Have you ever read a book that just spoke to you? Like, the
whole time you’re just saying, “Yep. Amen sister! Yes, I’m totally feelin’ it.” That’s how it was when I read Anatomy of a Calling a few years ago (I’m
currently re-reading it). The author, Lissa Ranck, is an OB/GYN who became
frustrated with the current health care system and felt she had lost touch with
her true calling to really connect and help others heal. In the book, Lissa refers
multiple times to how Big Sur was a place of spiritual awakenings, that it had
this amazing energy that she felt flowed through her and helped realize her
divine potential. “Hmm….” I thought, “I totally
want me some of that spiritual awakening and divine potential stuff!”
I knew that as I was leaving on my road trip that Big Sur
was going to be one of my stops. I was a bit disappointed that the forecast was
rain, rain and more rain. There was one
day where the rain did let up and I jumped on the opportunity. I went to some
of the places Lissa Ranck had described in her book. I was surrounded by so
much beautiful scenery, but no special feeling arose. No divine spiritual
experiences. “Ok, well, maybe later” I told myself, a bit disappointed. I decided to go for a 4 mile hike, round-trip,
to a lookout point over the ocean. The beginning of the walk was so beautiful.
Tall redwoods, ferns, colorful plants popping out among the foliage, a bluebird
flying back and forth among the bushes. And then the hike turned to
switchbacks. The sweat started pouring down my forehead, my heart rate increased
to about 400bpm and my breathing became a bit more labored and I was developing
a side-ache, like when you try to go for a jog after eating a big plate of
nachos (because I’ve definitely never done that before). It was overcast, humid
and I was out of shape. Then the conversation started in my head,” How is this
so hard for me? I’ve done much harder hikes than this!” My blunt inner voice
responded, similar to Jillian Michaels during Biggest Loser, “Are you kidding me?! When was the last time you worked out? In
fact, when was the last time you were actually ‘in shape’?” I grumbled back, “Ok, ok! You’ve got a point. No need to rub it in.” It didn’t help that young 20-somethings were
bouncing up the hill with peppy smiles on their faces and not one sign that the
switchbacks were any sort of challenge. I finally arrived at the top. The view
was beautiful. The stillness was even more beautiful.
The rest of the day I spent relaxing and recovering from the
surprisingly difficult hike. I was so
disappointed with myself that I was determined to go for a longer hike the next
day, just to prove I could do it. So I
did an 8 mile hike the next day in the wind and rain, because “damn those 20
year olds!!” I did it, the 8 miles. I
returned exhausted and soaked, but proud of myself, and then went straight to
the hot showers. Beautiful hot showers!!
So after those 2 days of hiking in Big Sur, without any
divine spiritual experiences, epiphanies or deep insights, I left a little
disappointed and decided to drive down the coast. If you have never driven down
highway 1 in California, put it on your bucket list. It’s so beautiful! I’ve done it a few times now and have enjoyed
it every time. Anyway, after driving for a bit, I decided to park my car by a
beautiful spot just south of Pismo Beach in central California. It was
mid-morning and I opened up Anatomy of a
Calling to continue reading. As I was sitting there in my car, I noticed something
out of the corner of my eye. I looked up and saw a coyote trotting down the
road. Mind you, I’m parked in front of multi-million dollar coastal/beach homes.
There are rolling hills nearby, but I thought it was an odd occurrence. About an hour later I saw a small wild boar
casually trotting down the opposite direction than the coyote had come. It was
stopping along the way, sniffing here and there and eventually was gone. So strange!
Of course, I don’t live along the coast so I don’t know if it’s a common
thing to have wild animals roam the neighborhoods, but it sure was some nice
sightseeing.
Time passed, the rain was still coming down and my attention
span was waning because I wanted to be outside. My mind started wandering and a
humorous thought popped into my head, “Maybe those are my spirit animals.” Over
the past 2 to 3 years I have taken an interest in Native American beliefs. I am
open to learning truths from all belief systems, but I’ve been particularly
drawn to Native American spiritualism and the belief that we’re all connected
to the earth, plants, animals, rocks, sun, moon and even those loved ones who
have passed. A year or two ago, after a deeply spiritual experience with a
patient of mine who was Native American, he explained spirit animals to me. I
wasn’t sure it was something that I felt a connection to, but I understood the
concept. Since that time, I’ve pondered and read up on spirit animals. So when
the coyote and wild boar passed by me randomly, with no other humans around, my
mind became curious about the thought of these being potential spirit
animals. Of course, I had to look up the
meaning of both.
Coyote: When this animal
appears in your life, it’s time to find humor/playfulness amid or through the
dark times, seek after and ponder hidden wisdom/meaning in chaos, time to
become adaptable and create something new.
Wild Boar: This animal
symbolizes tenacity, stability, determination to go after what is most important
to you/creating your own reality, using intelligence to gain abundance (not
necessarily financial abundance, but that would be nice!), and the courage and
ability to use ingenuity to weather the storm.
Hmmm…..interesting. I
suppose any person could take any spirit animal meaning and use it to apply
meaning to their life. But also, isn’t that what spiritualism is? In any
religion or spiritual belief, don’t believers use the experiences around them
to interpret meaning for their life? Every spiritual experience, where or when
it happens and what it feels like, is unique to each person. A person may feel
peace and calm in their home, or temple, or nature, or with loved ones, or
being with their pet. I have had deep spiritual experiences in nature, with
dreams, while driving in my car listening to music, during conversations with
people I’ve just met and also with those I’ve developed close relationships
with. I had a life-altering spiritual experience during a massage once and when
I later told the therapist, she said she felt the need to pray over me during
the massage. Spiritual experiences can happen anywhere and meaning applied to
most anything.
It was foolish of me to assume that just because an author I
admired had several spiritual experiences in Big Sur that I would also have an
intense spiritual experience there as well. I should know better. But we all
crave to FEEL something special. That’s why throngs of people gather in holy
places each week or each year. That works for many people and that’s ok. For
me, following my intuition, being open to different experiences and giving
myself the freedom to FEEL without shame or embarrassment, as well as learning
to be in tune to those around me is what makes me feel the most spiritual. And
of course, there are always those sweet surprise moments when the universe
gives you something special unexpectedly.
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