A Little Bit of Dove

I’ve always been curious about the “meaning” of animals in our lives. Well, “always” might be a stretch, but these days, I do enjoy checking out the Native American totem animal meanings of the non-humans who show up in my life on occasion. And now that my own furry kids have all changed their addresses to the Rainbow Bridge, my days no longer have the regular contact with the animal world that they once had.  Maybe “no longer have” is a stretch as well – I do have other people’s pets around me and I know the spirits of my own pets have continued to stay near me, even though they are no longer physically here. So I guess it’s more accurate to say that over the years, I’ve become more aware of the animals, birds and other non-human critters that enter my human space, whether it’s for a minute or a day or even longer; like the pair of quail that came for a few days to wander around the property my trailer was parked on when my last Golden Retriever, Dinah, died – I’d never seen quail in that area before that day and their voices as they called back and forth to each other did indeed bring a little bit of peace to an otherwise very unpeaceful time in my life.

This morning, I noticed a dove flying in and out of the patio area where I’m house/cat-sitting. I wondered if she had a specific place where she was going, and sure enough, she was sitting on a light fixture over the outside door to the garage. Turns out according to the owner of the house, the doves come back every spring and build a nest there, raising a family before taking off for wherever doves go the rest of the year. (There’s also a hummingbird nest nearby where the hummers return every year for nest-building and family-raising, too. This patio has good bird-vibes!)

I tried to quietly open the sliding glass door to get a picture of the dove but the door wasn’t cooperating by being silent and the two pics I got were blurry at best, but maybe you can make out the dove sitting on the light fixture.

I googled the spirit animal meaning of doves and here’s what I found:

If Dove has flown into your life:

She may be reminding you that in order to soar, you must know when to move your wings and when to allow the wind to take you to new heights. If you were to sit on a branch looking to the sky and hoping the wind will simply pick you up, you would never move. You must surrender and allow the wind support your wings. Get moving… and experience the exhilaration of flying higher and higher.

Alternatively Dove could be letting you know that you need to simply stop and take a few deep breaths. Let go of the turmoil that is currently surrounding you and find peace within you. Know that what you see right now is reality shifting in ways you never thought possible and that what you are truly looking for is just around the corner. The most chaos happens just before your dreams come true.  (copied from the page on doves at Spirit Animal Totems and Their Messages)

I’ve been getting a lot of “messages” to the same effect lately… from practically every corner I step around. Telling me to step up, fly on, go for it, let the wind take me where it wants me to go, get rid of the angst, be like the river and go with the flow, trust my feelings. And even though this mama dove (or one of her off-spring) comes back here very year, I think she still has some words for me:

Calm and center yourself. Breathe in and breathe out. Remember who you are. Let the wind fill your wings and you’ll fly higher than you ever thought possible. You will know what to do or what not to do when the time comes. It’s time to let go of the ground.

— Dove

And there you have it. Today’s wisdom, brought by a dove.