Animals give thoughtful answers

This past week, when I went to give a reiki treatment to one of my animal clients, her guardian told me that she and her husband had been trying to figure out if their dog would like another dog companion. She asked me if I could talk to her dog about it, which I was happy to do.

It was such an enjoyable conversation and a sweet reminder of just how robust the thought processes of animals are. They think, they feel, they process information, just as we do, and they really appreciate it when all those thoughts and feelings are acknowledged.

When we started talking about it, her first question was, "What would the dog look like?" Her guardian confirmed that if they got another dog, it would be the same breed as she was, so the answer was "He or she would look a lot like you." She was quiet for a few minutes and I could tell she was really thinking about how she wanted to respond.

When she was ready to talk, she told me she was not sure if she wanted another dog in the house. She explained that she was conflicted, because she really did like playing with other dogs and she thought it would be fun to have someone around to play with all the time and at the same time, she wasn't sure she wanted to share her mom and dad with anyone else. She really wasn't sure what she wanted.

We told her that we understood how she felt and that there was no pressure. She asked if we could check in again in six months and ask her again. Her mom smiled and said, "Of course, we can talk about it again in six months."

This sweet little dog thought about it a little longer and then had some more ideas. She wanted to know if her mom and dad could babysit some other dogs in the next six months, so she could get a feel for what it would be like to have another dog around all day and night. She thought that it would be important for her to "try it out" and see what it was really like to share her mom and dad with someone else, especially at night. Her mom agreed that if the opportunity presented itself, they would certainly babysit the dogs of any of their friends who were going out of town, so she could see what it was like.

This pleased her immensely and she seemed so content. She appreciated the fact that her mom and dad were interested in her opinion and she was so happy everyone understood her concerns. She closed her eyes and just soaked up the reiki after that. She got so relaxed, she even fell into a sound sleep during the last part of her reiki treatment.

One of the things I love about the work I do with animals is they never cease to amaze me. Even though I know they think and feel and process things, to have the opportunity to witness it again and again is still one of the sweetest parts of my job. I am in awe of animals, of their minds and of their hearts . . . and I think I will be for the rest of my life.

Reading body language

I often tell people that even if they can't receive telepathic messages from their animal, they can still communicate with them. It's just a matter of watching their animals' body language when they talk to them. Animals will give you answers and show you what they think of what you are saying, through their body language. By watching them, and their reactions to what you say, you have a wonderful way to enhance your own communication with your animal.

I find that I coach my clients a lot, to help them better communicate with their animals, so that they don't always need someone like me. It's not that I want to put myself out of a job :-) I just believe very strongly that the better we can communicate with our animals, the stronger our bond can be and I want to do what I can to help strengthen the bonds between humans and their animals.

Recently, I was at a client's house and she was telling me that one of her cats was driving her batty because she didn't know what she was asking for when she would meow loudly. She was telling me that when her cat starts meowing like crazy, it makes her crazy because she doesn't know what she needs . . . Is she hungry? Is she in pain? Does she just want attention? Is she trying to tell her something else?

I suggested that she tell her cat, "If you're trying to tell me this, then this is what I need you to do." She looked at me with a puzzled look on her face and just as I was trying to figure out a better way to say what I had just said, her cat came into the room and started meowing like crazy. Her guardian said "See, this is what I am talking about." I asked her, "What do you think she's trying to tell you?" and she said, "I don't know, maybe she's hungry" so I said, "Well, then tell her, "If you want food, I need you to go stand by your bowl" and immediately, her cat walked over to her bowl. Her guardian giggled with delight over the clear communication she was receiving and promptly opened a can of cat food and put it in the bowl. All was quiet, as her cat happily devoured the can of food.

The next time I was at her house, she said, "I need you to talk to my other cat Niko, he's been beating up one of my other cats recently and I don't like it." So, when Niko came into the room, I started to talk to him, explaining that it wasn't ok for him to beat up his brother and immediately he turned his head the other way, refusing to look at us. His mom and I couldn't help but laugh, seeing his obvious reaction to what I was saying to him. We started to talk about something else and Niko began having eye contact with us again, but when I went back to talking to him about how he needed to stop beating up his brother, once again, he turned his head away, refusing to look at me while I was talking to him. Clearly, he was telling us that he didn't want to hear what I was saying.

That was just a few days ago and I'm still waiting up an update from Niko's guardian. If there hasn't been any change in his behavior, I'll need to talk to him some more the next time I am there and see if I can find out why he's suddenly so intent on beating up his brother.

I think you will find that you can increase your understanding of your animals if you observe their body language more closely. Talk to them and see how they respond. They may surprise you, by showing you they know exactly what you are saying to them.

Animals as Guides

I believe that all animals are willing and able to serve as our guides while we are here on earth. The key is whether or not we're paying attention enough to receive the guidance they are sharing with us. While we most often think of our pets playing this role, the truth is, any animal, bird, reptile or insect that we encounter, may be attempting to give us guidance.

I have written about this before in past blogs, and mentioned one of my favorite books, Animal Speak, by Ted Andrews, that I frequently refer to when an animal "shows up" in a way that catches my attention. I emphasize "show up" because when we are getting guidance, the animal (or bird, reptile, insect) will make a point of getting our attention.

For instance, I see crows in my neighborhood all the time, I see and hear them when I am sitting in my backyard but I don't necessarily see that as "showing up." On the other hand, the other day, when I was sitting in the backyard, a crow landed on my fence right in my line of sight and then he sat there and stared at me for quite a few minutes, not moving, not adjusting his gaze. I knew he was "showing up," so I went inside to get my Animal Speaks book and see what guidance he was offering me.

The other night, I was leaving a clients house and she mentioned that a couple nights earlier, a friend had driven her home and they were sitting in the car visiting. They saw an opossum walk in front of the car, not once but twice. I told her my assumption was that the opossum was trying to get their attention. Of course, we can interpret the presence of an animal anyway we want. We can think "Ick, what is that thing doing in front of my house?" or we can consider that maybe it is trying to give us a message.

I mentioned once before that a friend of mine had been doing a lot of hiking with his wife and several days in a row, a badger crossed their path. The badger was close enough to make his presence known, but he didn't do anything to frighten them. He and his wife thought it was odd although they didn't give it much thought beyond that, but when I read to him, from Animal Speak, what a badger represents when they "show up" his jaw dropped. He said he couldn't believe how clearly the "message" related to the very things that were going on at the time for he and his wife, the very things they had been discussing while they were out hiking.

And just a couple weeks ago, I had an experience so strange, I feel compelled to share it. It was a warm day, so I had the back door opened. (I don't bother to close the screen anymore, since Lucky was kind enough to make german shepherd sized holes in it for me. I am sure she was thinking it would be helpful to me if I didn't have to get up and open the screen door when she wanted to go out back). :-) So, the backdoor was wide opened and I was up in my office. I heard a strange buzzing sound and looked behind the blinds in the window and realized a bee was buzzing against the glass. I told him to follow me and I'd show him the way back downstairs and out of the house but he didn't follow me. :-)

I got distracted when the phone rang, then got busy doing other things and finally went back up to my office to send some emails an hour or two later. When I sat down, I heard the buzzing again only this time it was louder. I looked behind the wood blinds and saw not one but two bees. I rushed downstairs, got a cup and a piece of paper, since I now knew I wasn't going to get the bees to follow voice commands, and went back up to begin the rescue mission.

I gently scooped the first bee into the cup, put the paper over the top so he wouldn't fly out and then deposited him on some flowers in the backyard. When I came back in, I closed the door, so he couldn't accidentally come back in, then headed upstairs to rescue the second one, only to discover there were three bees there. One by one, I gently scooped them into the cup, brought them outside, closing the backdoor behind me to ensure they didn't come back in.

Once I got all four of them safely outside, I heard the dryer buzz, so I went to the laundry room to get my clothes out of the dryer when I heard that familiar buzzing again. I looked around and sure enough, I found another bee in the laundry room. I went and got the cup again and got him transported to the flowers outside.

After I folded the laundry and put everything away, I sat down on the couch and once again, I heard buzzing. I couldn't believe it. It felt like I was in some alternate universe. In all the years I have lived here, never once has a bee come into the house. I looked behind the shutters in the front window and found two more bees. Once again, I got the cup and piece of paper and one by one, brought them outside, closing the door behind me each time.

I was thinking to myself "What in the heck is going on?" and "Why did all these bees want to come inside the house today?" when all of the sudden it dawned on me . . . they were clearly trying to get my attention. I grabbed my Animal Speak book and read up on what it means when a bee "shows up" in your life (or seven of them) :-) I smiled as I read what they represent, because they were things I definitely needed to hear that day.

So, I encourage you to pay more attention, whether you are at home, or out in nature, or on your way to or from work . . . are any animals, birds, reptiles or insects "showing up," trying to get your attention? They just might have an important message for you.

My Uncle Jim

This past week, my uncle Jim unexpectedly passed away. It came as a shock to everyone because he wasn't ill and seemed to be in good health. When my cousin (his daughter) asked if any family or friends wanted to write a favorite story about her dad, I knew it would be a good thing for me to do, since writing seems to be one of the best ways for me to process my feelings when someone dies.

I sat down and wrote out a few of my favorite memories of my uncle Jim, then sent them to my brother and sister, to have them check facts for me, since I wasn't sure if my memory of the events was accurate. Apparently, either my memory is great, or theirs are no better than mine because they didn't see anything that needed to be changed. :-)

I decided to share one of the stories in my blog this week, in part to honor my uncle Jim and also because it's a story about one of my favorite childhood dogs, Clancy, and it was fun to remember how he ended up being a permanent member of our family.

We grew up in California, so we didn’t get to interact much with all our relatives on the east coast. We got to see Uncle Jim more than anyone because his work would often bring him out to the west coast, but I still didn’t know him well. I had always assumed people on the east coast were no-nonsense types, conservative, more formal, and less emotional than those of us in California. I have no idea how I formed this opinion, but thanks to uncle Jim, I learned that those generalizations I had made about east-coast folks were wrong.

One year, back around 1979 or 1980, uncle Jim was in California on business and came over for dinner. We had just adopted a new dog a couple of days earlier and my parents weren’t sure they were going to let us keep him. Us kids, of course, had fallen in love with the dog and were determined to keep him.

Somehow in all the commotion that evening, our new dog, Clancy, slipped out of the house. When we finally discovered that he was missing, we were all frantic. I don’t even know if we were done with dinner yet, but immediately everyone was up from the table and out the door, in search of our missing dog.

This was when I began discovering my misconceptions about uncle Jim. I assumed that he would think we were all crazy for making such a big deal about a dog we had only had for a couple of days, but much to my delight, he joined in the search and seemed just as concerned as the rest of us that the dog was missing. There he was, walking the streets of a neighborhood he wasn’t familiar with, yelling “Clancy, Clancy!” along with the rest of us.

After an hour or so of combing the neighborhood, we came back to the house to regroup. Uncle Jim and I were walking into the kitchen together, when I heard my mom talking out loud to God. She said that if he helped bring Clancy back, he would never have to leave again, that we would for sure keep him. I don’t know what I was happier about, that I heard my mom make this promise to God, or that I had uncle Jim as a witness.

After several more hours of frantic searching, we finally found Clancy! When he was safely back in our house, us kids were excitedly telling him that he was going to get to stay forever, when my dad said, “We don’t know that yet.” I quickly pointed out that I had heard mom make a promise to God that he would get to stay. I saw my mom hesitate for a minute, so I chimed in with, “And uncle Jim heard her too.” And that seemed to be all it took to secure her promise and give Clancy his forever home.

I was delighted to find out that night that my Uncle Jim had such a good and caring heart and that he was willing to side with the kids when it came down to parents vs. kids. After that visit, I had a whole new perspective on my uncle Jim and looked forward to his next visit.

I sent the above story, as well as another one to my cousin and the next day, I got an email back from her telling me how much she, her mom and her sister had enjoyed the stories. She said the stories made them all laugh and cry and she wanted me to know how much they appreciated them.

It got me thinking about how much it means to someone to know what their loved one meant to other people, whether that loved one is a person or an animal. To know how someone's life was impacted by the deceased shifts the focus to their life, rather than their death, and to me, that is one of the most important things we can do . . . to honor the life, instead of focusing on the death.

So if you encounter someone who has lost a loved one, whether it's a person or an animal, and that loved one touched your life or impacted you in some way, I hope you will let them know. You will be giving them a great gift, helping them to focus on their loved ones life, helping them to remember why that life was so important . . . and giving them something positive to focus on in the difficult weeks and months that lie ahead.