Beloveds, be like goldfish who swim through life. How effortlessly they glide! They go around any obstacle or above it and do not think of the word "obstacle". To goldfish, it's as fine to swim this way as to swim that. They do not have their heart set on one direction over another. Swimming is swimming. And merrily they swim.

Their beauty lies in their swimming. Their grace is in their swimming. What they swim past or what swims past them is not a distraction nor is it of import. Always there are other swimmers in the sea of life a fish swims in. Whatever other swimmers there may be, no matter how spectacular they may be, every fish knows his own worthiness. He takes notice but does not compare. One fish is not better than another. They exist as they are.

Wherever other fish swim to, it's wonderful. Wherever Our goldfish swims to, it's also wonderful. The wonder is the swimming itself.

Fish are not about performance. And yet, with their naturalness of poise, they could be on the highest stage. Swimming in a little tank, with or without audience, makes no difference to them. Wherever they are, they are goldfish who swim the sea.

All animals are your teachers. You are to learn from them.

Animals know the joy of life. Even abandoned ones do not name themselves abandoned. They know the universe is for them, and that they are secure in it. They have great trust in their own knowing. Their trust in their own beauty is great.

Animals know the joy of life, and they know what is important, and would teach it to you.

Animals do not get embroiled in the tension of accomplishing. They have no lists to check off. They contribute with their being. They contribute to you with their being.

Consider that all animals are enchanted beings. This they share with you.

You do not know who any animal is nor yet know why he was sent to you. But this you can know: there is something for you to learn and emulate.

Of course, you are the caretaker of animals, and so you are apportioned. But those innocent beings you call animals are very aware of their responsibility to you.

You have called animals dumb. They might call you blind and deaf. Animals have more sense than you. They survive and triumph under conditions that you could not withstand. Even the most downtrodden animals in your immediate world look up at you with love. No less the stray than the one who lives by the hearth.

Because animals know what is important, they focus. They focus more on understanding you than you do on understanding them. Beloved animals are open whereas you may have closed. Surely you have been closed to something, and you have many excuses for it. But the animal world knows not of excuse. What a lesson that is!

Even if you have no fish, no dogs, no cats, no birds in your home, a beloved animal of Mine will present himself to you today. He will have a great message for you. Look into his eyes, receive the message, believe you have received it and take the message to heart. You have been blessed with it.