Episode 019: What Superpowers Do Dogs Have? Exploring Animal Wisdom, Imagination & Human Growth

What if your dog’s greatest superpower is something humans have forgotten how to use?

In this episode of Unruly By Nature, we dive into imagination, intuition, emotional resilience, and the powerful ways dogs help us reconnect with ourselves. 

From living fully in the present moment to embracing curiosity, symbolism, and emotional honesty, this conversation explores how our dogs continuously mirror the parts of ourselves we’re still learning to understand.

Inside this episode:

•  The superpowers dogs naturally embody 
•  Why dogs move through conflict so much faster than humans 
•  The hidden intelligence behind imagination and symbolism 
•  Animal communication and energetic connection with dogs 
•  How humans suppress curiosity, play, and intuition 
•  Why dogs help us reconnect with joy and emotional freedom 
•  The difference between imagination and visualization 
•  How hindsight, memories, and storytelling shape healing and growth 
•  Why weirdness, curiosity, and authenticity matter 

This episode is playful, deep, emotional, imaginative, and wonderfully unruly.

And asks the question: What do our animals see as their humans' superpower?

Because the more we open ourselves to curiosity and connection…
 the richer life becomes.

Thanks for wandering the wild edges with us on Unruly By Nature.

 If you loved this conversation, share it with someone who’s ready to explore the deeper side of life with dogs.

Rachel Knott - Animal Communicator

Website: rachelknott.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myanimalmatters

Kim Howatt - Author and Imaginal Adventurer

Website: kimberlyhowatt.com

Substack: https://kimberlyhowatt.substack.com/

Sue Mimm - Life Explorer

Substack: https://suemimm.substack.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pawsreflectconnect

Until next time — stay curious, stay connected, stay unruly.

xoxo 

Kim, Sue, and Rachel

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Welcome to episode 19 of Unruly by Nature with myself, Rachel, Kim, and Sue. And today we're going to go on a fantastical exploration. As you, for those of you that have been listening to us, you will know that we're here just to talk about animals, talk about dogs, talk about our journeys with them, talk about different perspectives. But above and beyond everything else, we're here to be unruly and authentic. So, with no further ado, um, I have two. Why do I feel nervous? Oh no, I'm coming in with some silliness. So the f the the first question I've got for you both, and who whoever wants to answer first can answer first. The first question is: what superpower does your dog have that you'd like to either experience or embody? That's question one. So, what superpower do they have that you'd like to experience or embody as a human? And the second question is what's something you used to think was weird, but is now completely normal for you. And that that doesn't necessarily have to be dog related, it can be gender. I don't know the answer to my own questions yet, so I'm gonna put it out to you both first and sit back and relax. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

I mean, I can go, I suppose. Ah, question one. I just need half a second. I know what it is. I want to be sure I can say it. I would say when I watch my dogs the superpower that they have that I really do try to embody, and I'm gonna say it hasn't gone so well at times, is their ability to just have acceptance, isn't the right word. They allow life to unfold and they have a short memory. So like when something happens, it's over and it's done. So two things, right? It's when Django had his stroke, he didn't think about, gosh darn it, I just I can't walk. He just did the best he could in the moment. And then when I watch he and Zori get into a fight and they're done, I'm the one that's pissed off for two days. They're like best friends after 30 seconds. So it's that. It's like what I don't even know how to phrase, maybe one of you could like knows how to phrase that better, but I think it's just the the the ability to live in the now, is I guess how I would say it. And something that I thought was weird that is now normal for me. Oh, there's so many things. Uh, I'm sure it's still gonna be dog related, but I would say how I feel about I don't believe I ever like years ago when I was a kid, or even when we were first married, a dog was kind of a dog, and I don't think I thought it was weird that people considered them soulmates to, you know, to have this. I think I really didn't understand that we communicate on this energetic deeper level. I really thought it was my job to teach them how to understand English, right? And you did and I didn't realize that energetically we were already having full conversations. And I I think I thought as much as I do it now, which is the irony, that animal communicators were weird. Like, how can that be? Like, you know, they needed to be uh, you know, back in the Salem days, that's what I was thinking. And then you realize that you're just you're one of them, and and you can't you can't deny it anymore. So yeah, I have loved this journey into exploring myself and uh allowing myself to open up to more than just this very, very narrow path that I was on before. You know, you get up, you go to work, I write my computer programs, and I came home and played with the dogs and took them for walks. It's not like there was any, it's not like we lived our life that differently with our dogs, but my perspective of their gifts is changed so much and what they bring to the family environment. It's so much more than I ever gave them credit for before. And so it's much richer. My life is much, much richer. So I'll just leave it at that. Great questions.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Can you imagine there wouldn't be any TV programs or movies if human beings lived in the present? But but I don't know why that popped in my head, but I'm just thinking of all of the drama that we create and the stories we create in our heads around sometimes really minor things, but we do like we have these movies and theatricals playing out in our minds, and I I'm the same, Kim. I'm trying to be more and more present with, you know, even though I'm like, oh no, this is gonna happen, that feeling. But um, I feel like our bodies are present, but maybe our minds aren't. Are they separate? I don't know. But I feel like our body is always present, but our thinking brain isn't, maybe. But I love, I love, I love the image of your dogs having an argument, but being human beings, and then it's just gone. It's just like poof, and then the next minute they're in a knitting circle, or it's exactly it.

SPEAKER_03 7:33

Two buddies put their arms around each other headed to the pub, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:37

I mean, it's just let's go. And it is a that is a massive superpower. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

Thank you, Sue. Okay. Um so the thing that popped into my head was um yeah, Charlie's way of lightening up a situation. I was talking about it earlier. He's just got such a way when the moment there's and I've seen him do this with dogs, I've seen him do it with people. He's just got this way of lighting people, just lighting up the moment, literally, just bringing people to smile. And so he'll do it by he'll get all silly and he'll he might roll on his back and act all silly, or he might bring a toy and start what you know, engage in play. Or just on walks, he'll just trot up to somebody, anybody randomly, and his little head will be low. You know, that real puppy dog, like the whole body moves and the tail goes, and he's literally smiling, and you just see people light up. He just does it, you know. And he doesn't, you know, like we I often think I would just love to bring a smile to people's face, but sometimes it's silly. Sometimes you think, oh, well, you know, I can't just go and smile at random strangers wherever I go or tell them they look lovely, or because that's what it's like. It's like he's walking up to somebody and saying, Hello, how are you? You look lovely today. That's the energy that comes through, you know. And so, yeah, it's just so beautiful to watch. And I just I just love seeing the smiles on people's faces, um, and certainly in our family as well, the way he, you know, when everyone's miserable or doing whatever, he's just got this way of just lightening up the situation. So I think that's a superpower that I'd like to embrace more.

SPEAKER_00 9:29

Um, what was the second question? Was the second question is something that you think used to think was weird, but you now completely is like normal, like obvious.

SPEAKER_01 9:41

Yeah, so it definitely talking to my dogs. Yeah, I used to think, you know, you know, why do you talk to your dog? That's so stupid because um they can't understand English anyway. So um, yeah, and even I think there was even part of, you know, when you go through the whole training thing, it's like, um, especially on the training grounds, it's like don't speak words, you're just confusing the dog, you know, just say one command at a time because that's more clear. And I think that in in some ways, I think that's um there is some merit in that, because when we're waffling on, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, it's but it's not the words dogs are listening to, it's the energy behind their words, it's the energy and the intention behind the words, and it's the mental image that you're creating. As I said, you know, I've mentioned this before in one of the podcasts, but Rachel, when you did that animal communication with Charlie, and you said, and I'm like, this dog can't settle, he's like so all over the place. And and you said something to the effect of, well, that's what he sees going on in my brain. You know, it's just like wizard thoughts the whole time, and I'm like, duh. Rude. So no wonder he responds in the same way, you know, it's like, whoa, that's craziness happening up there. Or inside.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

He's actually an incredible impersonator.

SPEAKER_04 11:08

Exactly. Picks up on all the whizzing energy.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

So yeah, definitely, you know. Like it's just say, wait, and and um because I certainly explain things to my dogs now, because I know, I know that the mental image that I'm um creating in my head when I speak, uh I know that helps. Uh it's it works. Um, I remember there was uh Charlie used to get really edgy before we went for a walk. He used to get really unsettled. Um, and then at one stage, I can't remember who suggested it, but they said, tell him where you're going and create a mental image of that space that you're going. And so I gave it a specific each walk a specific name, and I had a mental picture of that walk, what it looked like, and I knew the walks that he was comfortable on and the ones he didn't feel safe. So I could tell him beforehand, we're going here. And it really worked for him because he would get out the car so much more or get into the car even already, so much more relaxed because he knew where we were going. I'd given him clear and um information. So yeah, talking to my dogs I used to think was a very silly thing, and now I think it's a very important thing to talk to our dogs, both verbally with our body language, very much so as well. Be very, very conscious of how we use our body language to communicate because they're so in tune with that. And then of course the energetic communication too.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Kids do it brilliantly, don't they? Um when I watch k kids well, they communicate beautifully and effortlessly with animals, but also human grown-up human beings. I was watched watching my friend, I went to visit um my bestie in near Bath recently, and we had to go and pick up her middle daughter, and she's nine, and we had her lad with us who's seven, and we all came out of the classroom, and then they all are out in the field playing, and it's I I'm not mummed, so I, you know, I don't have kids, but I find it funny watching children and the speed at which they move and the seriousness that which they do things sometimes. And the and it I just thought, wouldn't it be so funny if adults did that? Like if you just you know how they'll just suddenly do a forward roll, or they might just suddenly, I'm gonna go and climb that tree, or I'm gonna, I don't know, they're just they're so uninhibited. Like, where do these inhibitions come from? Do we inherit them or to I don't know where they come from. They're quite funny though, aren't they? But kids, kids don't have them, they're just in it. And uh I think yeah, I just love that about Charlie and I mean I think that's for all of us, isn't it? To be to be, and I know what it's like if I have a complete stranger, well if you just like make eye contact with him, and there's just that moment where you see that person, and it's like just suddenly that it's like electricity, isn't it? That oh gosh, and for whatever reason you've just locked eyes momentarily in the street, or they'll or they'll just like I had a lady just yesterday, I was driving and I noticed her hair. She had really grey, unruly hair and a kid, and she just we just clocked each other and she just smiled at me. And I I was too late in smiling back because I'd driven. But it was it is those, I think we do do them anyway, but we're maybe not, but maybe we're a bit more inhibited, aren't we? As human beings, because we're thinking we're overthinking about it. We're thinking, you know. It's a good experiment to do though, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 15:24

I I actually I actually did an experiment like that recently. Where did I go? I went somewhere, and I'm I think it might have been like I was with a group of people, and I just went in with this like Charlie attitude. I'm gonna call it that now. I think that's my new name for it. Like, you know, just this expansion and just this feeling of like love for everything, and it was amazing. I think I was in a store or something, and it was amazing how people responded to that rather than going in thinking about the 20 things that you can do. Yeah, and so you just go in with this expansion that you just want to like be expanded and happy and like just smile at people. And you know, it wasn't even that I had to do anything. I think you just walk in there and something in your energy field shifted, and it might have been, oh, I know what it was. I went to get uh my ears pierced a week ago, like a week and a half ago. And it was going in there and then we went to lunch and uh I was with a couple of friends, so yeah, and it was amazing, like just the like a attraction that you had with people. So yeah, it's a great experiment.

SPEAKER_04 16:45

Yeah, or also um telling your dog where you're going.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

We I I remember when I ran Dog Utopia, and this guy said to me, you've got to tell like tell him what your day is like. And I thought, Blime, we've got loads of dogs, so now I'm gonna do that. And that's crazy. Why would you do that? That's crazy. You're crazy. But of course, I know that's normal and healthy, and they pick up on that information. So they're sending the we did that with Cosmo, our Boston that's not here anymore. And he used to when we'd get his collar out, he'd run off and run away and go and sit on the bed. And we just thought, oh, he doesn't genuinely doesn't want to go for walks ever. But once you get him on the collar, then he seems kind of like, oh, okay. So I said to my partner, just tell him where we're going, like, tell him what we're gonna do, and we're gonna do this route, and you know, exactly where. And as soon as we told him he stood at the door to have his collar put on. It was so cool. So they did they absolutely um it's almost nonsense to think they don't understand us. They understand everything and beyond, don't they?

unknown 17:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:00

I'm just wondering what Darcy's superpower is. That I I mean, I'd say this is a physical superpower is her speed. I mean, imagine if I could run at twenty-five miles an hour. Get a lot of chores done. Yeah, run at twenty-five miles an hour, and the level of excitement that she has after she's done a poo. I mean it is it's I have to protect myself. She's the feel the sensation that it creates for her is just one of liberation. Like she's just I don't know, shed.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

They do they do say that relief is one of the most powerful emotions. That's a way of expressing that.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

I also think that you can incorporate that one.

SPEAKER_00 19:10

I mean that's true. That's true.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

There's no excuse.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

You're right, that is true in the privacy of my own home only. So I'd say that's her superpower. Um and what did I used to think was weird and I completely believe in? Um I'm gonna say it's the same thing. I when I first had a friend talk to an animal communicator, I actually would have thought that animal communicator was a fraud. Like, I'm going to that level. I would have thought they are making it up, which is hilarious. Like, why how could you possibly make a career out of being a fraud? Because you'd be called out so quickly. It's it's just, I don't know. How would that be possible? Um, so of course, you know, but I guess those things that we think are weird, is that a pull? Is that like our unconscious being like we notice the things externally that are in our unconscious, don't we? Was it as above, so below? For example, this is a an odd example, but um I was out yesterday and I noticed this lady walk past me and she had this like lump or next to her eye, and I thought, oh, that looks really uncomfortable. And there was loads of other people around, and it was that thing I noticed. I woke up this morning and I had a slight sty under my eye. I didn't know it was there. So I just I just think those things that have electricity, so like when you think, oh, that's that's weird, that is that has an energy, doesn't it? And and the word weird is means different. And I think as human beings, as much as we like what's comfortable and what's familiar and what's safe, we are born to evolve. So we do seek out weird, even if we think we're normal and whatever, we will still seek out our own version of weird, and then that I think then becomes it's just part of our evolution, I think. So I'd say seek out more weird shit to evolve more.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Like you said, I absolutely notice the things that your attention is drawn to. Yeah. Because there's always something, there's always information in that, whether it's something that puts you off or that or something that draws you in, both, both are equally valid in that there's Information to be shared.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Yeah. And often the things that are most repellent are the ones that are to really sit with, aren't they?

SPEAKER_04 22:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

To really explore. Because if you've had like a guttural reaction to something, there's a pull in there somewhere, even though it's not like immediately. But it there is there's a truth in there to be to be explored. It's like this might be coming. This might be coming. Yes. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

Funny enough.

SPEAKER_03 22:40

I kind of think that's our I think that's our human work, though, isn't it? Because some things that we're repelled by, we just don't resonate with. It's not for us, right? Like yeah. For me, like say gymnastics. I just never resonated with doing gymnastics. Although I love sports and I'm an athlete, I like my feet on the ground. I wasn't afraid of it. I just didn't happen to love it. So I think some things we are repelled by actually means we don't like it, but some things we're repelled by, it's like, yo, you need to actually like deal with it, right? So I think it's yeah, and I think like weird equals curious. I mean, to turn like something we think is weird into a curiosity is a great way to be, I think. Because it's important to get out of our comfort zone at the end of the day. Yeah. I'm gonna start thinking about weird things and then get curious.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Start noticing all the weird things that you know what I mean.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

That you Yeah, well, may I mean maybe that's it. I'm weird. So I gotta get curious.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

Curious about yourself and your weirdness. And you definitely do mental gymnastics.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

That's true. That's very true.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

You are an author, you are an author, you're a writer. That is gymnastics in a whole on a whole other plane. Yeah, it's not physical.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

I think there's just no one see that's weird. I'm gonna get curious. What are you gonna say? What are you wondering about?

SPEAKER_00 24:30

I was w I was wondering what they think our superpower is. Like, do they do they think what ours do they think we have one? Do they yeah. Might just let that one percolate in the background and see if they if any of our animals keep one.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Yeah. I know one. I know one. They think we have superpowers in that we can just open a tin or open a bag, or yes, and suddenly there's food. That's so true. The fridge, the fridge is like in the fridge on the freezer, and suddenly there's the smell that comes up.

SPEAKER_05 25:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

And we didn't even go hunting for it, it just appeared. Yeah. Well we could shopping could be the hunting. Oh, she's gone hunting, she's gone to the shop to eat.

SPEAKER_03 25:29

Yeah. When does she have time to go hunting?

SPEAKER_01 25:33

She comes back with all these bags. She's been hunting.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

Without us. That's so true. Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 25:46

Now my mind is buzzing of all these different things that Darcy always watches me to do, I guess, because she can't she can't do those things. Yes, exactly. But a lot of it is concentrated around the fridge.

SPEAKER_03 26:07

Django's entire life is concentrated around the fridge. We started going through all the stuff that he he had Zori got that was extra the other day. Oh my god, it's like manuka honey in the morning off my finger, and you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:24

I know. We also, you know, I mean, we realized that the other day. I said to my husband, we have to start gett giving less food because the amount of in-between things. Because literally, as you say, every time you open the fridge, it's a bit of yogurt here, it's a piece of fruit there, it's a chopped vegetable here, it's a piece of cold meat, it's a it goes on table scraps. Yeah. Uh liver for breakfast.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

We had liver for breakfast, they had a bite of liver.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_03 26:54

Oh, here's a stewed apple like that we had left over for dinner. You and you just realize that it just, wow. A bite of chicken, a bite, you know, I mean, it's just, oh my god, it's like just this. We went through the list and then they got, we're like, this was like we call Saturday's best day ever, because we usually just are hanging out and then they get marrow bones at night. And so it's like just the day that they get bones, and we gave them bones, and we're just like, you guys had a feast all day. And it just happens, right? And Django just knows. If I take too long in the morning, he comes upstairs and he's like staring at me. I'm like, I know you want your auntie, buddy, but I gotta come downstairs first.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

And all that rhetoric around now I'm flipping it around, as in our superpowers, because of course it's a partnership, isn't it? But as human beings, we're so good at like saying how amazing our dogs are, but we're really rubbish at saying how amazing we are, which is a total truth, which is why there's so much rhetoric around oh, dogs are captive animals, you know, that like we've taken them out of their homes and put them in our lives. Well, to a point, but look at all the wins they get from us being a different species. I think we can underestimate what we bring to. And I don't think that's a I don't think that's a bad thing to sit and sit with your dog and be like, you tell me how what you love about me too. So when people come to animal communication sessions, it's fascinating. They always want to know what does their dog love and what does their horse dislike and what that it's of course it's all about the animal, but very often when the animal will steer it back to the person, they'll talk about themselves for so long and they'll steer it back to the person. And so many people will steer it back, be like, yeah, but what are I'm like, no, but this is important to them to share what is it, what they love about you and what they see in you, because just like you were saying when you went to the the supermarket and you felt that energy of different, well, then t you hearing things from your animal in a different way, you'll feel different, and then they'll feel different from how different you feel. So I think that like not to underestimate how freaking amazing we are as dog parents. You know, we literally particularly people that listen to this these episodes will be our kind of tribe. You know, the amount of stuff we do for them because we care for them and love them, and we want them to live the best life, and we, you know, we're learning all the time with them. I just I think we need to um not be quite so hard on ourselves sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 30:03

I love that. So true, yeah. Yeah, because it's so easy to go into the other rhetoric, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:12

Like you say, you know, poor dogs, poor dogs. They don't have choice, blah blah blah. But like you said, I mean the the kind of experience that we give them is certainly um, I would say a very fulfilling experience in so many ways.

SPEAKER_04 30:32

Yeah. Interesting. Interesting perspective.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

I just want to say, you know, anybody that thinks we're capturing dogs or cats or companions, you know, I mean knowing what I know now about how powerful nature is and animals have souls, and I full on believe that. And I just don't think those choices are made singularly. I believe that the animals want to live with us. They we have evolved together over thousands of years, and we're choosing to learn from one another in in the lives that we share. And I I just think that it's if a dog doesn't want to be captured, it's gonna find a way to not be. So I just think that we can't forget it's co-we're co-creating our life. We're co-creating our life with spirit, but we're co-creating our life with one another as a collective and as part of nature. So anybody that comes into our our zone is part of our tribe, if even for five seconds.

SPEAKER_04 31:54

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 31:56

That and I think that co-creative piece is really hard for people to to get, especially when they see a a dog isn't doesn't appear to be thriving. They think, well, how you know, they think it's all up to us. We think we're only responsible for we think we're responsible for everything that happens in their world, but they're making micro decisions all the time, micro, micro, micro decisions. And I j yeah, it it just there's this seesaw thing happening all the time. It's not just us making decisions for them, they are part of it. And even dogs that have been in really difficult situations, they they I'm not saying that they should be in those difficult situations, but that is part of their journey. That is part of their evolution. And and and I think we look at it, and again, it's not to say don't try and change things for them or try and try to give them opportunities to help them be more comfortable or more have different experiences, but I think we diminish the intelligence of them by looking at them purely through our lens. I know, for example, if you see a dog tied up to a kennel and you think, oh, that's awful, that poor dog, or maybe that dog really loves again. I'm not I'm not saying this is okay. I'm not saying all dogs should be tied up to kennels, absolutely not. I'm just saying, but maybe that dog loves the security of that. You know how some people like have agrophobia and don't won't leave the house without another person. Or some people, you know, you hear all these people saying you should dogs should be allowed off the leash. Well, my dog, Bridget, yeah, she could be off the leash, but she loved being on the lead. She loved it. And then I just, I don't know, I just think a dog, going back to the story of a dog that's tied to the kennel outside, what are they experiencing? Like I look at Darcy, she's got the tiniest, tiny little garden. It's tiny. And she's a dog that can run 25 miles an hour, that she can chase and hunt and do all of those things when she's out and about. But when she's in our home, and I look at her, she's watching the sky, she's watching the clouds, she's smelling the plants, the the blossom that's been releasing. She's she's feeling she's she's having a rich sensory experience, even though her body isn't moving. And I I I think that that's the bit that we don't appreciate, maybe, is that richness that that can exist for a being that is in a challenging situation. And yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

That's my thought. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_01 35:02

It's so interesting because I actually this more just this morning I was thinking of um people like President Nelson Mandela, who were um incarcerated for so many years, or you know, certain is we know through the ages there've been so many people who've been put in situations where they it feels like they every right has been taken away from them. They're you know, they every they feel completely trapped, imprisoned, and yet they come out with their most incredible wisdom and you know, things like nobody realizations like nobody can ever take your soul, nobody can ever take um, you know, my spirit away from me, no matter what you do to me. And I don't know that animals have the same, but why shouldn't it be? Why shouldn't it be that they also may have be in situations where they are learning that very same lesson that or coming to that same realization that it doesn't matter how confined I am, like you said, Darcy's still experiencing, she can still have a different experience. Um, and again, I'm I'm not condoning anything like that, but it's just yeah, if we're going to look at different perspectives, we look at all perspectives. And if it's true for humans, it very possibly could be true for some animals too.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

I mean, uh I love that example because that's like so funny. I was thinking the same as you as I was sharing about the dog being tied up, that's what was coming to me, Nelson Mandela, but also um Stephen Hawking.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Yes, completely, yeah, confined to his wheelchair and unable to speak, move, yeah.

unknown 36:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

But look, what his inner world created, it's mind-blowing. So I don't I don't know. I don't even know where that was going, but it I just um just the words that you used right at the beginning, Kim, when you talked about richness. I I think because we live in a very, very noisy, busy, fast world, um people get bored easily because we're looking for the quick fix, we're looking for the quick hits. But they're t that's just temporary. It's just a temporary external gratification created by someone else. So that you know, I'm I'm 50 now and and I've been slowing down. I don't mean like my body, but I'm consciously choosing to be slower in my life. And every day I feel much more richness because I'm spending time in the morning, and it's non-negotiable where I'm just watching my imagination, feeling my body, playing in that energetic, metaphysical, otherworldly space, which is it's not an escape. It's I think people think that's escapism. I'm fully present with everything around me, and I play with that too. But I think there's so many more layers to our existence as human beings, and I I believe animals have that too. Why would we be so egotistical to think that only humans have that because of our analytical minds? Um, I think the the the slowing down and the quiet and the and and often it is enforced when you have a physical, like I remember my ex saying she broke her leg in a car accident, and she said the pain was excruciating. And I was like, How did you navigate that? Even though they she got all the meds, and she said, I learned to meditate, and she said, I just learned like my I could the pain would just go because I'd get into a space. And I'm like, that's really powerful. That's really powerful. So if we can do that, you know, and we witness an animal walking really uncomfortably or in what we would say is not favorable conditions, are they going into another state, another place? I don't I don't know. But I think it's it's a good practice for us humans to do that more on uh in our daily lives.

SPEAKER_04 39:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 39:48

I mean, there's so much in what you just said, and I don't know where we've decided, you know. I mean, as a society, as humans, as a species, obviously any kind of abuse is not condoned, but animals like humans go through their traumas, they have their story too. And I've had animal communications with animals who have run away and ended up stray on the road, and Zam, our dog was that very thing, and she got tossed on the driveway, and it happened to be our vet who had a farm, and she just got tossed away. And you would think, like, oh, that poor girl, like what she had to go through, but she ended up with us, and that's the thing. Like, when we go through the hardship in our life, we often end up in a better place, but their souls, they're not here just to be our companion, they they have their own path too, and I think it goes to what you're saying. And I I just think that we have to honor that and allow them to experience what they need to experience in their life. I mean, we can't stop it, so we just beat ourselves up.

SPEAKER_00 41:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:18

When, you know, I I worked for rescue for a lot of years, and I you just see things that to me are horrifying. But the animals, they just come through it. Every single animal that I've talked to that's gone through something like abuse or whatever, people are like, how can you do that? And it's just not the message that they send. But I'm not in that place. Right? So, what I attract is they see the beautiful lesson and they're always, always, always grateful when they've ended up with someone and a family who cares enough to learn more through an animal communicator. I mean, it's just we don't end up in places by accident. And we have to, you know, we don't have to do anything, but it's I've loved getting out of my comfort zone, even though it's created maybe what I would call chaos in some parts of my physical life. I can't imagine not being in this place of exploration anymore. It's just I've just you know, I was playing safe for a lot of years. So yeah, I mean I wouldn't be writing a book if I had stayed comfortable. Yeah. So there's a lot to it, and we just can't. It's the sympathy that we have for the animals, I think, that they don't want sympathy.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

Well, I hear that a lot. Don't give me s I actually personally don't like sympathy. I don't like the energy. I find it repellent. Like if someone says, Oh, put I'm like, No, I don't what I I find it really restricting, constricting when someone uh it's different from someone saying, Oh, I'm here for you, you know, that like that kind of empathy, I'm here if you need me, or oh, do you want to hug? Or but that, oh no, that that like real sympathy. I I my body actually goes like that. Yeah. But I'm sure other people love it, but I I do not like it. It's funny because I feel like they're projecting their story on me. I'm like, no, no, that's not what I feel like, or or I feel like they're putting me a can in a container. It's like, oh no. So I I feel when we approach our dogs with sympathy rather than curiosity, that it's like an energetic cage. 'Cause then we're we're k holding playing that story over and over and sometimes for d years. And then they're like, no, that's not the case, that's not the case. But maybe some animals love sympathy like some people do. I don't know. Maybe they flourish on it. Maybe they're like, ooh, give me some sympathy.

SPEAKER_04 44:26

I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:31

I do I do believe that yeah, we can certainly keep keep our dogs stuck in old stories. I know I did that for a long time, you know, keep repeating. It was like almost on it was almost on autopilot when people said to me, when they've met me for the first time with my dogs, it's like, oh, this is such a gorgeous dog. Yes, he came from rescue and we got him in, but you know, you would tell the backstory over and over again, like it was sort of repeated. And, you know, eventually I was sort of saying, you know, he's got a completely different life now. Why am I keep why do I keep telling the old story? Because I'm keeping him stuck in that old story by continuously, you know, talking about it. It's just like we, you know, we the same as humans. If we keep repeating and regurgitating our story over and over again, that's where we're gonna stay emotionally too. Because we just keep recalling it into the present, aren't we? We're just recalling those emotions into the present state when we when we tell the story. So yeah. And so yeah, at some point I made a mental note to actually say that is no longer the story. We have rewritten a story, and this is the story that we're living now.

SPEAKER_04 45:40

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

And I actually love I actually love to say that we aren't rewriting a story, we're just adding new chapters.

SPEAKER_01 45:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:51

Because the old parts matter. That's true. Old parts matter, and I think it like it kind of goes back to the beginning of this conversation, you know, where we talked about living in the now. But I also value memories and hindsight, and because I think that that is where we can really see things clearly when we have the opportunity to look back at something. I also really want to highlight, Rachel, what you were talking about with imagination, because I think imagination is almost the bridge between, you know, our left brain, right reign, unconscious, conscious, whatever terminology somebody uses, I think our imagination is part of what allows us to find wholeness in our life. And it's beautiful to explore imagination and not as an escapism, but uh as part of the whole. It's not escapism, it's I I believe that I believe our dreams and our imaginations are it's symbols and it's symbolic and it's information about things that we can't see in ourselves yet.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

And I do uh a lot of work on active imagination and you know, lucid dreaming that kind of thing, and it's the things I've discovered about myself are incredible Yeah, because the images speak to parts of our soul and our body that words can't. I feel uh and I feel I used to think imagination was visualization. So I used to think um yeah, so I some would say, Oh imagine this, like think of a pink elephant, and you think of a pink elephant. I thought that was imagination, but I now I really understand imagination as intelligence and us accessing everything and anything, the unseen uh through symbolism. It comes through as symbols and and images and and nothing nothing that uh has been created by man has come from anything but imagination. It's come from imagination. So uh it's not come from someone's brain like that.

SPEAKER_04 48:30

Bob Bob. Bob just on his own, just I don't know why the name Bob.

SPEAKER_00 48:39

I mean, I'm sure there's lots of inventors called Bob. But uh it's the imagination is surely a channel, isn't it? It is like if you picture it like I mean you picture imagination here, don't you? But you picture it like have just that openness to everything comes through the vision. So when I'm in a communication session, imagery will come to me, which seems wild and wacky, and what has that got to do with a dog? But it's so relevant to the that that relationship and to that animal and that person, it's just almost like the metaphor, the symbolism for the truth that they need to feel that is that is just all around them. And and I I think it's such an undervalued, underpracticed skill that we inherently have as human beings. And I I feel really strongly that out of every skill we should be practicing, and here's a should, because I feel this one really strongly, it's playing our in our imagination because we don't do it enough. And it's not silly, it's not child's play, it's powerful what can happen in the imagination, whether that means that you then create something or you then connect with another being, whether you it it's limitless. It literally is limitless. And it's how you know it's how we've always connected with spirit, with the unseen, with but it's it's been diminished. And oh, and because you can't get a certificate for it, you can't go to university and get a degree in imagination.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

It's not that would be fun, that would be awesome.

SPEAKER_00 50:44

I'm in. Yeah, right, ladies. Let's we're setting up the College of Imagination. Maybe we could teach it.

SPEAKER_01 50:54

Yeah. But it's like kids, you know, you hear it all the time. And I remember, I remember having such a vivid imagination as a kid. And that the the games that I used to play on my own, you know, with whatever, and you know, your your stuffed animals are this or your plants are this, and you just, you know, make this whole story, and you go, and you know, how many times have you heard that people will, you know, kids will talk to their imaginary friends and then they say, you know, we don't do that, that's not okay, that's not it's not real, and you shut down the imagination. You know, schooling system does not encourage imagination, it just it encourages, you know, follow this rule book and stay within the rules. So yeah, I think it is something that we all are born innately with. Um, and it's a powerful one of our superpowers as humans for sure. And yes, we don't use it much, do we?

SPEAKER_03 51:50

The ability to understand and have that sight that we are imagining is huge. And it's vital to your right. I mean, we just squash it because we've become such a logical binary species at this point where it's it's right, it's wrong, it's on, it's off, it's black, it's white, it's good, it's bad. And and I think imagination shows you more possibilities. And that's why I I just yeah, I'm such a a fan, and I'm glad you pointed out the difference between visualization and imagination because so many times we hear let's do a meditation, right? And it's a guided meditation. Well, it's not taking you into your imagination, it's a visualization. They're very, very different things. I sat in a chair and did an act of imagination a couple of weeks back, and I just wanted to see where where I would go today. And I just sat and I, you know, you just feel the chair beneath you and you let it go. And at first it kind of started as a recurring dream that I often have, but it was different. And then I ended up in the ocean and going on a journey to the bottom of the ocean with some water god guy thing named Joseph. You know, I mean, it was this incredible thing, and I'm actually you don't question it, you like write it down, but now there's all this symbolism. The ocean is a symbol for collective unconscious, maybe, or vastness, like limitless potential, right? At one point there was a parade of creatures and you know, whales and sharks, and like just how much we don't know that we don't know. And it was just sort of this opening for me. And and I'm still going through the symbolism because it's not something that happens in five minutes. And if you put the work in, you know, and uh Rachel, you said you were like so visual, but sometimes your imagination comes to some people in words, or sometimes you hear something, or sometimes you might feel something. So we can't dismiss all of our sensory system. Like you might smell something and it would remind you of you know a grandparent or a time where you were at camp as a kid that you know, and it might bring back specific memories. And I think that's the thing that you also look for. But it just can help you understand yourself in in this most incredible way. And when you do that, when you open yourself up to that, it just brings the potential for us to understand our animals.

SPEAKER_01 54:35

I think I honestly think we I think you I think we'd need to do a class on this, girls. I really do. Let's open this up and see who wants to do, I don't know, we'll just do a single one-off thing and try. Because yeah, you've opened up something which I think a lot of people would love to explore, have no idea how to explore it. And like you said, you know, the difference between the imagination and the visualization. And what's popping up for me now as you talk, Kim, is um I used to be a very fixated on, well, what does that mean? What does the symbolism mean? And you need a specific meaning. And I'm learning again that that is also it's a very personal thing. What that symbolism is is not, oh, well, that equals that. It's personal to you, to your specific psyche. Correct. And so it's just getting curious about that. What does this mean to me? You know, just sitting with that again will bring up a whole lot of other little things that it's connected to or that it represents in your life, etc. So it's getting curious about that as well, not saying, oh, well, that's what I dreamt now. What's the you know what what's the uh the symbolism mean? What do I need to do? Or what's you know, what is it telling me? Because it's personal to you.

SPEAKER_03 55:46

Yeah, it's not an outside exploration.

SPEAKER_01 55:48

No.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

It's it's typically gonna bring up memories or possibly dreams, things that you maybe desire because I think a lot of times we hold back our dreams and we don't allow ourselves to dream what we really honestly want.

SPEAKER_04 56:11

Yeah. Things we're afraid to do, things we're afraid to explore.

SPEAKER_03 56:15

I love the i I love the idea of a class though. Whoo, I'm all giddy now.

SPEAKER_01 56:21

Imagination class. What are we? Yeah, sounds like a good fun yeah, fun exploration.

SPEAKER_03 56:27

So, do you ladies have oils today?

SPEAKER_01 56:31

Well, I'm gonna tell you a little story that I don't have an oil per se, but I want to well, for those of you who are listening, you can't see this. Oh, but look at these pretty fennely, but it's not fennel.

SPEAKER_00 56:47

It's soft and feathery.

SPEAKER_01 56:48

Yes, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:51

At first I thought chamomile, but they're too feathery.

SPEAKER_01 56:53

Yeah, aren't they gorgeous? Fluffy, they look like little tails. They do look like little tails. Oh eerie.

SPEAKER_04 56:59

On my on So on my walk today in the forest.

SPEAKER_00 57:09

Sue is loving it. So loving this.

SPEAKER_01 57:12

Um so on the on the in our walk in the forest today, we've got a lot of um spruce trees, spruce and um fir trees in the forest. And I noticed they all look so pretty at the moment because they've got this fresh new growth at the end of the branches, right at the tips of the branches. And they look like they've got pretty little skirts. They look like they've all put like little uh frills on their skirts because these branches are coming forward, and then there's all the bright green new growth at the end. And I just I eventually had to stop because I just kept catching my eye again and again and again and again. And eventually I had to stop and actually ask if I could pick one off, and I did. And I was just feeling how soft this was, and in comparison to the rest of the spruce branch, which is actually, as you know, quite prickly, you know, it's like a you know, it's what it is, it's prickly. Um, and yet this is so soft, and I was just so enamored by the new growth um being so gentle and soft, and that knowing that one day this will also be really prickly and a very dark green. And as I was playing with it, I suddenly got this um resin on my fingers, and which I can smell now, and it's just this beautiful, beautiful, deep scent of resin of spruce. Wow. So, and it just in that moment was exactly what I needed. It just was like a gentleness and a feeling of being held and supported and loved, and and the scent of it was spruce. So mine is not an essential oil, but it is the natural essential oil coming. It is coming out of these little um, yeah, these little offshoots, whatever, whatever you want to call them.

SPEAKER_03 58:54

The new I just have this vision of you like being wrapped in oh my gosh, just in a cozy blanket of the fresh green of that.

SPEAKER_01 59:05

That's exactly what it felt like. So soft and made by squirrels.

unknown 59:11

Made by squirrel.

SPEAKER_01 59:13

It does look like a little squirrel's tail, doesn't it? And it's just such this most beautiful green. The most beautiful green. So that's my essential oil, my natural oil from the forest.

SPEAKER_00 59:26

I feel like you've you've upskilled us now, so we need to. I know.

SPEAKER_02 59:31

Just gonna put my lid back on my oil.

SPEAKER_00 59:33

It's just I'm gonna bring back a cow pat because that a dried cow pat. That's what we were playing with on the field the other day. I had no toys with me, and I was like, here's a dried cow pat. I'll just throw that around. Nice.

SPEAKER_03 59:50

I have I have samphire oil. What? Oh samphire. From Kathy's Atars. It's like ah, yeah. Uh I mean, and of course, if you know Kathy's oils, they're very uh spiritual, so it's uh crossing the you know the plains. So I will be going into my imagination very soon. Is it yellowy? It's clear, honestly. And actually the bottles I just have essence of stuff. The bottle's actually empty. You've inhaled it all out. Hmm. I I that's one of my fav I I love this oil. Sounds like and apparently I need to get more. But it still has a good essence to it.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:41

Well, I did have orange sweets, but I've I've moved to bergamot.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:53

So we have strawberries growing in chamomile this year. That'll be interesting, won't it? Do you think the strawberries will taste different? Like we have chamomile growing in our garden.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:07

And then strawberry plants have like come up in the chamomile.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:12

Oh, interesting. Like in this middle. Little baby wild ones.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:16

Strawberries?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:17

The wild strawberries.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:19

They're they're like the little We had planted them and then they just spread, and now they got over into the chamomile and they're growing together. That's cute. Yeah, I'm like, do you think the strawberries will taste different energetically? Like with essence of chamomile.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:36

They go well, well, if you think about it, if you think about how plant essences are are made. You know, you'll often hear the the herbalist, if I can call them that, or the botanist, saying, depending on where they get that specific plant, at what time of the day, what other what other what's in the environment, what other plants are in the environment, they do take on the essence of the environment, not just their own individual city. So yeah, why shouldn't it take on some of if it's closely growing with other plants? Yeah, it's right in there with uh yeah, it's very possible that it becomes part of their essence.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:19

Why not? Tuft of chamomile with some strawberry plants growing out of it. It's very cool. It's really cool. I definitely don't want the strawberries to get essence of Django.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:32

No. Well, I've already seen that. Charlie's Charlie's essenced my sage many times and my rosemary, so I need new ones. Essenced.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:46

That's now a verb, and I love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:50

Don't essence my strawberries. It's like their own chemistry lesson, isn't it? Yeah. I mix this in with this and see what happens. Brilliant. Well, I think that brings us to a close of episode 19 of Unreally by Nature. 19. I forgot to say at the beginning, please do uh hit the like button and subscribe and let us know what you're experiencing, how you're feeling about what we're talking about. And of course, if there's anything you want us to explore or any questions, just let us know. But thank you both for um sharing and being your gorgeous, beautiful, authentic, funny, deep selves. And I can't wait to see what other superpowers your dogs share with you about the humanoid. Yeah. Humanoids that we are. Humanoid.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:59

I like that word. Humanoid. It's a good one. Awesome. Yeah, thank you both.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:05

It's been fun as always.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:07

Always fantastic. We'll see you in two weeks. Two weeks.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:13

Bye.