"Our Shared Spirit With Animals..."

When musing about adventure inspirations, for many reasons, I often find myself thinking of connections to various animals.

Grey Wolf said, "If you could be an animal, what animal would you be? Answering that question creates a powerful personal metaphor."

I believe that we are much closer to the meaning of this than many would expect.

We are indeed linked, and in so many ways...

Have you ever watched an animal at play, their energy when they run or fly, or have you ever responded to the gaze of a wolf or grizzly?

They help us 'see' that our experiences out there are not just physical, mental, or even emotional - but can be very full of spirit as well.

Sometimes we are allowed a glimpse, a glimmer, of energy and enthusiasms that are difficult to describe.

There are many kinds of spirit within the wild lands, like those felt around ancient trees, or near ageless rock, but it has often been the spirit of animals who I sense have shared something of their enthusiasms with me.

In our many shared summits, there were too many to count where we had the fellowship of an animal to share the climbing experience with.

Many were highlands birds, others were rams and mountain sheep, so many were the small four legged furries who talk so much in their chitters and whistles.

Then there have been the crows and ravens, who seemingly were laughing at my ordinary outdoor mistakes and trials; but who I eventually learned to chuckle along with as I felt they were trying to teach me to not take it all so seriously.

All have shared something of their spirit with me , and all have become part of what I've needed for adventure inspirations.

What often gets us going, or carries us through, challenging adventures can be said to be found within the 'spirit'.

Aboriginals in many cultures believe that upon birth, or later through certain quests, that the spirit of an animal may enter and become one with an individual.

Powerful meanings can be found too in the Animal Totem's that exist out there, and also within the metaphors that these then represent.

R. Ridgeway wrote that in one such experience he found that, "It wasn't until I returned to my own world that I figured it out. In that shaft of light in the jungle, I'd watched the Yanomami transform into a wild animal. For the first time in my life, I had seen who I used to be...".

Grandfather, a Mountain Elder said about the spirit, the energies, we create for ourselves out on such adventures, that, "I see in you a wolf who now walks as a person".

I'm inclined to believe that in this he is very right about each of us..... DSD