My daughter, Sierra, is sixteen months old and communicates with animals every day. She inspires me to be a better animal communicator. I see how animals respond to her and I realize some "grownups" are missing qualities that really attract animals to her.
Here is what I have observed:
Sierra views animals as equally important beings in a room. When she enters a space she immediately says "Hi" to the humans and animals one at a time. Nikita is never just a cat sleeping on the couch. He is important and loved. She walks up right to him, looks him in the eye and says, "Nik! Hi!". This is not the type of greeting Nik appreciates from most humans. I asked him why he accepts such forward behavior with Sierra but not with other people. He said, "She is pure joy with no expectations. She just wants to be with me-- she doesn't want something from me." I asked, "What do you mean 'from me'?" He said, "Sometimes people want me to love them or react to them or talk to them; but with Sierra I can just be myself-- relaxed."
Sierra is open to communicating with animals in their own language. We went for a walk on the bike path and met up with a puppy. The little pug was tiny and bouncing up and down with excitement. Sierra leaned over and started barking. She barked and barked for several minutes (the puppy was not barking.) I tried to get Sierra's attention so we could continue our walk (the man with the puppy was ready to go) but she just kept barking. The puppy loved it-- the puppy clearly loves attention, and Sierra really wanted to keep the connection going. I am not saying we all need to bark at dogs, but maybe humans try to impose our view of the world on animals too often.
Sierra stays present in the moment and observant of the animal's needs. One day our cat, May, came down the stairs and I picked her up for a hug. Sierra came over, put her face up to May and said, "May, Hi!" Then she said "eat" and with her finger and thumb pinched together she offered May a pretend bite of food. I set May down and she walked to her food bowl and started eating. Sierra had clearly known that May was hungry.
I am convinced that we enter the world free of judgment about animals. We arrive believing they are important sentient beings. Most importantly we arrive believing that we can understand animals and they can understand us. Several clients have shared very sweet stories about their children understanding animals. These stories all have something in common; the animals and children are thinking and feeling in the moment. It is always something simple like, "I want to go outside". Sierra notices when our animals need to go in and out, eat, or have another simple need, before I notice almost every time. She is so connected with the present moment. Sometimes I am thinking about other things- not tuned in. When I do my work as an animal communicator I deliberately get myself in sync with the moment, and I think that is one of the secrets to connecting with animals.
After seeing how Sierra is with animals and how they are with her, I feel more certain than ever that everyone can learn to understand animals. I am inspired to help people reconnect with this innate ability and I hope to see you at one of my workshops soon.