Did you know that everything has consciousness? All relationships, the ones we have with people, animals and even nature, all have a consciousness. We really can choose to communicate with anything and when you do so, with an open mind, you may be surprised by who your teachers can be.
Opening up and allowing yourself to communicate with all that is may sound like a strange concept but let me take you through an exercise:
Think of a time when you just had a feeling 
when you were somewhere in nature. Maybe you were in the woods and the soft rustle of the trees nearly convinced you they were speaking to you. Or perhaps one peaceful day at the beach, you heard the sound of the ocean and realized it was trying to tell you something. By expanding your vision, you’ll see that everything around you has a “voice” and that sometimes, teachers come in the most surprising of forms.
Animals can definitely be wonderful and surprising teachers. Ask any animal lover and they will tell you that there is absolutely a consciousness between a human and its pet. One of my dear friends is a cat mama to three and she shares with me all the time how her cats just seem to know when she is feeling sad or stressed because they tend to give her extra attention. She’ll tell me how after experiencing some discouragement or frustration in her day, she’ll turn off her computer and notice the cats sitting on the floor of her office, staring up at her. As she walks out of her home office to her family room and sits on the couch, the cats immediately come over and sit next to her (or on her!) and just look at her with a kind of “sympathetic” look as she describes it. Now, that may not seem like such a big deal but when you take into consideration that this is not necessarily the normal behavior of the cats, it does seem kind of intuitive of the animals! There is a consciousness in all things and animals not only have it, they can sense the emotions and consciousness of humans.
There is a depth and richness to experiencing the consciousness of things but you do have to be open and bring yourself into the present and the now to fully experience this. Remember to just stay still for a moment, the next time you are someplace interesting or beautiful. What are you hearing, feeling or sensing? Open yourself to recapture that childlike innocence and sense of play to fully come alive in the moment.
Be conscious in your surroundings so you can experience the consciousness around you. Enjoy!
© 2013 MarBeth Dunn – All Rights Reserved
