When I first adopted my dog, Harlow, I looked at her as the type of dog that is fun loving, sometimes goofy, and not a whole lot going on in her head.

In contrast, my dog, Dasher who is an Aussie Shepherd / Cattle Dog mix, is always sniffing, her ears like radars, usually on the move to discover something, sometimes scheming, plotting, or playing it up.

Harlow is different. She will come up and sit right next to me and will just stare….she isn’t staring at me….she isn’t waiting for something….she just is. What I always read from her energy was her saying, “I just Am.”

Initially I would joke about her and say she isn’t complicated or complex, like I said….there isn’t a lot going on in her head. I did not mean to say that in any sort of derogatory way, however, I realized that subconsciously I was kinda judging her for not having a mind that is always on the go and figuring things out.

My previous dog, Cooper who was a Collie / Shepard mix, understood every word I said, her head would tilt when I spoke to her, she was very concerned with my comings and goings, constantly absorbing, processing, learning, an analyzing…..she had a life-force like I had never seen before.

But Harlow was unique….”I just Am.” I did not dig much deeper than that with her because I assumed there was not much else that was deeper…..until one day I tuned into her at a deeper level and everything changed.

I recognized that Harlow was deeper than anything I had seen or felt before….so deep that I was not able to tune into it or recognize it. Harlow is so deep that she does not get caught up with over-thinking, analyzing, trying to figure things out. Its not necessary….she is totally present in the moment….free from all the chatter and wasted energy that distracts so many of us from tuning into our inner most self and our highest guidance.

Its as if Harlow slips right into meditation in the blink of an eye…like a zen master…..connected, aware, conscious….yet free, clear, fluid, and happy. I felt I discovered an example of what it is to be truly connected and in flow with divinity….an open channel with no static….balanced, still, relaxed, and open.

Harlow saying, “I just Am” made sooooo much sense! Of course! She just is! She’s not tangled up in thoughts, emotions, beliefs, stress, what happened yesterday, what’s happening tomorrow.

This is something I always strive for within myself…..and it was sitting right in front of me but I was so caught up in my own head…deducing her to an assumption that she is not wise, intelligent, special because here mind wasn’t spinning.

Boy was I so wrong.

I have learned from Harlow how to go deeper into stillness and to be present within the moment without requiring that I think more in order to do so.

I have learned that the more I think, the more I get in my own way and delay myself from creating what I desire.

When I just Am, I am available to new ideas, information, opportunities, and possibilities to flow to me.

I am free of the chains that are my thoughts that bind and hold me back, keeping me from growing and expanding.

When I just Am….silent and still…simple and open…..thats when I experience the miraculous and mystical….when I experience what people often refer to as oneness with the universe.

Here I thought that was kind of cliché…..but Harlow taught me otherwise. I just Am is very real and Harlow has guided me to the depths within myself….where stillness is bliss and simplicity is freedom.

I am so grateful for Harlow…one of my greatest teachers.

What is your animal teaching you? Are you paying attention and learning? Appreciate this moment as the student….and please share with me your experience!