Talking with wild animals & how it is different from pet communication

Wild animal communication is one of the profound gifts that animal communication offers us, the human animals. 

Talking with wild animals offers up fresh possibilities that are (ahem) wildly under-represented in the majority of pet communications. Not only does the whole tone of the conversation tend to be different, but also the questions are different and the takeaways can feel quite different as well.

In this episode.....

• Learn how animal communication with wild animals differs from the more typical pet communications I do every day. 
• Hear stories of my conversations with wild animals from my volunteer experiences on Isabella Island in the Galapagos. 
• Get creative ideas for how you can expand your communications with your personal pets here and in spirit.
• Discover how to start creating deeper conversations with the wild animals who share your home space.
  
  🌟 Intuitive pet parenting mini-course (mentioned in this episode): https://www.animallovelanguages.com/ipp
  
  🌟 Animal Communication Adventure (mentioned in this episode): https://www.animallovelanguages.com/enroll

Transcript

Shannon Cutts: 0:12

Hi there, welcome to let's Talk to Animals, the podcast designed to de-woo, demystify and simplify the process of interspecies conversations animal communication. My name is Shannon Cutts. I am an animal intuitive and sensitive, a Reiki master practitioner and an animal communication teacher. I am also, for our purposes here, your friendly neighborhood hostess for Let's Talk to Animals, and each month, twice a month, we tackle different topics in the field of animal communication. Sometimes I have special guests on and we have some very intriguing conversations. In fact, the first few seasons of Let's Talk to Animals were spent unpacking wisdom around the world from my fellow animal communicators and holistic healers, veterinarians, authors, teachers, herbalists and aromatherapists. It's been a wonderful five seasons thus far, and for season five and season four, I really have been focusing a little bit more on sharing stories from my own personal practice as an animal communicator and an energy worker and a teacher, and also tackling different topics that you've let me know that you're interested in today. Something new If you've been following along with me for a little while, you know that recently I traveled to Galapagos, which was a bucket list trip for me, especially as a lifelong animal and nature lover.

Shannon Cutts: 1:51

I spent two weeks on Isabella Island volunteering with the Giant Tortoise Breeding Center and let me just tell you my heart sang every morning. I was totally covered in poopy tortoise water. I was wearing my oldest, ugliest clothes, not looking stylish, not even looking groomed or bathed. I was working in 100 degrees humidity and heat and I was never happier in my whole life. My heart was singing and I cried when I had to leave them. So it was a real heart dream come true to be able to contribute in some small way to these beautiful majestic beings and their wellness and their happiness and their quality of life and their longevity and their future, and have really returned with so many wonderful stories of all the wild animal conversations that I was able to have with marine iguanas and tropical penguins and flamingos and blue-footed boobies and majestic frigate birds and sea lions and just amazing, amazing wisdom. I learned so much and received so many insights and this has really highlighted for me that there can't be quite a difference between communicating with our pets, our companion animals, the animals that we see and share our lives with day in and day out, and communicating with wild animals.

Shannon Cutts: 3:27

And I wanted to just kind of unpack that for this podcast episode to take a look at what are some of the similarities and also what are some of the differences when we set our intention to communicate with our own pets, or perhaps with companion animals that belong to another human we know, versus when we are setting an intention to communicate with a wild animal or a wild animal collective, by which I mean a flock or a hive or a herd or a group of some kind. What does that look like? Because, I'll be honest, 99% of the requests that I receive for animal communication services, when someone wants me to help them connect and communicate with an animal that is in their family or an animal they're close with, we're really working with the companion animal, with the pet or an animal that's living and working in close partnership with a human in some way, like a show horse or a working farm animal or a working dog or a service animal or a pet, and I love these conversations. Of course, I've chosen this for my profession. It's something I absolutely adore and feel completely grateful every day to be able to offer. It's my way of being of service to the animals that I love and the humans who love them. However, on rare occasions I am asked, I'm hired, to talk with a wild animal, someone that has had a close relationship or a relationship that feels significant to them and wants to connect more closely and learn more. And talking or chatting with a companion animal and having wild conversations can be different still. I've just noticed that the energy can be different, the focus can be different, the outcome can be different. It's quite fascinating to me, and I thought that you might enjoy hearing some stories from my time in Galapagos and hearing what the animals have to share, and also just learning more about the differences between talking with companion animals and talking with wild animals, and so I'll just start there.

Shannon Cutts: 6:01

What is animal communication? Animal communication is having two-way dialogues or conversations across species boundaries, and when I say that I mean we're talking about two different species, whether that's a human animal and a canine animal, or a human animal and a feline or an equine or, in this case, an avian animal. Who's trying to attack my keyboard? Right, my love. We can also facilitate conversations between a feline and a canine, an avian and a tortugan. As an animal communicator, sometimes I am brought in to talk with an interspecies family and my personal interspecies family. We have a red-footed tortoise. We have a three-toed box turtle. We have a cockatiel parrot, we have a standard wire-haired dachshund and we have a couple of Homo sapiens so lots of different species. The one shared experience that we all have in common is that we're part of a daily, close-knit family.

Shannon Cutts: 7:04

That brings me to the first distinction between talking with companion animals and talking with wild animals is that the nature of the conversation tends to be different. There's a less tendency to take conversations personally and to make assumptions about why behaviors are happening, because when we talk with a wild animal, we're talking with an animal that has retained their own agency. They're wild and free, they are taking care of themselves a hundred percent, and so it's a different energy to initiate a conversation with an animal that's wholly independent and free versus a conversation with an animal where we're preparing their meals and we're maybe cleaning up their poop it happens right or we're responsible for their veterinary bills and we're washing their bedding and we're doing a lot for them, in the same way that we might care for a dependent human of any age. The nature of the energetic connection there tends to be more of a feeling of a little bit of space there, where we're not so apt to take things personally in the conversation or make assumptions about why behaviors are happening. Now, the one caveat that I can add is when we're talking with a wild animal who is insistent on sharing our space, like the rodents that were hanging out in our attic recently, then there can be some tendency to make assumptions based on species oh, rats are always like this, or mice are always a problem, or oh, the raccoons, again that sort of thing. Or the squirrels oh the darn squirrels. But then even then it tends to be more of a generalization based on that animal species rather than taking it personally. My dog knows that I hate it when he barks loudly in my ear and startles me, and so he's doing it deliberately, versus the squirrel just was looking for a place to get warm and stash their acorns that they just stole from our trees, so it's just really even interesting to look at. Well, they didn't really steal it, it's actually their tree. It just happens to be planted in my yard and I paid for it. And that brings up a whole other conversation about humans assuming that we have the right to buy and sell animals, plants, trees, land, water. That was all here long before our species was even a gleam in the eye of the great cosmos, so that brings up a whole different topic. But in general I found when I'm communicating with wild animals there's just a little bit more space even around those kind of potentially charged topics.

Shannon Cutts: 9:56

We're not so apt to make assumptions that cause us to feel negative emotions or cause us to view the animals in less of a favorable light or take things personally that are happening. We have an expanded awareness, just a little more space around some of the questions that we might ask, that if it was a companion animal, if it was a pet that we were keeping company with every day, we might be apt to take it more personally. So it's a different kind of experience having these conversations that feel more equal. It's like well, I want to know why you're trying to raise your young in my attic and I do want to hear from you about that, but I'm not so apt to say you're doing it to me or you've picked my house because you're singling me out and you have a vested interest in keeping me awake all night, every night, as you're scampering around up there. We're not apt to take it quite so personally.

Shannon Cutts: 10:52

That's an interesting dynamic to explore, especially if you are a student of animal communication and you haven't really tried having conversations with wild animals yet and you do have a curiosity about some of those behaviors, especially with animals that do tend to gravitate towards areas where we humans live, and species that do tend to want or need to actually tangibly share space with us. Like they're on our lawn, quote unquote and it's like well, whose lawn is it really? Is it our lawn, is it their lawn, is it our shared lawn? But it really kind of works with your left brain mind and gives you a little bit of opportunity to expand your awareness of what's really going on here. So I also find that communicating with wild animals puts me into a heart space of a little bit more humility, like a natural humility going into it.

Shannon Cutts: 11:49

I've had some clients, some animal communication clients, in the past that have come to me and said can you fix my animal? In fact, notably and I've shared this story before because it happened really early on in my professional growth as an animal communicator where I had one dog mama who came to me when I was doing a local charity event and I had a vendor booth and she walked up to me with her great Dane and several of her human friends and she said can you fix my dog? Everyone says he's autistic and of course my first thought was it's not your dog who needs fixing. But my second thought was I find it interesting that we humans often assume that when our animal isn't behaving the way that we want or expect or need them to behave, that they're doing something wrong. And either we just haven't communicated what we want sufficiently or they're doing something wrong, and either we just haven't communicated what we want sufficiently or they're doing it deliberately to get under our skin or to prove a point or to irritate us or to make life harder than it needs to be. Versus we are simply in a compromise.

Shannon Cutts: 13:02

The animal has their own reasons for why they behave the way that they behave and their own needs that are being met through that behavior. And so with wild animals there isn't so much the tendency to go oh, you're behaving in that way and therefore it's just because I haven't communicated to you adequately why I need you to behave differently and then you'll just comply. It's like not necessarily. We are not in the business of fixing animals of any species, including ourselves, including Homo sapiens, and it's just interesting to take a look. There's a more of a again, more of space around. If we're asking a wild animal why they're behaving in a certain way, I've noticed that there's more of a natural humility and a curiosity I just really want to understand, which is ideally where our heart should be.

Shannon Cutts: 13:53

When we open up a conversation with our own pets as well, it can be a little harder to get there, especially if we're exposed to a behavior every day, all day, like our dog's barking loudly in my ear when I am totally focused and working and he startles me and after the fifth time he does it, I am literally just like dangling from the ceiling. I'm just like we're not exposed to it quite so much and therefore we don't come in with such a sense of urgency sometimes about I really really really need you to not do that or I can't take any more of this. It's more just like that's really interesting. Can you tell me a little bit more about that behavior? The next thing I noticed with communicating with wild animals versus communicating with pet companion animals that I find very interesting is the ability to tune into the collective consciousness of a group. When I was with the wild tortoises, yes, I absolutely was able to have conversations with individuals and wanted to do that, but I was also really curious about why these souls chose to incarnate, to embody tortoise bodies versus marine aquatic bodies versus flamingo bodies, versus majestic frigate bird bodies versus stingray bodies or shark bodies, all the different animals that I was meeting, and I was much more aware of the energy of the species, the collective consciousness, what I call the collective consciousness of the energy of the species, the collective consciousness, what I call the collective consciousness of the species, and feeling like I was tuning into the greater wisdom behind why does this species exist? We have so many magical, marvelous species in this world. A friend of mine once very casually remarked to me every species knows something that all the others don't, and he didn't even really seem to know exactly what he'd said and I was like, ooh wait, say that again, you're onto something that is gold.

Shannon Cutts: 15:55

In my conversations with wild animals, I often ask the question why did you decide to be a feline? Why did you decide to be an avian? Why a wild Galapagos tortoise? And I find myself very curious about wild behaviors, about wild archetypes, about our relationship with different wild animals. I often use a spirit deck, an animal totem or animal spirit guide deck that a friend of mine gifted me early in my animal communication journey and at times I've had archetypes of wild animals or wild spirit guide messengers and I talked more about spirit guide messengers in an earlier podcast episode this season, so you might want to go check that out. But I often find that different animal spirit guides or animal totems will show up at periods of time in my life to help me and guide me and bring a certain energy into my world and open up my awareness in a new way. And the story that I shared in that podcast episode about working with your light team and working with your animal spirit guides was the story of the wild wolf, the very powerful male wild wolf, who showed up in my meditation right before I left for Galapagos and told me he said follow me, I will lead you through it. And it was so fascinating to see how that unfolded and the energy of the very powerful alpha male wild wolf and why that energy was the exact energy that I needed in that moment and provided me with so much guidance and support as I embarked on an adventure in my life that was really stretching me outside my comfort zone.

Shannon Cutts: 17:44

So that can be another really cool thing we tend to as human animals. Maybe we have some assumptions about wild animals, based again on what I was talking about before, which is the species characterization or almost the cartoonish species characterizations like, oh, the coyote is always the trickster or the bunnies are always so sweet and cute. We have these different categorizations of wild animal species, but it doesn't tend to get so personal down to a specific animal, and we tend to have more openness to learn and more curiosity about why these animals are the way that they are, because they are not dependent on us. They're not looking to us to provide something that they cannot do for themselves, and so it does give the conversation a different dynamic. It also gives us a great opportunity to learn more from these animals about why they are the way that they are and what value they bring.

Shannon Cutts: 18:45

For instance, I'm back in my pre-animal communication days. I had a friend in my then circle of friends, and that's one thing I can share is that, as my courage about choosing my life path has amplified, I've had to let some folks go who really just didn't vibrate at that frequency, and then I've been able to attract new friends into my life that really feel much more like heart and soul friends and share my love of and curiosity about animals, domestic and wild, small and large and everything in between right, miss Petal. But she used to look at seagulls and pigeons and city doves and just laugh and say, oh, those are just rats with wings. And it's like, actually those are some of the most resilient, brave, resourceful, intelligent and generous and forgiving animals on this planet. They clean up our messes. They very gracefully cohabitate with us. They don't take our opinions about them or our actions towards them personally. They are very creative about getting their needs met and they actually do a lot of good. That just goes unnoticed. A lot of the rodents provide food for the owls and the birds of prey, the pigeons and the doves. They clean up after us, because sometimes we're not very good about cleaning up after ourselves and the buzzards and the vultures.

Shannon Cutts: 20:24

I mean, if we just dig a little bit deeper under the surface, we find so much heart-opening information. We can learn from these different animal species, all the gifts that they bring into our lives that for most of us are not being recognized. It gives us an opportunity to shift our awareness of the dynamic going on in our shared spaces and the dynamics going on on our planet, to start to really cultivate appreciation for why are there so many different wild animal species, and just also the recognition of how few animal species have chosen more of a domestic path. There's really a relatively very narrow group of animals that have chosen to have these partnerships with our species, with humans, to live alongside us, to work alongside of us, to support us passively or actively and by passively I mean something like vultures that clean up our roadkill or actively would be horses that help transport us. Then, outside of that rather small group of animals that have really taken on the responsibility of partnering with us, whether we recognize or appreciate it or not, there are so many more wild animal species, so many that scientists haven't even come close to cataloging them all, especially when we get down to animals that are living down deep in our marine spaces, animals that live in the soil, animals that live in areas that are very remote, that it's very soil, animals that live in areas that are very remote, that it's very, very hard for us to get to those areas. It's really fascinating to ask these animal species, ask the collective consciousness why are you here? And just recognize and just really play with the awareness that it's not an accident, even if we don't have a name for a species yet.

Shannon Cutts: 22:23

I once read and I can't remember what book it was or who wrote it but there is more life in a cup of ordinary garden soil than everywhere else on the planet at any given time. And that just boggles the mind. It places us in a real space of humility, at least it does for me. I'm so in awe. It's almost like my left brain mind just stops and I marvel and I think oh, my goodness, I can't even begin to comprehend the wisdom and the ways of this multi-dimension, infinitely creative universe that we live in. And so wild animal communication.

Shannon Cutts: 23:07

Often we humans come into it with fewer expectations because we don't feel like the wild animals are obligated to answer us. If we come into a conversation with our own cat or dog or bird or horse or turtle, we kind of expect and assume that they're going to answer us and they owe it to us. Or we just assume that they're automatically game to have a conversation with us and then we take it personally if we don't feel like we're getting a response or we're getting the information that we want or need, versus if we have a conversation with a wild animal. What I've noticed is I feel a lot more grateful if I get any kind of response at all. I don't feel like that wild animal is in any way obligated or it's their responsibility to, or they owe it to me to respond or to engage with me in conversation. I'm very aware of their personal choice, so if they do decide to share something with me, I feel very humbled by that and very grateful for it. It really kind of places me energetically back in the food chain of life a little bit, remembering that I am a part of and remembering that nobody owes me anything, especially not the wild animals that my species has taken so much from so many living spaces, so many resources.

Shannon Cutts: 24:24

We've put price tags on items that have always belonged to all of us. We've cordoned off things. Last summer we went through a drought and an extreme heat wave and the city that I live in, houston, which is a city that is full, full of Homo sapiens, the city decided that they were going to restrict water usage and, oh, that bothered me so much because I thought who are we to take water away from the plants, from the animals, to say, oh no, I can't fill the birdbath in my backyard, oh, I can't water the trees. They must die so that we can conserve water. It's never been ours to direct. It's for everyone, and so don't get me going on that topic. And then they imposed fines if anybody did use the water and got caught. So it's just become this very strange alternative world where we humans have decided that we own these resources and we have the right to decide who gets to use them and how much we can charge for that usage.

Shannon Cutts: 25:32

And I just find it, the animal within me finds it very strange and my heart finds it very hard to digest. So that's something else where I feel like it's very different with wild animals. They're gathering their own resources. They are making their own way through the world, and often much more resiliently and effectively than I could if I was in their shoes. I often joke that if a solar flare blew out our power grid and me and the family dog Flash Gordon were set free in the backyard to forage up dinner, I can guarantee you who would be full and who would go hungry, because he's much better equipped. Even through his plush, cush life as a family pet, he's still got all of the inner wild to be able to forage for himself versus I would be like is that the poisonous berry or is that the yummy one? That's good for me. We really have kind of inflated our sense of importance in the world and I find that talking with wild animals really reminds me that I'm just a part of and that I've got a lot to learn, and reminds me to come back to my heart and feel very grateful if wild animals who are free and self-reliant are willing to give me the time of day they're willing to share anything at all about their wild lives or anything that they want me to know about.

Shannon Cutts: 27:02

Why lions exist, why gazelles exist, what consciousness do owls bring to the planet? Or bats or bees or toucans or fur seals? Or we saw several stingrays when I was snorkeling. There was a beautiful white one that I saw several times and also a really pretty black and white spotted one, and it was really cool to see them and just marvel at their construction and anatomy and their grace. I can tell you one thing watching a penguin or a cormorant dive and swim through the water and watching me plunk around with my snorkel and my fins really is humbling, and so it's so interesting to me Often if I tune in with a wild animal.

Shannon Cutts: 27:53

One of my questions is what is it like to be in your body, what is it like to swim like that, with such grace and ease and power and speed? What is it like? I was able to swim with wild sea turtles and I asked them what was it like? What did the algae that they were biting off, what did it taste like and how did they know which ones were good for them? And what was it like to bite it right off the rock like that? And I just find it so interesting how did these enormous animals evolve to live and be so healthy, eating nothing but what looks like really minimal green algae for their food?

Shannon Cutts: 28:31

And it just boggles my mind, whereas with our pet animals, our companion animals, our working domesticated partner animals, we tend to have a lot more of a narrow focus. With our, even with our line of questioning, it's like why are you doing that? Or what is it that you can't tolerate about your food or your water? Or how can I meet your needs so you won't do this other thing Tends to be very problem. Focus is where I'm heading with this.

Shannon Cutts: 29:02

Okay, we have a problem with health, we have a problem with behavior. We have a problem with two animals in the family not being able to get along. We have a problem with not understanding when it's a pet's time to transition. We have a problem maybe choosing a new pet to add to the family. We have a problem with food maybe that can't be tolerated, or we have a problem with the change in situation in the animal's health where they can't do activities for themselves.

Shannon Cutts: 29:27

So there's usually something, some kind of a problem, focus or mentality or awareness going into these conversations. It doesn't tend to just be like I just want to get to know you, and that was what was actually really cool for me. Recently I had an animal communication private client who came to me wanting to get to know a new horse that she'd added to her family, and she really just wanted to get to know this horse. She wanted to get to know who she is and what she likes and more about her background, and it was such an open, beautiful, heart-centered conversation. And, yes, there were some specific questions that I would put under the header of problems.

Shannon Cutts: 30:07

Not that there's anything wrong with problem-focused conversation. In fact, there's hopefully a happy outcome to it, where we're taking a look at solutions and helping to improve our companion animal or our working partner animals life quality and ease and comfort and health and joy and feeling of connection with us. But that can just kind of put blinders on us where we forget to be curious about all the rest of the wonder that is this animal who is choosing to keep company with us, and often the wonder of the collective conscious of our pets or our service animal or working partner animals, species, and how they have evolved and why they have evolved. I mean, often we're talking about animals that have a lot bigger, stronger bodies, they have a lot of defense mechanisms like sharp claws and teeth that we don't have, and so it's worth our time to tune back into the wonder of these animals that really could overpower us, that could free themselves and go on about their way, that they are choosing in our families to abide by our rules, to eat the food that we provide, to follow the schedule and the routine that we set up, and seeking the deeper reasons for why they have given up some of their freedoms in order for them to spend time and keep company with us and improve our lives in so very many ways, from easing our anxiety and depression and serving us to elevate our mood and open our hearts to helping us to do the work that we need to do and keep our society safe in so many different ways.

Shannon Cutts: 32:10

And there's so much that we can learn about our pet, our companion animals and our service animals and our working companion animals that we forget to ask about because we're so focused on problem solution, problem solution, problem solution or problem correction or redirection or whatever it is. And so I find that connecting with wild animals and seeking out conversation with wild animals reconnects me to the wonder of the animals that are in my personal family as well and broadens my scope and opens up my curiosity again to look deeper, because when we're connecting in with a wild animal, like some of the wild parrots and the wild tortoises that I met and all of the wonderful wild animals that I've mentioned, my line of questioning from the start is going to be more open-ended. It's kind of the difference between if you've gone through any kind of communication classes in school and the difference between a closed-ended question. An open-ended question, a closed-ended topic, it's very narrow and it's focused in an open-ended topic where I'm tuning in with a wild tortoise and I'm asking them what it's like to be in their shell and this is something that I really guide pet parents through in my intuitive pet parenting workshop. That's actually a free mini course that you can access under free tools on the animallovelanguagescom website, so I encourage you to go head over there and take a look, and there are some activities in the downloadable workbook that you can freely access. You can just pop over there right now and get started and get all of the tools and resources, and the activities guide you through this.

Shannon Cutts: 33:51

What if your companion animal, what if your pet, your partner, empathic friend and teacher? What if they were still wild? Because they still have those wild roots, they still have wild DNA and in fact, this is kind of a fun fact. This is not necessarily totally on topic, but I often find it so fascinating to look at my own species and to look at other humans and say why are some humans just so passionate about hunting or fishing or searching for buried treasure or building or learning archery? And I look back to our wild DNA, back when Homo sapiens were still part of the food chain of life. We were still out there hunting and being hunted and I realized that, except for the last few hundred years or so, we've had millennia where those were our daily activities building things from hand, creative crafts made from natural materials, hunting and shooting and those being so essential and fishing for our lives, for our survival, not just to find our food but to defend ourselves against those who wanted to eat us. And so I often find it fascinating connecting with other humans and imagining where that passion for those activities might stem from, and realizing that it doesn't take much rewinding to get back to the days where those activities made up the balance of our lives. Those were the things that we did each day, every day, in fact.

Shannon Cutts: 35:26

When I was on Isabella Island in Galapagos, some of the young people who were running the volunteer program that we were a part of were telling me how, just a couple of decades earlier, when they were born, they were native to Isabella Island. When they were born there, the island still didn't have running water. It didn't have electricity. If they were hungry, they and their parents had to go out into the fields and harvest something or fish for something or hunt something to feed themselves, and so it really hasn't been that long, and now many humans tend to view those activities like hunting and fishing and farming and some of the hobbies that grow out of that, and we're like, oh, that's weird, why would you want to do that? And it's like because that's our heartbeats, it's bred into us.

Shannon Cutts: 36:15

And so it's so interesting to me to take a wild perspective, to hold up a wild lens to our companion animals and to investigate different species behaviors, different breed behaviors and this is especially important for cats and dogs and horses, where we have tinkered with their DNA and many bird species as well. We've tinkered with their DNA, we've changed how they look, we've chosen to emphasize certain aspects and de-emphasize others. And so when a behavior comes out or a trait comes out and it's problematic, tracing it back to the wild roots in that animal's collective consciousness can really help build understanding and awareness and that activates the creativity to find new, fresh eyes, to adjust the whole family's dynamic so that it's not so much this heavy-handed I said, therefore, it must be, but it's more like how can I accommodate that drive in you, that need in you, that biological urge and instinct in you, in a way that is not going to be destructive for your fellow family members or intrusive or disruptive at a level that we simply cannot sustain in the longterm and it shifts the focus. It takes away the sense of the taking things personally or shaming or blaming, or even that always looming specter of the rehoming where we're like, oh no, let's take a step back and look at this from a bigger picture perspective.

Shannon Cutts: 37:58

Let's imagine that our companion animal was wild. What function would that behavior serve or what would trigger it, especially if we're looking at, let's say, a trauma-based behavior or an abuse-based behavior or something that has really out of whack, that's really gotten amplified or repressed. Recognize that's just that animal's fight or flight instinct really over-triggering. How can we work with the animal's daily life, the animal's space, the animal's cues, the animal's interactions, so that we can turn down the volume on the fight or flight instinct, because that's that part of the animal that used to be literally responsible for keeping them alive. So we want to be very, very, very respectful of that and also very gentle, recognizing that when the fight or flight codes a new behavior in, chances are very good that either that was a very strong initial input that's like do this or die, or it was something that was coded in over time because the situation was repeated and repeated and repeated, and so we don't take this very urgent, like I need to solve the problem now. Can you fix my animal? Like I was telling you about the girl and her great dame, can you fix my dog? And it's like, if your dog really is broken, it probably didn't happen in the day, or if it did, it was extremely traumatic and your dog doesn't need fixing. Your perspective needs shifting. Of course, we didn't have that deep, in-depth conversation there at the vendor booth. I just handed her my card and encouraged her to reach out when she was ready. But we can hold the awareness in our hearts, coming from a wild perspective, and that's one of the deepest, juiciest, most wonderful lessons that having so much dedicated time like I literally didn't work.

Shannon Cutts: 39:54

I had plans to at least check in on Instagram every day and post pictures from Galapagos. Well, it turns out I didn't understand SIM cards and phones and all that good stuff, and so I basically didn't have wifi for two weeks. I basically just didn't understand SIM cards and phones and all that good stuff, and so I basically didn't have Wi-Fi for two weeks. I basically just didn't get internet, because the internet on the island wasn't very good. It really wasn't really even there.

Shannon Cutts: 40:13

So I had tremendous freedom from morning till night to talk with wild animals, while I was working with the giant tortoises and all the other animals that were kind of around, and then when we were off adventuring and exploring the island animals that were kind of around and then when we were off adventuring and exploring the island we were always with wildlife and plant life and just getting my wild groove back on putting down some wild roots again and really even exploring through the volunteer coordinators who had grown up without so many of the creature comforts that we just literally take for granted, to the point where we're like, oh, that's weird that they want to learn how to go build a fire. Why would you want that? We have electricity and it's like we can't take any of that for granted. So growing yourself some wild roots there's a lot to recommend it and that's the biggest and most joyous part is that when we reconnect with our inner wild, the biggest and most joyous part is that when we reconnect with our inner wild, we reconnect with our pet's inner wild, we reconnect with the bigger picture perspective of why each of us and all of us are the way that we are.

Shannon Cutts: 41:16

Why are we wired the way that we are? Why do we do the things that we do? Why do we act the way that we act? Why do we like and dislike the things that we like and dislike? If something isn't immediately obvious, it's not about the hammer coming down or the other shoe dropping. It's about let's take a step back and get a sense of the history and the evolution of this being, and sometimes that's ourselves. It's like why does this bother me when my pet does that? Why does this scare me when my animal doesn't do that? It's like what in me, what in my inner wild, is reacting and often overreacting to those triggers, and that's why I find that talking with wild animals reconnects me to my roots and to the energy that connects us all in a way that nothing else I've experienced in animal communication thus far is able to do. So I hope that listening to this episode of let's Talk to Animals has hopefully awakened or amplified your wild curiosity who you are still at your wild roots, in your wild heart, if you are living with companion animals, who are your pets in their wild state, in their wild DNA, and how does that infuse the way that they are even in your modern domestic life together, the wild animals that you're sharing local spaces with your home, your workplace, your community areas.

Shannon Cutts: 43:03

What is the synergistic relationship? What can you find to be grateful for? How can you shift out of a problem perspective to oh wow, that's actually not a problem at all. They're not harming me at all when they go and browse through my leftovers or hunt for the rodents that happen to cohabitate for us in the back. We have a bayou that runs behind our fence and there's some rodents back there and it's like oh, they're food for the owls, okay.

Shannon Cutts: 43:34

So taking a look at the bigger, wider, wilder world and how it's set up to function, why all of those species have a purpose, they have a reason for being there, they're necessary, they're serving, they're bringing value, they're serving the greater good, and also just being more respectful about how we treat the shared spaces that we because we're humans and we've decided it is so we have control and agency over these spaces, and that includes our lawns and our gardens. Right now we're having a whole bunch of yard work done and I've been very forceful about saying I don't want chemicals because of how it interacts with the wildlife that share this little teensy-tinesy one-sixteenth of an acre that we have a little bit of control over in this enormous, concretized city that I live in. We can do our part here, on this little tiny patch of land, to make it safe for all species to get their needs met. So, just taking a look from that perspective and recognizing that what harms one harms all and what helps one helps all.

Shannon Cutts: 44:43

And if you're curious and you'd like to explore wild animal communication in more depth, I am including a segment on communicating with wild animals in my new animal communication adventure signature program and I would love to welcome you to the program. We talk with personal pets. If you have a personal pet now or have had in the past, or there's an animal in your greater family that you feel close to, we explore that dynamic, we explore talking with other people's pets and we explore talking with wild animals and the collective consciousness of wild beings. So you get a big picture perspective of all of the different ways that animal communication can bring value and joy, wisdom, guidance and inspiration into your life, not to mention love and cuteness. Right, languagescom, join my weekly love letter because my email community gets first dibs and first news for every new offering, plus $25 off their first animal communication session for me and OPS. You can also use your session coupon to talk with a wild animal.

Shannon Cutts: 45:59

Just a little bit of inspirational, creative food for thought there. If you have questions, comments, topics, suggestions or requests, please do reach out. Drop a comment. It so helps. When you download the episodes that you enjoy, share them and leave a review. We look forward to welcoming you back to a fresh new episode of let's talk to animals in two weeks. Okay, so sending you and your interspecies family and the wild animals that share your space lots and lots of love, and I will talk to you again soon. Okay, bye for now.