I’m a Student of Animal Communication

The animals are teaching me more than I ever expected.

In the 90s I was a dog groomer, and I loved that work deeply. It taught me how to build trust quickly, how to recognize the subtle shifts in a dog’s body language, how to move in a way that made them feel safe. But grooming is physical and fast. You have a job to do. There wasn’t much time to sit and wonder what a dog loved, what they disliked, what they were thinking.

After my divorce I moved to another state and couldn’t afford to live on a groomer’s salary, so I pivoted into tech. From 1998 to 2025 I worked in technology, eventually landing a well-paying federal job that looked stable and impressive from the outside and felt completely soulless on the inside.

In 2025, reductions in force pushed me into an early retirement, two years sooner than I had planned. I suddenly had time, but no clear direction. I tried building a print-on-demand website. I poured money and energy into it. I sold a few things to friends and not a single item to someone I didn’t already know.

I knew it wasn’t a failure in the big sense because it wasn’t what I really wanted to spend my life doing. It pulled me inward. What do I want to do? How can I add value to the world and the household?

I’m 64. Another soul-draining corporate climb isn’t on the table. My back wouldn’t survive grooming anymore even if I wanted it to. And woven through all of this was grief. I had lost my two little dogs, Daisy and Peanut. Peanut was gentle and funny and almost impossibly perfect. Daisy was more complicated. She challenged me. She was my mirror. She was a soul dog.

I started listening to the Animal Communication Podcast and heard that communicators can connect with animals in spirit. Something inside me said yes before my brain could argue. I booked a session. You don’t argue in those moments, you just do it.

When the communicator connected with Daisy, this was the message I received:

“She shows me a chalkboard that’s been completely erased. A clean slate. All the chalk colors lined up, and you not knowing which one to pick first. She says the freedom is scary because you’ve always had a plan. Then she shows me a piano. Playing your own music versus playing someone else’s sheet music.”

Thank you, Daisy! This was what I needed to hear.

It felt like Daisy reaching through the veil and saying, “You’re free now. What are you going to create?”

I signed up for a Soul Level Animal Communication course.

In this six-week class I’ve learned how to connect with dogs, cats, horses, even a chicken. But the bigger lesson hasn’t been about technique. It’s been about state of being.

You cannot connect to an animal if your energy is scattered.

Presence and energy are everything. If your mind is racing or your body is tense, the connection blurs. Learning to center myself isn’t new information. I’ve meditated before, but this is different. If I want to hear what isn’t being spoken, I have to become quiet enough to receive it.

I’ve learned about self-doubt. About how quickly my brain tries to fill in gaps and create stories. I’ve learned to let space exist without forcing meaning into it. To notice the chatter and breathe through it. It’s REALLY HARD to sit in true silence and listen.

What the animals are teaching me is that empathy begins with self-regulation. Communication begins with coming home to yourself.

This week I read a fellow student’s dog in spirit as part of our homework. I saw the dog leaning against a set of legs. We’re taught not to interpret, don’t guess whose legs, don’t build a story. Just share what you see, feel, hear or sense.

I told her what I saw.

She told me that the night before she put her dog to sleep, she had been meditating and saw her father, who had passed the year before.

Such Confirmation!

I just sat there, stunned. It was so specific. I couldn’t have constructed that if I tried.

There have been several moments like that now, something that seems odd or random to me, but lands with precision for the human guardian. Each one softens another layer of doubt.

Next week my husband and I are traveling to Puerto Rico and staying on a working farm with animals. There’s a peacock there. I keep wondering what a peacock would have to say. I can’t wait to find out. I might write about it.

A year ago, I had no idea what I was going to do with the rest of my life. I felt erased, like that chalkboard Daisy showed me.

Now I don’t feel erased, I feel guided. I am on track. And I’m genuinely excited about what’s to come.

Learning to communicate with animals has opened an inner world I had only glimpsed before. It has given me peace. It has shown me how quickly I can tell when my energy is off and I’m spinning myself up unnecessarily. And it has reminded me that the connection I’ve been seeking was never outside of me.

The animals are teaching me how to slow down and listen.

And in learning to listen to them, I am finally learning to listen to myself.