose to share with me that day:

The meditative quality of being fully immersed in what you are doing in every moment, and going with the flow of things: graze, chew cud and stare, rest. Repeat.

How putting one hoof in front of the other, intent only on the next best tuft of grass right in front of your nose, is all it takes to create something deliberate and complete.

Knowing there will be time to rest, to be silly, to connect. To be excited.

Like giving in to joy and excitement, in spring time or when your human brings your daily hay delivery (where you pull out an early bite every time).

She shared the sweetness of receiving a treat, leaning in for more, being a lot, ‘needy’ even. And how it feels to know you are loved through it all.

How she determinedly goes in for a good scratch and receives it (whenever feels right and you get the chance).

The connection she feels with her herd without her needing to be right next to them all the time, the certainty of a warm, very sensory (and slightly smelly) togetherness at the end of long days outside.

The sense of being held by the in-built rhythm of the seasons and how they give each its own flavor of life, measured in time spent outside and in the quality of the grass.

When life has rhythm and routine and that is pure goodness.

When everything simply IS (in the deepest sense of the word).

When not much happens and you LOVE it. When you feel completely safe.

One Sheep’s Lessons in BEING And What’s Possible When We Feel Safe

Now, I don’t know which of those hit home for you. You may, of course, pick your own. I do know there will be something for you, too, in her telling of her life.

For me, she was a stark reminder of how we thrive when we feel safe. How good it feels to be ourselves. In all neediness, naughtiness, and all our silliness. To be met with love, continued connection (and only mild annoyance) when we do.

The peace only found in surrendering to the seasons of life, the night and day, the in-between. Like a type of clockwork that just is. Each bringing its own vibe but not changing anything major, other than how much time you spend outside and how wet and cold the grass will be. While you just go about doing your thing, weathering it like it’s normal. Because, well, it is.

The peace of mind that comes from trusting that what we do will all end up making sense in the end, and having the actual experience to anchor this trust in. (Imagine, just for one moment, giving yourself the chance to experience that.) To take just one step after the other. No more. Not more complicated than that.

To go for it when we are excited. To ask for more and embrace all of our muchness in the moments that it wants to come out.

To know and trust a safety that allows one to just go about doing your thing. No matter what that thing might be for you.

Sharing her way of being made me wonder how it would feel to know that (right now) everything is good in the world and to fully embrace that knowing.

To have had a glimpse of how it feels to know this kind of unquestioned connection, of being part of something that doesn’t require constant proving or re-assurance, makes me long for my own herd.

It made me realise how much our environments matter. How feeling safe, the collective we live in, how much community matters.

Nothing new you might say. But a reminder you might have needed as much as I did. (A special shoutout to her humans, who help her be all of that.) May we all experience (and co-create) environments that allow us to be all of that, too.

And may Buttercup’s single-mindedness in going about her daily tasks and following joy will forever lodge itself deep in my heart-mind. As well as in yours.

What Animals Help Us Remember: Healing Reminders, Animal Wisdom Edition

If we are open even the tiniest bit, animals have a talent to bring about exactly the truth we cannot see or find in ourselves. One we may have forgotten is even possible. There is much that they can teach us: to remember, to try, embody, imagine.

There is a trace of much needed magic in how an animal’s way of being can ripple into our (human) ways of seeing. Through deep connection and shared perception: lines are becoming blurred.

I always come out of an Animal Communication (or Animal Reiki) session a bit more whole. Not only because I was able to help build a bridge between an animal and their human, which I adore doing. But most of all, because I get to share these animals’ unique energies, perspectives and ways of seeing–and of being–in the world.

Each of those an invitation to share in their way of being, to learn from them. In order to become more whole again. More fully human as the human-animal we are. And remind us of the things that we tend to forget in our human kinds of lives.

So, dear friend, just for today, may Buttercups way of being inspire your own.

In whatever way you need the most right now.

If you’d like to lean into one of Buttercup’s reminders more deeply, or explore what it could mean for you to re-claim more of yourself (yay!), check out my 1:1 coaching and healing sessions for humans—I can totally help with that.

And in case you are now curious what your own animals might teach you: I’d love to help you listen. Learn more about my Animal Communication sessions and how to book right here. 🫶🐾