The Spiral Journey: Lessons from My Dog Teachers

When I was a young schoolgirl, we were given an assignment in art class to create a design that might win a prize.

My drawings seemed naturally inclined to form plant-like curves and spirals. My design didn't win, but it stayed with me for the rest of my life. I recently attempted to reconstruct it from memory.

Spiral Drawing reconstructed from memory

The Spiral

A spiral revisits the same center repeatedly, but each time from a wider perspective.

Looking back over my life, I realize this is how my thinking, teaching, and spiritual growth have always unfolded.

Again and again I return to the same truths: kinship and communication with animals, living in presence, growing in compassionate love, and recognizing the unity of Spirit and Nature. Yet each return comes from a slightly different place, revealing another layer of understanding.

We don’t move in straight lines. The spiral pattern often unfolds like this:

An experience touches us.

Reflection widens its meaning.

The deeper principle gradually becomes clear.

Then life brings another experience that circles us back to the same lesson, now with greater awareness.

The spiral is everywhere in Nature: shells and horns, unfurling fern fronds, whirlpools and wind currents, galaxies, and even the double helix of DNA.

It’s a pattern of growth that expands while remaining connected to its center.

Spiraling into Compassion

My deep personal desire in life has been to grow in compassionate love. I want to embody or authentically live the greatest love that is possible for me in my human form. Throughout my life, I have worked to heal my wounds and become more conscious of my emotional patterns so I can relax more deeply into the natural kindness and loving care for all beings that is at the core of heart and soul.

I have been aware that this is a spiraling process of repeated encounters with the themes that thread through life. Each time around facing the recurring theme or pattern brings the fruits of our labor in greater understanding, kindness toward self and others, greater expression of love.

I came across a passage by Buddhist teacher Pema Chödrön that beautifully describes this spiraling process of growth.

“And don’t worry, there will always be a next time around. We get many reruns in life, big reruns and small reruns. If your heart is gripped by jealousy or rage or loneliness or any other manifestation of fear, you don’t have to learn from it all at once. It’s not like if you get it right once, if you overcome your jealousy or anger once, then it’s smooth sailing with that emotional pattern for the rest of your life. There will be reruns. It will keep coming back, following the old grooves in the brain. That means you have lots and lots of chances to rouse yourself and let go. No need to exaggerate an emotional pattern, fixate on it, fuel it with more thoughts, or go into a tailspin. When you feel the shakiness, when the thoughts start to arise, when the tailspin is beginning, another rerun is in progress. You simply rouse yourself and let yourself be there.”

Canine Teaching

My dogs have been great teachers in helping me learn through repeated spiral viewing and acceptance of aspects of myself: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Belinda was a loving, wise, attentive helper to me and the students at our in-person courses and retreats until her death in 2018. From comforting students who were going through emotional transformations or joining in to dance in our shamanic drumming circles, she understood her important role as an assistant.

Belinda

Near the end of Belinda’s life, she required intensive veterinary and home care. I had to get up often at night to help her, and I began to feel like a zombie from lack of sleep. When I got irritable with her, I deeply regretted my anger and apologized profusely. One time, Belinda told me to stop apologizing. She told me that she got angry with me, too, sometimes.

I was surprised by her reply. Then I remembered how many times she wanted me to come inside, pawing at the door or even marking in the house to get my attention. I persisted in the next engrossing gardening task, telling her I’d be in soon instead of following her desires. She knew my tendency to overdo the work I was immersed in. She wanted me to take a break and take care of myself.

I realized that she accepted my occasional snappiness as she accepted her own, as a natural part of life. She didn’t judge me like I judged myself. I was treating a passing emotion as though it was a fixed part of me. Belinda simply experienced the feeling, expressed it, and moved on. She never carried it forward the way I did.

What a profound lesson from my wise teacher: accept, learn, apologize when needed, and then let the moment pass.

I adopted my current dog Pico, after he reincarnated from his life as Pepito, my last dog. Pepito had gone through a lot in his first seven years living on the streets with homeless people. He was a sweet and loving being with a lot of trauma that we had to work through in our time together. We had many travel adventures together, quite a change from his prior life of confinement and neglect. We also faced some dark aspects of life, coming to understand the ways they helped us grow and deepen our love.

After Pepito died, he wanted to come back and be together with me as a dog companion again. This time, he planned to start with me as a puppy, so we could live together without having to heal previous trauma. You can read the steps I followed to find and adopt him in 2024 here.

Pico is a sweet, loving, sensitive soul, and we delight in our playful partnership. Every day I feel the privilege of protecting and guiding his life so he can remain the joyful, open soul he came here to be.

Pepito helped me to accept the tenderness and vulnerability of my wounded little child within. Pico is helping in the next evolution of the spiritual journey.

Recently, I was admiring Pico’s wise, sensitive, and loving way of being as I often do. I marvel at his purity and the fullness of his open loving nature.

Pico

He looked up at me and told me that is just how he sees me, as full of love, playfulness, and joy. He showed me how he loved me in the same way I loved him.

Looking through his eyes, I saw myself as a radiant being of light full of soft wisdom and understanding compassion and love. I was no longer a person who defined herself by imperfections that needed fixing. I was as pure a soul as Pico.

Belinda taught me to accept my imperfections.

Pepito showed me the need to heal wounds and restore trust.

Pico is teaching me to accept my essential purity, my original wholeness, opening the door to recognizing the love that has always been there.

Spiraling Home

Looking back, I smile at the little girl who instinctively drew spirals without knowing why they fascinated her.

I see that the spiral has been quietly guiding my life all along. Each return has brought another opportunity to love more deeply, to understand more fully, and to see myself and others with kinder eyes.

The animals who have walked beside me have been among my greatest teachers. With every turn of the spiral they reveal another truth, another invitation, another opening of the heart.

And so the spiral journey continues, always returning to the same center, yet never quite the same as before.