4 big reasons you might be saying NO to animal communication

Animal communication sounds fun until you start to consider what your animal might say or want or not want or how their input might change your life together! 

In this episode of Let's Talk to Animals podcast, animal intuitive Shannon Cutts shares four of the biggest reasons some pet parents remain unwilling or at least fearful of giving their pets a voice. 

Can you relate? This episode can help!

Chapters

• 0:12 Overcoming Fear in Animal Communication
• 16:19 Overcoming Reservations About Animal Communication
• 27:43 Having Conversations With Our Pets

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:12

Welcome to let's Talk to Animals, the podcast for all species. My name is Shannon Cutts. I'm an animal intuitive and sensitive and a Reiki master practitioner for pets and their people. I'm also an animal communication teacher and mentor and guide and coach and cheerleader. This podcast truly was inspired by my own inner species family. I am, first and foremost, a pet parent myself. I'm a mama to a six month old cockatiel named Petal, two year old box turtle named Io, after Jupiter's moon of fire and ice, I am mama to a nine year old red-footed tortoise named Malty and Auntie to a standard wire hair doxin named Flash Gordon. So got lots going on all the time and they really have inspired this ongoing conversation that all species can enjoy together. So today I thought I'd tackle a topic that honestly kept me from fully diving in, from jumping in with both feet to inner species conversation as my new normal, my reality.

Speaker 1: 1:24

When I first started with animal communication, I was a client. I was an eager participant from the point of view of believing that this was a gift that others got, certain special humans got. I just thought it was something that you either either were born with or you weren't born with. And if you weren't born with it, then the only way to be a part was to hire somebody who had been born with it and ask them to help you talk with your animal family. And so that is what I did, and those first few sessions for me as a client, as a pet parent who wanted to talk with their animals and needed some help to do that I remember them being as kind of harrowing, like a really gripping thriller. Like I was scared. I didn't know what my animals were going to say, I wasn't sure of the right questions to ask. I agonized over you know. I spent hours like journaling what are the best questions and trying to group all my questions into categories and realizing I can't ask 400 questions in a half hour session and just getting really stressed out about it. And I remember preparing for each session and being so careful to make sure I had absolutely the right space and having all the questions about what do my animals need to be there? Did they need to be present? Do they need to be awake? Do they need to be alive? Just feeling like there were so many boundaries and restrictions. Like I thought, okay, well, I can talk with my animals that are here, but I can't talk with my animals, that have passed into spirit, and so I just had a lot to learn. I was really nervous and I also remember feeling really hopeful, really hoping that I had picked the right animal communicator. Really hopeful that I would be able to make sense of the information and that I'd be able to make use of it. Really afraid of what my animals might say about me or about their daily life with me or about how they were feeling and doing.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Looking back now I can see that when we only care a little about something, we usually typically only invest a little in our experience of that something, whatever it may be. But when we care a lot, we typically we tend to invest all of ourselves or as much as we are aware as possible to invest in something. So it affected me really deeply and that is why I take it so seriously. The role that I play as a professional animal communicator in these interspecies, families, lives. It's significant, it takes, it's a huge act of courage, first of all, to invite guidance, invite feedback into the heart of your family life. It's just a huge act of courage. It's a commitment. It's a commitment in terms of your time. It's a commitment in terms of your energy. It's a commitment in terms of your finances. It's a commitment in terms of the bigger picture of how animal communication, how these conversations, may alter or transform your inner species family life.

Speaker 1: 4:57

And so, looking back, I see all of this was at work for me when I was in the shoes of my clients today, and so I thought I would share four of the big reservations that I had that I have seen reflected in my own pet parent clients. Maybe you'll find that one or some or all of these four reasons are reasons that you can identify with as well, and maybe that will open up a new door for you. The very first reason that I am choosing to highlight today because it was the biggest one for me, and even when I first started learning animal communication professionally, it continued to dog my heels and it was probably the number one reason why I was so stressed out before each one of the animal communication sessions that I would have with my own inner species family, and that was that I was afraid my pets would be mad at me. I was afraid that my pets wouldn't think I was a good pet parent, and I was afraid that my pets would have feedback for me, that they would tell me they wish that they could go live with someone else, or that they just wish that I was better at my job.

Speaker 1: 6:19

You know, I would ask these questions like, are you happy with your habitat, or do you like your toys, or do you like your food, or are you getting enough water or enough exercise? And I would wait and wait and wait with bated breath, like, oh my God, what are they going to say? And I remember avoiding asking questions like do you love me, even though it was like the one question I wanted to know the most. Do you love me? Do you love me the way that I love you? Do you know how much I love you? Because I was so afraid that they would say no. So it was like that question that I wanted to ask but I wouldn't, because I was so afraid that the worst would happen and they would say no. Or they would say no, I don't feel loved by you. Or they would say no, I don't love you.

Speaker 1: 7:11

And I've come to feel deep down in my gut that this is a major inhibitor for many pet parents to even seek out animal communication or ask for an animal communication session at all, what if they say that awful thing? That would just break my heart. Now I can share with you. Out of hundreds of animal communication sessions Now I have not had a single animal tell me anything that hasn't been generously sprinkled with unconditional love. So I have yet to see a pet parent client of mine broadsided or shamed or humiliated or embarrassed or heartbroken over something that their animal has said. Because even if that animal has something that's a little difficult to hear, the animal seems to know just the right way to deliver the information so that their pet parent can hear it with an open mind and, most importantly, an open heart of where the information can be received and used. Because, of course, why have these conversations if we end up triggered or traumatized and we can't make use of the information?

Speaker 1: 8:28

I have also come to thoroughly and utterly feel that this same fear holds a lot of human animals back from having conversations with each other. I know I've allowed it to hold me back. It's not like we just pop out of the womb and we know how, and our animals can teach us how to have these conversations. We can learn from their example. When we invite animal communication into our lives and we start having these maybe more raw and honest and open and sometimes very challenging conversations and we talk about behavior problems or diet issues or end of life transitions or illness and injury and all of these other things that are really kind of at the core of what help us to grow but can be very difficult to go through, and we see how our animals are able to naturally flow through these conversations and handle them with so much tact and diplomacy and truly honest, unconditional empathy and love. We start learning how to do it for ourselves, and this is going to be a point I'm going to keep coming back to over and over and over again.

Speaker 1: 9:46

When I asked the animals, when I asked the companion animals of this world, what does the word pet mean to you? Why do we use this word to describe you? They said it's because we're your partner, your empathic friend and your teacher, and so when you invite animal communication into your life, you're inviting your partner, your empathic friend and your teacher to guide you away from existing and into living, to help you evolve, and our animals know how to exist in this abundant place that we as human animals are just only slowly starting to become aware even exist, let alone. How do I get there and then how do I stay? So that's reason number one.

Speaker 1: 10:32

I am afraid of what my pet is going to say. I am afraid that my animal is going to say that they don't love me, that they don't feel loved by me, that they don't want to be with me, whatever, fill in the blanks that your big fear is, and if you can think of a question that you really do want to ask your animal but you don't ask it, then that's probably the key to whatever your big fear is. For me it was. I'm afraid my animals are going to say that they don't love me, that they don't want to be with me, and that I'm not doing a good job as a pet parent, and I let that keep me away from animal communication for sometime. And if you're watching the video version of this podcast episode, you can actually see me like my hand is just like on my chest, kind of pressing on my breastbone right now, because there's so much emotion in that. So what is the second big, big, big big, what I call the elephant in the room reason why some pet parents just can't seem to give animal communication the green light? And what I've found is that, in fact, I didn't find the answer to this question until I started studying animal communication, kind of with an eye towards becoming a professional practitioner myself, and it's this fear that we've got too many choices.

Speaker 1: 11:57

I've interviewed some communicators for let's talk to animals, especially in seasons one and two oh, come here, my little nasty baby, if you're hearing the sweet, sweet sound. More so cute. For seasons one, two and three of let's talk to animals, I've interviewed some communicators who they were practicing 20 or 30 years ago, back at a time before the internet was really a thing, before there was so much free access to information, well before animal communication as a discipline was even common knowledge. Back in those days when they were practicing, there weren't that many choices, and even if there were lots and lots of people, it wasn't really an easy way to access the database so you could see all your choices, and so if you were lucky enough to have an openness to animal communication and have a communicator in your local area, then you could have an experience, but otherwise it might not have even crossed your radar, which is another reason why I feel like there are so many people coming to animal communication now wanting to experience it, wanting to learn it themselves, because the awareness has so vastly expanded and we are now so much more aware of so many possibilities.

Speaker 1: 13:24

But it's also presented the problem that many pet parents kind of feel overwhelmed. You go online, you type an animal communicator into your browser and you're like, oh my god, there's so many people who do I pick? How do I pick? How do I know I've picked the right one? And that overwhelm can be a really big thing. One of the pieces of advice I share a lot is just find somebody who's had an experience with the communicator you're considering and just read the reviews. I invite my clients to share testimonials. I have some video testimonials. I have several written testimonials. I have done feature blog posts for several of the interspecies families I've worked with.

Speaker 1: 14:11

So if you're new to animal communication and you're considering working with me, you can kind of get a feel for my style and you can kind of get a sense of whether or not you resonate with me and would like to invite me to talk with your pet family. One of the things that has been very instrumental for me as a communicator on my journey is recognizing that once you say yes to animal communication and you say yes to your pet transitioning into a role that maybe you've not seen them in before as your partner, as your empathic friend, as your teacher, your leader, even your guide and your mentor. This is an invitation to start reactivating your own inbuilt intuitive system. Everything that you experience, whether it's choosing an animal communicator for the first time, whether it's choosing a teacher to study with, whether it's choosing how you want to structure your own animal communication practice as a professional, wherever you find yourself along the journey, along the pathway, it's just one more lesson in how do I let my intuition lead me, how do I tune in inside to feel what feels right, to see the signs, to learn how to follow the signals of my energy. Ps, when you shift your point of reference to asking your intuition to lead you to the right animal communicator for you, you get so much more than just and I use that with air quotes than just a facilitated inner species conversation with your pet family. You get an inner confirmation. You start building your inner filing system of all of the different documented moments when your intuition has led you with great accuracy to the best experience for you. The more and more experiences you add, the more and more you begin to trust yourself, to trust your inner intuition.

Speaker 1: 16:19

Think of it this way and just notice the signs. Don't allow your mind to go. Well, I've got to look at 50 websites or I've got to read through everybody in this directory of communicators. Notice what is right in front of you. You can, even if you're someone who recognizes light teams or guardian angels or spirit guides and helpers, you can even ask, just ask inside. Quite simply, please guide me, please help me, please show me the right communicator for our family. And then notice, be very aware. When you pray a prayer or you ask a question like that, you want to become instantly very aware and notice what happens next. Chances are it will happen quite quickly and before you know it, you will find that you have a session scheduled and you do have your first experience of animal communication scheduled and on the books. And if that is happening for you, whether you choose me or you choose another communicator, I would love to hear how it goes for you. So please do reach out to me in the comments or drop me an email at shannon at animallovelanguagescom. That's the second reason and hopefully, as you drop into your intuition, it's not what is the worst that could happen. Oh God, I'll pick the wrong person. What is the best that could happen? You'll find the perfect person. I'm just going to invite my inner GPS to effortlessly and fluidly guide me to the right communicator at the right moment for our precious interspecies family, and let that be your true north as you walk through this process.

Speaker 1: 17:55

The third reservation hesitation or limitation or big fear factor reason why I found that some people just do not seem willing to invite animal communication into their lives is because it seems like it contradicts or is at odds with, on some level, some other kind of inbuilt belief system or value system, or maybe the belief or value system of other human animals that they are close to, maybe a partner or a friend or a spouse or a boss or a colleague or a family member. And so it's kind of like this moment where you're being asked to choose your identity all over again. Well, am I going to go with this thing that is really intriguing to me and something that I really want to experience? And if it does change my life the way I suspect or anticipate it might, then what is the ripple effect going to feel like? How did the greater stratosphere of the rest of my life and my other relationship and with who I am in this world. That's valid because we don't have time for every battle.

Speaker 1: 19:08

Whenever we invite a new experience into our world, especially if it's one that's really going to be transformative, potentially for maybe something that's a real deep heart or soul desire, maybe a bucket list desire in our life, or just something that we just want to do it, but we can't explain even to ourselves why it's a safe bet that it may upset somebody else in our greater sphere of influence or our network. Often that's what happens because we're on a journey of expansion, we're on a journey of evolution, we're on a journey of transformation and not everybody wants to take that journey, especially for those of us who are kind of more naturally attuned to our empathy channel. We all have empathy, but some of us just aren't aware of it, those of us that really care about the well-being and the comfort and the connections that we have with others in our life and by others I mean other human animals. Yeah, we care what they think, we care how the choices we make might impact them. But that can be a slippery slope because first and foremost we go back to that old cliche about putting your oxygen mask on first. The truth is, if we don't serve our own highest good maybe not right away, but eventually it will drag everyone down with us If we say no to our highest evolution, to our highest soul path possibility in life, maybe not right away, but at some point along the way we dim our own light and that puts a damper on how brightly anyone in our sphere of influence is able or willing to shine. I hope that makes sense, maybe not on a thinking level, but maybe on a feeling level. So, while it is a valid concern yes, that maybe you have beliefs or you have family members you have beliefs about what is who and what isn't, what is possible and what isn't, what is reality and what is fiction or science fiction, what is safe or advisable and what is dangerous or off limits. However, you weigh the choices and the chances that those choices ask you to take or invite you to take. At the end of it all, underneath it all, you have to go back to what you feel. Or at least, if you want to break through the stalemate and decide what to do and feel your way forward, you need to kind of dive down underneath the waves, sink down underneath the waves and out of your head and into your gut, into your heart, and feel Is this still something I want to do, even though I don't know exactly what the ripple effect is going to be. I don't know how it might impact me today, tomorrow, into the future. You don't have to know. And here's the other important thing to remember. You don't have to let anyone else know. You don't have to tell anyone else. You can just do this for you. We are allowed to do things just for ourselves. It doesn't feel like it sometimes, but we have the full right to have our own experiences in this life, and if you're not ready to share that with anyone else, then so be it.

Speaker 1: 23:31

In a weird way, I have discovered over the years that the beliefs and the assumptions inside me that I don't challenge produce a lot more fear in me. There are a lot more fear factor-ish than the beliefs and the assumptions that I really put to the test. The more I become willing to say I don't know, let's just see. I become curious. I start to wonder. I go exploring, I go see for myself, instead of taking somebody else's word for it, even my own, the less power those assumptions or those old beliefs have over me. Maybe I'll find out that they're right, maybe I'll find out that they don't hold water at all, but either way I'll find out for myself. So that's how I've broken through that limitation, that hesitation that I had in terms of inviting animal communication into my life.

Speaker 1: 24:25

The fourth and the final reservation or limitation or hesitation that people tend to encounter with animal communication. It's the reason I've come to feel why so many pet parents will admit to having deep burning questions for their animals but won't schedule a session, won't open up and have that conversation with their animal, is because they're afraid that something's going to come up, whether it's an unmet need or desire, or whether it's a difference of opinion, some kind of stalemate or argument that is not going to be able to be resolved. And here are two really common examples. One is my animal is going to want something that I can't give or that I don't want, and the other is my animal is not going to want something that I really want. I'm going to give you an example from my own history of working with animal communicators, before I became a professional animal communicator, when my tortoise, my red foot tortoise malty was about four.

Speaker 1: 25:31

She got bigger and so I upgraded her to have a much larger outdoor enclosure that she could go and play in during the day and stay outside and at night when the temperatures are warm. I had just moved her into this outdoor enclosure and she had been used to living with me full time inside. So I asked the animal communicator we were working with the time to give me to ask her how she liked her new habitat and let me know if everything was to her liking. And of course I was super nervous about this. Who go back to reason number one and my animal is going to say she doesn't like me, she doesn't like what I'm providing, she wishes she could live somewhere else with someone else. So I was super nervous and what malty said was I do like my new habitat, I do like being outdoors and get to see what was out there and get to identify the sounds I'm hearing and I get to feel more like a wild tortoise.

Speaker 1: 26:22

But I really want to swimming pools and you might think I'd put tortoise tortoises don't swim. Well, she had these shallow waiting pools where she could drink and this might be too much information, but tortoises and turtles typically will go go to the bathroom in their water. So she was basically kind of asking for it. She wanted one pool to like, drink and swim and then another pool for toilet and unfortunately, due to her size, the size of the habitat that I had constructed for her and all the different things that needed to be in there, especially because tortoises are primarily terrestrial species, if I had added a second bathing, waiting, toileting pool, I might as well have just given her an aquarium instead of a terrarium. There wasn't enough room for it, so I had to ask the animal communicator to tell Malty that it wasn't possible. But I also said it's not possible right now. I shared why and I said I'm writing it down on the wish list for the future. Well, now she's almost 10. She lives in a huge, spacious yard and she has two full-size bathing pools, one smaller drinking pool and a whole mud wallow that I fill up with water twice a day. So we checked that one off the wish list with flying colors.

Speaker 1: 27:44

So again, when we're approaching these conversations we have to consider it might be a no, it might be a yes, it might be a maybe, it might be a not. Right now. It's just like having conversations with our own species. We ask how can we meet in the middle? We look at finding that the highest and best possible outcome in this moment in time for all. We human animals tend to call that compromise. We call it negotiation and compromise, and the same holds true with our non-human animal family members.

Speaker 1: 28:17

When I first asked my soul bird, pearl, what he thought of the two shelled beings that were living in our family and I kind of knew he was a little bit annoyed about the fact that I had added both turtles without asking him first and he said to the communicator I know that my mom loves them, but I don't understand why they're slimy and stinky and they don't have any feathers. And was that hard for me to hear yes? Did I instinctively already expect him to say that? Yes, you might be listening to that going. That wasn't very compassionate or empathic, but the thing is, is it absolutely fit with what I was already sensing to be true? And in truth it was a relief to have it confirmed because it gave me the opportunity to say to Pearl I'm sorry. It also gave me the chance to explain that both turtles and my second turtle, my rescued box turtle Bruce, in particular, needed a home. They didn't have a home before they came to live with us and when Pearl heard that, everything shifted for us. So we just were having this rather challenging, emotional, open and honest conversation and he actually said they didn't have a home. Well then, of course they must stay here and everything shifted.

Speaker 1: 29:49

So our survival system is going to ask that fear factor question what's the worst can happen? And then imagine that we stay stuck there and we don't survive the experience and is it going to allow us to see past that to all the possibilities that open up for us personally and for our whole family? When we have, we go there anyway, we have that conversation anyway. We ask the off limits question, we ask the fear factor question, we invite the feedback that maybe we're fearing and dreading but also kind of secretly expecting and maybe even hoping for, because we know that there's a breakthrough for all of us hidden inside it. And if you live in the South, you know about the New Orleans Mardi Gras King Cake where they hide like the baby in there and whoever finds it is supposed to get good luck. That's kind of what we're looking at here.

Speaker 1: 30:39

So, yes, sometimes our animals will have requests that we can't fulfill. Sometimes they'll say things that we are afraid that they might say or would kind of wish that they wouldn't. Maybe we will discover that, like me, I didn't ask Pearl what he thought of adding the two turtles to our family because I was afraid that he wouldn't want it. Well, guess what? I was also secretly kind of aware that he wouldn't want it. I already kind of knew that and I wanted it anyway. So, instead of just having that conversation and finding an open and honest way of moving forward and compromising, if I had just led with that well, this turtle doesn't have a home, he's hungry, he's scared, he's lonely Would it be okay if he stays with us? It would have saved actually saved a lot of potential heartache and a lot of stress and anxiety, not just before and during the decision that I made, but after the fact of trying to acclimate, and Pearl was just so jealous and jealous and everything just eased after we actually had the conversation.

Speaker 1: 31:44

And so all I'm trying to share here is just don't let that hold you back from having these important, impactful conversations with your pets, because there's always a way to talk it out, there's always a way to work through it. That's what the love is there for. It's the glue that keeps us in. It keeps us more committed to each other than we are, to the short-term thing that we don't want or that we want, that we think is so vitally important. When you start to take a look at these conversations these interspecies conversations more as an opportunity to learn, to stretch, to grow, to evolve, to transform, then to get what you want or avoid what you don't want, that's where you find the magic.

Speaker 1: 32:32

If you've enjoyed this episode of let's Talk to Animals podcast, if you found value in it hopefully, if you found a nugget, something that has been supportive for you and your pet family, please do like, subscribe, share it with somebody else who loves animals, who lives their life with animals, who lives their life for animals, to care for animals in our natural world. Please do share it about and let others know. It really does keep our little podcast alive, growing and thriving here in the greater podcastosphere, you can find us at letstalktoanimalsbuzzsproutcom. You can also find us at animallovelinguagescom backslash podcast and you can find all four seasons. If you have a request for a show guest or a topic you'd like me to cover, please do let me know Again. You can reach me, shannon, at animallovelinguagescom or at Buzzsprout. I always love to hear from you. I look forward to welcoming you back in two weeks for a fresh new episode, and I'm sending you and your pet family all my love. Okay, bye for now.