Since these initial experiences, I have become familiar with the term telempathy, a phrase coined by Joan Ocean, who has spent years swimming with the wild spinners in Hawaii. Telempathy is a combination of telepathic and empathetic communication, or empathy at a distance. Empathic communication occurs when we experience the exact sensations of someone or something else with whom we are emotionally close. My own experience has shown me that dolphins tend to be extremely empathic. They seem to have the ability to feel the pain and emotional state of another being. This, combined with their echolocation or imaging skills -- the ability to project clicking sounds (created in the air sacs beneath the blowhole) out in front of them, then interpret the soundwaves as they are reflected back, thereby determining the size and distance of foreign objects -- seems to make for a very sophisticated form of telepathy. I am reminded of a woman in our group on our trip to Hawaii who was pregnant. She didn't go into the water for the first couple of days because she felt tired from the flight. When she finally did, she was surrounded by dolphins who seemed to show a particular interest in her. It was if they knew she was carrying a child and needed special attention. The combination of these two skills -- the ability to be empathic and also to "see through things" -- makes the dolphins especially suited as "healers" (by their very presence) and as messengers, perhaps even cosmic messengers.

When people ask if dolphins have changed me, I say that I seem to have more dreams now and fewer plans than I used to. I hold my dreams out in front of me and then let them go. Invariably my dreams show up in unexpected ways and sometimes in new forms -- here we are, it’s time, here’s the connection or the opportunity. I worry less about the details and spend more time putting color into my daydreams, adding scents and enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin.

In the midst of great change or loss I am reminded to trust that everything is unfolding perfectly. Stay calm, listen and catch the next wave. I try to practice living in dolphin time. To me dolphins live in circular time as opposed to linear time. For many of us life appears to move in straight lines, but perhaps it is more accurate to say it moves in many directions at once perfectly synchronized. We are not separate from one another, but part of a much greater pod that has its own intelligence. Our job is just to tune in and then get out of our own way.