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What does this mean? As an animal communicator every time I begin to talk with a new individual animal it is an entirely new experience. For instance, I could speak with ten Doberman Pincher dogs in a row and have ten different conversations. They have ten unique personalities and ten different communication styles too.
Now if I were to begin a conversation with a dog bringing all I know from talking with dogs over the years I may think I know a lot and that I already know this new dog who I am just preparing to meet. If I begin a conversation thinking I already know the dog, because I know their breed or that I already know the dog for any reason I am not really communicating with the dog. Instead I am going into the conversation with a lot of assumptions. It is very similar to talking with a fellow human being when we already have beliefs and assumptions about who they are. When we bring our beliefs, ideas and assumptions to a conversation it can be challenging to listen newly without being influenced by our preconceived ideas. It may not even occur to us that our assumptions and beliefs could be incorrect. We humans often believe, what we believe is true, simply because we believe it.
Every individual animal is unique. A true animal communicator will begin conversations from the standpoint of acknowledging to themselves they know nothing at all about this particular dog, dogs in general or this type of dog because they understand and accept they will ALWAYS be like a beginner getting to know each new dog, and each new animal they talk with. It is as if the animal arrived from another planet and there is no information about this individual or their species. Even if we have heard a lot of details from their human we must communicate with the animal from the standpoint we know NOTHING! (The impressions of the dog's person are often incorrect.) We don't want to assume ANYTHING!
So it works well to not assume anything as it has the animal communicator attentive and listening for clarity and for corrections directly from each animal they talk with. Students ultimately learn to trust the animals and to know how to ask them questions to obtain clarity for the things they find confusing. They learn how to engage with each animal to understand him or her. The way to learn to navigate any communication anytime is to have conversations on a regular basis and to begin all communications from the standpoint of being a beginner each time. Talking with an animal is like being with a blank canvas. I have often used the phrase: "you have a blank canvas, now let the animal paint the picture for you". The animal and the student engage in communication to get to know one another. Within a few moments students are commenting on the unique personality characteristics they notice in the animal, in addition to sharing their requests and information about them.
As human beings in the world of humans we are taught to gather information either through formal education and or experience to demonstrate or show we know what we are doing. Starting each new conversation with an animal from the standpoint of not knowing anything can be difficult at first for us human beings because we strive so much to know as much as we can and to show others what we know.
For this reason being an animal communicator can be a very humbling experience because if you are doing it right you communicate without bringing any preconceived ideas or anything you have learned to the conversation, so there is no place for arrogance in the realm of animal or nature communication. You are there as a beginner every time you have a conversation.
The only way to really know who someone is, whether they are an animal or a human animal, is to actually ask them to talk with us and to share with us who they are. In order to learn what is important to them and what they would like us to know, we must listen to them newly as if we know nothing about them. This includes asking them questions to clarify what we think we heard them say and to ask questions about anything they say which we don't fully understand.
I often wonder what it would be like if we listened to all fellow beings, animals and people, from a standpoint of not knowing anything about them. It seems like we would become very attentive to who they really are and perhaps we would learn something new. Maybe we would discover they were actually quite different than we might have thought or imagined. For instance, someone we thought to be in opposition with us could actually be very much in harmony and support of our purpose and our goals. I like to think this kind of communication, communicating as if we know nothing, could transform our lives and bring us all more harmony, acceptance and peace.
When I first had the experience of setting aside what I thought I knew so I could really listen to the animal, it was uncomfortable. I didn't like it. After awhile, after I finally stopped resisting the experience of "not knowing" I began to realize what a delight it actually was to not know everything. I was then able to experience getting to know the animal from hearing directly from them and experiencing them in the moment as they were experiencing me. It is a very profound and touching experience to be in communication in this way and the awesome thing is it is totally accessible to all human beings.
When we surrender our desire be right and to know everything we let the animal take the lead and not knowing becomes a unique experience of peace, joy and acceptance. The animals show us the way to this experience when we let them.