Add it up! Take one amateur photographer. Discover fascination with brilliant red lettuce. Take up close and possibly way too personal photographs. Don’t make people guess what it is. Happy summer from Seattle.
© 2012 Robyn M Fritz
Lavender: When Summer Makes You Smile
We joke about summer in Seattle all year—and can’t stop smiling when it shows up!
Bonus is, it also smells great, especially when the lavender harvest is in.
I am so grateful when I work to establish good relationships with people who love their work, and then I enjoy the fruits of our mutual labor! Like my auto mechanic I bumped into this morning while we were waiting for iced coffees. Like the farmer at the West Seattle Farmer’s Market, who brought me some tiny lemon basil plants to humor my city girl’s green thumb, knowing all the while that I’d still buy oodles of it when she harvests, which I did (what you don’t gobble yourself makes lovely gifts).
And especially like Marcella Stachurski at Cedarbrook Lavender and Herb Farm in Sequim, Washington, who picked up the phone a few years ago, when the Seattle lavender crop had failed, and promptly filled my entire large large large order. It was literally on my doorstep the next morning (having delighted our postal carrier all day on his route). The lavender doesn’t get picked until it’s ready, and it’s shipped the same day.
Summer. Lavender. People who love their jobs.
Awesome.
© 2012 Robyn M Fritz
How To Be a Watermelon Intuitive
Relaxing is one of the best ways to tap your intuition. No pressure, no anxiety, nothing but a bit of time to play.
Sounds like August, right? So try this.
Get a watermelon. Yes, a watermelon. Take it outside and explore it: look, touch, smell, taste, thump it (hear it). Get messy with watermelon: experience it with all five senses.
Now explore it with your intuition. Close your eyes and imagine it: imagine watermelon. Don’t think about it, just imagine it.
How does watermelon work for you? Is it by touch, in pictures or color, an idea or emotion, a smell, a knowing? Where are you aware of it beyond your five senses? Do you like it? Why or why not? Where in your body do you know that?
That place where you know watermelon is your intuition.
Play with it. Experiment. It’s your intuition. Yours. Awesome!
Once you know watermelon, how does that help you know where your strongest intuitive skill is?
© 2012 Robyn M Fritz
Our Birthday Wish for Your Animal Family
Today, July 16, 2012, my beloved Murphy would have been 14 years old. Instead, I lost her on March 8, 2012, to splenic cancer, one of many diseases I now learn is linked to early spay/neuter.
Yes, my grief is compounded because I did what the animal care community, from veterinarians to shelters to breeders, insist is the proper thing to do: spay or neuter your animals as babies, before they are sexually mature.
Sadly, that is not true. Today, 50% of dogs over 10 get cancer. It’s an epidemic. Thyroid issues, obesity, arthritis, hip dysplasia, cancer … it’s a big list, and early spay/neuter is one of the culprits.
What are we doing to our families? To ourselves?
The research is out there, and being ignored. Why? Ignorance. Propaganda. Politics. A deadly combination of trying to do the right thing, for example, reducing pet overpopulation, and not thinking things through, or keeping up with the research.
Was Murphy ‘old enough,’ as some people say? No, but she was old, and happy, vigorous for her age, and we were robbed of more time together.
Most important? Murphy was family.
Are your animals family members? My animals are part of what I call a multi-species family. What does the human-animal bond mean to you? What is proper veterinary care?
How do you define love?
Someone told me recently that I “walk my talk.” I guess that’s true. I believe in the equality of all life, that all beings, whatever they are—human, animal, chair, car, home, business, plant, weather system—all life has a soul, is conscious, has free choice, and responsibility. All life. Including my animal family. I give space for my animals to make choices. So Murphy chose how she would live her ending. Unfortunately, I didn’t know better in the beginning.
The fierce love I have for my animal family to me is normal. My animals are my kids, my family. My partner is a crystal ball. My home is alive and participates in the work I do, as does my business.
Murphy was a dog. She was my soul mate. Right now, I don’t want another soul mate.
Do you?
If so, let’s talk. Let’s brainstorm, in person, on the Internet, and figure out how the love we have for all of life, including our animal families, can keep them as healthy as possible for as long as possible.
Really look hard at the early spay/neuter issue. Take an immediate stand: say no to any animal that comes from someone who insists on spaying or neutering it before it comes to you. Any animal from anywhere, shelter or breeder. Don’t patronize vets or any animal organization or business that supports this insane practice.
Make it stop. That will get attention. That will get us talking. All of us together.
Maybe, then, more people will get something I don’t have today, July 16, 2012: I don’t have my beloved Murphy with me.
I can’t save my soul mate. Help me save yours.
Say no to early spay/neuter, then investigate it and make a decision that works for your family. Research. Connect.
Help me do one more thing: I can’t hug my beloved Murphy on her birthday. Hug your animals for me.
We’re celebrating her birthday tonight with a piece of chocolate cake topped with fresh cherries.
We’ll be lighting a candle for change. For peace. For all of our families. Together.
Light a candle with us. A candle for love. In the end, that’s all we have, and all we need.
Here’s our birthday wish for you: a long healthy life with your animal family.
© 2012 Robyn M Fritz
How Do We Really Define Land of the Free?
The Fourth of July in America has become a puzzle for me. We’ve devolved into an ‘us or them’ paradigm, it seems, where the only thing that matters is our military. Why is that?
Seriously, why is that?
I honor every American who works hard at whatever he or she does: from serving in the military to growing food, building roads, teaching, writing, fitting shoes, whatever it is. Especially those who love their work and respect other people.
I’m also puzzled over the state of our national discourse: people argue, rant and rave, attack characters instead of debate ideas. And somehow in that we get nowhere, as a society, as a culture, as a country.
The Fourth of July used to be something that narrowed the field, so to speak. It gave us a time out to look around and say, “Yes, wow, I am a citizen of this great country.” Time to think about it: “What does that mean, exactly, to be a citizen of the United States of America right here and now?”
Sadly, our culture now seems to be one that perpetuates fear. Yes, there are plenty of things we can fear: hatred, contempt, the politics of loathing, economic turmoil, drought, crop failure, cropped pants, and men who don’t wear shirts in the summer.
But there are plenty more things we can love: each other, determination, courage, experimentation, curiosity, intelligence, commitment, and winter fleece.
There are even more things we can do: we can get together every day, in large ways and small, and connect with each other. A quick smile at the market, a nod at work, letting the annoying driver cut in ahead of you, staring at the sun shining through a thunderstorm (it happens).
The Fourth of July is one of those days: connect to all Americans, as Americans, regardless. We’re not just military. We shouldn’t be. We have other things to be in the world: ambassadors of freedom.
Here’s hoping that next year when they televise the concerts and fireworks and highlight the people we should thank for their service, that they move beyond the military and show people of all races and creeds, representatives from each state, smiling and laughing together, joining together, one heart and one voice: we’re doing something great in the world, together. We’re Americans. We’re proud. We love: each other and the world. Whatever the work we do, whatever we look like. We matter. All of us, together. We’re all the land of the free.
You in?
© 2012 Robyn M Fritz
Vets Say “No” to Early Spay/Neuter, Too
People are starting to listen to those of us who are learning the truth about early spay/neuter.
Vets are starting to speak up as well. Like all pioneers and good-thinking people, they are not always treated well by the establishment. Why? Speaking the truth upsets the status quo, and that often means an income loss for others as well.
Here’s the thing. I lost my beloved Cavalier, Murphy, to a cancer linked to early spay/neuter. I had her neutered at six months because we are all told that’s what you do. The arguments for it are silly and amount to brainwashing by special interests: vets, animal shelters and welfare groups, people who invented procedures and refuse to look at the consequences and the clear proof that it is wrong.
Yes, early spay/neuter is wrong. It leads to cancer, thryoid disease, obesity, arthritis. It should be a choice, a choice made by the animal’s family, the animal, and a responsible, knowledgeable veterinarian.
Check out this article: “At What Age Should I Spay or Neuter My Dog or Cat? What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Neutering My Pet? Revisiting the Idea of Early-Age Neutering.” The article outlines how early spay/neuter got started, what the health and behavior issues are with it, and what it means for you and your animal families. It was written by Ron Hines, DVM, PhD, a Texas veterinarian who is apparently under fire from the Texas veterinary association for sometimes giving free advice online.
Really.
I can’t presume to know why people do the things they do, even though I work as an intuitive, and somehow we’re supposed to know things other people don’t. Truth is, I don’t understand brainwashing, or the subtleties that go along with it.
I just love my animal family, and always tried to do right by them.
At the time I lost Murphy I began to learn the truth about early spay/neuter. I’ve been talking the truth ever since.
People say: “But we have to prevent pet over-population.”
Really?
That hasn’t worked. Besides, are you going to let your animals run around untrained and unsupervised? If so, you have a bigger problem to deal with, which starts with common courtesy and respect. You’re the problem, not my animals.
People say: “We have to adopt all the animals in the shelter. We have to rescue animals.”
Really?
Fine, if you want an animal from the shelter. But consider the irony. The shelters are adopting out animals that are bred irresponsibly by your irresponsible neighbors, and perhaps also by you. They are asking you to take care of it for life, at whatever cost that comes to, and denying you the fundamental right to decide one of life’s most important issues: when to spay/neuter your animal.
And you’re still going to those shelter/rescue places why? Tell them no. They’ll start taking better care of the animals who end up in their care. If you want an animal from a shelter organization, make sure the spay/neuter decision is yours. Not theirs.
The irony for me is, my dogs are purebreds and I’m proud of it. I’m proud of their beautiful personalities, their breed, and I love them. If you want to adopt a dog who’s a mixed bag genetically, then do so. You’re free to do that. Leave my purebreds alone.
My cat is a cat mutt I adopted from a local Seattle rescue organization.
All my animals came to me with a spay/neuter agreement in place. I did so early, because that was the recommendation. I didn’t adopt an animal that was spayed or neutered before it came to me. As a responsible pet parent, I was asked to make that decision for them myself.
As we all should be.
I had no idea that the advice I was getting was wrong.
You do, now.
I lost my beloved dog to a cancer linked to early spay/neuter. I have to live with the idea that I might have contributed to that because the responsible pet parent I thought I was clearly was not.
I didn’t know better.
You do now.
Refuse any animal, purebred or otherwise, where the decision on when and why to spay/neuter is anyone else’s but yours. Policies will change when it costs these organizations the thing they most want: money and your support. Plus, they will educate themselves about the truth behind their misguided policies.
Your animal’s life may be at stake.
Your peace of mind should be.
Love life. Love your animals. Say no to early spay/neuter.
Please.
(c) 2012 Robyn M Fritz
Demystiying Intuition: How to Be a Survivor
- (c) 2011 Danny L. McMillin
We are all intuitive. I teach this by explaining that there were once two branches of humans: one was intuitive, and the other got eaten.
So relax, you are a survivor.
Or, at least, you’re descended from survivors. Improve your odds of staying that way by learning to tap your intuition, which will also help you create a more graceful, vibrant, successful life.
I teach people how to tap into their own plain, ordinary, everyday intuition by exploring what some people call the woo-wooey: yep, when I teach my classes or work privately, our special guests include Mount St. Helens, dragons, goddesses and guides, animals, gardens, a car, a condo, a business, and, of course, my partner, Fallon the Citrine Lemurian Quartz.
Why? Because it’s fun, which is my first rule of life.
Because it’s intriguing, and gets people to use their intuition as a practical sense, just like hearing, seeing, feeling, touching, and tasting.
Because it’s real and commonsense: talking with beings we’re not used to experiencing, or talking with, as equals creates a humbling appreciation of how fascinating and complete our lives can be once we get past the burden of humans being ‘in charge.’ Once we treat all life as equals.
And, yes, because learning to trust your intuition—your gut sense—can save a life.
Years ago my dad was ill and hospitalized for gall bladder surgery the next morning. When my mom called me, she told me not to bother coming: I lived in Seattle, four hours from Salem. When I hung up I was hit so hard by the strong sense that I had to be there that I was on the road in 30 minutes.
Five minutes after I walked into my dad’s hospital room, the surgeon walked in to chat about the surgery. He asked if my dad was allergic to anything, and my parents said “No.”
The same gut sense knowing that pulled me out of my chair in Seattle to drive to Salem hit me again. I blurted out, “Wait a minute, aren’t you allergic to that dye they use for X-rays?”
Startled, the doctor looked at me and then my parents. “Is that true?” he asked.
My parents stared at me in surprise and nodded, perplexed.
The doctor nodded at me in satisfaction and said, “I guess that’s why you’re here today. We would have used that dye before surgery tomorrow. You probably just saved your dad’s life.”
On two other occasions I saved my own life by reacting promptly to that same gut instinct. Ironically, in one of those instances the police called me a ‘survivor.’
Dramatic, yes, and all before I really understood what intuition was, how to use it, and how to teach it.
Now when I teach people how to tap their intuition I help them find what their strongest intuitive ability is: whether they see, hear, feel, or know something beyond what we think we experience daily. People are able to take that knowledge to live more comfortably and completely. To claim their power.
That day at the hospital my intuition saved my dad’s life. Why? Because I listened to the nonlinear, this-doesn’t-make-sense-but-I-know-it’s-right feeling.
How do you learn it?
Well, I think it’s fun to learn it by inviting other beings to come talk with us. Yes, goddesses and dragons, animals and weather, a car, a house, a business, a garden. It’s also astonishingly successful: when people relax and open up to talking with other beings they really learn which intuitive ability works best for them, without the pressure of conforming to what we’re supposed to think or how we’re expected to act.
By taking a full leap into the big wide world that we never think to intimately explore. A world where we are equal with all life.
It’s enlightening. Humbling. Fun.
Come to one of my classes on tapping your intuition, on how to talk with all life. Find out for yourself.
© 2012 Robyn M Fritz
“Murphy’s Choice”: Save Our Dogs, Stop Early Spay/Neuter
Sometimes an issue is so politicized, the cultural issues so huge, you can’t imagine making a difference.
But you know you have to try.
I am calling this issue “Murphy’s Choice.” Because I want your dogs, your beloved animals, to live.
Please. Help me take down the animal welfare community as it currently exists.
End it. Stop it. Put it out of business.
Don’t lose your dog the way I lost my beloved Cavalier, Murphy: to a cancer linked to early spay/neuter. Let’s save our dogs’ lives. Our cats. Our beloved animal families.
How?
Just say no—and make sure they know why you’re saying it.
- Don’t adopt any animal from anyone—shelter, rescue, breeder, irresponsible owners—who requires early spay/neuter. Tell them why.
- Don’t do business with anyone, especially veterinarians, who urges routine early spay/neuter. Tell them why.
- Don’t give money to anyone or any organization, from the Humane Society to Best Friends to your local shelters and rescue groups, who support early spay/neuter. Tell them why.
- Tell everyone you know or meet on the street: what they’re telling us to do to our animals is killing them. There is proof.
Early spay/neuter has not stopped pet overpopulation. It is causing cancer, obesity, thyroid disease, arthritis, hip dysplasia—want to know more? Google it. You’ll find me. You’ll also find research going back years that points to early spay/neuter as a key reason for these conditions and illnesses, and for a host of others that plague our animal families.
That we don’t know this is, honestly, a conspiracy of silence and ignorance. And it is killing our animals.
All issues concerning the animals who are your current or prospective animal family members should be your decision. All of them. Each animal needs to be considered as an individual, with its own needs. You need responsible, knowledgeable veterinarians to help you with those choices. You don’t need to have those decisions made for you by anyone else, no matter how loving and concerned they seem to be.
Because they either don’t know the truth, or they think their political views are more important.
They are wrong.
Really, it’s simple. You add an animal to the family, and you’re expected to care for it for life, which could be years. Yet one of the most crucial issues is when you interrupt its hormonal development, and somehow politics says it should be someone else’s decision. That we are all buying into it is shocking. That we need to stop doing so is obvious.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Take female dogs through at least two heat cycles.
- There is almost no reason to ever neuter a male dog.
When an animal is spayed or neutered depends on that animal’s needs. If that animal is living with you, then it’s your responsibility to know what those needs are, and to meet them.
Right now 50% of dogs over 10 will get cancer.
I lost my beloved Murphy to cancer. She was a week shy of 13 years, 8 months. She had other issues throughout her life, from a thyroid disorder to arthritis. I can’t say for sure everything that was involved in this. (It is not being a purebred, this problem crosses all breeds and mixes, which, by the way, happen to be unethical, and somebody needs to offer a rational explanation for why everyone rushes to adopt the animals that come from people who have irresponsibly allowed their animals to reproduce yet criticizes responsible, careful breeders, but those are serious subjects for another time).
What I now know is that early spay/neuter is a well-known culprit in these conditions. And I can tell you that it was bad enough to lose Murphy, and worse to know that I might have been able to prevent it if I’d just known that early spay/neuter is not a solution to anything.
In 30 years of pushing early spay/neuter we have not resolved pet overpopulation. We have simply brainwashed people into doing it because there is a problem, which assumes that we are not going to be responsible for their care and supervision.
How dumb was I? How dumb is everybody else? How dumb will you be going forward?
Let’s stop the madness. Get off the early spay/neuter bandwagon. Get onto one that protects our animals and our multi-species families. That honors the human-animal bond.
Let’s take down the current animal welfare system. Replace it with loving, calm, committed dialogue and solutions that work for our animal families.
Educate yourself. Educate your neighbors. Then quit doing business with the people and organizations who are perpetuating a myth that is killing our animals.
Here it is, again: early spay/neuter is not solving the pet overpopulation problem, but it is subjecting our animals to serious illnesses and early deaths that can be prevented by not interrupting their hormonal development until they are sexually mature.
Please. Save our dogs. It’s too late for my beloved Murphy. Please, help me save your animal family.
Shut down the animal welfare system as it exists. Just say no.
© 2012 Robyn M Fritz
Why You Need to Tap Your Intuition
Helping people tap into their own plain, ordinary, everyday intuitive awareness is central to my work: how to live graceful, vibrant, successful lives by tapping our intuition.
I teach this by jumping right into what some people call the woo-wooey: yep, when I teach my classes or work privately, we have goddesses and guides, deceased family and animals, Mount St. Helens, dragons, and, of course, my partner, Fallon the Citrine Lemurian Quartz. I am, after all, an MBA with a crystal ball.
To intrigue people to take a leap and experience their intuition as a practical sense, just like hearing, seeing, feeling, touching, and tasting, I use a common-sense, fun method which includes many beings we’re not used to experiencing, or talking with, at all, let alone as equals: Mount St. Helens, dragons, furniture, animals, the dead, trees, condos, weather, businesses. You walk away astounded at how easy it is to talk with things and with a new appreciation of how fascinating and complete our lives can be once we get past the burden of humans being ‘in charge.’
We are all intuitive: personally, I believe humans once came in two varieties: one was intuitive, and the other one got eaten. So you’re a survivor, and you’re intuitive. Get over the woo-wooey thoughts and be grateful. Your ancestors listened to their intuition. They were smart enough to know what was sneaking up on them, and they survived.
So follow in their footsteps. Learning to use your intuition can make your life better. It can even save it.
Here’s an example: years ago my dad was hospitalized, and my mom called to say he was having gall bladder surgery the next morning. Now, they insisted I stay home, but I suddenly knew I had to be there. That certainty hit me so hard in my gut I doubled over. Then I went through the house at high speed. Within 30 minutes I was driving to Salem, about 4 hours from Seattle.
Five minutes after I walked into my dad’s hospital room, the surgeon came to chat about the surgery. He noted my sudden arrival from Seattle and asked my parents if my dad was allergic to anything. They said, “No.”
The same ‘gut sense knowing’ that pulled me out of my chair in Seattle to drive to Salem hit me again. It made me blurt out, “Wait a minute, aren’t you allergic to that dye they inject for X-rays?”
The doctor looked at me and my parents. “Is that true?” he asked.
My parents stared at me in surprise and nodded, perplexed.
The doctor looked at me and said, “That’s why you’re here today. We would have used that dye before surgery tomorrow. You probably just saved your dad’s life.”
That was long before I recognized intuition as a real ability we can learn and use, in things as simple as choosing our daily food. Or saving someone’s life.
That’s why I teach people how to tap their intuition: you will find where your intuition sits in you, and you can work with it to live more comfortably and completely.
That day my intuition saved my dad’s life. Why? Because I listened to the nonlinear, this-doesn’t-make-sense-but-I-know-it’s-right feeling.
Find out how to make it work for you. Learn to sharpen your innate intuitive ability.
Contact me for private sessions or classes on learning intuition.
The life you save may be your own.
I did that once, too.
(c) 2012 Robyn M Fritz
Stop Early Spay/Neuter: Save Our Dogs!
Murphy is dead.
My beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel died March 8 of splenic cancer. She was a week shy of 13 years and 8 months.
She died of a cancer linked to early spay/neuter.
Cancer is the new epidemic in this country: 50% of dogs over 10 get cancer. Don’t believe me? Google it.
Our dogs don’t have to get cancer because of ill-conceived social conventions.
Save your dogs.
Stop early spay/neuter.
Just say no.
Here’s the thing. Cancer comes from a lot of things, including environmental toxins, poor nutrition, genetic mutation, and plain bad luck.
It also comes from interrupting the maturing organism’s hormonal development by spaying and neutering when they’re babies. Before they are sexually mature, as nature designed them.
Why did we ever think we were smarter than nature?
Because of politics.
Stop overpopulation, we’re told (get the irony of that for human populations?). Spay/neuter before the animal is sexually mature.
Has that policy worked? No, it has simply created a gigantic welfare agency called the shelter and rescue community. They have become the new puppy millers. Shut down puppy millers, they claim, including responsible breeders. Instead go to the shelter/rescue people to buy dogs whose parents weren’t spayed and neutered or properly supervised. And the oh-so-well-meaning organization will spay or neuter the offspring, and stop overpopulation.
Which has not happened.
But cancer has.
Make no mistake. You are buying a dog from a shelter or rescue organization, an animal who comes to you before you can choose whether it needs to be spayed or neutered, and when. They are buying into bad advice from their comrades and from the veterinary community.
I would never have spayed or neutered any of my animals early if I’d known the truth about cancer.
Now you know. What are you going to do about it?
I hope you’re going to save your dogs: if not the ones you currently have, then all the ones that come later.
This policy was born in ignorance. It will only stop if we take a stand. Here’s what you do:
- REFUSE. Refuse to buy any dog from any shelter/rescue/breeder/careless person that sticks to the early spay/neuter policy.
- REFUSE. Refuse to support any person or agency that insists on this policy. That includes the Humane Society, Best Friends, veterinarians, pet supplies stores, you got it. All of them.
- EDUCATE. Educate yourself and everyone you meet about this problem.
- COMMUNICATE. Get together and talk about it. Help figure out how we can change mindset and save lives.
Together we can make a difference. We can stop the brainwashing with bad statistics that is ruining lives. We can save our dogs.
Say no to the truly irresponsible organizations and people: refuse to adopt their dogs if they refuse to stop this policy.
The policy will stop soon enough. Because we’ll put them out of business.
Money works. Talk works. Love works.
Murphy is dead. Don’t let your dogs die from something you could have prevented when they were babies.
Stop early spay/neuter.
The life you save may be your beloved animal’s.
© 2012 Robyn M Fritz