Dear Squirrel, I mean Chipmunk!!

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 I am so sorry I did not give you your correct name. A friend alerted me that you are chipmunk and not squirrel.  I still think you are just plain cute. It was your unique features and your captivating and alert look that caught my attention. One glance and I was hooked.
Your beautiful eyes are direct and focused, and I do wonder, what has caught your attention?

Your size can make you easy prey for larger animals, while at the same time allows you to be hidden more quickly when necessary. 

Forgive me for "picking you apart" with my words I just wanted to take the time to really see you and take note of the unique you!  I want you to know  that the more I get to know and appreciate you and all the other creatures and plants living on Mother Earth, that you are in my thoughts and prayers especially when we have a storm.  You are so vulnerable during storms and in your exposure to the many chemicals that we in the human family are using that pollute the soil and water.

What would you like me to know about you today..I would love to hear your words of wisdom.

Dear Sunti,
I'm glad for your attention and I am grateful for your thoughts and concern for me and our other family members during storms and trying to live with the ramifications of so much pollution.

It still amazes me and saddens me, to so many people, we are "just animals"!  Like we don't count or don't matter as long as the human needs are taken care of and given first priority.  Many forget or do not even know our role in the web of life.

As you found out on A-Z Animals,  We chipmunks plays a vital role within the forest eco-system which we  inhabit, through the dispersing of seeds when we eat the fruits and berries that the forest plants produce. We also chew on the wood of plant stalks and tree trunks which disperses the spores from the plant into the surrounding forest.  Not bad for us small chipmunks!!...And there's more,

We are creative builders and we construct extensive underground burrows which can be more than 3.5 m in length.  Our burrows often have several well-concealed entrances to keep the burrow a secret from unwanted predators!  And...

 Within our burrows, our sleeping quarters are kept extremely clean because we keep nut shells and feces stored in separate refuse tunnels!  I hope this gives you a little hint about our true intelligence and creativity!!

We love you and look forward to the day when all humans will see us for the intelligent and creative beings that we are and recognize our role in the web of life that we all share.

Sunti, I'll say hi to squirrel when we meet... we'll have a good laugh!

Dear Chipmunk, I love you! Thank you and your family for your daily gifts to the web of life, your wonderful creativity as you construct your burrows, and  for your forgiveness and humor. You and squirrel can indeed have a good laugh!!

I know the time will come when you and all of our family members in the natural world will be recognized for the true family that you are and that you are much more than "just animals!"

Dear Grasshopper,

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I never thought I'd say.. you are beautiful...yet you are.  Why am I so surprised?  Your markings, your color,  the strength of your fragile looking legs.  Forgive my seeming rudeness in "picking you apart" yet I never had seen such a close up of you before and I am amazed.

This picture.. highlights your intricate markings and all that makes you you, while at the same time magnifies your size, which we may forget, is much smaller than you appear here. I apologize for making "being small" sound like a negative.  Your size does not determine the fullness of you!

It takes courage to be seen up close..as you are fully exposed for all to see, and I see more of your courage in that you did not choose the easiest terrain to walk on, with your  long narrow legs! 

I am fascinated by your antenna, how do they help you as you move?

What just struck me is how often I/we make judgements about all beings often without really knowing them and seeing them clearly and fully. Thank you for the opportunity to really see you and to get to know you.

Thank you Assunta, for taking the time to do just that.. to see me more clearly and get to know me.  I am stronger and faster than my size implies.  Who would ever think that a "grasshopper" could be seen as beautiful..I thank you for that.

Sometimes small creatures can be labeled as insignificant and yet we play our role in the web of life.  How we live and work truly affects the very balance of the life we share together on Mother Earth. Does that surprise you? 

My antenna alert me to "what's ahead and around me..and my size makes it easier for me to pick up vibrations of other beings or family members. Our life span is short, which you found out when you read up on us, that does not stop us from living as fully as we can.

We make the most of each moment and I would offer that same gift to you...its not the length of your life  that matters, as much as the LI FE with which you live. Live FULLY!

And you thought I wouldn't have much to offer you!!  Ah now you know differently.

Yes dear Grasshopper I do and I thank you for your wisdom.  I love it when you and all of the creatures  turn the tables on me and teach me much more than I thought possible.  I am humbled and honored.

Dear Flower

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I love your brilliant color and your unique stem and bud!  The veins in each of your petals ripple to create soft waves. So beautiful! I do not know your name yet I am so thankful for you.  Your beauty touches my heart.  You are surrounded by family and that too warms my heart. Would you please tell me about yourself...I would be honored and most grateful to hear your words.

Dear Assunta,
Thank you for seeing my beauty and the beauty of my family.  Believe it or not what you have
 named as unique about my stem and bud others see as odd...! It is what happens when anyone does not follow the so called "common path" or established way.  It takes courage to be your unique self!  It also takes time and patience to allow the growth process to unfold at its own pace.

As you see looking at this photo of my family we are all at different places on the growth path..and we honor the place of each one.  Often you in the human family get caught up in your "fast pace",  and a fast pace is not  always beneficial!!

Enjoy and honor the unique characteristics of your own species and of your entire earth family. 
 Help one another to slow down so that you can truly enjoy the unfolding process within you and all around you.  Take the time to see your own beauty and the beauty of all those you come in contact with.  Difference is much more a positive trait rather than a negative one, If... we are willing to take the time to see with an open heart.

May you find even more unique members of our family and enjoy getting to know them as well.

Dear Flower,
Thank you for reminding me and all of us of the gift of difference and the need for a slower pace. They are two gifts that the human family needs to reclaim in our daily lives. Patience is another trait we know we need but find hard to practice. Our family members in the natural world make the power of patience visible!
Thank you again for your sharing...may I be willing to take to heart your message and live it daily.

Dear Coyote,

image:AtoZAnimals

I know so little about you..yet when there was a concern about your presence here in Middletown I wanted to know more about you in hopes that knowing a little more, we as a people might have a better understanding of you and your needs and not view you strictly as a threat.
We as humans have been an on going threat to you and for that I am so sorry.  It is my hope that when we can come to know and understand each other we can arrive at solutions that are mutually beneficial to all concerned.   Our planetary home needs the benefit of both your gifts and those of your human sisters and brothers.

Your eyes in this photo really touch my heart! What would you want us to know at this time dear Coyote. Please share your wisdom with us for the benefit of our growth and understanding.

Dear Sunti,
Thank you for standing with me and giving me a voice. It is not my desire nor the desire of my family to be a threat to any one.  We kill in order to eat, and rabbits have given their lives so that we can provide food for our families. We take what we need and no more.

We may appear threatening as we are more visible and some of you are not comfortable with that.  That is understandable as we are not known and understood by you. Hopefully more and more of you humans will get to know us, understand our needs and realize that we are not out to hurt you. All we want is exactly what you want for yourselves and your families...safe food, water and shelter.  The forrests that have given us a home are disappearing rapidly in the name of what you call "progress"!

I invite you and the rest of your kin to get to know us.. I hope you will then see that we, like you,  have gifts to offer in sustaining and healing Mother Earth on a daily moment to moment basis.  When our needs are met...we are not a threat.  Sad to say the lack of needs being met is a key element in the use of violence by all species.

We also have gifts to offer you as the human members of our family if you are willing to really see us and know us!  Thank you for opening the door to relationship and enjoy discovering the gifts and lessons that we have to offer you.

Thank you dear Coyote, I am looking forward to getting to know you and living the lessons you have to teach us. Thank you as well for opening the door of relationship with me. I am very grateful.  Forgive us for the pain we cause you due to our lack of knowledge and understanding.

Coyote invited us to get to know her/him and I offer the following as an introduction. Coyote does have much to teach us!

Coyotes are native only to North America. Female coyotes select den sites and give birth from 1 to 12 pups in spring.  Both parents care for the pups. Parents chew food and swallow it. Then they bring it up again to feed the pups.

Coyote's keen intelligence and senses help him/her to adapt to many different habitats: forests, deserts, prairies, mountains, suburbs, cities, and even golf courses.  Coyotes can woof softly, growl, bark, howl, and sing in a chorus. They cmmunicate with 11 different sounds, as well as with body language and scent.

Adaptability is the main reason for the success of  Coyote. He/she can easily change their behavior to survive in a new place. Coyote is naturally adaptable because she/he eats such a wide range of food. Coyotes eat almost everything: mice, voles, rabbits, insects, fish, frogs, snakes, lizards, grasses, nuts, and all sorts of dead animals. They even eat watermelon. 

Coyotes are clever enough to trick other animals. A coyote might leap about crazily near a group of birds to distract them, then her/his partner might sneak up on the birds and seize a few of them for dinner.

People have helped coyotes to spread across North America. How? By killing off the coyote's number one natural competitor, Wolf. Wolves eat many of the same small animals that coyotes do. And like many other predators, Wolves know how to kill competitors—in this case, coyotes.

With the wolf practically gone in many areas, the coyote has quickly moved in. Some coyotes kill calves and lambs on people's ranches and farms. For a century people have tried to kill coyotes by using poison, traps, and guns. Still coyotes continue to thrive.

While populations of many other animals are shrinking, coyote populations are actually increasing. Coyotes once lived only in prairies and deserts of the western United States and in Mexico. Today they thrive almost anywhere in North America.  National Geographic Kids  “Creature Features”

Dear Storm...black clouds...lightning and thunder...

image:AssuntaMRiley
This sharing came after I had experienced a very strong summer storm while I was on retreat in Maine! The wisdom that came from the sharing touched me so much.. I wanted to share it with others. May you be blessed.

I am terrified of you because I don't know the toll you will take...I want to make peace with you but I have no idea how?  Help me to understand so that I can experience a storm without it paralyzing me with fear.

Dearest Sunti,
I do look ominous and foreboding when I come full blown..there are lots of pent up energies that need to be released, and if they are not released more harm could result.--like you humans need to release pent up anger and emotions.

When things and humans are out of balance storms emerge.  Mother Earth has been taken out of balance and is trying to rectify that and there are many energies to be delt with.. Air pressure, wind, rain, heat...the more elements involved the greater the storm.  When the imbalance in the energies is addressed...balance can be obtained but it is a process not an instantaneous occurrence. (you saw how long it took you to balance your mobiles on retreat)!

Keep working toward a healing of Mother Earth...soil, wind, water, and air so that real steps can be taken to truly restore her balance.  When I do turn up..use common sense and ask for guidance from the members of our family as to the best way to respond. 

Again, I know this is hard for you to understand...growth involves movement and change and that will affect all life forms...growth and change is a both and...painful and exciting. A letting go as well as a moving toward...something that can bring fear and elation (the birth of a baby is a perfect example)  Birthing brings birth pains..Remember growing pains??  As you moved from child to adolescent ..to young adult..all members of our family have them.

It is not my desire to have you terrified...a healthy respect for what I am about is good and know I am not your enemy.  I am a strong indicator that there is an imbalance that needs to be addressed...sad to say ..when the smaller indicators-- storms are ignored I have to come into full potency and that can be frightening.

Hopefully--the human family will begin to pay closer attention so that the degree of the storm will be less and with less destruction...because you will have taken steps to lessen the force of my impact.

Dear Storm,
Thank you for your wisdom..I am grateful and amazed.  What you shared makes so much "common sense" to me. I see so clearly the consequences when our "energies" grow unchecked.  May we all have the strength and willingness to be attentive to the energies within us and be attentive to them before they become a full blown storm. May we admit our need and seek support and guidance.

Dear Flower....

image:beautifulfreepictures

Your bold and vibrant color lifts my spirit and makes me smile! Your family of wavy petals twist and turn each in their own unique way. With your bud and full blossom you give me a visual for the unfolding process that we go through as we grow. Thank you.  You are tall and strong and at the same time fragile and vulnerable.  As I look at you in full blossom with the baby bud behind you all I can think of is..Mother and child or Big Sister and little sister...family is a gift to all of us.

I see and speak of your outer beauty... Too often...I am tempted to see only the external without ever taking the time to get to know the story of the beauty within. I do not always appreciate the time and patience it takes to grow into fullness.

 I look at you and think I know you and yet I know I do not.  We your sisters and brothers, of the human family, have lost touch with you and would like to get to know you better.  What would you want us to know about you dear flower..I yearn to hear your story and your wisdom.

Dear Assunta,
My story is your story...one of birth...growth...death and continued growth. I am as you said both strong and vulnerable. 
Try being a baby bud swirled by wind, drenched by rain, burned by sun, and trying to nourish one self in a dry poisoned soil!!  Now that is a worst case scenario but sad to say...that same scene is becoming more and more common for many in the flower and plant families. 

Am I a little angry.. yes...I guess I really want you to know what life is like for us at the present time. I know this is not the conversation you expected but will you hear me, please. Yes, you see my beauty and the beauty of my family...but you forget the cost of achieving it at this time. 

Sisters wind, rain, and soil are no longer healthy and vibrant because of the humans lack of understanding and respect for our very being. The chemicals and poisons that have been poured into Mother Earth for so long  have destroyed and are destroying water, air and soil...the birthing places of the rest of your family members. When they are not healthy, then my health and the health of my family is affected as well... as is yours.

As human members of our family you have resources to mitigate to some degree the affects of the chemicals and the poisons that we must meet directly.  I want my children to live, just as you want yours to live and grow from generation to generation. This can not and will not happen if things continue as they are.

I want my children to know the joy of being nourished in vibrant rich soil, clean sparkling water, and refreshing winds.  Then you will truly see Beauty in all its fullness...rich color...soft healthy petals, firm sturdy stems and thriving root systems.  And more... you will be able to experience this beauty in yourselves as well because what nourishes us, nourishes you.  When we are thriving.. you will be thriving as well.

Dear Assunta.. you wanted to know some of my story, and now you do. Thank you for caring and for listening to me. The wisdom I offer is simply that what is happening to us...is also happening to you.. because dear one..we live and breathe and have our being in this one beautiful home...this sacred and endangered home...Mother Earth.

Dear Flower,
You are so right, this conversation went in a direction I would never have expected.  Thank you for trusting me enough to say how you really feel.  Your daily life experience and your words are a wake up call...and
I hope we will not only hear but listen and act to make the changes necessary.  I love you and want to see you and your children and all children.. not only live..but THRIVE.