Often the best thing we can do for our bodies, mindset and spirit is to truly play and have fun with a friend. Whether that friend is a two-lane or a three- or four-legged, opening up ourselves to the opportunity for true, connected fun can be key.

Learning to re-evaluate ourselves and our energy often so that we build space into our day or week for refilling our mind, body and soul before we reach depletion or we get to a point of our tank being on empty and we don’t have anything left to give others or our health.

This morning while enjoying being in nature with some pet friends, I was thinking about how enjoyable it was to experience the natural world with them and through their eyes. In essence we were meditating. Some doing a moving or walking meditation around the yard connecting with the rocks at their feet,

This week, I had a rather unusual experience with emotions and the personal impact of the past year. The shift in ways we did things knowingly or not came through in a way I least expected. Prior to the pandemic, I would go out hiking some local trails at area regional parks. Places and trails I had gone many times before on my own. Yet, the past several weeks I could not get myself there. I would come up with other things that kept me from doing it...

We can be triggered by many things whether songs, memories, loss of any type (job, loved one, pet, patterns), situations where we see those in our lives going through health challenges or even the unknown that appears on a path with us. Just yesterday while driving home from a great day of hiking with my mom, all sorts of emotions arose as I followed

With one nine-month-old pup, she had been with her new family about four months when the lockdown occurred. Just prior to the pandemic, she lost her new, older canine sister to illness – which meant for the first time she did not have an animal buddy to learn from as previously she had cat companions. This was her third home in three months since being born. You could say she was having a very traumatic experience. She was unaware now of what was normal, what made unfamiliar sounds, if the sounds were to be feared or not, why her people disappeared in the middle of the day or what it meant for her family to go on vacation. She did not understand where they went, why I was showing up or would they return.

Help your pets as you identify your new normal in transition with these five steps. I have written about the anxiousness that can occur during the pandemic which can trigger behavioral changes. They can go through periods of separation anxiety after weeks and/or months of having you all to themselves only to wake one day to you being away more. You can start helping them today, by doing these five steps