The Human-Animal Connection 27 Freedom of Choice

With so many ethical questions relating to how humans treat animals, it can feel overwhelming. We suggest picking one area of interest that speaks to your heart. It could be protecting one species, or it could be animal welfare issues right in your neighborhood. Can you work with others who care about this issue? Can you donate to organizations that are really helping? Can you volunteer or educate lawmakers? No one can save the world alone – but together we can make a difference. This episode explores both some of the issues such as how many farm animals are being raised in terrible conditions, and animal testing – which is 95% INEFFECTIVE with humans – even if they pass animal trials. We explore one important way we can make animal testing more humane. Just thinking about doing one good thing can lift morale and give meaning to your life.

Can you or your church or school or business plant milkweed to save the butterflies? There is always one thing you can do that touches your heart and gives you a feeling of camaraderie with others – and can have a powerful impact – even for one species.

EPISODE NOTES: Ethical Connections

I believe that everyone can have a connection with their animal spirit guide or power animal. Often we will have more than one as each brings different wisdom. Black Hawk said that there was a time that we all could talk to animals with the same ease as we speak to other human-animals. Learn how each animal brings its own guidance and connecting with your animal guide can help us navigate the twists and turns of our life with greater ease. Perhaps you would like to learn how to see signs in clouds as is done in the Hawaiian tradition. Or to see signs in all aspects of nature. Life gets easier and richer when we can receive guidance from the animal and nature kingdoms.

EPISODE NOTES: Power Animals and Spirit Guides

The spirit of a being is carried in the name. This is why it is important to choose the right name for the animal who shares your life. There are no bad names, but some names do not support the spirit of the animal to express themselves. In some cases (about 15%) when I work with clients who perhaps adopted a shelter dog with the “wrong” name – and they are curious to discover a better name. When we find the right name, much behavior improves. Dogs can easily learn new names, and when we find their “true” name – their spirit blossoms. In this episode we explore some stories of animals who had a name that didn’t serve them – and what changed in their lives when we found their right name.

EPISODE NOTES: The Power of Names

Every animal has a purpose. Not all animals are aware of this purpose, but some are. It is our job as humans to listen to their true purpose and not impose our desires on them. Animals are connected to their true nature and if we share our lives with animals, it is our job to support them – and ourselves – to live as close to our authentic essence as we can. In this episode I tell stories about finding, losing, and re-finding purpose – both for animals and humans. I ask three questions to help people get on track with living their purpose. When we find ourselves in alignment with purpose, which is like having an internal GPS, life gets calmer, more focused, more joyous. Come with us on this journey of cultivating purpose for ourselves and the animals who share our lives.

EPISODE NOTES: Animals on Purpose

Do Animals have souls? I give my explanation for my answer and for evidence of continuity of individual consciousness through my hundreds of communications with animals who have passed over. In this episode I tell a few stories that give me confidence that we have more than one life, and so do our animals. Being able to communicate with animals means that we are not limited by space, time, or physicality. Explore the possibility of death as a doorway to a new connection, not an ending. There is great peace to be experienced even as we process deep grief, through connecting with our animals who are no longer with us here and now.

EPISODE NOTES: The Soul of An Animal

How can we give animals who share our lives a greater sense of freedom of choice? This essential ingredient is so important to the well-being of animals. In this episode we explore the major five freedoms that animals need for their well-being. And we also explore the emotional needs for freedom of choice so that we can help animals who share our lives a sense of freedom which leads to greater balance of emotional states. There are many small things we can do to make a big impact on the quality of life for animals.

EPISODE NOTES: Freedom of Choice

Animals have an innate sense of balance. This is the secret to having a good life. We can learn so much by watching how animals balance activity and rest, connection and separation, their desire for touch and not touching. We explore how some dogs are primarily introverts, and others are extroverts. Understanding this primary temperament helps us understand how to create a more balanced life for their individual nervous system. We also explore how some dogs are more attached to routines, and others have a need for newness -- new people, places, and things. Understanding how to provide more balance for your dog improves your life and theirs.

EPISODE NOTES: The Secret of Balance

Animals – and all of nature moves to a rhythm we don’t always comprehend. As a species we have lost so much of our sense of natural rhythm. This can result in the tremendous crisis of sleep we humans have, struggling to turn off the mind and surrender to relaxation. Animals have an innate sense of the rhythms of nature – and also a musicality that we are just learning more about. And animals have a sense of the perfect space or distance for any interaction. When we pay close attention to our unique sense of distance, many interactions are smoother because we aren’t violating each other’s sense of space.

EPISODE NOTES: Animals Can Teach Us About Rhythm, Timing & Distance

Animals have a wonderful wisdom about time. They know how to fully enjoy the present moment – and they can also anticipate joyful events that they know are coming. Animals can teach us to be more flexible about how we relate to time – so we are not limited by our habitual patterns. Having an inflexible relationship to time makes us feel like we are always “losing” time. When we open our sense of “Now Time” we can begin to feel how we have all the time in the world. Being with animals helps us be more in this moment and to let that experience fill all our senses.

EPISODE NOTES: How Animals Help Us Change Our Relationship to Time

Dogs use their noses first – it is how they get the most information from the world. Of course, they are also using their eyes and ears, but when they are relaxed, it is the nose that gives them the most information. Dogs who are stressed often have their senses out of order, which makes them more reactive to sounds and motion. We can help them get their senses “back in order” which reduces their anxiety, panic barking, and pacing. The power of the nose to help a dog resettle is an amazing way we can help the animals who share our lives to feel safe, calm, and at ease.

EPISODE NOTES: The Order of the Senses – Letting the Nose Lead