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Giraffe: Seeing from the Heart

Nicki Scully from Power Animal Meditations (Bear &Co./Inner Traditions 2001)

Giraffe is a gentle creature who sees life from a unique perspective. The tallest of the animals, she is afforded a view from an exceptional height, while her broad stance maintains her strong connection to the earth. Giraffe has a huge heart, and with all her being, she perceives heart’s dimension, seeing and feeling the heart connections between herself and the entire web of life. In leading you on this journey, she gives you an opportunity to ask for help and cooperation. She knows that there are only loving relationships in the realm of the heart, relationships in which each being nurtures the flame of every other being.

Although related to the dimension of words and actions, the dimension of the heart is completely independent. Giraffe reminds us to make regular trips to the heart dimension to honor and affirm this network of loving light. The more we practice viewing our everyday communications and interactions within the context of this loving web, the more accessible, and clearly manifest the network becomes.

Giraffe also bestows this gift: the knowledge that your heart is a place in which only truth can reside. Whenever you speak to another being, a simultaneous conversation takes place in the heart dimension. It is a conversation of truth, and this, from the perspective of your soul, is what truly matters.

Giraffe Journey

Focus on your heart flame and direct love to it so that it will expand and brighten and grow. . . .[Pause.]

In the light of your heart flame, you find yourself in the vast, open grasslands of Africa, known as the veldt. This spacious landscape is dotted with tall trees that have wide crowns. Walk up to one of the trees and listen to the wind playing gently in its leaves and rippling through the grass.

Place your hands on the tree’s bark and feel its hard, solidly rooted trunk. . . . Look up into its canopy of leaves. This tree would be easy to climb, so you grasp a stout branch and pull yourself up. Then, reaching hand over hand, you climb high into the crown.

When you find a secure perch, look out across the veldt from this new perspective. All your senses have heightened and you notice a rustling noise beside you. Turn your head and find yourself looking into the gentle eyes of Giraffe.

While you look into her eyes, let your attention be drawn to your heart. The heart connection you make with this giraffe invites your own heart to expand. Notice how it feels when you allow your heart to open further. . . . [Pause.] In the light of your expanded heart, you begin to see the faces of those that you feel closest to. Feel your connections to these loved ones. Notice as filaments of golden light take shape, linking this gathering of kindred spirits to one another and creating a small network, a family, a clan.

The mutual acceptance that exists within this family strengthens your connections within this web. For every part of yourself that feels unloved, there is a being in this network who loves that part of you. You begin to recognize wholeness within this loving structure. . . . Take a few moments to notice some specific relationships; acknowledge them, and give thanks. . . . This is an opportunity for one heart to speak to another. . . . [Long pause.]

Now allow your vision of the network to expand and you will perceive more golden filaments connecting to more loving hearts, spreading and growing until the filaments of light form a glowing, jeweled network around the entire globe. . . . This luminous web is nearly invisible, so take a moment to acknowledge and strengthen it. . . . [Pause.]

For each sharing of the light given, a sharing is returned—even if words and actions do not seem to reflect it—because now we are in the dimension of the heart. Take a few moments for deeper reflection from this loving space.

Allow yourself to fully bask in the wholeness, and spend as much time here as you like. . . . [Long pause.]

When you feel complete, thank Giraffe for sharing her special perspective. . . .

Now, as you look out over the veldt, you can see how each animal and plant in the wide, open range exists in loving relationship with all the others.

Climb back down from the tree and return to Earth. Ground and center yourself.

Remember Giraffe’s gentleness and make that a part of yourself. No matter how correct or incorrect you may think yourself or another to be, gentleness and kindness are always appropriate. This is the Gift of the Heart.

The memory of Giraffe's loving gaze will always be in your heart to remind you that you need never be afraid to look into the eyes of others, where you will always see the truth.

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