One day about 5 years ago, when I lived in the beautiful city of Chicago, I was standing on the stoop outside of my apartment when a gorgeous monarch butterfly flew right by me.  The timing was just too perfect.  I had to know more…

In that moment, I realized that there was something greater at work.  I didn’t call up the butterfly and say, “Hey Mr. Butterfly, I’m going to be standing on my stoop at 1:34pm, so if you could just fly by, that would be awesome.” Nope.  It was serendipitous.  And it got me thinking…

How many amazing animal and creature moments have I been missing in my life because I’ve been so busy or distracted by my to-do list?  What is nature trying to tell me?

So, instead of asking nature (too easy), I Google’d “monarch butterfly symbolism.”  Turns out the monarch butterfly is the symbol of positive change, transformation and new beginnings.  I had just made a bunch of healthy changes in my life and was considering leaving a big corporate job for a creative career.  Big changes were upon me, and the butterfly was a high-five from the Universe.

Thus began my spirit animal discovery process.  Every time a cool creature crosses my path, I Google it.  If I see a lizard, I know it’s about my shadow self (the areas of myself that I don’t want to show others).  If I see a honey bee, I know it means prosperity and abundance.  I love honeybees showing up. If a hummingbird comes by to say hello, I know that it’s telling me to focus on love and joy in my life.  And even spiders mean something!  When a spider appears, it means I’ve gotta get back to my writing.

To get even weirder with it all (if it wasn’t weird enough for you yet), I asked a life coach how to discover my main Spirit animal.  I sat in meditation and allowed an environment to appear in my thoughts.  I then kindly asked my Spirit animal to reveal itself.  A stunning giraffe appeared within the bushes to say hello.  Giraffes are creatures of love, gentleness and kindness, which is obviously perfect for me (maybe not everyone agrees with that, but that’s besides the point).  It was really cool, for a nerd like me.

If you want to get even weirder, you can create your animal totem.  Those are all of the main creatures that present themselves to you on a regular basis.  As of now, mine consists of the Monarch butterfly, the lizard, hummingbird, giraffe, spider and the honey bee.

Your Spirit animals can appear at any time.  Recently, when I was standing on a street corner, a homeless man yelled out “shark!”  No one else around, so of course I received the message and researched the symbolism, and it described me really well.  Signs are everywhere.

Everything means something if we let the mysteries of the Universe reveal themselves to us and we’re willing to listen.  Life is way more fun that way.

Watch the video to find out what are Erin Darling and Clarke Wolfe’s spirit animals.

Now that we’ve shared our spirit animals with you, we’d love to know if you’ve had any cool or weird spirit animal experiences.  Leave a comment below and let us know!

Until next time…

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