The Two Sides of Animals

Many animal communicators talk about the different sides of an animal they communicate with and they often refer to those two sides as the "personality" and the "soul." I tend to think of it more as communicating with the young part of an animal vs. their older/wiser self. Regardless, you don't have to be an animal communicator to experience these two parts of your animal. Your animal may be operating from their older/wiser self when they are trying to help you learn something they have come into your life to teach you, and they may be operating from their younger self when they act goofy, attack the toilet paper roll in the bathroom or steal food off the counter.

I had an experience recently where I got to witness the young side of an animal, and it had me laughing for days. I had gone to see Leo after he had major knee surgery, hoping the reiki would help speed up the healing process. Leo is a very happy, very active dog, who was not thrilled that his movement needed to be limited for so many weeks, so while doing reiki on his leg, his mom and I were talking about her challenge of keeping him inactive, when the last thing Leo wanted to do was sit still.

She and I were brainstorming ways she could mentally stimulate him, while still keeping him relatively quiet. I suggested taking him for car rides, so he could at least have an outing and see/smell things as they drove around. His mom told me that car rides weren't an option because Leo got too wound up and excited when they were getting into the car and that he would insist on excitedly jumping in, even when she was trying to get him to slowly, calmly get into the car. She thought it was too big of a risk.

Not one to be deterred, I began talking to Leo about it, explaining to him that if he could be more calm when they got into the car, his mom might be more willing to take him out for rides, when all of the sudden he got really fidgety. He had been laying there, very calmly receiving reiki but as soon as I started asking him if he could share in the responsibility of ensuring he didn't overdo it and injure his healing leg, he began licking his paws, trying to lick the area where his stitches were, turning his head away repeatedly, refusing to look at me. His mom and I were humored by his reaction and when we changed the subject, he became very calm again and layed down to enjoy his reiki treatment.

A few minutes later, I tried talking about it again and immediately, Leo started the same behavior . . . fidgeting, licking, refusing to look at me. Clearly, he did not want to hear what I was saying. What I was picking up from him was the equivalent of a child putting their hands over their ears and saying, "I can't hear you! I can't hear you!"

Since Leo didn't want to talk about the car rides, his mom and I went back to talking about other ways she could give him mental stimulation during these weeks of forced rest. I asked her if she would consider reading to him, as I have seen the positive effects of reading to animals before. She said she was opened to giving it a try.

The next week, I went back to see Leo again and his mom informed me that Leo did not enjoy being read to. I was surprised so I asked her what she read to him and she replied, "Muffin Mouse's New House." I could immediately sense what Leo was feeling . . . the book was WAY too juvenile for him. I teased his mom about it and explained to her that Leo would be more interested in a book that was a little deeper, a little more mature. (I felt I was communicating with his older/wiser self at this point). We had a really good laugh about "Muffin Mouse's New House" and she told him she'd find a better book to read to him.

The next week, I got an email from Leo's mom, telling me that she had read some of Wayne Dyer's "The Power Of Intention," to Leo and that he had a much better reaction. She said that he seemed very interested the whole time she was reading and interestingly enough, the chapter was about physical healing. Clearly, Leo felt he could get more out of "The Power of Intention" than he could out of "Muffin Mouse's New House."

That same week, they had to go to the vet to get his stitches out. Leo's mom reported that for the first time, Leo was a perfect angel getting in and out of the car, moving as slowly and as carefully as she had asked him too. Even though Leo didn't want to hear what we were saying about the car all those weeks earlier, he obviously had listened. Now his mom is much more comfortable taking him in the car, since he has shown he can share in the responsibility of ensuring he doesn't damage his leg before it fully heals.

So, keep in mind that your animals have these two sides as well . . . their "wise self" and their "young self" . . . and regardless of which side they are operating from, they are always trying to communicate something to you.