A Simple Powerful Practice You Can Do Now to Deepen Your Bond With Your Soul Pet

In this episode, find out why, as a devoted pet parent, you may be missing the mark in trying to build trust and deepen your bond with your beloved pet. This can be especially crucial to understand if your pet has trust issues or past trauma - or if you do! 

As you listen, discover....

• What your pets tell me, a professional animal communicator, that they want and crave the MOST from you
• What the pets tell me about what the word we use to describe them - pet - really means
• An easy role reversal visualization you can do to begin picking up on your pet's deepest wants and needs in their daily life with you
• Why your pet actually isn't like a human child, even though that comparison is often made by pet products manufacturing companies
• The real reason it can feel so scary to give our pets their heart's desire (and how to overcome it)
• A simple, fun way to start deepening your bond with your pet right away

Free resources mentioned: 

7 Days of Noticing Practice: https://www.animallovelanguages.com/7daysoptin

Intuitive You: https://www.animallovelanguages.com/offers/MyoZTmLg/checkout

Love & Feathers the book: https://www.animallovelanguages.com/book

Are you animal communication curious? Have I got something special for you! My new Animal Communication Adventure to Mastery student learning program just launched! This program is designed to be a gentle, yet thorough, serious, yet lighthearted path to interspecies fluency that pairs beautifully with my ongoing live Animal Communication Adventure Practice Circle for developing student practitioners. Visit animallovelanguages.com and click on programs to join us.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Deepening Pet Relationships
• 3:37 What Pets Really Want From Us
• 12:01 Presence Over Presents
• 16:59 Vulnerability With Our Animal Companions
• 20:54 Seven Days of Noticing Practice
• 25:16 Closing Thoughts and Resources

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome back to let's Talk to Animals, the podcast all species can enjoy together. My name is Shannon Cutts. I am an animal sensitive and intuitive, a Reiki master practitioner and an animal communication teacher with animallovelanguagescom and for our purposes here today, I am also your friendly neighborhood hostess and guide through the wild, wise and wonderful world of interspecies communication. Call me crazy, but I truly believe that animal communication has the power to save, heal and restore our planet for all species to enjoy and share. When we learn to communicate with one another, we begin to realize we are so much more alike than different. We care about each other. We become friends. On this podcast we talk about what the animals have to say and share and why our pets truly are our partners, empathic friends and teachers. I am so glad you have joined us here for this fresh new episode of let's Talk to Animals, so let's dive in. Welcome back to let's Talk to Animals, and in this episode I wanted to share a powerful practice that you can do with your pet that can deepen your relationship in as little as a handful of minutes a day. Now, for this to work in the most powerful way, you will want to dedicate at least a few days in a row to this practice. Ideally, you will want to wrap it into your ongoing daily routine with your pet, similar to, if you have a dog, you walk them. Maybe if you have a parrot, you teach them flight training. Or if you have a cat, maybe you give them some personal playtime every day. Or if you have a horse, maybe you go on a beautiful trail walk together. So you'll want to incorporate this practice into your daily routine in some way that makes sense for you. This is not something that's designed to add to the daily burden as well as joy of being a pet guardian or a pet parent, but rather it's to deepen your joy and enjoyment of one another, your appreciation for one another. Now, where am I coming from when sharing this practice with you? A couple different places. Number one as a former professional pet blogger, I spent countless hours I can't get back researching statistics, data, information about interesting things like how many billions of dollars per year pet parents spend on Halloween costumes, valentine's Day cookies, christmas or Hanukkah presents, different types of investments. Perhaps that the end goal is really to say I love you so, so much? So here's this Halloween costume. Now some pets. They're fine with it. Our dog is a pretty good sport. Some pets actively dislike it, and so who are we really buying it for? And we have to look at that. And then I also am coming to you from a place of as an animal communicator, someone who does this professionally.

Speaker 1: 3:57

The majority of people, of pet parents and animal guardians who reach out to me are in some degree of emotional distress. Often it's because their pet is entering into their end of life transition they are actively transitioning or they are in spirit and that grief is present. And so often and I'm not saying anything that I haven't deeply and intimately experienced myself so often when we go through these types of periods, that guilt can come up, that regret can come up, that self-recrimination can come up, that desire to nitpick ourselves up, that desire to nitpick ourselves, to look back over our life with our pet, to ask ourselves did I really show my love in all the ways that my pet wanted me to? Did I do enough? Was I good enough? Was I aware enough to notice? And that is so much of the battle that I walk through with my pet parent clients when I am holding space for themhakable on this, at least with all of the information that I have available to me at this point in my life.

Speaker 1: 5:30

Our relationship continues to evolve through and past the physical death process. So the pet, your pet, my pet, they are not their physical bodies. Their physical bodies are very cute. They're very furry and fluffy and feathery and they have adorable shells and fins and scales and tails and wings and all those wonderful things that we love, we appreciate and we miss when their body is no longer habitable and they have to leave them. But our pet is not our body. You are not your body, I am not my body. We can all tell when there's energy what some call the spirit or the soul in a body and when that energy is not in the body, when that energy or that spirit or that soul has exited or has left the body.

Speaker 1: 6:25

So the relationship continues to evolve and I believe this is one of the reasons why, when I researched again this is from my pet blogger days I researched what the word pet means verbally, the etymological origins of the word pet and why we use it and how we got it, and realized that in our human dictionary definition of pet basically translates to extraneous possession of little consequence, and I said, well, that doesn't work. For me, that doesn't describe my relationship with my pets, and so I decided, as a communicator, to revisit that and ask the animals well, why did you give us the word pet? What does the word pet mean to you? What do you want us to know? How do you want us to define the word pet and your role in our life, in our family? And they said we are your partner's empathic friends and teachers. Well, that describes my relationship with my pets very well indeed. You can let me know in the comments and in your shares if that resonates with you as well.

Speaker 1: 7:40

So, coming from those two different perspectives one might even say wildly diametrically opposite perspectives of we're buying all of these things for our pets so that we can say I love you. Maybe there are things that our pets really want. Maybe there are things our pets don't really want. Maybe these are things that our pets don't care about, but they care about the one giving them to them, and so we have to take a look at well, what does my pet really want from me the most? And I want to ask you to just maybe even pause this podcast for a moment and ask yourself that question. Now I'm going to tell you what the pets tell me they want the most.

Speaker 1: 8:27

But before I tell you what my exhaustive interspecies research direct qualitative story-based research has informed me with, I'd like you to consider what do you think your pet wants the most from you? What do you think makes your pet feel the most seen and loved by you? What does your pet look forward to the most every single day? And just consider that you can try on a role reversal. Just try it on for size. Just pretend for a moment you are your pet and your pet is you. You have your pet's life, your pet has your life. And imagine if you were your pet. What would you look forward to most in your day? What would you wake up every morning hoping would happen every single day? What would light you up inside if it happened every single day? And what would make you feel completely loved and at peace and so joyful and grateful when you rest your head to go to sleep.

Speaker 1: 9:38

If you had gotten that thing from your beloved human, that would make your life feel complete. What would it be? No-transcript. It's your time. It's you Believe it or not mind-blowingly.

Speaker 1: 10:56

I find this mind-blowing especially when I'm having one of my not-so-great-version-of-me days. I've really woken up on the wrong side of the perch, so to speak. And yet my pets want nothing more than to spend all of their time with me. I don't even want to spend time with me on those days, but they still crave my company, and that it just freaking blows my mind. And they don't care what I'm wearing and they don't care if I bring a new toy with me, or even a new treat. Frankly, the old treats work perfectly well, especially for our dachshund, but they're not looking for something else, something more than us, something better than us, us and our expensive plus one in the form of a Halloween costume or Christmas present wrapped under the tree or whatever way you celebrate the holidays, and whenever you celebrate, they're not looking behind you, even like little kids do like what'd you bring me? They're like oh, you brought me you. Yay, that's exactly what I wanted. And that does blow the mind, doesn't it? Because for most of us, for our own species, if we don't remember, recognize and somehow mark the occasion of each hallmark holiday with some kind of financial expenditure, well, chances are good, there's at least one other human animal in our sphere of influence that's going to get kind of peeved about that. Well, you didn't remember our fill in the blank, or you didn't buy me a present for that holiday, or our pets. Every holiday is every day when we show up to be with them.

Speaker 1: 12:36

It's so simple. It's so simple. It's so simple that it's really hard to accept, like right now, I am batch recording a couple of podcast episodes because I have some free space in my schedule today to do this, and what that means is for your listening, not pleasure, but simple sanity. I have put my soul bird, miss Petal, who is the reincarnation of my soul bird of 24 years, pearl. I have put her in a different room. She's not happy about it, not at all, and she wants to be with me. But when I go out to get her after I finish recording this episode for you, she's not even going to be mad at me, she's not going to hold it against me. In fact, I went out just now just to get something and she reacted with so much overjoy, just so effusive in her greeting and so excited, and I didn't have to bring anything with me, I didn't have to spend any money.

Speaker 1: 13:41

I mean, if we're being completely honest with ourselves, our pets are investment. They are expensive, especially if and when something always seems to, because that's just the way of inhabiting a physical body. From time to time Things can go wrong. Sometimes they can be unbelievably expensive, right? So recognizing that you don't have to spend any extra Now, maybe your dog loves exercise and agility and so you're spending some money to do activities like that together, that's different. That's different. That's something that maybe, because of their species and their particular breed, they need that you get the enjoyment of witnessing their prowess, their success, their amazing athleticism, so that counts. That's not the same thing. But just dialing back on that pressure that we so often feel to recognize their birthday or their gotcha day with some kind of expensive extravaganza, they'd just as soon be with you, just be with you all day. Just be with you. That's what they tell me again and again and again.

Speaker 1: 14:54

I ask every day, day in and day out, questions like what's your favorite treat, what's your favorite toy, what's your favorite thing to do? And in every situation it's be with my mom, be with my dad, then the diced hot dogs or the catnip toy or whatever it is. But topping the list is your attention. And if I had to summarize the number one reason why pet parents reach out to me for private sessions as well as to learn animal communication. It is to develop a deeper bond and to have that inner confidence. My pet knows how much I love them. My pet knows I would do anything for them. My pet knows they are my soulmate and I've loved them unconditionally and they have changed my life and I want to return the favor.

Speaker 1: 15:53

And when we recognize that, we recognize that we have an intention, a direction and we've made a decision and of course the word decide is very powerful the root word means to cut off all other options. That's pretty severe, it's pretty definitive. So when we're setting an intention and we're deciding that we want to deepen our bond, well, our attention and where we place it lets us know how close to the mark we are making a decision. If we want to reach that decision, if we want to activate and achieve that intention, we have to focus our attention on it and understanding that what your pet wants most, really, in absentia of all of the things, wants your focused attention, wants you, wants your focused attention, wants you wants to connect, which is something that we adult human animals often have a really hard time doing.

Speaker 1: 17:03

We're guarded, even from our animals. We have masks, we have walls up, we wear certain hats, we take on different roles, all as a way to guard our heart, all as a way to protect ourselves from getting hurt, even by, and sometimes especially by, the ones who are closest to us. And so sometimes, when your pet asks for your attention, for you to notice them, that feels very scary. It's easier to go out and buy them a present, a costume, a toy, a treat. When we're protecting ourselves, when we're healing from something, when we're covering up and hiding a wound, sometimes we don't even know it.

Speaker 1: 17:49

I have been through this, so please do not think there's any judgment here. I have been through this. It took me years to realize that I couldn't look my soul bird Pearl in the eyes. I couldn't meet his gaze fully. I would always be the one to look away first. And if you can relate to that, well, you're human, you too have been wounded and you're still healing. And it can feel easier to go and buy your pet something as a way to say I love you.

Speaker 1: 18:21

But just understand that your animal, your pet, is your partner, empathic friend and teacher and if there's one being on the face of earth, the afterlife. Wherever we're looking, if there's any being anywhere in any time, in any dimension, who is safe for you to open up with, it's your pet Now feeling safe to open up with yourself? That's a topic for a different podcast episode and probably a different podcaster. But just understand that just becoming aware of this and how sometimes we tend to hide behind these actions like buying a gift or recognizing a Hallmark holiday or a birthday or a gotcha day, that's great. Your pet just wanted the same thing that they want every day, which is you, fully, authentically you. So practicing this every day is the key Asking yourself every day to be a little bit more present with your pet, a little bit more open, a little bit more vulnerable, a little bit more honest, a little bit more available, a little bit more transparent, a little bit more transparent. This is the gift, and to help you do that and I'm going to link it up underneath this episode I have created a free tool, one of my most popular offerings.

Speaker 1: 19:43

It's very simple. It's called Seven Days of Noticing Practice and it guides you in a very fun and lighthearted way through a seven-day journey of just noticing one new thing about your pet, or with your pet, or within your pet, or noticing your pet noticing you, or noticing your pet noticing your world. So you'll get lots of different prompts and some shares. So you'll get lots of different prompts and some shares. I play this game along with you and I share a little video every day of something new that I've noticed about one of my interspecies family members. I had one student recently. She just enrolled in my animal communication adventure to mastery program and she is following along with seven Days of Noticing as well. And she just wrote to me and she has been so blown away by this simple little free tool that she has told me she's going to start a journal to keep track of the things that she's noticing as her two pets grow up. And this is so fun.

Speaker 1: 20:51

When I was little, my mom kept a baby journal for the first few years of my life and when I got older she gave it to me and, wow, like I was her first child and just this time that she spent every day just noticing me growing and it kind of blew my mind too because of, as an adult in her 50s, I don't remember what it was like when I was nine months old or three months old or just popped out of the womb, and so this is that memory that we're striving to cherish every time we purchase something. I'll make another memory that I can remember. You can just do it now. In fact, I did it with my soul, bird pearl, and it turned into a book called Love and Feathers what a palm-sized parrot has taught me about life, love and healthy self-esteem and you can get it on my website, animallovelanguagescom, or you can head over to Amazon and get the Kindle version. So you never know where this practice might lead you and you won't ever know unless you give it a go and give it a try and experience it with your pet.

Speaker 1: 21:55

So I come to you with my open, vulnerable heart to just share that. Your pet wants nothing more nor less than you showing up as who you are, as all that you are, and sharing yourself yes, your time, yes, your life, but yourself with them. I can also share, in closing, that the degree to which you can share, openly, honestly, vulnerably share yourself with your pet is the degree to which your pet is able to openly, honestly, vulnerably share themselves with you. So where you have walls, you are not only walling yourself in, you are walling your pet out. And this is why I say that learning animal communication first experiencing yes, because I was a pet parent who hired communicators first but also experiencing learning to use this birth language, this interspecies language that all species share in common and can access and tap into.

Speaker 1: 22:55

This is the very best self-healing, self-development and self-evolution program I have ever found, and that's after nearly a lifetime of trying. And if you haven't listened to the episode just prior to this one, I break that down in a lot more detail for you. So no, I say that vulnerably and honestly, from my heart. I have tried a lot of programs, so this is where we start, simply noticing. So I encourage you to visit the link in the show notes, give the tool a try. You can just head over to animallovelanguagescom, backslash free tools, look for the tool. It's right at the top. It says seven days of noticing. You can opt in. It's totally free. It will guide you through the process, make your pet's day, make your pet's week and, if you decide to keep going, make your pet's life so much richer and so much sweeter, and yours with them as well. So I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Please post your comments, post your shares. Let me know if you're going to give this tool a try and, if so, how it's going, and I look forward to welcoming you back to a fresh new episode here at let's Talk to Animals very, very soon. Okay, all my love Bye for now.

Speaker 1: 24:07

I have so enjoyed sharing this episode with you. If you're new to the let's Talk to Animals community and you've enjoyed this episode, please do leave us a review on your favorite streaming service or drop a comment wherever you'd like to listen. I'd love to hear from you, and your feedback truly helps me shape future episodes based on your interests and needs. If you're not already in my weekly love letters community, head over to animallovelanguagescom to opt in. Your welcome email will include $25 off your first pet session with me and you'll be the first to know when a new podcast episode drops. If you're interested in learning more about the work I do communicating with animals, offering pet Reiki and teaching animal communication, please visit me at animallovelanguagescom. Click on schedule for pet sessions and programs for all the information about my new animal communication adventure to mastery student program and the live animal communication practice circle. I run for student practitioners and I look forward to welcoming you back here very soon for a fresh new episode of let's Talk to Animals. Okay, all my love. Bye for now.