The Amazing Healing Power of Animals

“A cat purring on your lap is more healing than any drug in the world, as the vibrations you are receiving are of pure love and comfort.”

St. Francis of Assisi.

The tile on the bathroom floor was cold, hard and unforgiving underneath my legs. I shifted my weight against the sleeping dog, one I had adopted while in college, much to my mother’s disapproval. He lay quite still as I put my head against his body, using him as a pillow. It was dark and quiet in my sister’s house; no one knew I had crawled across the hall, combat style, from a bedroom I was sharing with my mother to the bathroom where Truman lay. My father had just passed, and my mother and I were sharing a room. From my perspective, my mother was out of her mind, saying crazy stuff in her sleep that frightened me terribly. After hearing her rant for several minutes about my father and talking to him as if he were in the room, I had to leave. So, in complete darkness, I escaped to the only comfort I had ever known — an animal. In that tiny bathroom, I hugged Truman as if my life depended on it. It did. He held my broken heart and soul that had been shattered into pieces.

I look back now and see how animals have been healers in my life, almost from the very beginning — from Ginger, a sweet, motherly collie mix who saved me when I was 4 years old, to all the many animals who have graced my path since.

I figure I’ve needed a lot of healing. Sigh.

They each came to teach, to heal, and to personally and spiritually grow themselves. We never forget true connections — ones that create our heart shapes.

It was the animals who taught me this term — heart shapes. “These experiences,” the animals said, “form heart shapes.” The animals told me that we all have lessons, life paths, and heart journeys: individual paths that intersect with others. What a set-up!

“We come in as healers, teachers, and ‘kind-ers,’ — that is, souls who come here to share kindness in order to heal the world and others.”

These are just a few of the soul paths they have shared — dedicated souls on a mission.

I once asked Katie, one of my dearest animal friends, about this. She said, “Healing occurs within and without. But healing can be painful and often is. Humans ask and pray for healing and have a specific goal in mind, when actually healing is a high vibration energy that responds to the area where it is needed the most. It may or may not be the goal they have in mind. It may be physical or emotional or spiritual.” When I asked her to explain more about how animals participate in this, she pointed to my own journey of physical, emotional, and spiritual healing.

She was right, of course. So many times, I have asked for healing, only to experience it in a way that was totally unexpected. My own healings have been journeys in which I’ve been invited (well, forced) to look within at my own patterns and misunderstandings. Pretty sure I’m a slow learner, but the animals have had infinite patience! They have consistently shown me how to take sturdy steps, how to be confident in myself, how to be authentic and not compromise who I am. What great examples they have been and still are.

Life is our journey together — animal and human. Healing occurs at the heart level first.

What is your heart shape? What does it look like? Is it round and soft? Big and pink? Rainbow-colored? Does it have warmth? How does your heart shape flow out to others? Have animals played a role in shaping yours?

I don’t know about you, but my heart shape is continually changing and expanding. It shows the rough edges as well as the fragile corners. If you touch it, you can feel its softness and warmth as well as its fragile edges. The animals have repeatedly taught me: “To be vulnerable in your heart is not a weakness; it is a strength.”

“It is the love we share with one another,” Katie says, “that creates the healing alchemy of spinning silver into gold and hearts into shapes of all sizes and colors that reveal who we truly are.”

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