Have you ever caught yourself commenting on your animal’s behavior – or even your own aching back – simply by looking at age?
Often I am asked how old my two girls, Maja and Ida, actually are. When I reply that they are 8 and 9 years old, I almost always get astonished looks. “What, really? They still seem so incredibly young!” is what people often say.
Yes, we humans base so much on age. Even I catch myself every now and then thinking: Well, turning 50 is slowly making itself felt… 😉
The good news is: Our animals don’t care about age at all.
They don’t know numbers, statistics, or societal expectations of how one is supposed to act at a certain age. They live radically in the here and now.
In my animal communications, I have been able to experience this so many times: senior animals do not dwell on their limitations. They don’t mourn their youth and they don’t view their bodies negatively. They simply accept what is. Of course, this doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate pain relief or a soothing physiotherapy session – quite the contrary! But they don’t make their happiness in life dependent on a deficit, like whether they can still jump as high as they did five years ago. They simply enjoy what is possible right now.
When we begin to see our animals with open eyes and without these typical age-related labels, we open up a space of lightness for them. We quite simply allow them to be young.
How fitting that on Maja’s 10th birthday yesterday, we spontaneously decided that she would simply start all over again and is now officially 1 year old. And what can I say? The reset works! Today, she was bouncing around happily and freely like a true, playful young pup.
Try to look at your animal for a single day entirely without these “age-glasses”. Don’t see the senior or the youngster, but simply the soul in the here and now. And perhaps this perspective will do you some good, too, the next time something pinches. 😉
How do you perceive your animal’s age? Do you sometimes catch yourself having certain expectations? Feel free to reply to this email, I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Warm regards and a happy woof
Your Tanja with Maja (1) and Ida