RE: Gratitude and Positivity - A "Boat's" Perspective
This was a pleasure to read @barge
I find it somewhat sad that your connection with animals didn't occur until later in life, but it is, what is, and likely is why your connection is so profound. This is how I see it. I think the lack of connection laid the foundation for a powerful connection later on in life.
For me it was somewhat opposite. Growing up in an abusive household, it wouldn't seem likely that we would always have animals, but we did, and the reasons behind it are long stories of course, but the fact remains, we always had a dog.
I think back to these animals, who were the most loving and understanding creatures, and it makes me sad for what it was. They were suffering just as much abuse as we were, and we were all helpless, but they helped me through it. I believe my bond with the animals was stronger than the bond my siblings had with them, but I could be wrong. We all dealt with what was going on in our own unique ways.
Having those connections with animals at a young age strengthened my understanding of animals, and my day to day connections that I encounter (which aren't many right now). I have a unique way with them. Vicious dogs don't tend to react viciously to my presence, and most every dog takes to me very well (except my last girlfriends dog for some reason. I think it was an alpha male thing. Crazy little chiwawa. We had a love/hate thing going on).
These connections are meaningful and important in my opinion. I think we have a bit in common with our interactions with other human beings. This statement says it best.
I have always experienced some discomfort receiving and accepting love and affection from other humans – barriers added to since childhood, complex inner dramas, sensitivity to the fake. Animals have helped me find a way through, and they also permitted what very few other humans allow another human to do – to love them freely and unconditionally!
Though our connections with other human beings have been limited, and perhaps even strange in our own perceptions, I am beginning to find great value and meaning in the connections I do make. We have an innate desire to connect with our own species. We are a flock animal, but not a single one of us is hardwired into this vessel even remotely similarly, and the more unique and complex we are, the more disconnected we tend to feel at times. I am not sure if I am really making much sense here, but I feel as though by having you as a friend, it completes a part of myself. I no longer try to identify with people who don't meet this completion aspect. I merely disconnect.
there is no going back to the old and the spent; that no external being can have power over me at the inner level unless I give permission - which I can always revoke!
I believe you have communicated this to me in the past. It's very empowering, and I find it to be very true, although not an easy way of being to master. Introspection is something that you have undoubtedly spent heaps of time on, and I believe you are an enlightened soul with many blessings to come in your journey.
Thank you for this my friend. You never fail to help me put things into perspective.
Thank you my friend, for your heartwarming comment. This post draws inspiration from what you wrote about Gratitude and your invitation to me, I am happy you enjoyed reading it.
Defo. the case for me with animals FM, you said it bro :D ... Animals do put up with a lot of shit from humans and often, it seems the case that they are easy scapegoats ie. person X feels their life is out of control (shit job, treated and feeling like shit, blah blah) and takes it out on the 'weaker' being, who person X feels they can control. Sounds like in your young experience, all of you were treated something like this. I'm not surprised to hear about the bond you formed with dogs during that time - perhaps the one and only source of unconditional acceptance and comfort (soft, warm, welcoming, not judging, ever-loving) which appears to have been largely/totally lacking in the primary environment (siblings too scared to bond together? Or worse, the effect of divide and rule from controlling parent)? As you mention in a previous post about your dad, he still refuses to even consider that he may have a responsibility (even if one doesn't play the old blame game).
And this makes me wonder FM, I don't recall seeing any current photos of you with a dog - pets not allowed where you live? Like the 420 scene? 😩 ...... The reactions you get from dogs is amazing - I have around 1 in 20 bark at me, but usually when my energy is agitated, even if exterior is calm, 4 ignore me, and 15 come up and say hello. I so love it when this happens, and I will be looking to greet the dog more than the human walking it :D ....hmmm, real shame if it is the case that you are prevented from having an animal companion.
Thanks for your kind words again @futuremind. The game of isolation has played out in part for me - I have had the question 'am I isolated?' answered in the negative to my satisfaction. I can feel connections and being connected at an energetic level (eg in meditation, or walking in nature, or playing with Shanti in the garden), but I am yet to experience a sense of sustained interconnectedness with other human beings in company, especially in a social situation. But then I almost never go out or put myself in social situations these days, so I've not really probed this. I do feel a lot readier now - ie less pressure to humour or appease, more confidence to speak my mind rather than go along with something that doesn't feel right, going more with feeling and my own authority rather than what I think others think or want :D ..... there are a few people I express myself with, including my sister, but this is relatively rare. I can however, express myself to myself quite well, and this is very satisfying. Steemit has been a great outlet for me to give expression to various inner voices. My interactions with other users and my motivations for doing so have gone through a few iterations, but I'm now beginning to feel that I am finding my feet and my own space, and that I don't need to go out hunting and gathering, thereby ignoring the existing abundance - the warm fireside and the fact that there's puh-lenty of food in the cupboard (and weed in the grinder :).....
Take care bro and see you around the Steemniverse 🔆 🔆 🔆
Yeah bro, I'm in a communal living environment. Pets are out of the question, but that is what is meant to be for my life right now. I am ok with it.
In the physical sense, you may be a bit isolated from human interactions, but you are by no means isolated altogether. I'm often scolded by counselors that say I need to get out more and stop isolating, and people even say nonsensical things like, I waste my time, and spend too much time doing nothing. I laugh at those notions. First off, I am plenty social, just in a way that makes it more comfortable for me, and as far as wasting my time? HA! That is a joke to me. I really enjoy being along, and can barely find enough hours in a day to get to everything I enjoy doing. I don't think a single thing I do is a waste of time. People are so brainwashed to conform to certain thought processes, that they hardly consider what a person could be doing that spends a copious amount of time by themselves. And why should anyone care how the next person spends their time anyways? Lame..
I do think it's healthy to take a break from such taxing activities. For me, it's mentally taxing to do the things I enjoy, only because they require brainpower, but there are other things I enjoy as well, like connecting with nature, and smoking a fat doob every now and then. I can't do those things here, but all in good time. If you feel you are ready to mingle with the normies, give it a go! but take it slow. It's doubtful you will have pleasant interactions with everyone, because humans are such a volatile, and ugly creature in our nature. I hate to talk in such derogatory terms, but I have found it to be truth for a good percentage of people. I can't say how large a percentage, because there are many exceptionally awesome human beings, but ugly one's seem to be everywhere.
LOL at the animal meme you made. That made me laugh so hard I almost spit my coffee out. You should probably know, at some point, I am going to kindly blindside you with some sort of meme now. You started it haha.
ttyl bro. Peace!