Discover Your Spirit Animal

I'm fortunate enough to work right on the Lake Michigan shoreline. One of my favorite things to do is take a break to watch the ducks. I've always had this connection with ducks. I'm envious of their ability to live on land, in water, and in the sky. Yet, they are such humble seeming animals, talented, but never flaunting. I like to think of myself as being similar.

In many Native American cultures, there is a great importance in finding your spirit animal. Native American hunters used to mimic the movements of their prey. If they were wolf hunters, they would be the wolf. Bear hunters would be the bear. In this way, they could predict the animal's movements.

One of the things I talk about in my book, Tapping Creativity, is changing your perspective - stepping outside of yourself and re-interpreting your surroundings, concerns, and motivation from a totally different perspective. In my case, as a duck, I would notice things like the grass being so much closer to my field of vision, I'd be a much better swimmer, and old people on park benches would be my best friends.

I keed. I keed. A little.

So give it a try. Observe an animal for as long as you can, even if it is just your cat. Or go take a quiz to discover your spirit animal, then write a little bit from that perspective. You might be surprised what you waddle upon.