Today I'll share some animal communication tips by telling you a little story.
My calico cat, Molly, is well known to participants of my animal communication workshops and she stars in many of my articles. Our latest development is our big move in September from Whidbey Island, WA, to Portland, OR.
Since moving to Portland, Molly misses the richness of living on acreage, of communing with bunnies, voles, mice, and snakes. She used to spend hours napping in tall grasses and navigating blackberry bush mazes. Once she arrived home with two blackberry thorns lodged in her nose. She looked like a tiny rhinoceros!
Despite missing the island, Molly is adapting well to city living. For one she gets to stay out later because there are no bald eagles flying overhead, no coyotes walking the streets. And she has a cat door. She got the hang of it without hesitation or trial and error. I simply showed Molly a movie - telepathically - of her stepping through the flap. Presto! She sauntered over to the cat door and went out for the day. Now I've just got to remember to show her a movie of entering through the flap as well!
Tip: I have found that movies, or sequential narratives, help with training. For example, I've used them with scent tracking dogs who lose the scent in certain situations. Showing them how to backtrack and pick up the scent trail is sometimes all it takes to help them through a difficult training hurdle.
Molly does face some new challenges here in Stumptown. The neighbor cats regard my house as an extension of their territory. One goes so far as to body slam the Queen Anne front door and glare through the glass at Molly. I'm learning that my little country cat is a lover, not a fighter.
As I write, Molly is lying on the couch, eating bon bons, while I figure out how to convince the neighbor cats to change their ways. My take is that they want what Molly has: a home, love, and private property (one cat has sneaked inside several times and checked out Molly's many toys).
Tip: Simply ordering animals to do what we want doesn't suffice - they have free will. It's about being in relationship. It's about learning what motivates each animal.
It's often in the dance of human-feline community that cats can be wooed away from reactive, instinctual behavior. That's what I'll be asking of the neighbor cats. I'll be inviting them to call in their sentience to the fullest degree and choose from the wider range of options visible from that vantage point. I'll invite them to choose peaceful coexistence with Molly over rubbing her out.
Tip: Dog-aggressive dogs, horses that buck unpredictably, and cats who spray all have the problem of reactivity. A stimulus triggers a response. In other words, they react instinctively before deliberating. In our communications with animals, if we can teach them how to build in a delay before responding, we have created the precondition for choice, the choice of an adaptive rather than reactive behavior.
Here's the catch. Neither neighbor cat has a name. The twosome, a tortie and a muted tortie, live in their front yard 24/7, just as the three dogs in the household live in the backyard 24/7. They don't live in meaningful relationship with humans. The way I see it, I'll be inviting them into relationship for what may be the first time. Through calling them in, I may convince them to grow and change their ways.
Tip: I define animal communication as the art of creating deep, loving connections with animals on the fly.
Fast forward a few months. It's February, and I have been working with the neighbor cats as proposed. They come to the names I have given them. The tortie, Radha, contentedly spends time in the house with Molly and me. The muted tortie, Smokey, ventures as close as the wicker chairs on the front porch. We have indeed achieved peace by coming into relationship, first through intuitive connection, next through gestures of kindness.
| Jacqueline Sowell, MA, works with clients on five continents. She welcomes calls for private consultations and seminars. Soulful Transformation for the Whole Family |
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