Like many dogs, our terrier, Gingersnap, spends much of her day listening and watching for things she can bark at. Sometimes they are real. Sometimes they are imagined. Mostly they are not a threat to our safety and don't require the intensity and endurance she brings to each of these outbursts. And when she gets going, her listening skills go out the window. We simply can't reach her. This morning, Gingersnap got up at 4:50 a.m. I heard her go downstairs, out her dog door, and into the backyard for a bathroom break. She also took this opportunity to start barking at something. It wasn't an urgent bark, like an intruder was there. It was an "I heard a sound a mile away and I might as well bark at it because it's fun" kind of thing. So she barked. And barked. And barked. I knew this simply wouldn't do, this early in the morning. The neighbors would have a fit. So I dragged myself up and headed for the nearest openable window in the bathroom. It was dark (didn't want to wake myself up even more by turning on the lights) and I was groggy as I stepped up on top of the toilet lid to reach the window so I could open it and call out the halting orders to Ginger. She stopped after hearing me. Whew, that was uncharacteristically easy! Since I was already in the bathroom, I thought I'd use the toilet. Just as I lifted the lid, Ginger started barking again. In my groggy, disoriented state, I quickly stepped back up onto the toilet to repeat my "cease fire" order to Ginger. If you are wider awake while reading this than I was at the time, you may have already caught my mistake: that the lid to the toilet was now open when I re-stepped onto it! Into the water went my bare foot (no 5-second rule can possible save you when putting a body part in the toilet), out it quickly recoiled, sending me off-balance and knocking a shelf off the wall and whatever was on it onto the floor. And Ginger was still barking. The animal communication connection.So what does all this have to do with animal communication? Well, most obviously, if I were able to clearly communicate telepathically with Gingersnap, I could have taken care of this whole business in just seconds from the comfort of my bed. I'm still aspiring to that goal.
But even if I were able to make that connection on my end, it still takes two to communicate. Ginger has to be listening. While she often "hears" things that start her on a barking bender, she no longer listens while in that state. Something else takes over that makes her bypass the deeper part of herself that is likely reassuring her that there really is no immediate threat; that she can calm down, enjoy a quick few words with whatever she is perceiving is there, and then get back in touch with herself and her surroundings. Many of us have such anxiety over animal communication, that our listening may be similar to Ginger's after the barking begins. Our fears around not being able to hear an animal or not being able to understand or to get it right — or whatever — can push us into a state that is akin to being "out of our minds." We stay more focused on the fears and anxieties swirling around than actual listening. And even if we do briefly connect with an animal, we often quickly extinguish that connection because we don't want to jinx it — or even believe it. Public speaking has a similar effect on most people. It creates such apprehension, that they panic, lose their train of thought, stutter, get flustered, and get so out of their heads that they often don't even remember the details of the experience. In that heightened, disconnected state, we are afraid to settle back down into a grounded, heart-based place, without protective walls around us, and really listen. Because if we really listen, then we might actually hear something. And then what? Isn't that what we all want? Yes, but it seems to still be a major deterrent for many of us. Keri Davis talks about this deep listening in her Dear Student letter on this site. And it certainly seems like the most important lesson learned from my pre-dawn adventure. That, and always closing the lid to the toilet before stepping on it.
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