My undergrad. clinical and humanistic psychology professor at UC Santa Cruz, Ralph Quinn, said on more than one occasion, “Healing happens in relationship.” He included here a relationship with a higher power besides with another person or people. By extension, I think this certainly can and does apply to a connection one has with a pet, a wild animal, or with all or part of nature for that matter.
(Photo accompanying this post by Sebastian Arie Voortman.)
The Practical, Fanciful Pagan 
I agree!
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Oh yes!
Different kinds of healing happens in (and requires I’ve come to believe) different ways and frequencies and durations of relationships…of all sorts! From those random one-off encounters with a stranger that stay with you forever because something about it healed you, to the big rock you visit and talk to daily… and lol those lovely animals who know how we feel before we do, as well as the ones who teach us lessons we need to learn. And so so much more…the trees!!! This is just a small bit of what Herman Hesse wrote about trees, “Whoever has learned how to listen to trees no longer wants to be a tree. He wants to be nothing except what he is. That is home. That is happiness.”
I didn’t used to fully buy into this, but I do now believe that in addition to spiritual “help” (however that looks for different people), nature beings, and the creatures of the wild and domestic ones, we humans need at least a few other humans with whom we can be in ongoing relationship where there is a mutual honoring of being and becoming together, in order to heal.
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Well-said! I appreciate how you flesh out the message of my post with further, thoughtful elaborations. Thank you.
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