PREPARE YOUR EARS TO LISTEN AND YOUR HEART TO RECEIVE AS YOU TAKE IN THE WORDS THAT LOOK TO CHANGE LIVES, RENEW HEARTS AND OPEN MINDS I consider myself a curious person and although I didn't like to do much research while in school, it did teach me the value of learning and progressing with my knowledge. So my curious mind led me to think about animals and their relationship to people and how people view them.
Well, here is what I found out. These 7 religions (The Seventh Day Adventist, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, and Rastafarianism) all hold animals sacred and for that reason, they lead a vegetarian lifestyle or they practice very strict ways when killing an animal and how they consume it. Each one of these religions have their own take on why they do what they do in regards to eating meat.
I also learned that Native Americans or Indigenous peoples' relationships with animals are the result of the thousands of years of them connecting with the environment. In their traditions, animals are sometimes used to communicate the values and spiritual beliefs of Native communities and they use the imagery of animals to share family, clan, and personal stories, most depicted on their totems or tattoos. Their beliefs are based on Animism which embodies the spiritual idea that all natural objects within the universe, have souls or spirits. There are some non-Native people that acknowledge the meaning , wisdom, and power of animals, in which they coined the term "spirit animals." They believe that spirit animals symbolize aspects of your personality, contain traits that you have learned or have yet to develop, offer guidance, and dictate an emotion while in certain situations.
The Chinese also use animals as a representation and their attributes as part of their Zodiac signs. They have a repeating cycle of 12 years with each year being represented by an animal. Even in the Bible, there are stories of animals and how they were used to be sacrificial for the atonement of people's sins, they were also used as symbolism or an allegory (a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning).
The eagle is one animal in particular that sticks out in the Bible and used as the national bird for 8 country's. The Bald Eagle was adopted by the United States to be the countries national bird on June, 20, 1782 due to its long life, great strength and majestic look and it was believed to be only existent on this continent. The eagle spiritual meaning signifies inspiration, release from bondage, victory, longevity, speed, pride, and royalty.
No matter your religious preference, country origin, race, nationality, or which animal you identify with, I challenge you to take on the characteristics of the eagle when you have a storm brewing up in your life. Eagles are one of the only birds that you will see in the midst of a storm because they don't get tired and weary during these conditions because they have learned how to use it to their advantage. As the winds increase, they have learned to spread their wings and use the pressure of the atmosphere or in your case, the situation for leverage and lifting to rise above the storm.
So as you go through your storm in your life, remember the eagle by opening up your mind, body, and soul to use the storm to your advantage so you can rise above what is meant to do harm to you. #SPEAK2MYHEART
