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.
Meditate with Maeve 
Perhaps the message was to slow down and let the coyote, no matter your fear of it ( or transformation in your reading), catch up, so you can embrace the fear and continue your life of transformations. Then you will find and experience unconditional love from that someone in your future which I choose to see as one of the biggest characteristics of a loyal dog. Rather than the word obedience I would describe the other trait of dogs in addition to loyalty as their desire to please. Some see an owner/master to dog relationship while I have been lucky to have experienced what can only be described as close friendships with dogs in my past that taught me lessons about friendship, loyalty, love and transformation that I remember to this day. Often I wish I were able to live my life more like the loyal family dog with it’s openness, strength, character and ability to experience joy unbridled and find it in everyday things such as literally taking a walk and smelling the flowers….