I'm feeling a lot of Bear this past hour or so. It's interesting, because I had thought that Lion, Tiger or Deer were my animal guides. However, I'm feeling Bear very strongly, so I'm just going with that. I know Bear is a lot about inner strength and passing on wisdom and advice to others, which I've certainly done.
The inner strength is really what calls to me, about this animal, because I've found time and time again that, given the right person to hold the space for me, the strength within me to find the ways of articulating what's going on is so incredibly deep, and so vast. I know that some people are really intimidated by me, or find my self-confidence and presence a little overwhelming; they're not sure how to take it, but the more that I stand in my own space and acknowledge who I am and really hold the space for myself, trusting and growing in awarenesses of what it's like to live in this body and have my experiences, I can understand how this totem has come to me.
I value animals who value taking time over things, and really pondering and sitting with things that are of great importance and thusly take a while to ascertain for certain. Not everything needs to be thought out to such great depth, but things like a name or the stalwart nature or strength of a person really need to be discerned sometimes.
I've decided not to take on the name Aurilion. I nearly went through the process of changing it, but I found that that would be putting myself in a place that didn't feel comfortable. It worked for a time, but it's no longer where I am now, and I don't truly feel that it fits where I've grown to now.
I think one of the most beautiful things about 'growing up' is finding out what your strengths are. I do have a lightning-quick intellect at times (or perhaps more than that) but if I know one thing for certain, it's that with things that are really important, I'm working on really testing those things against my own inner values and beliefs. And not just that, but I sniff and feel it all, all the way, with all of myself. I sit with it, listen to it, dream with it, really let myself absorb it. If it doesn't feel right in any way, I don't let it all the way in. There's just not enough time or space that I have extra to give to see if something (or someone) is a good fit for me. In the past I've been drawn more on emotions and blindly into situations, but now, with the toolkit I've been expanding and the awarenesses that have been coming up and brought to the light, I'm discovering that I'm actually a much more thoughtful and clear person than I have been before.
I have a clearer idea about where my energies should be going, and where they want to go, and to question thoughts or motives that don't feel quite accurate. I'm in SO much of a better place now than I was about.. oh just a few months ago!
So, to wrap this up, it's just a good feeling to have, when one knows oneself a little better, whether they be in a dreaming cave and the night outside painted with stars and the tops of fir trees, or in the deep woods, nestled against an old tree.
ETA: Oh AGH. The problem with excavating and self awarenesses and being present and that sort of thing is that if one thing doesn't seem or feel right, it will come to the surface -immediately- (at least that's how it seems to be for me). Like the wand in the metaphysical store that I couldn't seem to put down, and even when I had it put away, I would ask for it to be taken out three or four more times. Finally the guy said something like, "I haven't shown this in a week, and you're the only person who has connected with it so deeply." So I took it home.
So, right after making the first part of this post, what immediately hit me was, "It's not the name itself -- that is fine and has nothing to offer but what you might need or who you might be, but rather it's something else you're feeling about it (I won't go into details here, but suffice to say that I was judging it compared to something else, and not taking the name by itself)"
Ok, OK.. alright then, I guess the heart wrangling struggle is not over yet. And I DO take the words of good friends into mind, like
sistahraven's comment on that she felt that it deeply resonated with her for me.
The inner strength is really what calls to me, about this animal, because I've found time and time again that, given the right person to hold the space for me, the strength within me to find the ways of articulating what's going on is so incredibly deep, and so vast. I know that some people are really intimidated by me, or find my self-confidence and presence a little overwhelming; they're not sure how to take it, but the more that I stand in my own space and acknowledge who I am and really hold the space for myself, trusting and growing in awarenesses of what it's like to live in this body and have my experiences, I can understand how this totem has come to me.
I value animals who value taking time over things, and really pondering and sitting with things that are of great importance and thusly take a while to ascertain for certain. Not everything needs to be thought out to such great depth, but things like a name or the stalwart nature or strength of a person really need to be discerned sometimes.
I've decided not to take on the name Aurilion. I nearly went through the process of changing it, but I found that that would be putting myself in a place that didn't feel comfortable. It worked for a time, but it's no longer where I am now, and I don't truly feel that it fits where I've grown to now.
I think one of the most beautiful things about 'growing up' is finding out what your strengths are. I do have a lightning-quick intellect at times (or perhaps more than that) but if I know one thing for certain, it's that with things that are really important, I'm working on really testing those things against my own inner values and beliefs. And not just that, but I sniff and feel it all, all the way, with all of myself. I sit with it, listen to it, dream with it, really let myself absorb it. If it doesn't feel right in any way, I don't let it all the way in. There's just not enough time or space that I have extra to give to see if something (or someone) is a good fit for me. In the past I've been drawn more on emotions and blindly into situations, but now, with the toolkit I've been expanding and the awarenesses that have been coming up and brought to the light, I'm discovering that I'm actually a much more thoughtful and clear person than I have been before.
I have a clearer idea about where my energies should be going, and where they want to go, and to question thoughts or motives that don't feel quite accurate. I'm in SO much of a better place now than I was about.. oh just a few months ago!
So, to wrap this up, it's just a good feeling to have, when one knows oneself a little better, whether they be in a dreaming cave and the night outside painted with stars and the tops of fir trees, or in the deep woods, nestled against an old tree.
ETA: Oh AGH. The problem with excavating and self awarenesses and being present and that sort of thing is that if one thing doesn't seem or feel right, it will come to the surface -immediately- (at least that's how it seems to be for me). Like the wand in the metaphysical store that I couldn't seem to put down, and even when I had it put away, I would ask for it to be taken out three or four more times. Finally the guy said something like, "I haven't shown this in a week, and you're the only person who has connected with it so deeply." So I took it home.
So, right after making the first part of this post, what immediately hit me was, "It's not the name itself -- that is fine and has nothing to offer but what you might need or who you might be, but rather it's something else you're feeling about it (I won't go into details here, but suffice to say that I was judging it compared to something else, and not taking the name by itself)"
Ok, OK.. alright then, I guess the heart wrangling struggle is not over yet. And I DO take the words of good friends into mind, like
