Month: October 2015

A Spiritual Message From My Cat?

I never thought a spiritual message for the healing I’ve been going through would come from my cat Driggs, but I honestly think one has.

Driggs was injured near the end of September during a routine grooming appointment. At first, neither my partner nor I even knew she had sustained an injury from it. But during the week afterwards we began noticing her constantly lick a certain area of her underbelly. Upon closer inspection, it was then we noticed the raw razor-burned area.

Sadly, she had no idea that her own innate attempts at self-care was only making matters worse and aggravating the entire wounded area. To prevent this from happening any further, we ended up getting one of those kitty cones that go around a cat’s head, as well as an anti-itch powder to put on twice a day. Initially, she was quite angry, running around the house bumping her head into everything and doing her best to rip the cone off to no avail. Eventually she did come to acceptance of the matter, albeit in some constant level of depression. Since then, the wound has mostly healed and the small scabs remaining are about to fall away. And within a short time, her cone will be taken off and life will return to normal for her. While she may not know that at the present moment, the fact remains that her wounds are healing and her joy is about to return. It’s only that for a time, her healing and her life had to be taken out of her control.

I feel that this resembles so much of the healing my Higher Power has been taking me through these last few years. On some level, I truly believe I had my own cone put on me when this all began all those years ago, because every attempt I kept making at self-care back then was only leading me into deeper pain and misery. As for the anti-itch powder, well my Higher Power has definitely provided me various things along the way to help ease my healing process using modalities such as acupuncture, reiki, polarity, and kinesiology. There is so many days that I too feel a ton of depression about the cone that’s on me, but in all reality, I somehow know it’s only temporary, just like it is for Driggs.

So while I know that Driggs wounds are going to fully heal and life will return to normal for her in a short bit, I feel it’s safe to say that my Higher Power knows the same of mine as well. While mine might have taken far longer than a razor-burned underbelly to heal, the reality is that they will completely mend, as long as I trust that the cone I have on me is there for my protection.

I think I just needed a reminder of this from my cat to see that sometimes our own attempts at self-care aren’t necessarily the best. And instead, maybe the solution that’s far better is to trust in the care of our Guardian who knows exactly how to safely get our wounds to fully heal. I believe my Higher Power is precisely doing that with me right now and soon my own cone will be gone too. And when that days arrives, I will without a doubt be bouncing around again with joy just like I know my cat will be when hers is gone as well.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

What Do You Usually Watch On TV Before Going To Bed?

Do you regularly watch the same thing on television just before going to bed? This is a question I began asking myself when I saw my partner was tuning into the same program night after night just prior to falling asleep from the moment I met him.

From the onset, I found it rather funny when I saw him tune into The Golden Girls every single night just before he hit the hay. But as time went on, the more I realized there was a greater meaning behind this for him. It was a show that he and his mother used to constantly watch together when she was alive and now many years beyond her death, he still finds great comfort tuning into the reruns of this lighthearted and uplifting show.

Personally, I was never much of a fan of The Golden Girls, even with its good messages it often portrayed. Not that I thought it was a bad show because it wasn’t. In fact I thought it was well written. It just was never my cup of tea. But there was a television show I did like from not too long ago and it’s one I still tune into just prior to my own bedtime on many-a-nights. And that’s the well-known program that ran for a decade by the name of Friends.

I’m not sure why I’ve always found comfort in this show, as there isn’t anything from my past that I can remember that would fondly connect me to it. The reality is I’ve just found it very comforting late at night to watch the humor within each of its episodes, especially with Ross whom I’ve liked and related to the most since its first season.

Maybe it’s the laughter Friends always invokes within me that drives me to tune into episodes I watched and re-watched again and again. Or maybe the TV series just reminds me of a time when my life seemed far simpler. Regardless of the reason, I find it quite soothing to laugh at the silliness and antics of Friends late at night, especially on so many days as of late when I’ve been blue more than not.

The bottom line is that I think it’s extremely healthy to make sure I end each of my evenings doing something that either brings me happiness or joy. And while I continue to do that through puzzles, coloring, reading, and writing, I also frequently achieve that through something as simple as watching an old episode of Friends.

So it’s my hope that you might be doing the same, ending your evening on a cheerful note as well. And if by some chance, that’s through a television program, then maybe you’ll leave me a comment and share what it is you like to watch just prior to falling asleep and why…  🙂

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Defining The Qualities I Seek In A Friendship

With all the turmoil I’ve been going through in recent times with trying to figure out exactly what defines a friendship for me, my sponsor gave me a pretty simple homework assignment to do. Write a bulleted list of qualities I envision in a friend and don’t classify them under any friend delimiter such as “best”, “close”, “true”, “good”, or “casual”. So here goes:

  • Someone who enjoys talking over the phone
  • Someone who is compassionate
  • Someone who makes an effort to make plans
  • Someone who is willing to try new places, such as a restaurant
  • Someone who will go out of their way to see how I’m doing when they haven’t heard from or seen me in awhile
  • Someone who will return a phone call with a phone call and not via text message or not at all
  • Someone who will tell me when they are upset with me and are also willing to work through it
  • Someone who is spiritual and enjoys discussing spiritual topics
  • Someone who isn’t dependent on alcohol or drugs
  • Someone who believes in some sort of a Higher Power
  • Someone who is fully honest
  • Someone who tries to be supportive and uplifting
  • Someone who doesn’t have to “squeeze me in” to spend time with them
  • Someone who doesn’t try to make me be more like them
  • Someone who doesn’t overly criticize or judge
  • Someone who tries to be more positive than negative
  • Someone who is ok to show their emotions, including crying
  • Someone who is a good listener
  • Someone who is ok to show friendly affection such as a hug
  • Someone who doesn’t gossip

I’m sure this seems like a tall order for any person to ever qualify under as my friend, but I must say there actually are a few people already in my life that do fit this list. In fact, it is they who I envisioned as I wrote it out. So it’s my hope and prayer that in writing down each of these qualities I seek in a friend, that somehow it will help channel more of them to enter my life. And like so much of what I’m facing throughout my life as of late, I know that will happen in God’s timing and not my own…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson