Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Gazehound's Animal Communication News: September 2006


*GAZEHOUND'S ANIMAL COMMUNICATION NEWS
*September 2006

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Keeping in touch with the animals....
and the people who love them
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Their Viewpoint

Learning to see a situation from an animal's viewpoint is not always easy to do. It sounds like a simple concept, but the interaction between animal and human can really be quite complicated. Most often, it is the animal who finally agrees to compromise. After all, for the most part, they live in our homes – and being part of a human-run family takes sacrifices. We humans don't always understand just how much of a sacrifice that can be ... until we hear it from the animal himself.

I have also found that, as a rule, our animal friends are more willing to make the compromise. It's almost embarrassing to say that it's sometimes easier to help the animal understand the human point of view than the other way around. The area of behavioral “problems”, in particular, is one where it's very hard for people to work within the animal's parameters, and in the vast majority of cases the humans are unwilling, and often unable, to budge in their requests.

This sounds harsh, but really, most of these stubborn humans have very good reasons for their insistence. The trick is getting the animal to understand why it's so important. The fact that this is not always easy, and definitely not “natural”, for the animal to do is often difficult for humans to truly assimilate.

In other situations we have almost the opposite extreme. People can expect the animal, who is more “in tune” with energies and vibrations and spiritual forces, to know more than the animal knows. Frequently people want the animal to be able to tell them the cause of their symptoms, for example, in the case of physical ailments. Even though they themselves would not know why they had a belly ache, simply that their belly was aching, they expect ... or at least hope ... that an animal will be able to pinpoint the cause. Although occasionally I've met an animal who is aware of the cause of his or her symptoms, it's rare. Most of the time their belly ache is just a belly ache, and they don't know the cause any more than you or I would. What they can tell us is what that belly ache feels like,  where it hurts, and give a little more information for the vet and their humans to go on as the situation is explored by more ordinary means.

Humans also often tend to expect their animal friends to be more willing to comply than another person would be. I suppose, to some extent, they actually are more willing ... but this doesn't mean that they're automatically going to say yes to every request. When people say to me, “You talked to them, why aren't they listening?”, I'll ask, “Do you talk to your kids?”

The fact that animals are intelligent, understanding creatures means that we often have to give them a good reason to comply, when a situation requires compliance. That isn't always easy to do!

We also need to try to understand that, when relaying information, an animal can only show us things to the point that they can understand them. If an animal is relaying an image to a communicator, and the animal does not know what that object is, it's going to be very difficult for them to send a clear, defining, image. Sometimes this can be likened to viewing an alien landscape ... “I can't tell you what I'm seeing if I don't know what I'm looking at.” This can especially be a problem when trying to locate a lost pet.

The key to truly understanding and communicating with an animal, therefore, is to first accept that we are truly speaking a different language. The animal can only understand things as viewed from his or her own species/cultural perspective, and the beginning of compromise lies with the human, to accept the differences, and be willing to understand them and work around them.

That is something only the animals themselves can teach us.


(The above article is a draft chapter from the non-fiction book I am working on, Through Their Eyes: The Nature of the Beast.)


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FYI NOTES

Don't forget that you can keep up with changes and info on rates, policies, and "other fun stuff" on my website:  www.gazehound.com, and that you can find archives of this newsletter and other articles on my Creature Thoughts Blog: gazehound.blogspot.com.   

Gift Certificates are always available, and a way to order communication sessions at a savings.  From the website:
"Gift certificates will be sold at the regular session rate of $30/half hour session, There is, however, a special rate for anyone who orders three or more at one time. Ordering 3 or more gift certificates will reduce the cost per session to an individual session rate of $25/session. Therefore one Gift Certificate will be $30, two will be $60, but three will be available for $75, with increments of $25 per certificate over three. This will be permanent pricing. Gift certificates are non-refundable and other offers, warranties and discounts do not apply. "
Starting in November, I will be running my annual Holiday Special on gift certificates as well.  "Watch this space" for future info!

Follow-ups: Due to a recent unfortunate situation, I am forced to remain more focused on enforcing my policy on payment and follow-ups;  subsequent sessions will be available for clients whose accounts are current.  As always, of course, I'm open to discussing special situations. 

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PREE'S TALK-TO-ME TIPS

Our PreePree hasn't been feeling well on and off lately.  In fact, that's one of the reasons we're late with the newsletter this month.  The vet hasn't found anything definitive ... some gum irritation, and a sensitive digestive tract that might hail back to her sojourn in 1996, when she crashed through a window screen and was missing for a full month.  Now that Pree is fifteen, she says, she has the right to be off balance at times.  She thanks you all for your healing thoughts and for thinking of her kindly as she regains that balance.

She showed me images of having a quiet space to herself, and of how Mom offers "comfort foods" when she's not feeling well.  Although normally we feed home made cat food with just a few crunchies for snack time before bed, when Pree isn't feeling well, she wants the food of her very early years, before her humans learned about "health food" ... plain old Iams crunchies.  She's also discovered she likes the "Select Bits" in chicken or turkey flavor by that manufacturer.  Though it bothers Mom a bit that it's not the holistic home made diet, it's what Pree wants, and it's better than nothing at all.  She will refuse food for days if it's not to her liking when she's feeling off, and (particularly at her age) it's important to keep nutrition going in to her.

Pree says that when a pet is aging or doesn't feel well, sometimes compromises have to be made, and balance restored.  She focused then on that concept of quiet space again.  Many humans worry about their pets when they seek solitude, especially if this is not normal behavior.  In a way that is a good thing, a matter of recognizing an important signal that might indicate a trip to the doctor is necessary.  She reminds us, though, that it's also important to respect that need, for by seeking quiet and solitude, an animal is often working gently on helping their own healing along.

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Gayle Nastasi
Animal Communication Consultant
   http://www.gazehound.com/pets
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