All I wanted to when I was growing up was to sing, act, play various musical instruments and dance. Something shifted after almost failing out my first year of college (after all my school was rated one of the top party schools in the country) and I sort of snapped into a realization that I had at my fingertips some really interesting courses and professors at my disposal. I began to thrive in the subject areas of political science, college radio/tv and journalism. After all, radio and television news were a compromise. The included writing and creating but didn’t involve the same risk as a life in the “arts.” And then I just sort of sailed off into the world of leaving my creativity behind.

In his book, The Artisan’s Soul, Erwin Raphael McManus proposes that human beings are inherently creative and that we all born with the ability to create. This does not have to be in the form of what is traditionally considered “art” such as painting or musical ability.  A pastor, McManus states, “the complexity is that we are both works of art and artists at work.”

Fast forward about many years later. 9/11 hit close to home. At the time I was employed as a social worker with “seriously emotionally disturbed children,” doing home visits in some very rough neighborhoods, going to school for a masters in social work in NYC and there were also some pretty strong areas of turmoil in my personal life. I began seeking forms of relaxation and other stress outlets. McManus points to a point in his life when he experienced the painful realization that, “good sense had replaced imagination in (his) life.” I was primed to begin my life’s creative work with animals.

I had always wanted to work with animals but it never paid enough to live on. So I stuffed that desire but there is a point when we can “stuff” no longer. With simply an invite extended by my mother to attend a class on animal communication, something clicked in me and I realized I had always been communicating with animals; I just wasn’t consciously aware of what I was doing. I always knew what animals were thinking and what they were feeling.

My first cat, Dolly, was quite clear about her feelings of total disinterest in me (because I wouldn’t leave her alone and tried to put dresses on her) were not only observed behaviors. I could feel her feelings and her thoughts were not exactly warm towards me. But was this just a child observing cat rejection behavior (running away from me and hiding) and not being willing to accept. I can now clearly discern the difference between observation of an animal’s behavior vs their true thoughts and feelings (as well as my own) and this is also what I teach others to do. Social work helped me to hone this skill as it is vital to be aware of your own feelings and reactions in this work.

I realize now that as a child I didn’t really want to hear what Dolly was saying because, frankly, I wanted what I wanted and initially I did not have the self-control to stop what I was doing. If I had stopped to really accept her feelings it would have been to painful to continue on with my behaviors (although over time I did eventually “get it,” and left the poor cat alone. Not to mention there was no larger societal awareness that this kind of solid exchange of inter-species exchange was possible.

We are still struggling in current times in that area but barriers are falling as we evolve. Children are some of the best teachers because they have not absorbed the idea that this is “weird.” Translation, “we as humans are slow to accept what we do not understand.” Especially if we sense that we, ourselves, have a piece of that thing we don’t understand inside of us.

……..it’s time for you to answer that call within that tells you there is more than meets the eye.

Level 1 Animal Communication course held on September 10, 2016 in Morristown, NJ (distance classes also available). Access special discounted rates HERE!

Give your animal the gift of an animal communication and/or massage with essential oils and energy work session with Anne Angelo LINK