ANIMALS AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE: DOG IS GOD SPELLED BACKWARD

Our intuitive and "attuned to nature" animals are our role models for parenting gone "right." We, as a human species have moved further and further away from nature and nurture. Instead of following our animal instincts and connecting to our infants, we oftentimes, and sometimes inadvertently "disconnect" from them, sometimes immediately after birth. According to Attachment Theory (John Bowlby), what we need for our mental health is eye to eye, skin to skin, and heart to heart connection. When we fail in establishing a consistent and significant attachment to our babies, we create what I call the "hole in the soul." This mother-infant disconnect seems to be the basis for many forms of psychopathology including depression and anxiety. Our animals are our wisdom masters, teaching us to stay close and breastfeed, stay attuned and connect, and support the mothers that feed our next generation. Not only does our system provide little support for our primary caregivers in the form of maternity leave, our fathers and community are sometimes absent and unavailable to nourish the nourisher, creating a weaker and sicker next generation. Our animals are capable of empathy and unconditional love and can help nourish the human race and reconnect us to our nurturing roots. Today we shrunk the tune: "THe Dog Song," By Nellie McKay