How companion animals advise and teach us

Anyone who’s loved an animal has experienced firsthand the numerous benefits of sharing our lives with them, from being greeted each day with unconditional love to better physical health.  Our companion animals help us in less obvious ways too.  Through their unique perspective and deep knowledge of their people, they can offer guidance to help us with the complex choices we humans have to make throughout our days and our lifetimes.   

I asked a group of horses, dogs and cats to explain how they offer us this unique gift.  I invited them to speak from their own individual experience, as well as be a spokesman for their species based on their innate knowledge of that species. 

Are there species differences in how they help us?

They explain their species helps frame their outlook, though each animal is a unique individual and observes each of us as an individual.  Every animal in our life perceives us and can guide us in their own unique way.

Cat says: “All species are different – we all see each other differently!”  Each species looks at every other species uniquely, that’s part of the fun of learning!  She loves to learn how every other species sees the world. 

Horse: “We are desirous of quiet, of human quiet.”  He shows horses love making the energy around them still, quiet, peaceful.  By creating that quiet, they are able to receive “many meditations over many moons”.  The individual is made ready to hear and learn more than their everyday awareness will allow.

Dog’s best helping method is “I can help you talk, chatter! Get you moving!”  His excited energy will increase a person’s enthusiasm and break through their stall points, get them moving and exchanging information with others.  “That’s the way to peace!”, getting out in the community and exchanging information with others as individuals.

Cat: “We are surrounded by silence in our own minds.”  Cat knows this silence contains fruit there for the picking.  He suggests people take some of that fruit from your mind, that raw material in the silence, choose it, examine it, turn it around in your mind and see what other fruit grows from that.  “See how the silence soothes you”, how it calms your nerves yet also “welcomes you into its silence, chooses you, accepts you, picks you” to be the recipient of its wisdom. To Cat, meditation is like a bath, allowing light and information to gently rain down on you.  “If you listen, we will awaken you too!” to your dreams.

How do they help us? How can we learn from them?

The group indicates they enjoy helping us through the myriad decisions we must make constantly that move us forward in our lives to our goals and dreams.  Dog jokingly refers to these as “requests of daily living” since people are constantly asking for help!

Horse observes “Everyone wants to know a little more about their life” as well as what comes after, though people are often afraid to ask about the afterlife. “We can help.”  Horse explains they receive their wisdom of humans from two sides.  First, from watching how humans perceive horses, how they assist horses and make decisions about them.  This helps the horses understand the complexity of the human thought process, our need to make frequent decisions, and everything else involved in our decision making.  The second way they gain wisdom is through their own hearts, relying on their own feelings.  Horse shows they pick up little pieces of information every second throughout their life, similar to the rhythm of a clock ticking.  “We save these things for when they’re needed.”  Later when they see a person has a need, a question, they share the numerous pieces they’ve collected that will help.

Horse shows an example of a person insisting ‘I need an answer tonight!’  And Horse responds “You won’t get an answer tonight but you’ll get what you need when you need it”, which could be in a few weeks.  Horse sees people are “terrified of not knowing”.  He shows horses are more comfortable with not knowing, they recognize the answers will come in time.  They can trust this because they know “There is no shoulder we can’t lean on and no reach too far.”  They can feel unlimited support is available to them from our physical world as well as beyond.

He wants to remind us of the story of the tortoise and hare – the tortoise was slow, but prepared for what he was going to do and that is why he was successful.  Horse can assist in that same slow but sure way. 

Dog observes that people want so much and don’t see what they already have.  “Everyone is seeking, questing. I can look at them and say, ‘Oh, you have everything!’”  He thinks to himself, “You must mean you need nothing, and you’re seeking something else”, some question beyond the practical needs of daily life.  Dog wants to constantly bring his people back to the present, “to what we see and enjoy”, what’s in front of us.  The larger questions are interesting to learn about but not necessary, the feelings of inadequacy and longing are not needed.  “I see stars and I believe in them” – as physical objects, as bright pretty lights in the sky.  It doesn’t need to be any more than that for him, that is enough.

He feels by sharing his attitude with people, they see more in their immediate surroundings, in their daily lives, because they see the faraway stars are not as important as someone standing in front of them.  He thinks it’s funny that “People always want to be away!”, always wishing they were somewhere else, when right in front of him and you, is everything he could want!

Cat’s perspective on life is “Everything is surprising.”  Everything you see, every little spec in your environment is a surprise, is something special, is new to someone and can be new to you if you look at it in a new way.  She reminds us “These ideas are not new.”  But people forget them. “You should seek happiness around you”, in the details of your environment, and that’s what Cat tries to help you see.

Do our animals step in when we need them or do we have to ask for their help?

Dog: “You don’t have to ask me!  It comes out anyway!”  He’s so enthusiastic about helping, he’ll help whether you want it or not!  He feels all beings, and especially dogs, are given so much love as part of their makeup, that it’s impossible for them not to share it.  They are desirous of seeing that love they were given blossom, be sent out to others, be shared in the environment and fill the space, like a fog spreading across the city.  He likes to think that his love is being spread that way wherever he goes, and leaves a permanent trail in the world.

Cat’s approach is more subtle.  He offers help, then waits to see how you respond.  “You have to seem serious” about wanting the help.  If you give indications that you’re open to receiving the help, even if you’re tentative, Cat will then send more subtle thoughts your way.  One way he does this is by putting ideas into your heart-space while you’re sleeping.  “The subtle movement of those ideas entering into your awareness will not startle or frighten you.”  He is careful not to cause harm by forcing ideas on someone or making them choose a new way of interacting with the world that they might not be ready for.  By giving his ideas gently, he knows by morning you’ll feel a little more peaceful, hopeful, awake to your life.  If that works, if you respond to that method, he’ll keep doing that.  Over time, as Cat sees you are becoming more serious about wanting to receive, he’ll start to interact with you differently, exchanging ideas in person, and sending the ideas while you’re awake.  Cat likes to be peaceful and calm and send his thoughts to you that way.  He will send “Peaceful calm thoughts to plop into you, land on your desk, in your heart, in your awareness.”  He has many ways he can get the ideas through to you and enjoys using them all.

Horse offers help when you ask.  “You have to seek it” – but not from Horse, you need to be seeking answers from the universe, from ‘All There Is’.  Horse can be the one to help supply the info that addresses your requests.  “We can help to seek it from the stars, from the beings who have gone before us, who are here to teach us. From everything.”  Horse can act as a conduit to bring information to you, to all of us, that we’re unable or afraid to access on our own. 

What advice do they have for people who want to grow?

Horse: “Believe in yourself.  We see you, we see your truth.”  They see who we are inside, underneath our troubles, and want us to look there too. 

“When you struggle, you’re hungry for an answer.”  That’s all it means to struggle – a desire for  information.  He helps us see “struggle is futile” but allowing the information to come to you will be productive.  To master this, “Teach yourself a little cue” to ask for what you want, a little reminder to remember to ask for the answers to come to you.  Horse shows it like setting out a little pan of water, and by doing so you ask via intention that the answer come to you in time.  Later, water drips in slowly.  That’s how the info will come to you, little bits over time.  Then you’ll realize the pan is full though you didn’t even notice it being filled.

Horse says that is why unlike humans, horses keep their hearts completely open all the time – to allow the information to come in steadily. “That’s how I can help you.”  He can help you learn how to keep your heart open, better prepare yourself for when the answers do come in, to have faith that the info is there and you can rely on it and trust it and it’s safe to make your decisions based on that info.  To know you were given that wisdom over time by your own higher self as well as guides and angels “and other good ones” such as your own companion animals.

Cat’s advice is “Wake to yourself.”  Cat wakes to herself every day, is intimately aware of her environment, of herself, of what ‘charge’ surrounds her, the very feeling in the air.  She says everybody has this gift, this ability to tune in to the air and “feel a thought, a prayer, come to them.”  She shows reaching out a paw delicately as if to touch a butterfly floating by.  It’s a beautiful image to her, a serene feeling to touch something so delicate, and do so with that bravery, that feeling that she may, she has permission to receive this.  “Your own companion animals will help you learn to control how you receive and welcome this gift into your own life and spirit.  Welcome it more.”  Let it teach you, learn to explore it.  She shows it’s a process that continually evolves.  When you welcome your own spirit into your conscious awareness, you will begin to have more confidence in yourself. You will be “less needy and grasping” about trying to get the opinions of others, because you will see that you have what you need inside of you.  Simply put, “You will cry less.”

Dog’s best advice is “Daily walks will clear your head.”  That’s one of the most important pieces in moving ahead in your life.  Clearing your head daily, preferably in the morning, will clear out “snags”, thoughts that are catching and holding you back, preventing you from moving forward in your own dreams.  “I tell everyone: Sort it out in your head on a walk!”  That’s the best way in his opinion to clear out the confusion surrounding any problem. 

Then, after clearing out the extraneous stuff, “we think of our dreams.”  This second part of your walk is a good time to “tell yourself I’m sorry”, forgive yourself for perceived mistakes – Dog prefers to call them ‘blunders’.  “Let yourself know you’re off the hook”, start fresh.  “Each day is a perfect piece of your life!” 

The third piece in your daily walk-clearing is “set yourself a purpose, a goal, a mini-accomplishment” that you want to achieve.  Give yourself a little pep talk, tell yourself it is an important goal, you do want this, and you are committed to achieving it.  Dog shows how the person changes from unsure, to wishing but feeling it won’t happen or they’re not good enough, to finally squaring their shoulders, chin up, confident.  If you follow his advice, “That walk will make it happen!”

Dog’s final advice is to remember “We all need leisure time.”  Give yourself time at the end of the day to unwind and remind yourself of all the good you did for yourself that day, all the friends you talked to, how you helped, what problems or decisions were sorted out.  Be proud of yourself.  Then tomorrow, you’re set to begin fresh.

Final Thoughts

Speaking of every individual of every species, Horse says “We seek, and we want. We each want to teach.”   If people have a desire to learn, all that help is available to them.  It is limitless.

Dog asks us to keep in mind that “Every idea is a nurturing idea.”  Every idea shared from one individual to another is meant to nurture, to bring hope, to clear up ambiguities.  “That’s how I like to help.”  Simple ways like that.

Cat wants us to know they can help us “To see beyond seeing.”  To see beyond our current level of growth to what’s ahead.  In order to see beyond in that way, to even know what goals to set, requires some fantasizing, some daydreaming.  Cat can help with that planning, that goal setting, by helping us know how far to reach and what we will be able to touch one day.  “We all see stars.  We must want  them.”  Cat can help us believe that we can reach that far goal.  It is attainable.