The courage to believe

Science and spirituality are two different languages—both beautiful, both mysterious and both worthy of their existence.

Back in 2020, I lost my 14 year old beloved dog, Zoey, to cancer.

She was 35 pounds of blazoned fury with extraordinary emotional challenges from the abuse she suffered from her first owner.

She could sense my emotions before I was even aware of them and was so intensely affected by my state of mind that I had to learn how to become mindful of my thoughts—and the tailspins that could come from them—in order to protect her.

She was my greatest lesson in unconditional love, and since the day she left this world, she's been my fiercest angel gracing me with signs both big and small.

Zoey and Me. 2018.

I keep a framed photo of her near my bed and I talk to her all the time. Some days I'm remembering crazy stunts she would pull and others I'm just desperately missing her after a long day.

One night not too long ago I'd had it with some of the vicious goings on of this world. I looked at her photo and told her I just wasn't strong enough to handle much more:

"Can you give me a sign tomorrow? Just come visit me. I miss you."

I went to bed and woke up still stressed.

Every morning starts with a long walk with my 6 year old dog, Izzy. She came to live with me about 6 months after Zoey died.

Izzy and I typically see neighbors out on our walks, but I wasn't up for talking with anyone. I knew I'd overdone it and needed to take some energy back for myself.

So I put on my headphones, turned on one of my favorite playlists and walked a completely different route than our normal one.

We didn't make it past the first corner...

I could see a man, much younger than me, and one I didn't recognize. He was pacing outside his place, and I wanted none of it.

I had all the thoughts. "Can't I get any time just for me?" "I need to escape to the woods." "I just want to listen to this one song with no one coming up to me to talk." "Can I hurry and turn back around without him noticing?"

But he saw me.

He locked eyes for just a quick second and I thought well maybe he sees that I have headphones on and will realize I can't stop and talk.

Then I remembered that's never stopped anyone before. Complete strangers will begin speaking to me even though I've got big, black noise canceling headphones on and I'll never understand why they think I can hear them. It's funny most days, but on days like this one, I felt trapped.

Just like that, Izzy and I were close enough for him to start talking to me...even though I couldn't hear anything he was saying.

I waved and smiled thinking maybe he was just wishing me a good morning.

But that was it for Izzy. She was all about this guy and now I was outnumbered.

I pulled my headset off and told him I was sorry, but I couldn't hear him.

He repeated, "I like your dog. What kind is she?"

I hear this question a lot. Izzy was born on the streets in Mexico and is a mix of many things.

She came to me sick and afraid of the world, but she is now one of the most social animals I've ever encountered. She smiles so big and looks people right in the eyes, and she's learned that it makes them stop and pay attention to her.

Izzy at the top of one of our hikes.

He then told me he and his girlfriend just moved in and today was his first day of a new job. His girlfriend left for work and accidentally took both sets of keys which meant he could not get into his own car and drive to work.

I asked him if he needed a ride, and he told me he'd already called his girlfriend and she was on her way back to drop off the keys. He was just really worried that being late on the first day of work wasn't going to go over well.

Moving. Starting over. Not the easiest. I so get it.

We chatted for a bit, and I told him that this is one of those stories that down the road will be funny. Just not so much today.

He looked at Izzy and told me they wanted a dog so badly but they weren't home enough to take care of one, so they decided to get a cat.

Right on cue, that cat appeared in the upper window just as cats do. Flying in from across the room, grabbing this pole-like structure on top of one of those cat trees that people buy so the cats can see out of the windows.

Literally flew in like it knew we were talking about it.

Then, I kid you not, this cat started dancing. (Stay with me. You can not make this stuff up.)

It was circling around that pole and then rubbing its face up against the window. Then it would throw itself down on its back. Rinse, wash and repeat.

Izzy and I see a lot of cats in windows early in the morning, but we've never had a show quite like this.

The guy was beaming with love for this creature, and I was laughing so hard that my eyes started to water. It was like one of those viral news videos where the anchors can't stop giggling and then one snorts and the other falls off the chair and loses it.

I felt the stress flow right out of me. The resentment disappeared. There was such sweet energy between all of us, and I was grateful for the moment.

A car turned toward us, "there's my girlfriend, I better get going."

I wished him luck and asked, "hey, what's your cat's name?"

He looked back and said, "Zoey".

There is a world between worlds, and it is calling out to you.

I've allowed entire stretches of life, and the voices of bullies hiding behind science, to erase the miracles of my life.

I have no more time for that nonsense.

Science and spirituality are two different languages—both beautiful, both mysterious and both worthy of their existence.

If you've lost your connection with the magic of this life, or if you just want more of it, this is part of what we do when we work together.

December is coming and I love beginning this process when the streets are filled with weary adults looking for reasons to believe…

…because my friend, there are so many reasons to believe.

Erin

P.S. This program returns to full price soon, so if you've been thinking things over or casually reading these letters, now is a very good time to schedule a consult.