It’s Not Just About Pets

Feb 7

Originally Published July 27, 2020

If you're an animal lover but currently don’t have any pets, true kinship still helps your connection to animals. It helps you to get to know the animal neighbors — the ones who share your backyard and neighborhood . We all want to be good neighbors, right?

What does it mean to be a good neighbor to the wild animals? Yes, feeding and watering them, but there's more to it than that, for sure.

I used to live in a small rural town outside of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. One of the first things I noticed when I moved there was the number of cats roaming the streets. Some were feral, but the majority were house cats that were allowed to roam freely.

I immediately set up a food, water and safety station for the cats. Eventually more and more cats started coming around to visit. Then I started seeing more and more dead birds and I started receiving more and more complaints from my neighbor who had set up feeding stations for the local birds.

Oops.

That’s a perfect example of good intentions gone wrong and how the local birds suffered because of my good intentions.

I needed someone to show me how to expand my human vision to include true kinship for all, but at that time I was not aware of anyone.

Nor did I know what it meant to be in true kinship with the animals.

Have you ever had a similar experience?

We need to be a good neighbor to all of the neighborhood wildlife. It’s not either/or but all and more. In the example from above it’s didn’t need to be either the birds or the cats, but I didn’t know that at the time.

After all, it’s hard to do better when you’re not aware it’s possible to make different and better choices.

It’s time for us humans to come into true kinship with animals by recognizing and honoring their agency. I can help you to take those first steps into creating positive momentum and holding space for the animals’ perspective so that you become a good, respectful neighbor.

With my years of experience and expertise, I help you to see all the possibilities and solutions plus help you stay accountable to your goals. Together we navigate finding the deep, respectful and aligned relationship with your animal neighbors so that your intentions take into consideration all of your non-human neighbors.