The Dog and the Coyote

My last blog post was about how I’ve been stuck in robotic, auto-pilot mode for the past several weeks:

7:30am: Get in car, sit in rush hour traffic.
8:30am: Arrive at work.
5pm: Leave work, sit in rush hour traffic.
5:45pm: See the “Welcome to Connecticut” sign. Start to feel panicked that I won’t make it to my yoga teaching job on time.
6:15pm: Teach yoga class.
9pm: Cook dinner and play with dog who’s been neglected all day.
10pm: Watch television.

Whenever any of us are stuck in auto-pilot mode –which completely disconnects us from our true self– it’s only a matter of time before nature sends us a sign to jolt us out of it. So I couldn’t help but recognize the strange coincidence between my meditation on Monday night (in which I literally asked for a sign to guide me) and the very clear message from nature that I received on Tuesday.

As I sat in rush hour traffic on Tuesday afternoon around 5:45pm –again, semi-panicked that I wouldn’t make it to my 6:15pm class on time– I noticed a dog in the backseat of the car in front of me. The dog looked right at me and then rested its head on the shelf of the back seat. And then…I could have sworn…it winked at me. As traffic picked up, I didn’t think much of it (other than to ponder the possibility that my eyesight/mental state might be in jeopardy).

After teaching my yoga class, I then drove 30 minutes to my parents’ house. Around 8pm, as I drove my mother and I to a late dinner, I heard two female joggers let out a scream on the sidewalk. Naturally, I hit the brakes. Were they okay?! What caused them to scream? Just as I looked in my rear view mirror, I saw a coyote dash across the road, right behind my car.

It took me a full 24 hours before seeing the symbolism of the dog before me and the coyote behind me. While dogs represent loyalty and obedience, coyotes symbolize ingenuity and transformation. I understood that I had literally been “sandwiched” between these two signs in the same day. So what did it all mean? Was my transformation behind me and obedience in front of me? Hardly. These two animals represented where I am in my life, vacillating between “doing the right thing” (i.e., obedience) and “putting myself first” (i.e., transformation). I also thought about my love of dogs and the fear associated with coyotes. Had nature intended me to see love before me and fear behind me? Perhaps. One thing I know for sure is that I’m no longer in auto-pilot mode.