Newsletter Articles written by Tera Thomas
Issue 8
I Choose Love
by Tera Thomas
Around the time of the Winter Solstice I was feeling incredibly stressed out, drawn into the struggle, fear, and anxiety of a world that I wanted to control and obviously couldn’t. I know in the core of my being that the physical realm is only a small part of the picture, and that prayer and intention are the tools to use if I want to change my perspective on what is happening in my physical reality. Yet, I can still be drawn deeply into the drama and totally forget for a time that anything else exists.
For the Solstice Hummingbird Farm meditation, I invited a few people to come over to do some toning and to share a space for the meditation. The toning took me right out of my physical struggle and opened me once again to the world of connection, the world I know to be true and full. During the meditation, my teacher, Belle, a beautiful Morgan mare who lives at Spring Farm CARES in Upstate New York, came to me and assisted me with my recent problems.
“It is only you separating yourself again,” she said. “When you are open and connected you do not fall into this fear and pain and worry. Remember that in each moment you have a choice. You can say to yourself, ‘I choose love in this moment. I choose connection.’ The moment you reaffirm this intention you will be connected again. There may be times that you need to make this a mantra and repeat it over and over and over. That is fine, because as long as you are affirming that your choice is love, you will be connected. And remember, when you feel connected, you realize that everything in the moment you are experiencing is okay. You will not then feel the need to control or change, you will be in the sacred space of being.”
I have thought about Belle’s words often since the Solstice and I have chanted the mantra to myself many times. I have stopped beating myself up for every moment I forget this wisdom and allow myself to be in fear again. Instead, I simply recognize where I am putting my attention and gently bring myself back to center.
The animals have so much to teach us, especially in this area of being connected, of being present in each moment. I am often amazed at how well we humans have developed the ability to be anywhere but here. And because we humans so love to do instead of be, we can even make being in the moment a new activity. We talk about it, read about it, take workshops on it, and yet we are still not here, present in each moment.
It is my intention to become more like an animal, to let go of my ideas of being present and being connected, and to just be there. I want to give up the struggle of having to figure everything out, the necessity of making everything fit into the neat little compartments in my mind. I want to spend this precious life I’ve been given present and here, in connection with all beings, in communion with each moment as it comes before me. Each moment has its own perfect life, and when I surrender to fully experiencing that, I have chosen connection, I have chosen love, and I am a human being.
Tuli Bear Talks
Sometimes it’s really hard to get through to your human. You’d think that because I live with an animal communicator it would be easier, and most days it is. But some days she gets busy doing things that she thinks are important and she’s just not paying attention to me, to her body, or to how stressed she is getting. Then I have to do all kinds of things to get her attention. Like today when it is cold and rainy and she doesn’t think I should go outside because I will get all wet and then she will worry about me. She says cats don’t like to get wet but I don’t know who gave her that idea. “It’s only water,” I tell her. Plus, I like it when she rubs me down with a towel when I come in the house and I can tell she likes that too. But, she wouldn’t listen to me and just kept typing at that computer. So, I had to knock over the plant and get dirt all over the floor. That made her pay attention! She was mad at first but then when she was cleaning it up I was chasing the broom and the next thing you know she got the feather thing out and we were playing and laughing. Finally! Then she actually put her coat on and went out to get wet with me! Now that was really good communication! I got her away from the computer and I got her to have fun and I got to go outside in the rain too. So, it ended up being a good day. But, now she’s back at that computer and if she doesn’t quit soon I will have to think up another plan.
