On this day, people tend to stop, even if just for one moment, and think what this day means to them. Many have animals and treat them with respect and love. Others may love/like animals but do not have one with them sharing their lifes. Others, have animals and just do not look at them. And others do not have animals at all.
Why are animals that important? What is the big deal with this day. Honestly??? Nothing and everything!
Nothing, for people that do not care who or what they share their lifes with. Since for many, animals are just meat or entertainment, and those will not think on this day as something to be of an importance or something to cheer about.
Everything, for people who will recognize what animals are in their lifes (not just as food) and for that they will celebrate, respecting and loving, wishing and dreaming, what they mean to them. 

On this day I would like to share a though, and idea, a meditation, a dream. 
What are animals? What are we? The same and one I would say. The opposite and living appart I would also say. 

In my life I always lived with animals, only for a brief periode of time (6 months of my life) I did not live with an animal around me. And for those 6 months I only have to say that they were a bliss and the worst days of all.
We take everything for granted in our lifes. And rarely we think that way, that nothing is fr granted, or if we do, easily we forget. And that is amazing in the human heads. How easily we forget things and live life without thinking on the impact we have in the world around us. 
Not with the animals, they do not take their lifes for granted. It is quite the opposite. Everyday they are grateful for what they have, even if it is a very bad condition (unfortunatly), they are patient and kind. They are love in the living form. Is it strange to think about them like this? Maybe so, maybe not..

So here it comes... For some minutes on this day, sit quietly where you can relaxe and not be disturbed. 
Think about an animal that you like (domestic or wild one) and then enter in his life. Try to see the world with his eyes, hear with his ears, touch with his body, talk with his mouth, and feel with his heart.  Try it for as long as you can.
After, you can write it down in a piece of paper. And put the paper somewhere, and you can read it whenever you want. 
It is a simple exercice. It can make you feel something different or not. Is an experience and everyone lives it in different ways and feels it differently too. 
It is curious to understand which animal you chose, and what you experienced by being him. It touches in the heart and soul. And it may also make you understand and know things about yourself that you did not know or did not give word or voice to before. 

In the end I would also like to say that the animal day is everyday of the year, and it is also our day. We are different and alike, we are one and the same. If you respect them you are respecting your own life and yourself. 

And so it be...
This photo was taken in Açores, by Mafalda Seguro in July 2010
What tomorrow will bring...
In the arms of an angel we seek
What we lost and loved
In the arms of an angel we dream
About clouds and light
In the arms of an angel we hope
That we will fix what is broken
In the arms of an angel we cry
and give voice to what we cannot say out loud

In the ilusion we believe in a world
In the reality the suffering is there and cannot be shut
I seek, I dream, I hope and I cry
for words not said
for feelings that are breaking my heart
for pieces shattered by pain
for something that may not be there anymore
for something that will always be the other half...

What we seek, dream, hope and cry for...
Is as real as the sunshine
There is nothing that can break it
but still... the pain is learning
the pain is a growing of souls and spirit
the pain is what is needed to understand
that a half is always part of a whole
and the whole is one... even if broken!
This photo was taken in Pico, in July 2010 by Mafalda Seguro

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There was a bee walking, desperately, on the sand. 
The sun was shining and the hearts were happy. When the eyes made contact with the bee, they weren't sure to what to do. The bee was sad and hurt, and she walked as if she wasn't sure where to go. The bee was runing away from the plants behind, that could offer her some protection, she was walking in the direction of the water, sea water... 

She gets up and grabs a shelf to help the bee, but it is to small, and the bee was scared already. And then she grabed a cap, and helped the bee to jump to the protection given to her. The bee understood, she walked to the cap, and she started right away to clean herself.
"Too much salt... The sand was not helping... My wings are stuck and very dry... I cannot fly... " 
"You can stay here as long as you want... Would you want me to put you on the top of a plant?"
"A few more minutes and yes..."
So the bee cleaned herself, and after a while she put the bee on the top of a plant, where the bee kept cleaning herself, happy for been given an opportunity. 
The bee stayed there for 20 minutes, cleaning her wings, refreshing her soul and trying to calm down from the evident death that she was going through. 
She started to fly, and made a turn around her saying thanks... And off she went... With the promisse of a renewed life...

A life is a life... So easily taken by human hands... Who are we to do it without second thoughts?
The Invitation by Oriah

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,
from the book The Invitation
published by HarperONE, San Francisco,
1999 All rights reserved
You are lost in your world
Everything you believe in and lived by are gone
You are alone and on your own
An emptiness fill places on the soul
where there should be love, joy and hope
They are gone... lost in the deep
There is something you can feel
A pain so strong that makes you disconnected
from yourself and others
There is nothing inside, nothing to feel
Nothing to hope or to love
Everything is gone...

The hand starts moving...
Your body wants to follow it
but your mind says no... it is good to just stand still
Your arm moves on the opposit way
and in a heart beat is pulling the rest of you
Your legs are moving, faster and faster
Your run... and run... and run...
At the top of the street you look back 
It does not make sense to go back
Is good to feel the wind... to move your body... 
To breath fresh air... 
You look ahead of you... there is something...
You run again to reach it...
In a moment ideas, visions and projects are shaped...
A dream is born...
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