Happy Chinese New Year! Pending on who you ask, it is a goat year, or a sheep year, or the year of the ram. It is a GOAT year. OK? I know some pretty awesome Goat people, you know who you are!

Pondering further on the question why the attachment to the goat, let’s explore a little more. Reading a blog earlier today  according to a Chinese woman describing it, the Chinese symbol for this type of animal looked more like a goat. Then again, there may well be others who disagree. Ram and sheep are also mentioned. Sheepish smiles and laughter are, come on, admit it, adorable. Thanks to those among us who claim to be so awake, the sheep has received an unfavorable reputation. I remember mocking other people for being “sheep”, as in following orders, or the mainstream, without question. I no longer derive pleasure from doing so, and as a result have stopped it. Animal totems all have their way of showing us aspects of ourselves to nurture, or to work on integrating more, or releasing what no longer serves.

Even though I initially was attached to making this a goat year, I now can see merit in playing with these three aspects: sheep, ram and goat.

I enjoyed reading this article on the Chinese New Year. Just remember: where there is Love, there is no question. And where there isn’t, that’s where courage and compassion come in, and quiet reflection. Quiet reflection encourages a sense of connection. Connection to self, as part of a greater whole. Bringing in this greater sense of being, you begin to see your greatest self in every living, breathing thing. So that unloving thing staring us in the face then, is just an invitation to go within,  to the source of who we are in essence.  To bring that unloving aspect we see of ourselves in another,  back to source, back into Love again.  Even when you think this is not true, think again. Who suffers from the anger you feel toward the other person? “The acid does more damage to the vessel in which it is stored, then the object,  on which it is poured.” ~ Mark Twain.

Back to the article on the Chinese New Year. Plenty of food for thought is offered here. It is important to remember what exactly serves all,  to look beyond “common knowledge”, and what you are being told to arrive at common sense. Fun read, with discernment. http://astrologyclub.org/chinese-horoscope/2015-year-sheep/

Love,
Nell
~♡~