Learning to communicate with animals – of course you can do it! May 19, 2010

OK, I know I promised this weeks ago, but I wanted to clean up the book a bit before I put it out there. Editorial mistakes can be distracting and I hate to get comments about picky stuff. I’ve said it before, anyone can communicate with animals, and I’ve written a work book telling you how. I’m going to print the first few chapters in this blog to give you something to start with. I would love feedback after you try the excercises, and I am happy to coach you as you go, so let me know if you need help. Today you get the introduction and the first exercise, and  next week I’ll give you another exercise to work with. There is no magic or secret code to crack – trust me, if you try it, you’ll see what I mean.

The Vegetarian in a Steakhouse Workbook

 This is not a book for people who want to learn how to communicate with animals on a professional level. I don’t, and never plan to – my life is busy enough without adding to the congestion. However, if you want to learn how to seamlessly integrate animals into your life as friends and companions, or have a dialogue with a puppy you meet on the street, or understand what the squirrel on your back porch is thinking about as it looks through the window at you, then I can help you because that is the story of my life. Each and every day is filled with conversation and camaraderie with my dozens of furry and feathered friends, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.

Anyone can do it. I’ll say it over and over again; communicating with animals is not magic, nor does it take great psychic powers. All you need is a willingness to understand them, the ability to pay attention and carefully observe, and a trust in your own instincts, which is probably the hardest part.

But be warned. Once you start to hear what your animal friends have to say to you, you will be forever changed. I know I will never be the same. I see the world through their eyes, and it is a very dangerous place when for so many of them the future holds little more than being portioned out as part of a stir fry, Sunday barbeque or dog pound euthanasia statistic. These are things most people don’t want to know or think about since they’re too disturbing. And even worse (for some people) do you really want to know your dog thinks your favorite perfume is the most rancid thing he’s ever smelled? Hey, it happens.   

Animals are not like humans – they are completely honest about who they are, what they want and how they feel. Hypocrisy has no place in their lives, and if you want to develop the best possible relationship with them, you should clean it out of yours, especially in the areas that concern them. Can you stand at the window of a pet store and chat with a chinchilla while wearing a coat with fur trim that was peeled off of her cousin? Can you ooh and ah over a baby calf at a country fair, then eat a plate of veal parmesan? Probably. Most people can. They have no problem separating the calf from the plate of food; the connection between the two has been severed. I, however, can’t do it because I’ve opened a door into a world where I now know way too much about how my animal friends and acquaintances feel. It’s a hard life, filled with responsibility and constant vigilance.

The flip side is that the animals also know how I feel. They know I adore every one of them, from the largest horse to the smallest spider on my porch, and they watch over me as carefully as I watch over them. Every move I make as I go about my day on Locket’s Meadow is saturated with conversation, much like wandering through a large party packed with friends and family. For the most part, I don’t even notice it happening, it’s so integrated into everything I do, but every once in a while someone points it out to me, and I have to laugh.

One day, I was crossing from the commercial side of the farm to the house side, followed by a friend and one of our riding instructors. As I approached the paddocks, each of the horses called out, then Locket, our burro, the goats, chickens, ducks and everyone else. I answered each of them as I walked past.

Behind me, the instructor said, “What in the world is going on here? Is something wrong?”

My friend laughed and said, “Haven’t you ever been treated to the sound of Kathleen’s arrival?”

It’s just friends greeting a friend as she arrives on the playground, and it’s a lovely place to be, if indeed you are up to the responsibility of it.

And so, by opening myself up to all of the other creatures on the planet, I am an oddity. I might look kind of like everyone else, but put me in a lot of normal social situations and I stick out like a sore thumb no matter how hard I try to blend in – kind of like a vegetarian in a steakhouse. Actually, exactly like a vegetarian in a steak house, a position I’ve been in quite frequently.

 If you’re up for it, I can help you learn how to do the same. Why, you ask, would anyone want that kind of life? For me, it’s a comfort. I am surrounded by love every minute of every single day, and having come from a childhood with far too little of that, it makes each day worth living. It can be very harsh and painful, emotionally and physically, and the ridicule that comes from being such an oddball can be hard to bear. Yet, for my animal friends who love me unconditionally, I will do anything, and they return that favor with all their hearts and souls.

If that’s what you want out of life, read on. If not, put down this book and run fast, because the moment you have your first real conversation with Fido or Bessie, you will never be the same.

Communicating with animals in not magic. Only a rare few people will wake up one day and hear crystal-clear conversation from their Dalmatian. The rest of us have to work hard at it, practicing all the time. Just as those with a knack for languages can pick them up faster, it’s the same with animal conversation. It’s not easy to decipher a foreign language; it takes some studying. Still, communication is possible.

Say you’re in France and you want to order from a menu, but you can’t speak a word of French. You can, however, read the English translation below the French description, so you are able to point at the page and get what you want. Your dog can do the same thing. For example, you want to know what brand of food your dog prefers, so you put two bowls with different kinds of food in front of him and let him choose the one he likes best. He chooses and there you have it, a conversation with your canine companion. You asked him what he wanted and he pointed a paw at the menu and answered you.

Some of you are now excited, understanding how easy and attainable this conversation actually is. Others are already disappointed. I can hear you shouting, “That’s it? That’s all you got for me? Where’s the mystery? Where’s the magic? Where’s the switch you flip to make all the information start to flow?”

Be patient. Relax. There is no switch, there is no magic. Just like learning French, it won’t happen overnight. You have to work at it, and the first thing you have to learn is that communication is already happening between you and your animal friends every single day. They actually are trying to tell you what’s on their minds. The first step towards being put at the beck and call of tiny kittens and giant Shires alike begins with recognizing this fact, then building upon what you already know. Pay attention to the obvious signs of communication you already have. When your dog brings you a ball and wants to play, throw it. She just asked you a question and you answered it affirmatively. When your dog asks for dinner by barking and pawing at the cabinet where the food is stored, but it’s two hours early, you say the word “no” and walk away. Conversation started, conversation ended. Total communication with each other and paying attention is the key.

I remember when I first studied Spanish in high school. It was a complete mystery to me, and I didn’t believe I’d ever be capable of learning the language. For the first month we learned simple vocabulary words such as numbers, animals, household appliances and the rooms in a house. I couldn’t figure out how any of that was going to get me a plate of spaghetti with vegetarian marinara sauce should I ever find myself in Tijuana, but I kept on memorizing. Then one day Senor Connelly explained the verb “estar,” or “to be,” and taught us how to conjugate it and use it in a sentence. I was ecstatic! Then came “tener,” to have. So exciting! I was building sentences!

When you first start communicating with animals, it begins with a few simple nouns. Notice them, each and every one of them, and the verbs will quickly follow. It’s all about observation and paying attention, which is the key to really meaningful communication with anyone. If you don’t develop your observation skills, you can’t communicate with animals. Those of us who grew up at the very bottom of the social food chain are often the quickest to catch on. And we’re often toughened up enough to gracefully handle the unwieldy position of vegetarian in a steakhouse. Isn’t it wonderful to finally see the upside to being the uncool social outcast?

But popular people, don’t despair. You, too, can learn the secrets and dispel the mystery. It’s simple enough for all of us.

First things first. Prepare for a total lack of drama. Your animal friends aren’t going to reveal any great mysteries to you nor will they give you the key to your future or introduce you to the great love of your life. For example, just minutes ago I could feel one of my yearlings, Adeline, trying to get my attention. It felt like she was saying, “Hey! Hey, hey, hey!”

So I went out to the barn, worried something bad had happened, such as her brother Leo getting cast in his stall again (stuck with his feet up against the wall, unable to get up.) I found her in her stall, indignant; the afternoon help had forgotten to give her hay. So really, what she was saying to me was, “Hay! Hay, hay, hay!” A classic misunderstanding, particularly when you are chatting with horses.

What you will find your animals saying to you is the same kind of conversation you would have with a friend, at least to start. You’ll learn some animals are polite, some are shy, some gregarious, some have a highly developed sense of humor. Some may even decide you are not a person they care to have any communication with, and there won’t be much you can do about it.

This communication can take many, many forms, the most common being a visual of what the animal wants to tell you. Sometimes the message will come across as a feeling, such as fear or contentment or even pain (but a very toned-down version of it.) Occasionally, you may actually hear words, but I have found not very many animals use words as they are more accurate with pictures or sensations.

While I have been able to communicate with animals my entire life (or rather, understand their communication with me) I didn’t actually go out of my way to communicate with a real purpose until I was in high school and a kitten had gone missing from its box in the basement when the momma cat decided there was a more secure place to keep her babies. I searched everywhere, and was worried sick about it. Finally I realized I needed a different tact.

I knew nothing about meditation, aside from what I’d been told about how people in cults mediated all the time (it was the 1970s and I was raised Catholic, so most everyone else was considered weird) but I realized if I was going to get that momma cat to tell me anything, I had to clear my head, and I was pretty frazzled so it wasn’t going to be easy. I decided to lie down on the sofa and close my eyes, focusing on momma and her baby.

It’s almost impossible to clear your head when you have a kitten lost in the basement, so it took quite a while, possibly as long and thirty minutes, but I finally got a vision of the cat carrying her kitten up the side of the big Christmas tree box under the shelving where she dropped the kitten into the back left corner of the box. I jumped to my feet and raced downstairs. The Christmas tree box was huge, about six feet long, three feet deep, and three feet high, but I knew exactly where to look, all the way in the bottom of the box in the back left corner. I fished her out and gave her mother a lecture, but was pleased to realize I could find any other lost babies should she decide to start hiding them again.

Step One:

NOTICE EVERYTHING, DISCOUNT NOTHING!

If you are just beginning down the road of animal communication, you must learn to clear your head and go into a very light meditative state. You won’t always have to go through this process, but it’s a helpful to start this way so you know what it will feel like when you “flip the switch” that allows you to make contact. With practice, it won’t take more than a split second to achieve the proper mind frame.

Start this exercise by deciding what animal you would like to connect with, preferable one with whom you are already well acquainted. Generally, those are the ones who are already talking to you all the time, hoping you’ll finally catch on to what they’re saying. A willing partner is always useful.

Find someplace comfortable and quiet, such as a bed, sofa or recliner, and close your eyes. If you are familiar with any breathing exercises, feel free to use them to help clear your mind, but believe me, I knew nothing about that when I first dabbled in cat retrieval. Make your focal point a visual of the animal you are trying to communicate with. It doesn’t have to stay your focal point, it just helps if you start there to make the initial contact.

Relax. Pressuring yourself to succeed will defeat the purpose, which is a relaxed exchange of information. Be specific. Start with a question, such as, “Where did you hide that kitten?” The response will be immediate, but you may not notice it because you haven’t yet trained yourself to recognize it. Don’t expect an entire sentence to pop into your head. But – pay close attention to what is happening to your body. For example, if you want to know where the kitten is, and you feel a slight prickly sensation on your skin, which I did before I saw the visual of the cat, it’s a communication, what the momma cat felt as she put the kitten in the box full of plastic tree branches.

Are you asking a question as simple as, “Are you happy living in this house?” Take a moment to “feel” how you “feel.” If you feel a wash of happiness, contentedness, or even nervousness, pay attention; it’s probably not your feeling, but theirs. If your question is why your dog is not eating his food, pay close attention to how your body feels immediately after you ask him. Does your stomach ache? Do you have a slightly bad taste in your mouth? Take note. 

Don’t give up if you don’t notice anything right away. Just be absolutely assured your animal subject is trying hard to pass along a message, and will continue to try until you get it. Believe me, they are much more patient than you or I, and they won’t give up on you, so don’t give up on them as they are doing their very best.

This is an exercise in awareness. NOTICE EVERYTHING, DISCOUNT NOTHING. Awareness is a skill that must be developed as we are all far too overwhelmed by life and its demands to pay attention to the subtle conversation your cat is having with you. But, once you understand what it feels like when you reach that space of awareness, you will learn to duplicate it over and over again until you can produce it on demand.

Give yourself plenty of time for this exercise. And realize that when you’re done, you won’t necessarily be done. Hours later, you may have a flashback of something you experienced during your session that didn’t make sense. Take a moment to think about it, much like when you can’t remember a dream when you first wake up, but later on you recall the tiniest part of it, just a thread, and are able to grab it and reel in the rest of the dream.

How, you might ask, in this sea of subtle communiqué, are you supposed to know the difference between a real, honest tidbit of information and the product of an overactive imagination? What’s the acid test to understand the difference between real and imaginary? It’s actually so simple it’s laughable. Think about what you saw or felt during your session. Focus on your body. Do you feel an uneasiness in your gut? Kind of a gentle gnawing in the stomach area? If so, the response you got is probably not authentic and was generated by your own subconscious, not from your animal. A different author could tell you all about chakras and their particular roles in animal communication, but I’ve skipped that bit of education in favor of following my conscience and listening to the dictates of my soul. I know for a fact that the stomach is capable of telling great lies (come on, think about it – how often has your stomach insisted it wanted just one more éclair or chocolate donut only to have it rebel on you by either bloating up and doubling you over in pain or hurling the donut back up into your toilet?) You just can’t trust your stomach to tell the truth.

Think about what information you’ve been told, and focus on your heart. Does it feel content and secure and confident in your chest? Is there a sense of certainty and calmness? If so, you’ve gotten a real piece of communication. If your focus shifts down to your shiftless stomach, you’ve been deluded.

The heart does not tell lies. Ever. There’s a slight possibility of being duped by a little acid rising up a tad high in your stomach, but with practice, you will learn to tell the difference immediately.

Don’t expect your first try at this exercise to open all the doors to your pet’s psyche. It takes a lot of practice and repetition to learn how to conjugate verbs in Spanish, and “animalease” is no different. Keep trying, and remember, look beneath the shouting – the loudest voice is generally you trying to impose what you want to hear on your animal friend – just listen for the whisper. It’s right under your nose because they are talking to you all the time.

Plan to spend at least four to six sessions with this exercise before moving on to the next. Write down everything you see or feel, including if what you experienced passes the Heart Test awareness.

NOTICE EVERYTHING, DISCOUNT NOTHING!

Ozzie Osboar - he talks to me all day long - loudly . . .

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