Dream, Wishful Thinking, or Communication.

[Ruth B]

A while ago, in another thread on here, there was a video showing 'guided communication with your cat', at the time I watched it, half heartedly following the instructions, so needless to say i didn't get very far, it wasn't that I didn't believe it could work, but guided videos like that don't work well for me.

Now, as you may have seen from my other thread, one of my cats went missing at the weekend, he was seen on Friday night, but not Saturday morning, at first i accepted it as his normal behaviour, but by Monday i was really getting worried and had decided that Tuesday was the day to make it official and start the hunt for him. So when I went to bed on Monday night my mind was full of what needed to be done and going around in circles. i decided to try the communication as much as a way to meditate and focus my mind to help me sleep as any real hope of reaching him. Not wanting to watch a video late at night, I worked from vague memories and instinct.

First was visualisation to try and link with him, not just imagining how he looked, but the feel of his fur, the sound of his purr, even the smell of his bad breath, then on to the emotions i felt when he was happily on my knee kneading my chest and what has almost become a game, him trying to bite my nose while I try to avoid it, everything i could think of, of how i felt when he was with me. Moving on to the next bit, I knew the video said to form a single question, but for me it was the combined plea of 'Come Home' and 'Where are you' that formed in my mind several times. I then managed to let my mind go quiet in hope of an answer.

After a short time, I have no real idea how long, I sudden had the feeling of taking a slow, deliberate, step through rough cut grass. No image, just feeling. As if I was in the body of an animal and my arm was the right front leg, I could feel the flow of the mussels under the skin, the feel of the grass getting pushed out of the way as I took a step forward, the grass was semi long, as if it had been cut during the Summer but could have done with at least one or two more before being left for the Winter. The vision was fleeting, only that one step, but i was suddenly wide awake and the whole thing was so vivid in my mind. It did make me go to sleep thinking 'hes coming home'. I was rather disappointed when i got up yesterday to find him still absent, but then over joyed when he did arrive in the afternoon.

So the question is did I actually connect to him for that second or so. While I don't think I had fallen asleep it is possible I had and it was a dream, or was just my imagination and my need to have him home, but with either of those I would have thought i would have a more visual experience and have seen him. I also know that there is a state between waking and sleeping which has been described as 'the most altered state of consciousness that can be obtained without drugs' had I reached that state and that let me actually reach him as he slowly made his way home from where ever he was.

I know I will never have an answer, and most of the people I know would just put it down to a dream, but I know there are people on here who, like me, believe there are things possible that can't be explained by science yet, so I thought I would share it with you and you can make your own minds up as to what actually happened.

In the end I'm just glad he is home, and while he still doesn't seem hungry, did have something to drink last night, and has spent most of the time sleeping, slowly going from being all hunched up asleep to his normal sprawl across the bed. I think I am just going to have to be careful not to let him eat too much to quickly once he does decide he is hungry.

[Mollycat]

If it was the Anna Breytenbach guided session for students via a telephone link, I have used it and may well have posted it. I believe there's more than science can currently explain and I've come to this conclusion based on personal experience at a time when I was neutral on the subject. In a nutshell, I had a Near Death Experience, or more exactly what they call a conjoint NDE where one person goes with the dying person to a limit or barrier, often in their sleep, and comes back while the dying person obviously doesn't. As a result, I believe, but nobody knows and I would never suggest it's some kind of truth. It is to me, but I don't expect anyone else to take my word for it.

I have tried this guided communication 5 times now, twice with Molly, three times with Bobby. I get completely different respnses. Bobby gives me sensations or feelings, Molly gives me extremely detailed vivid images. First when Bobby was really ill, I got pains in all the places I knew he had issues plus one side of my neck and an extreme tiredness. Second time when I asked if letting him go was the right thing to do, I got falling ashes. Third time, after he was gone, I thought my heart would burst with huge overwhelming love. Molly is a little more complex (isn't she always?) so the first time I got a clear image of a tiny kitten lifted by a human hand and a mother cat in the background looking but not that bothered while the kitten squealed and wriggled and was clearly afraid. When I first booked reiki for her I had a communication session with this lady first, and one of the things she told me was that Molly's mother seemed young and inexperienced. I asked maybe not protective enough? She said yes something like that kind of idea. She said this experience would bring us closer because Molly needs to be understood, and that is absolutely spot on. The third time, Molly was in hospital and I had taken a call saying she wasn't settling and they may have to delay treatment if she didn't settle. All I got from her was again crystal clear, the sound of metal bowl falling on a tiled floor. The vet was able to confirm that they do use metal bowls and have a tiled floor, but not if one was dropped in Molly's area. It's the kind of noise that would have terrified her, anyway.

My thoughts, Ruth, is that if you're asking then your heart probably knows the answer but your head has a doubt. I would say trust your experience, you know what you feel deep down.

So glad your boy is home safe anyway.

[Ruth B]

I guess my scientific background has lead me to look at all possibilities and to try and analyse the information available. However I firmly believe that while a lot of things can be explained by current scientific understanding, there are some that can't yet. Communicating with animals like this relies very much on anecdotal evidence and I would think is virtually untestable in a lab, so I guess i wanted to put my thoughts on what happened out there while it was still clear in my mind.

In the end the main thing is he is back and is recovering, all be it slowly and is showing no inclination to go out the cat flap at the moment. I know the time will come when he will go off again and I know i will worry, but that is just part of having him, he loves his freedom and ability to explore, I just have a feeling he is a bit too nosy for his own good.