Last week Cathy and I went to my hometown in Nebraska for my 50th high school reunion. While my thoughts and memories approaching this weekend could be excellent fodder for this blog, we had an experience that provides some anecdotal evidence that our thought energy is very powerful and can travel very long distances. Apparently, we don’t need a phone or a computer to communicate with our dogs when we are away.
The story begins with the almost obsessive attachment our dog, Lucas, has to Cathy. (He is obviously a very smart dog.) He is so attached that when she’s away from home, for an hour, or a day or longer, he is always waiting and watching for her return. Many times I’ve observed him seemingly sensing when she is about to return home. He will come wait by the door and a few minutes later, Cathy will drive into the garage.
Around midnight, my sister woke us saying we had to move to the basement. Central Nebraska was under an extreme weather warning and everyone was told to seek cover. We spent an hour waiting for the storm to pass through and then returned to bed. At 1:30 a.m. our dog sitter texted that Lucas had been acting very weird for the past couple of hours, running all around the house and bothering our other dog, Travis. She was concerned enough to wake us for advice. This was very unusual behavior, especially in the middle of the night.
Did he connect with Cathy’s concern about the weather? Did he connect with her inability to sleep because of the storm’s thunder and lightning? Or was it just an interesting coincidence that he was upset and exhibiting bizarre behavior at exactly the same time that we were feeling very nervous about the storm over our heads?
There have been many studies and research done that show your thoughts send out measurable energy past your own brain. We’ve all heard the anecdotal stories of people being aware of when their loved ones are in trouble before being told the actual information. I’ve mentioned before that we do an exercise in our retreats that shows how negative thinking can impact another person in the room – even when they are totally unaware of the negativity.
For me, it’s enough to know that my thoughts have a more powerful impact than I might normally consider. This gives me even more reason to be aware moment by moment what energy I am sending out to the world. Apparently, it not only impacts my energy, my intelligence, my health, my work but it also can disturb the animal world 400 miles away.
Makes you wonder doesn’t it? What impact are you making on the world with your thoughts? Are you sending out positive energy knowing it has an effect both on you and others near you? And, those thoughts may be influencing people far from you. So, be careful what you think. Thoughts can travel.
With this in mind, I suggest that 11 a.m. Mountain Time today as you finish reading this, send out this thought to the United States Congress – DO SOMETHING CONSTRUCTIVE!
Sending out only positive thoughts for miles and miles and miles,
Gary
When our father died in the middle of the night in California, both my sister (50 miles away) and I (1200 miles away) woke up thinking about him. Oddly, this didn’t happen nearly 30 years later with our mother — but he was only 68 and in full command of his faculties, while our mother was 97 and suffering from mild dementia.
Paula,
Thanks for sharing another example of thoughts traveling great distances.