"Lighten Up," said the Alpaca. Good advice! Today felt a bit unsettled and unfocused. I wondered how that might affect any conversation I have. After sitting quietly for a while, no particular animal came to mind, so I headed over to the Freestyle Practice section of this website and browsed the animals. I was drawn to Mo the alpaca. I introduced myself and explained that his people thought that he would be interested in helping others practice communicating with animals while giving them an opportunity to meet a really interesting animal in the process. He listened and replied, "Oh, well, that sounds like me." I was getting an image of an eagle or griffin, so I asked why. He said, "We share a lot of the same characteristics." "Like what?" I asked. "We are very alert. We love to spread our wings (to which I took this to mean, expand boundaries, try new things, be curious), but we also have a solid footing on the ground if we choose." I just kept getting more imagery of birds. Ostrich. Ducks and ducklings. Rooster. "Tell me about your personality," I inquired. "I have a good sense of humor," he replied. "Like what?" I urged. "I like sneaking up on people. I put my nose next to their ear and it surprises them, but they smile." "Anything else you want to tell me about yourself?" I asked. "I like to get my way and can get annoyed when I don't or when others do things differently than I want them to." "I like staring contests," he added. So I asked, "Do you ever win those?" "Winning doesn't matter. Playing the game is what matters," was his retort. "Can you tell me something I can validate?" I wasn't sure what to expect. "There's a horse here we call Captain." "Is he your captain?" "Of course not. Alpacas don't take orders from horses. But he is a good leader for the animals on the farm," said Mo. "What do you think about shearing?" I asked. "Not a fan." I feel there's an "itchiness" factor that he doesn't like. And the noise. On to food. "What do you like to eat?" I saw alfalfa/grass but also small green pellets. My mind also flashed on apples, carrots, and radishes. He seemed very interested in the radishes. I seemed to have trouble keeping him focused on the conversation, but that may have been my own trouble with focusing today. He seemed to be always making little quips and jokes and comments, taking the conversation very lightly and constantly trying to lighten the mood. So I thought, "What a ham." And then heard from him: "No offense to my pig friends." I wasn't sure about any of this conversation, as it seemed all over the place, so I asked if there's anything special he wanted to tell me. "If I am elected, I promise every animal will have a job. There will be plenty of food for everyone. And there will be more fun, more jokes, more…me! Now get out there and make it a great day!" "Come on, Mo, this all seems like a bunch of silliness. Is any of it real?" "Why does life have to be so serious? Why can't it be more silly?" he queried. "Well, I'm trying to ask some serious questions," I said, feeling like this conversation was too "out there" to be real. "Well, I'm trying to give some silly answers. Who's right?" said this light-hearted alpaca. "So your message is to lighten up?" I finally relented. <Big, toothy alpaca smile> "Okay, thanks for talking to me. Have a nice day!" Feedback from Mo's peopleFirst of all I have to tell you that both my alpacas just moved to a farm sanctuary on Sunday, 7th of August (day of conversation). Before that day they lived without any other farm animals around for a long time. On the farm sanctuary there are all kinds of other animals like horses, donkeys, sheep, goats, turkeys, peacocks and many more. There are quite a lot of buzzards around here and I can very well imagine that Mo has an affection for them and yes alpacas are very curious and they don't like boundaries very much. Mo himself is rather a shy alpaka who never sneaked up on any human he doesn't like body contact a lot and they both hate shearing. In former conversations he always made clear that he was a very proud and dignified alpaca. But he may have hidden sides and also I find alpacas in general very humorous and they certainly lighten up everybody around ! Mo loves apples, carrots and right now the plums are falling off the tree. About the staring contestst: That surprised me a lot because Mo has been nearly blind since he was born. So yes he looks at things and other animals long and carefully — you might as well call it a staring contest .
1 Comment
Angel-Rose
8/7/2016 08:20:39 pm
THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER! Oh, my gosh, I was laughing so hard throughout this entire post! Great outlook, Mo, and awesome job getting it all down, Josh! "Well, I'm trying to give some silly answers. Who's right?" I love this so much!
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