Do your words match what is going on inside of you?  I ask because animals are receivers of energy and masters at reading energy.   If your words don’t match the energy that is flowing in you then you are incongruent. For example if you have had an exacerbating time at work and are seething on the inside and act like everything is fine - - you don’t match inside and out. When you are incongruent you become a little suspect and untrustworthy to your animals since you are not reliably tracking the energy within.  

Every animal responds differently to incongruence; they may act out by playing out the energy they feel, they may move in close since they are worried about you, they may bite you or scratch you. Or they may not listen to or respond to you.  Their behaviors are trying to get you into the present moment to connect with yourself and become congruent.

When  you match on the inside and outside in the eyes of the animals you become more reliable and trustworthy.  Now imagine seething from your exacerbating time at work and letting your loyal companion know that you had a hard day and  express with words what you're feeling the best that you can.   For example just admitting and saying out loud “My day was really hard and I am so frustrated at my job.  I am really mad and here are all the reasons I am mad…...”  

No matter what the truth, your animals will hear it and stay in connection because you are like them accurately tracking the energy (your emotions) and being congruent.  You are trustworthy.​    Allow yourself to be congruent and stay in connection with your animals.​

Schedule a session if you desire help in communicating what's going on for you.

Companion animals are an integral part of families and they are masters at reading energy and great teachers of balance and harmony.  They spend their lives observing and responding to the energy within the home.   They have a deep understanding of what is going on energetically within the family dynamic often taking on jobs within the family to keep the energy flowing: absorbing emotions of their people or acting out to get stuck energy moving. Remember times when you have felt sick or just “down”  and your animal companion came to curl up beside you and “made you feel better.”  

Also, companion animals will do what is necessary to bring attention to what is out of balance in the house or within the family dynamics.  In their attempt  to get the energy of the house back to a calm coherent state, they might also be absorbing the energy.  This can result in odd behaviors, acting out, marking, pooping in odd places, aggression that appears out of nowhere - please add in your animals interesting quirks.  

Physical problems can also arise from absorbing too much energy that overloads their entire nervous systems.  Problems can be vast and varied; it may include digestion problems, excessive itching, over grooming, reactivity etc.   Basically they are a live wire with so much energy going through them frying their system and they react.  Think of the times your animal companion was doing something you couldn’t understand or tolerate: peeing outside the litter box, chewing holes in your coat, refusing to lift her hoove for cleaning, pecking at you as you tried to clean the cage, swiping you with claws.  

Remember that term “the canary in the coal mine” it refers to when miners brought caged canaries with them into the mines and if the canaries started fainting or died the miners knew it was time to get out due to lack of oxygen. Just like the miners -  look to your companion animals for clues of how the energy in the house and the family dynamic is doing and take necessary steps to restore balance and harmony.  

Is your sweet animal acting out or getting sick or just not themselves?  This is them trying to bring attention to the fact that there is a dam, a big energy blocker that has interrupted the flow of energy.  Their behaviors called you forth, into the present moment to evaluate the harmony and balance in the home and within the family. What is out of balance? What simple steps can you take to bring balance and harmony into the home?
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Take time to analyze what is going on within your home and make changes for balance and harmony so your companions can get back to being dogs and cats instead of canaries. 

Leave a comment below on how your companion animal was letting you know the energy was out of balance.​​​

​​Photo by Chris Roberts

Happy Valentine's day. The animals have asked me to deliver a message of love for you today.  They want to start off declaring every day is a day to celebrate love and to invite you to pause throughout today and everyday to savor the moments of love that are happening constantly throughout the day.  

Here is what you need to know about love according to the companion animals.

The frequency of love is sparkly and alive. It is has a clear connection that feels like being out in nature on a walk.   Love flows with connection, unconditional acceptance, compassion. 

Love is like a river it has many different qualities of flow it can be dynamic like rapids, it can be smooth and still like a inviting swimming hole, it can be gently burbling along, or it can be rushing with eagerness to get to the sea, and it has a constant flow.  

Love grows through the care and shared experiences with your animal companion and through these experience their loving acceptance and knowledge of you grows.  Since the animals speak the language of energy they track you, your moods, your patterns, your routines.  For you are their world and they accept you and love you just as you are - unconditionally.  They are your life witness, your comfort, your constant.  

Reflect on  their unconditional love for you and how they have been your life witness. Breathe in the love.

Love is the routine you have together.  The morning snuggles, the walks in the woods, the pocketful of treats, the playtime, the time you work, the quiet times, the dinner routine and the bedtime routines all of it is love. 

Pause now think about about your daily routine with your beloved companions. What part of the routine do you feel the love connection the most? Breathe in the love.

Throughout the past year your companion has felt the collective energy and has observed how the roller coaster of energy affects you.  The fear, the anxiety, the uncertainty of the future as well as many distractions which cause disconnection within your own system and upset in their world - you.  They track at the moments of disconnection you have lost the thread of love - most importantly self love.  And they feel it's their job to help return the focus of the energy back to love, back to flow and connection.  Connection not only to them but more importantly connection to yourself brings their world into balance.

Think of the antics they have gone through this pandemic to get your attention - sitting on keyboards, barking non-stop so you have to get up and move,  finding you in your lowest moments and offering a gentle paw, squawking to get more food, stamping their hooves and refusing to budge.  All of this is to break the energy disconnection -  to refocus you to the moment at hand - and demand your presence.  

Okay moment of reflection again - think of the antics they have been doing to refocus you.  Can you see how they were loving you in those moments? Breathe in the love.  

Now back to the metaphor of the river of love.  At times this river of love may feel like it is dammed by a pile of logs that are preventing the flow and yet the water pools and gathers trying to find a way through.  Think of the times your animal companion was doing something you couldn’t understand or tolerate: peeing outside the litter box, chewing holes in your coat, refusing to lift her hoove for cleaning, pecking at you as you tried to clean the cage, swiping you with claws.  This is them trying to bring attention to the fact that there is a dam, a big energy blocker that has interrupted the flow of love and in danger of diverting it for good.  Their behaviors called you forth, called you into the present moment to connect. Demanding you to connect with yourself. Giving you an opportunity to evaluate what you want, to assess the situation, to reset the intention of connection, to take action if needed and bring balance back to you, which means to them. For you are their world.  

Another moment of reflection. Think of some of the dams in the river of love.   How has your presence and attention helped the balance of love return?  Can you feel the love of your animal during those damming (pun intended) moments?  What lessons were learned?  Breathe in the love.

Your animal companion is grateful for how you love and tend them.  They invite you to think about how you tend to yourself.   Is your self care as attentive, loving and as kind ?   

• Have you gotten yourself a favorite treat or toy lately?  
• Have you made sure you get your daily walks or the thing your body and soul hungers for? 
• Have you stopped yourself from over indulging because it might upset your system?  
• Have you paused to brush out your energy at the end of the day like you brush knots out of their fur, or groom them? 
• Are you diligent in not interacting with people, ideas, distractions that can cause you to disconnect?  
• Do you notice you are reactive to certain situations and steer clear of them?  
• Do you let yourself out daily to get fresh air, touch the earth and move your body?
• Do you make sure to play everyday? 
• Do you reward yourself often and lavishly?

Love yourself as unconditionally and as compassionately as they love you.  Loving yourself and tending yourself  brings balance to their world. 

For you are their world and they love their world!!!  Pause and let that sink in.  
 Breathe in the love !

​Photo by Valerie Elash on Unsplash

Around this time of year there is much talk about “the veils are thinning and the spiritual world is moving in close.”   What does that exactly mean- veils, thinning and why should you care?   And what does this have to do with you or your  beloved pet?  
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The best explanation I came across for the meaning of veils thinning and why is from Tess Whitehurst, a soul sister who believes like I do that “Life is Magical.”
“At Samhain/Halloween, that relentless, all-pervasive Mystery is as close as it ever gets. And now we’ve arrived at what we mean when we talk about “the veil.” You might say it’s the place where the everyday illusion of separation brushes up against the divine truth of eternity and universal interconnection. The place where form meets spirit, seen meets unseen, known meets unknown.

Why does the veil thin at Samhain? Because the days are getting shorter and the natural world is preparing to temporarily withdraw from the realm of life and growth. The harvest cycle is waning, but it’s not gone. This means Samhain is a transition: a doorway between the season of life and the season of death. Beneath this realm of constant change, there is a wide open space of eternity. A place of stillness in which the appearance of change arises. A serene openness to which we will always return, and with which we are one, even at this very moment.”

Now what does this have to do with  your beloved pet? A lot, since animals are much more energetically attuned with the earth and the spirit world.  As the veils thin the animals feel the closeness of the spirit world.  If  your beloved is elderly and ready to cross they feel the  pull and sense the ease on which to cross over back to spirit form.  Psychic abilities are enhanced at this time as well so have a conversation with your elderly pet and hear their wishes on how they want to move on so you can honor and support them.  

For your beloved pets that are in spirit now is a good time to connect with them. Honoring them and remembering them by sharing stories invites them to come closer.  Then you can tell them what's on your heart and listen with all your psychic senses for responses.   Imagine how wonderful it will be to feel their presence - the soft head nuzzle, the weight of them in your lap, the pleasant familiar sense of them. Don't trick yourself that you won't feel them.  Instead treat yourself to the mystery of life - connection and love.  The animals always come when called.

Join the 1st annual Day of Dead Celebration honoring your past companion animal/s.

Photo by Karly Jones on Unsplash

I have been quiet for the month of April, taking a break from posting on social media.  I chose to really listen deeply to my own heart and strengthen the muscle of tuning to my vibration and to keep the focus on my dream and how I can contribute to the greater good.  It has been an interesting month of lessons through many reflections from my guides.  The thing about my guides is they know me well such as I love games, am a big fan of scavenger hunts, and I love to receive messages while out in the natural world.
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This morning  I set out on my walk with asking my guides for a reflection of where my growing edge was for today. 
As I enjoyed my walk through the kaleidoscope of green in the explosion of spring in the forest, I was full of gratitude for this particular bit of earth that I have walked on for over 25 years.  Each season brings wonder and delight to me and my senses.
Since I live in Seattle, with a population of roughly around 760,000 these parcels of wilderness are a blessing. The parks department are always trying to find the balance between people, dogs, and respecting nature.  Currently, these trails are frequented by many people who walk their dogs off-leash instead of taking them into the corraled official dog park.  The City has been doing a great job of replanting a much-eroded hill by many dogs running up and down it chasing balls and each other.  Recently, they put up a fence to keep the dogs on the paths for us who choose to still walk the dogs off the leash.
As I crested the rise to where the fence begins, to my dismay, it was partially knocked down and there was a friend inspecting the damage.  As he left muttering about rude dog people who don’t respect the great effort of the city,  my heart hurt a little.  This fence had created a rift in the community that would meet in the mornings in the unofficial dog park where dogs run with wild abandon as we walk together and witness each others’ lives.  I did not think it was afternoon dog people who had knocked down the fence – on further inspection the weight of the fence had snapped the last pole and down came the rest.  Luckily only one pole had broken and low and behold there was a pole tamper lying under the down fence.
I was at a choice point here. Do I…:

• Walk on by and let someone else fix this – trying to point blame and deepen the rift?  Feeding the negative energy?
• Or contribute to the effort of a healthy boundary to help weave the web of balance between nature, people, and animals.  Then I burst out laughing HERE WAS THE MESSAGE FROM MY GUIDES and they even left me a tool to do the work.

So I jumped right in and started pulling up the heavy fence and using the tamping tool to drive the poles in.  After struggling with the first two poles, I understood the problem of why the fence came down.  The poles had only been driven into freshly distributed woody mulch – which was not a very stable foundation for the fence.  To make a difference, the poles need to reach the solid earth underneath.  After struggling with the first two poles and having 5 more to go,  I started praying and letting nature and my guides know I needed help in human form to help hold up the fence as I worked.   I was going to go see if I could find someone down the path.  The dogs and I set off to find able bodies and of course I saw two of the regular morning walkers.
We set to work and as a team of three women, we worked pole by pole –  unbinding the fence from the pole then driving the poles deeper into the earth so they were solidly held.  Then we stretched the fence to the next downed pole and repeated the process.  Lucky for us, there was an extra pole laying around to replace the snapped pole.  I asked the tree that the last pole was very close to where the best location for the pole would be to avoid damaging its root and the place we were directed to the pole went in smoothly and held securely – thank you, tree.
We had replaced the fence back to its full glory – setting a healthy boundary for dogs and people and I had a great reflection in response to my request from my guides of where was my growing edge for today.
Healthy boundaries with a strong foundation and asking for help from people.
Each of us has a whole spiritual team and guides who are willing to give us guidance and reflections if you ask – I find it adds a great deal of fun to life.  I encourage you to start asking questions and be open to reflections and answers in the most unexpected ways!

Nineteen years ago today my mantra was, “My body knows how to give birth and this baby knows how to be born.” I surrendered to the wisdom of my body and the innate knowingness of my son and allowed the birthing process to naturally unfold. Eight hours later, he was born in a birthing tub at home surrounded by friends and family. Reflecting back on that incredible experience I realize that my acknowledging my body’s ability and not trying to micromanage what or how it should happen I was able to trust the process. I am not going to lie at times it was excruciatingly painful and yet at the same time, I knew that there would be an end result a beautiful baby would eventually be in my arms.
My labor experience gave me an understanding that our bodies are incredible vessels that have capabilities beyond our wildest imaginings. Communicating telepathically with other beings and using your intuition were capabilities everyone was able to do easily as children – preverbally. As we became verbal, more emphasis was placed on the mental aspect of communicating and telepathy took a step back. But, like any instrument that you may have played before, it just requires picking it back up finding the right chords and practicing to play your favorite song again.  Our bodies are highly-tuned, telepathic sending and receiving instruments that are in constant communication with all of life. To strengthen it, all it requires is trusting it, acknowledging, and celebrating your body for receiving the information.  After giving birth, I was in awe and wonder with my body and was in constant communication with it celebrating its capability to create, sustain, grow, and birth a child.
My body has cellular memory of the birthing process. I am grateful for this embodied knowing to help navigate the huge bump-up in energy from the eclipse, the invitation to expand, and find the balance between light and dark within as well as externally. I will, like in childbirth, surrender to the wisdom of my body and the innate wisdom it has of knowing what needs to be released in order for me to birth a new way of being. To support myself through this transformation, I will be in awe and wonder with my body and celebrate its capability to create, sustain, grow, and birth a new me. My new mantra is, “My body knows how to give birth to this new way of being and my Spirit knows how to be reborn.” My invitation to you is how can you surrender to the wisdom of your body to allow it do it’s thing and support you through this energetic time. What will your mantra be?

When my dog is chasing a ball, or I am asking him to do something with a treat in my hand, his focus is like a laser. His focus always brings to mind the concept that energy flows where attention goes.  Focusing is one of the key components to animal communication.  To be able to give them a clear understanding of what you want is made easier by setting your intention and clarifying thoughts.  For example, if I am wanting him to get off the couch and stay off the couch, I will give him the command “off” and yet, I am thinking with a whole lot of frustration, “I know this rascal. As soon as I turn my back, he is going to jump right back on the couch.”  Well, guess who will be sitting on the couch all day? Because he was listening to the energy and there was more flow of energy to my thoughts of him jumping on the couch, Prince will be sitting on the couch. 
Who can resist those gorgeous brown eyes and black floppy ears? I must. I want him off. my. couch.

So, using focus, how would I communicate to him that the couch is off limits.  The first step is by taking some time to gain clarity about why I want him off the couch and where he is welcome to lounge instead.
 
To go through my thought process:  I want him off the couch because it is starting to smell like dog. I want him off the couch because he is dirty and he is making the couch dirty. I want him off the couch so every time I sit down I don’t go into the “Ahh, it smells like dog…I need to clean…I need to give him a bath…” and start to create a whole lot of frustration around this with a whole lot of energy. Basically, I want him off the couch because I want him off the couch. I observe I have a lot of frustration around it and I start beating myself up that I should have never let him on the couch or if I was a better dog trainer he’d never be on the couch, etc.  Basically, a lot of stuck energy around this couch and that stuck energy flairs up when I see him on the couch.

Now, where do I want him to lounge instead?  There are a variety of places he can lounge, his bed, the floor, the porch, the yard – just not on the couch.

How will I feel when he is lounging other places than the couch?  I will feel happy that my couch is no longer a dog bed. I feel comfortable when people come over that my house is clean.  I will feel more at ease when people are over that he will not jump up and join them on the couch.  I just realized by allowing him to lounge on the couch, the couch is basically his territory and having people sitting on it is invading his space.  Allowing him to lounge on it is a disservice to him by expecting him to be welcoming of people in his bed.

Having taken the time to clarify what I do want, I have a new focus with him and the couch – it is for him to learn to stay off the couch.  I will focus my attention and intention on letting him know his job is to find new places to lounge and I will back those thoughts of my feeling of happiness in seeing him comfortably sprawled out on the floor.  I can now firmly tell him “off” while I am thinking about him comfortably laying on his bed or laying on the floor.  Focusing on his new job will make it easy to re-orient his lounging and it is not fueled by the frustration and big energy of “GET OFF THE #*#@ COUCH.”  I can now firmly tell him “off” while I am thinking about him comfortably laying on his bed or laying on the floor.  

One of my million dollar ideas to accomplish the no-Prince-on-the-couch-rule is to somehow bottle my dogs’ focus and create an elixir. This elixir will increase focus and efficiency with minimum effort mixed in with a whole lot of fun.  I will use this magical elixir to create a routine when trying to get him off the couch. I will deliver this new routine with the same focus and attention he has on the ball when we are playing.  His intensity to find the ball is coupled with the enthusiasm of the game.  Now, can I make staying off the couch just as fun with my focus?  The opportunity is to focus and master the feeling he has when playing ball of “come on, come on, throw the ball!” to “come on, come on, on the floor!”  and coupling it with the excitement he has quivering through his body when he bounds off to find the ball.  I will couple my focus of “on the floor” with the excitement of seeing him lounging on the floor. Once I master this, you are invited over for a nice chat on my clean comfortable couch. 

At the Animal Communication Basics class in Durango, Colorado, we discussed the different ways of visualizing changes in animal companion behavior. We explored the many lines of communication that we are constantly receiving from our animals and constantly sending to our animals – though in both cases, we may not be aware of it.


One of the lines of communication is through Emotion.  You and your beloved animal companion are sending and receiving each other’s feelings and emotions.  You may sense their dismay when you sit down to watch TV instead of going for a walk with them. You may be sending emotions unconsciously which could mean that behavioral challenges might be arising. Take for example you want to walk on the bike path but you are afraid of your dog chasing the bikes (which he has in the past and it did not go well). Over time, you have a created a considerable amount of fear tied up with this exercise. Now, when you walk on the path you are emanating fear and it is tied to the picture of a bike.  Your dog receives this message and understands that you are afraid of bikes and they become the enemy.  He sees a bike and chases it to try to chase away the fear that you hold and you become even more fearful.  Now, it is a catch twenty-two.  


Since you have been stuck in a fear cycle around the bike, there needs to be a big energetic shift within you. It starts by beginning to send them a picture of what you do want when a bike goes by.  Thoughts get switched into pictures so don’t worry about sketching out what you want, instead imagine watching the scenario you want to play out like a film.  For example, you are both walking on the path with the leash loosely held and a bike is approaching.  The two of you notice the bike, while the leash is still loose, your body is calm, and he is calm.  As the bike approaches, you both are still calmly walking, stopping to smell the bushes or take a pee, etc.  Then, the bike passes you as you two are still walking, disinterested in the presence of the bike and biker, with the leash loose between you.  When the bike passes, you praise him and let you know how you like walking on the path with him when all is calm.  He will feel your calm presence and enjoy walking.
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Often during my class or animal communication sessions when I can sense that there is a behavioral challenge, I will invite you to reflect upon what emotion you may be sending out that may trigger this response and then start imagining what you do want instead. Sending images of how you want the situation to go is far more effective and allows you to start rewriting the movie.

I have been on a quest for a long time to learn to be present and embodied with the ease that the albatross has as he soars.  Since yesterday, when I learned the short-tailed Albatross is on the endangered species list for Washington, they have been on my mind.

On my walk this morning I was pondering the ability of the albatross to sleep while flying as well as being able to go for days without flapping its wings. I imagined soaring with wings outstretched, being carried on the air currents and I felt buoyancy, trust, and effortless being-ness. It was a sensation of being supported and resourced at all times.

As I experienced this sensation I remembered the guidance a wise mentor recently gave me. She encouraged me when engaging in a new arena in life I need to allow the physical and spiritual resources to gather until I feel buoyed with the energy to move forward. It is just like the albatross soaring, navigating and sleeping on the air currents.  (This same mentor reminded me that these resources are available all of the time, 24/7 and for every area of my life.)

When I shift out of presence or I go to sleep (figuratively) in what I am doing, I feel a contraction in my body. I freeze, thereby shutting off all access to my resources. I am no longer present. To return to the present and get out of contraction, I need to pause and remember my intention and call in my resources. As I wait for them to gather I stay in constant conversation with my body until I feel my nervous system relax. Once this happens, engaging becomes effortless instead of a push.

As I played with the sensation of the albatross navigating on its journey, I felt the slight tilt of the wing or movement of the body when the air currents shifted.  The movements were subtle and automatic, no thinking involved, just the sense of deep presence, trusting the body and going with the flow.

I then imagined what would happen if the albatross contracted and pulled in his mighty wings when he felt a shift, instead of going with the flow. He would quickly plummet to earth or into the ocean if he did this.
Playing with the albatross energy of soaring, lightness, and going with the flow, compared to the energy contracting and plummeting, I realized that when I am contracted, it is my intention for where I want to be and my attention on what I need that become my mighty outstretched wings. These wings allow me to be supported and buoyed up in life.
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Oh, mighty albatross thank you for such teachings of trust, navigating, and being present. I am honored to have you join my walk and give me wings to soar