A friend and coaching colleague, Sarah Seidelmann, recently gave me a recorded guided meditation, called Guided Journey To Meet a Core Beastie. One evening, when I was feeling antsy, I grabbed my iPod, headed out the door to walk around (and around) my neighborhood, and listened to the guided meditation.
I met my Core Beastie: She’s a buffalo. She met me in a beautiful meadow and she brought me to Cathedral Grove, which is in Muir Woods, in California. I had visited there once, years ago, but it’s not a place you forget. It is a holy place and I was in awe when I first saw it and the same emotion came up when my buffalo brought me there.
Once I finished my guided journey, and my walk, I went back home and grabbed my Animal Speak book. I looked up buffalo, or bison, as the American buffalo is called. The Keynote of bison is “Manifesting Abundance Through Right Action and Right Power.”
The last paragraph of the description of bison reads: “If bison has shown up in your life, look for opportunities for abundance and increase. Also ask yourself some important questions. Are you honoring that which you seek? Are you remembering that the divine is essential to all things in the physical? Are you giving honor to yourself and to the efforts of others within your life? Do you show gratitude for what you already have?”
In my busyness, I thought, have I forgotten to be grateful?
I believe that there is always Call and Response. If I notice a robin in my yard, and it occurs to me to wonder what Robin means in my life right now, then I have made a call to the Universe (or Spirit, or God) and the robin is a response—to me, personally. I feel the same way about the buffalo that met me on my guided journey.
The fact that I met a buffalo on my guided journey tells me to expect abundance in my life. The fact that the buffalo brought me to Cathedral Grove tells me that I need to honor the divine in my life more and I need to express my gratitude more. My most frequent prayer is this: “Thanks!” After this guided journey, I felt the need for a little more formality in my prayers.
I immediately wrote out a gratitude list, something I used to do daily but had gotten away from. That prompted me to go find my husband to thank him for supporting me in all that I do.
Since then, I have started to go outside to pray again, another practice I had gotten away from lately.
Meeting my buffalo has made me more conscious of the abundance in my life, of all the ways I am supported, and has given me an opportunity to express my gratitude in more concrete ways. The result? More peace, more joy, more love. There is, apparently, no end to the abundance.
Thank you. Your core beastie gives me new hope for the sad buffalo pens I saw while in southeast Kansas. They were well treated but still there was a sense of displacement and loss. Reading your lovely post gave me a new image.
Hi marylinwarner,
I’m glad my post gave you a new image. I was in the airport in Salt Lake City, UT, last week and sat down at my gate and looked up and there was a huge mural across from me depicting buffalo roaming the plains. It was gorgeous! Have you been to Yellowstone? You can see the buffalo roaming there in person–no pens anywhere!
Warmly,
Diane
For those of us who do not use iTunes I noticed it is also available on Amazon and on Rhapsody.
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Discover-Core-Beastie/dp/B0076UZICW
http://www.rhapsody.com/artist/sarah-bamford-seidelmann-md/album/journey-to-discover-a-core-beastie-single
Cheers!
Jim
Hi Jim,
Thanks for posting this information. My family is all Mac, so I tend to think everyone is! Let me know if you find your Core Beastie!
Warmly,
Diane
Here is a link to the meditation in iTunes for those readers that might be interested in discovering a Core Beastie:)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/journey-to-discover-core-beastie/id501224590
My book “What The Walrus Knows” on how to work with animal totems is here:)
http://www.amazon.com/Walrus-Knows-Sarah-Bamford-Seidelmann/dp/0615556973
Keep your eyes peeled for Beasties!
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for the link to the guided meditation and to the book. The guided meditation was really powerful!
Thanks!
Diane
Thank you Diane for this beautiful post and I am thrilled you are re-connected with thte Majestic, powerful and beautiful Buffalo. One thing about Buffalo that I love is that when push comes to shove they refuse to run up hills- they find the easier way to get where they are going:) I like that!! Peace, Sarah
Hi Sarah,
Thanks for letting me know more about Buffalo. I love the idea of finding an easier way–I could use some more of that! And thanks for sharing your Guided Journey with me!
Warmly,
Diane