I’m about to admit how I’ve been slow on the uptake when it comes to learning from my own animal. Yes, showing people how their animals are teaching them is my life’s work. It’s just harder to see your own stuff sometimes, you know?
Recently, I was on an animal communication webinar where certified practitioners and my teacher’s current students gathered to do live readings of each other’s animals. A student was chosen to talk to my cat Nell, and during the reading I asked, why does Nell come into the bedroom, meow loudly, and walk all over me every morning, way earlier than I want to wake up?
Nell's answer was that she wants breakfast. Makes sense…but why does the behavior continue when I’ve never reinforced it by getting up to feed her that early? When asked if there was a lesson in it for me, Nell replied that I need to take care of myself and stand up for what I want.
This is pretty much verbatim what Mr. Big told me last year when I did the horse-and-soul workshop in Costa Rica, and it’s a message that’s been showing up in more ways than one in my life lately.
So then I thought, why haven’t I ever straight-up told Nell what I need? I’ll tell you why. Nell is the boss of me. She’s very vocal, and very good at telling me what to do. Because I hold all animals in very high esteem, I tend to do what my animal wants, when she wants (except you’ll never get me out of bed early—it’s just not in me.)
So recently before I went to sleep, I intuitively asked Nell to please be quiet and not walk on me at six in the morning, because it’s way too early for me. The next morning she came in at six but without meowing, then jumped on the bed, sat next to me and stared at me, which also was an excellent way to wake me up. So technically, she heard my poorly worded request and followed it.
The next night I amended my request—I need you to stay outside of the bedroom until after eight-thirty, as uninterrupted sleep is very important to me. The next morning, she stayed out of the room and I slept in.
And now that I’ve been getting more sleep, I’m clear enough to realize that this whole time Nell has been bossing me around, she’s been showing me what it looks like to stand up for yourself and take care of your needs. Now that I'm doing that, she's listening.
My next lesson? Remembering to apply my life's work to my own life.
It’s all about the magic. 🙌