My good friend and inaugural Afterlife TV guest, Danielle MacKinnon, joins me in the studio to discuss a number of topics, including her new book Animal Lessons: Discovering Your Spiritual Connection with Animals. Danielle, a gifted intuitive and animal communicator, talks with me about how animals are really here to teach us about life, even in ways we may not recognize.
We discuss examples of animal lessons from Danielle’s book including mirroring and modeling and what each of these aspects are here to teach us. We talk about the passing of my beloved dog, Libby, how Danielle was there for us during that difficult time, and how sometimes the biggest lessons we learn from our pets is through their deaths.
Give us your feedback on this latest episode. And if you’ve read my new book The Magic Mala, I would love if you posted a review on Amazon for others to read (link below). As always, all photos on video are courtesy of my wife, Melissa. See you again soon, Bob Olson – AfterlifeTV.com
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Afterlife TV is presented by Afterlife Investigator & Psychic Medium Researcher Bob Olson, who is the author of Answers about the Afterlife: A Private Investigator’s 15-Year Research Unlocks the Mysteries of Life after Death.
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Bob: Hey everybody, Bob Olson here with Afterlife TV, you can find us at afterlifetv.com. Our sponsor today is Best Psychic Directory. Best Psychic Directory is where you can find over 800 psychics, and mediums, and animal communicators…and speaking of animal communicators, our guest today happens to be on bestpsychicdirectory.com, she’s Danielle MacKinnon, and I’m just gonna read from the back of her new book called, “Animal Lessons” a little bit about her. Danielle MacKinnon is an intuitive and coach who has appeared on TV and radio stations around the world. She’s also an esteemed faculty member at the Omega Institute, and the Kripalu Center, as well as other globally, recognized teaching and wellness institutions. Her school, the Danielle MacKinnon School of Animal Communication, has helped make the field of animal communication more globally visible than ever. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts. You can visit her online at daniellemackinnon.com, Welcome, Danielle. Thank you for being here.
Danielle: Thank you.
Bob: You know, first of all, I wanna mention a lot of people are familiar with you, you were the very first guest that I ever had here on Afterlife TV, I had no idea what I was doing, wasn’t really even sure…I didn’t even introduce the show I remember I just…
Danielle: Did you even have a name at that time? I don’t think you did.
Bob: Probably not, it was…
Danielle: But it was fun, we had a good time.
Bob: We had a good time, it was a wicked-long, the longest episode I ever recorded.
Danielle: But I still get compliments on that episode, yeah.
Bob: Hey. You know you should because you were very good, and I got better.
Danielle: We both got better.
Bob: That’s all that matters. So, you know, I’ll put in the show notes the episode that she and I did called Animals in the Afterlife, from way back in 2011. You know, in some ways doesn’t seem like that long and other ways it seems very, very long. And today we’re gonna talk about your new book, “Animal Lessons Discovering Your Spiritual Connection with Animals.” We are going to relate this to the afterlife first of all, so I want everybody to recognize that, but I also wanna point out to the audience…you listening, that before we begin this episode I want you to know that this is really aimed at everybody, not just animal lovers, not pet owners, anyone who has ever had contact with animals, ever. And this includes birds that land on your window, raccoons that eat your bird seed, cats and dogs that your friends, family members or neighbors own.
I once had squirrels store acorns under the hood of my car, this was years ago. I was getting something fixed and they opened the hood and they recognized that there was just thousands of acorns underneath there. And I’m sure there was some relation there, and so this fireproof cloth that at least they used to put under the hood, that’s where they were stored. And I’m sure you could’ve told me something about that back then, that’s what we’re talking about here today. This is why I think this relates to anybody at all who’s listening, anybody who loves Afterlife TV and listens. I think, even if you’re not into animals, you’re gonna learn something from this episode, so please stay on. Now I’m gonna start right off because I don’t want anybody to you know, think, “Boy, it just took a long time for that show to get going.” And it did, but that’s okay.
Danielle: I’m ready for you Bob.
Bob: Page one of your book mentions…we’re starting with page one.
Danielle: Oh, we’re starting there? Okay, let’s go.
Bob: That’s right. We might as well start at the beginning. It mentions something that few other books discuss, how the love inherent in all animals fulfills a greater purpose, specifically helping people evolve into the best humans they can be. I don’t know of any other book that talks about this subject. I also…I’m not familiar with too many people with this mindset relating animals and humans, but I think the best way that we can get started is if you could answer, what’s the difference between animal training to fix problems…so animal training to fix problems versus recognizing pets and other animals as catalysts for our personal and spiritual growth?
Danielle: Okay. So that’s a great first question.
Bob: I know, first one.
Danielle: Good job, good job. All right, so animal training is typically done in a way where there’s something you want the animal to accomplish or there’s something you want the animal to stop doing. So, with dogs, for example, I want my dog to learn to come, I want my dog to learn to sit. That’s something where I have to do something, I have to perform certain tasks in order to get the dog to learn this piece. It’s very different from what I’m talking about here which is where the animal is performing something, doing something, experiencing something with you and it’s in order to get you to learn something yourself. It’s kind of the opposite really because they’re training us to be our best selves and they’re doing whatever they can to get us there. It really is, it’s like animals training humans.
Bob: I know you know, some people are familiar with this obviously, but I don’t know that enough people give animals the credit that they deserve. And one of the things that you talk about in this book is that animals are a lot smarter and they’re much more aware than most people think they are. You wanna expand upon that a little bit?
Danielle: Yeah, even animal lovers, most people including animal lovers, they assume that the animal doesn’t know as much as them, isn’t as aware of the world as them, that animals need us in a way almost like where they’re lesser beings. Even animal lovers, somebody who loves their dog but does everything for their dog and is worried about their dog all the time, isn’t giving their dog the credit the dog needs. So, what I’m saying, based on my work with animals is that they actually know everything that we know. They are as smart as we are, in fact, smarter because they’re able to choose what they decide to care about, right. I’ll be awake at night worrying about this thing and worrying about that thing, that’s not what animals do. You know, they realize, “Oh, this is not important to my life right now, this is not in the present moment.” So, they’re able to use their connection to the world to actually live in the world differently than we humans live in the world. Does that make sense?
Bob: Makes a lot of sense. You know, sometimes animals don’t act like they’re very smart and one of the reasons that I think it gives people this impression that maybe they’re not, but I also get this impression there’s this higher self, there’s this is higher version of the animal, and I feel as though just like animals are much more connected with the spiritual realm, you might even say the afterlife, much more connected with that, they’re also much more connected or at least consciously connected with their higher self, you might even say their soul self than most humans are. And so, is this where this intelligence, this insight is coming from? Is it coming from the sort of higher place where there’s less of a separation between the animal who seems like he just did something silly or stupid, but there is that intelligence and insight is coming from some other place?
Danielle: Yes, I ‘m gonna use some different words to describe it but…and especially when I teach animal communication one of the things I’ve learned from the animals is that there’s the 3D level of the animal, so you connect in the animal dog, cat, horse, pit. It doesn’t matter what animal, there is the kind of the survival basic needs. So, I need to make sure I have somewhere to sleep, I have to get my food, I need my family or you know, whatever these things are that the animal needs, these are very basic pieces. And this is a great place for me to connect into and this is where a lot of people stay, whether they’re intuitive or not, this is where a lot of people stay with their animals.
But there’s a deeper level, and this is the level I think you’re referring to which I call “the soul level.” And this is actually what the whole book’s written on, which is this deeper knowingness within an animal that taps into the big picture, that taps into you as a human and what you need in your life in order to evolve your soul and starts working his or her behaviors in such a way as to help you evolve. They know what they need to do. And that may mean that the animal needs to act dumb and do something stupid or do something really really goofy and funny, but all of that is gonna be done not because the animal is stupid but because the animal knows that this is what you need.
Maybe one of the things you’re working on in your life is learning to you know, let go of all the control and enjoy yourself. So, you’ve got an animal in your life who’s you know, creating a little havoc, and making you laugh all the time, and working with you on modeling that for you. So that soul level is really what it’s all about with me and the animals.
Bob: Yeah, so a lot of times when you’re talking about the animal having this higher perspective about what you need, what its owner needs or…doesn’t even have to be an owner but we’ll get to that in a minute, then we’re really talking about the animal with this soul level perspective. And it might not be what we see but the soul level perspective is there and it’s exactly what we need.
Danielle: And when we learn that it exists and we know to what look out for we can then see it, which is really cool. And it doesn’t matter, you can do it if they are alive and you can also do it if they’re on the other side, there’s still a lesson being held there from that soul level for you.
Bob: Wow, okay. So, we’re talking to Danielle MacKinnon, she’s an animal communicator. Interestingly, you come from that place of being an animal communicator. You could have been a psychiatrist or a psychologist…when I read this book, there’s a lot of psychology involved, which is why I think a lot of people who might not even be into animal communication are gonna love this book because they’re gonna learn something about themselves. I just lost my dog in February 1st, and after reading your book I felt like, “Oh, maybe I should get another dog,” you know. And I don’t want to, for certain reasons…
Danielle: But that’s okay, I’m gonna lend you mine when I go away, you’re taking mine.
Bob: Yeah, there you go [inaudible 00:10:45] all right.
So anyways, animal lessons, discovering your spiritual connection with animals is what we’re talking about. We are gonna draw the connection between the afterlife for those people who have lost pets and are in the afterlife, it almost seems like in one way it’s a little bit easier because now our pets are in the afterlife, our pets have passed, they’re in the afterlife and so now, it’s easier. Let’s just say for me, to recognize my dog Libby like, “Okay yeah, now my dog has that perspective, my dog’s there, my dog isn’t in the dense physical world anymore and…
Danielle: Okay, like when someone crosses over they gain this great wisdom but here when they’re in the physical they’re not so wise?
Bob: Right, but I recognize that it’s harder I would think, for Libby to be able to help me with the lessons that I need to learn because she’s not in the physical.
Danielle: One of the main places that animals teach people through is through their death, which is a really weird thing. So, the actual leading up to the dying and then the actual crossing over…I can’t tell you how many animals I talk to and their humans, where the human says, “Well, why did this happen? Why did it have to happen this way? I don’t like this and I’m upset and sad.” And what the animals are usually saying are things like, “Well, I wanted to cross over this way because it would help her with her control issues or she has so much guilt I didn’t wanna bring out the guilt I wanted her to focus on the positive like I’ve been teaching her all the way through her life.” That kind of thing. So, from what I’ve seen with the animals, there’s no harder time at all, they know what to do and they know how to do it in terms of teaching their people their lessons. But I totally get what you’re saying that it seems like when they’re in the physical, they’re just concerned with you know, “Where do I poop?”
Bob: Yeah, right, yeah, eating, pooping. Yeah.
Danielle: Right, I get that, I get that. But actually, the cool thing is a lot of the time too, a lot of animals will cross over in order to be able to take the lesson they’re teaching their human further. And I’m gonna give you an example of this, for whatever reason, I don’t know why I haven’t really looked into it, a lot of people who have cats are working on the lesson of believing in themselves. And it’s a weird thing, so you know how cats are very very independent, but a lot of people who end up with cats are so totally in love with their cats. And so, the people…these people are usually working on believing that they can be independent as well. So, and I’m not saying this is across the board I’m just saying it’s a common theme with cats. I don’t want cat people to get upset with me you know, we don’t want that. So, with the cat what happens a lot of the time is the person then starts believing that they’re more independent because they have this cat in their life, and they start taking care of themselves and feeling like, “All right, I’ve got this, I can do me, I don’t necessarily need all these other people around me I can take care of myself.” But then they become attached to the cat. So, what will happen is then the cat’ll be like, “All right, she’s got this part of the lesson, I’m gonna cross over now, and I’m gonna work with her from the other side to help her take the skills I taught her and start continuing them without me physically there.” Does that make sense?
Bob: Yeah, yeah. No, that’s a great example.
Danielle: It’s a weird thing right, because animals they don’t view death as a bad thing, they don’t view it as something to avoid other than in the physical obviously, they have fight or flight, and you know, they try to stay alive in their body, but when they do cross over it’s just the next level for them. So, they involve it in the lessons that they’re teaching.
Bob: What that shows me is that as much as I understand this subject…and having just read the book, there’s still this part of me that draws this separation between the physical animal and the spiritual aspect of that animal. And I’m still separating the two, and really what you’re saying is they’re one and the same?
Danielle: Yeah, that’s because we as humans do that, and that’s what the coolest thing about animals is, is it’s not either this or that, it’s not here or there, it’s “Hey, this is all one big long journey, no part of it is to be avoided.”
Bob: All right. So now everybody gets a sense of what it is we’re talking about here with animal lessons. I keep referring to it doesn’t have to be a pet, right. So, your book, “Animal Lessons” talks about people who are passionate about the plight of wild animals in some other part of the country that they’ve only heard about, can you explain this type of connection and why it’s equally as significant as someone’s connection with their own dog or cat.
Danielle: Yeah. So, I don’t know, do you remember Cecil the lion?
Bob: Yeah.
Danielle: Cecil the lion, he was a lion in I think Zimbabwe, who was killed illegally by a hunter from I think Wisconsin, who was doing one of those, “Pay the guide like $50,000 and we go out into Zimbabwe and we kill animals, we hunt.” But they went into a reserve and hunted, you’re not supposed to do that. And so, all of these people heard about Cecil online, it was like it swept through the world, and everybody was in an uproar. He was the, what is it? The head pride lion?
Bob: Oh yeah,
Danielle: You know what? I don’t know the exact word, but you know what I mean. And it was such a big deal that he was killed this way and his death ended up teaching people and educating them about canned hunting, and what’s going on in Zimbabwe, and a lot of money was raised as a result, and new organizations were started. And he taught people to think differently through his passing which you know, I didn’t meet Cecil the lion and yet I felt this whole thing go on and I was actually really excited by how much like vibrational soul level movement this mass consciousness was coming through this one lion’s passing.
Bob: Yeah. Well, I mean that makes perfect sense. Now, is there any way to understand why one person might be affected by that or the story and someone else might not or one person becomes so passionate about it that they are doing all sorts of things to try to prevent this in the world, whereas another person might have had the same experiences heard the same stories, is not? Is this a past life thing? What is this?
Danielle: So, animals they ramp it up. Okay. They keep making the challenge or the thing that they’re bringing to your attention bigger, and bigger, and bigger until you’re ready to get it. So, with Cecil, a lot of people were in a consciousness type position, a soul level position to be ready to shift through his help. But there were other people who weren’t ready, who needed ramped up more, who needed it to be more horrible or more big. You know, they needed more, they weren’t ready. So, the people who were affected it’s just the place that they were in because of all the other work they’d done. Because of whatever else was going on in their lives so they were ready to move forward. That really in the past few years is the biggest animal-related thing I’ve seen happen that moved the most people forward at once.
Bob: Interesting, you know, what’s interesting, the second time you know, you’re talking about how the death of an animal can be as effective if not more, than the things that they did while they were alive. And people do this too. You know, we talk a lot about how people’s deaths I mean, you know, each person’s death, they serve as a catalyst quite often for the spiritual growth of their family members, their loved ones. And so, in the same way that Cecil did for many people, the same thing can happen when a human being dies and we can come up with many examples, people are aware of all of them, how one person’s death can create a whole movement. But it’s not even just that it’s within a family or just within one person if their child dies, it sets the rest of their life into this investigation almost to try to understand that, why did that happen, why did my child have to die? And then it brings them down this road that who knows where it’s gonna take them. And I know many people where it’s taken them to amazing places that if they can get to that spiritual place you know, there’s a gratitude for where it brought them. And animals will do the same thing for us.
Danielle: Animals will do the same thing except that it’s not as widely accepted. So, I always remember when I had a dog and we actually had to put her down, and I was so upset and distraught that I stayed home from work for three days. And I came back to work and my boss said, “I feel like I’m being taken advantage of, you took three days off for the death of your dog.” And you know, that sucked to hear. And I will never forget that because if it had been a person it would be fine. But so many people feel as strongly about the animals in their life as they do about people or more strongly. Especially, people who’ve lost people, they tend to a lot of the time focus in on their animals, and now this animal, the one kind of guiding light in their life has crossed over, it’s going to be a really big thing. And most of the time I’m finding with people that I’m connecting with that that really does finally connect them into a more spiritual path. To investigating what does it mean, and why did it happen, and why do I feel this way, and where did they go, and what’s it like?
Bob: You know, here’s the thing, I would never compare any person or animals’ death with another. So, in not doing that, I will say that you know, I’ve lost people in my life, and then I lost Libby and I know a lot of people feel this way because they’ve told me via the internet in emails and in just comments, they’ve talked about. Libby’s death shook me in ways that human deaths you know, family members and friends did not do. And I think part of the reason why is that she was such a huge part of my life.
So, my father-in-law dies and he didn’t live in my house, I didn’t take him out for walks you know, he wasn’t dependent on me so that I wasn’t constantly evaluating his needs, you know, “Does he need a drink of water? Does he need something to eat? What does he need?” And so, I know a lot of people will relate to this, when Libby passed I was still doing that, and yet she wasn’t there. And then I had all these triggers you know, you have all these triggers, “So it’s time to take her for a walk? Oh no, no, I don’t need to take her for a walk.”
And so, in this way you know, I wanna bring it up because I know a lot of people who…especially those people who think of the animals in their lives as family. And I know not everybody will understand that, like you were kind of referring to earlier. But those who do, I want to take this moment to say that I know there’s a lot of people and it’s not just me and Danielle who recognize how much the passing of a pet can shake your world, and it is just as significant as any other death in your life.
Danielle: Yeah, I run into it all the time where people…and they’re shaken by it because our society says that it’s not as big of a deal. But it doesn’t matter what society says, it matters what they feel, and their grief is there. The one thing I found helps that peace is understanding how animals feel about the other side and that they weren’t trying to run away from it like most of us as humans are.
Bob: Yeah right, yeah, good point. All right. There’s a few things I really want to help people understand what the animal lessons are between them and the animals in their life. And you know, earlier talked about it doesn’t have to be your pet, it doesn’t have to be a dog or a cat it could be the squirrel or the raccoon or whatever in your yard. There’s so many different ways of doing it but one way of recognizing what the animal lesson is for you…in the book, it talks about these four methods that we can talk about, and I know there’s more than that, right? There’s more than four, but these four very common methods. Let’s start with…can you give us an example of what mirroring is?
Danielle: Yeah, so I already kind of talked about it a little. Mirroring is where the animal is holding the same behavior or doing the same thing that you’re doing, and they’re doing it to highlight it so that you notice. But the interesting thing about that is that a lot of the time people don’t recognize that the pet or the animal, whoever it is, is mirroring what they’re doing. So, they’ll bring an animal to me for a you know, an animal communication session, and you know, “My horse is so nervous all the time.” And yet, the person is all nerved up and anxious, but they’re not seeing that they’re that way as well. So, then I’ll talk to the horse and the horse’ll be like, “Yeah, I’m doing it to show it to her because she is really, really anxious and she doesn’t realize it.” It’s a great way for an animal to bring things to attention to be dealt with.
And the really cool thing about that is as that person deals with her anxiety and her nervousness, and as she let’s say she starts meditation or you know, whatever thing she does to shift this, the horse will also shift in his or her anxiety as well. Because it really is mirroring and that’s the way the horse can give feedback, “Hey, you’re doing a good job, you’re less nervous so am I.”
Bob: Very interesting, and I’ve seen it. It’s easier to see it in other people.
Danielle: Of course.
Bob: That’s anything, right?
Danielle: Right.
Bob: I’m sure my friends can tell me all kinds of things that are wrong with me that I can’t see. The second one is modeling, so how’s modeling different than mirroring?
Danielle: So, modeling is…I’m gonna use the anxious woman example. The woman’s very anxious but the horse is totally laid back, and he doesn’t wanna run, and he just wants to walk, maybe he’ll try, he’s great with everybody. You know, it’s like, “Hey, I’m a horse, you’re…” you know, and the person is like, “He won’t canter, and he won’t do this, and the training isn’t going well.” And so, the horse is actually modeling the behavior that the person has to look toward to achieving.
Bob: I see. Oh.
Danielle: And here’s the thing, we’re kind of talking about it at a superficial level but it goes deeper because through this, through basically in the book, through doing the steps in the book, you end up figuring out this woman could figure out, “Well, why am I so anxious all the time? Oh, I’m anxious all the time because I don’t feel worthy or I don’t feel I deserve love.” Or whatever that negative belief is and then you work on shifting that belief. And then the horse maybe will canter.
Bob: Yeah, right. Well, you know, this is interesting, you and I had talked earlier today about…Libby used to be one of those dogs…she didn’t care to get a lot of attention from people, she would take it from me. She would deal with it…my hugs and my kisses, but with other people, she would just you know, run up to them and then quickly turn around, just kind of like “Hi,” boom, gone. And guys especially, would get insulted by this you know like, “Why doesn’t she wanna hang out with me? Why doesn’t she want me to pet her? Why you know…” And I always saw this and what was interesting is I was always feeling bad for the person because I saw how it made them feel. And so, I think you know, this is a great example of modeling, Libby showing me I shouldn’t care so much about how other people feel. You know, and so it’s me having empathy for other people but empathy isn’t always such a great thing. And maybe sometimes I take it too far where you know, Libby was just like, “I don’t feel like getting petted by this person, so I don’t care if he takes it the wrong way, I’m not gonna do it.” And that would be actually healthy for any one of us but you know, me, if someone wants to pet me I’d let him pet me, you know.
Danielle: But there’s also the controlling piece in there too, so one of your workarounds is you like your control, right, and she’s not allowing you to control her, giving you the opportunity to become okay with that. So, it kind of is a twofold one.
Bob: Well, I would recognize this is in the person and I’d be like, “Libby, Libby, say hi, you know, say hi to Joe. Say hi to Joe.” And then she…
Danielle: You’re gonna talk to the dog into saying hi? that’s [inaudble 00:28:29].
Bob: She just, she…you know, it never worked. No, it’d never, never work, but that’s modeling, so I love that. All right. Third one, producing new emotions, this one. What’s that all about?
Danielle: Okay, so when we talk about mirroring and we talk about modeling, they’re usually in somewhat of a negative way, right? You feel badly or you know, “This isn’t going well.” Or there’s a behavior showing up that you don’t like, but producing new emotions…and it’s funny I didn’t have a cooler way to say that, like mirroring and modeling sound awesome than producing new emotions [inaudible 00:29:00]. But what I found is that some people, they would have a relationship with an animal in which there was absolutely nothing wrong and it was the most amazing thing they have ever experienced in their whole life, and it was the first time they ever got to feel true, unconditional non-judgmental love. It was the first time they ever trusted another being to give to them and to receive back. And so that would be a new emotion, and so obviously, the lesson they’re learning is “Hey, how to trust that you can be unconditionally loved,” etc.
So, the mirroring and modeling end up being a little negative and then the producing new emotions is usually the positive side.
Bob: Oh wow. That’s really cool.
Danielle: Because we as humans, normally learn through things not working out, right? When stuff’s not coming together we go, “All right, I got to do something to change it.” Or when I’m bothered by something I wanna take an action so I’m not bothered by it. And that’s how most of us learn but there are other people who get to learn through the positive. Maybe they’re less stubborn than me.
Bob: Yeah. Yeah, that’s great. No, that’s nice if you can. Right, nice work if you get it. Last one that we’re gonna talk about is sickness and disease.
Danielle: Aw yeah, so this is not one that I love talking about and kind of blanked it out, I was like “What are the four? I can’t remember.” And the reason I don’t like talking about it is because I’m gonna tie it in something that you said in “Magic Mala.” At the end of “Magic Mala,” you said that sometimes it’s just happening, there’s a fate there, you know. It’s just happening for whatever reason, it’s not necessarily meant as…and you don’t really have a reason behind it there.
So, I’m gonna start by saying that because when an animal gets sick, I find 100% of the time there is a lesson for you to learn from it, the human to learn from it. But a lot of the time, they’re choosing to get sick in order to further the lesson, which is not something that people like to hear but it’s what the animals tell me. And now, they’ve said that to me again and again but I’m leaving open the option that…I’m sure there’s times when the animal just got sick when the animal just had you know, that is what happened. Now, you can still learn from it and it’ll tie into your lesson but the animal didn’t choose the sickness. And there are animals who will choose, “Hey, I’m gonna have the same stomach issue as my human,” or “I’m gonna have the same cancer as my human.” I see that all the time, it’s mirroring.
But people do not like it when I say you know, a lot of the time the animal’s choosing this as a method for getting the lesson learned. It’s also often a method for how the animal’s gonna cross over because you can learn so much from that crossing over. So, if that person is working on control, and normally, if they found out their animal was sick they’re gonna do everything possible, and they’re gonna get every medicine, and they’re gonna do all this stuff to control that and not have the animal die. And the animal goes through the sickness and then ends up crossing over, it’s really gonna hit that person in the heart. But it’s also an opportunity for that person to learn, “Well, there was nothing I could do and maybe I need to be okay with that.”
Bob: Yeah, but I like the idea of thinking sometimes sickness and disease is just life, it’s just life. And so that teaches us something because we get to see how we or even the animal responds to that but it’s just like anything else, anything else that might happen to us during the day that you know, we’re constantly making those choices, how are we gonna respond to this. Sickness, disease, more significant choices I guess, around that, but especially where in this case you know, animal and human, the human is often the one making the choices as to how are we gonna treat this? Are we gonna treat this with medication are we actually gonna do surgery? They’re the one who’s in charge and the animal is relying on them to make that choice.
Danielle: In some ways, but what I find is you know, you got to go to that big picture place where there’s something to learn from this. And in many ways it doesn’t matter what the human does if that animal’s planning to cross over as a result of that sickness, they’re gonna cross over as a result of that sickness.
Bob: No, I agree with that. I was talking about sicknesses that they get better from and then they move on. But I agree with that too, I agree that when a human, animal, doesn’t matter when it’s time to go it’s time to go. And I believe that our souls decide how it is we’re going to go. It’s time to go we have opportunities. For humans, I always say it could be a car accident, it could be a sickness, it could be a number of different things. It’s not like he’s gonna die on March 7th at 2:00. It’s you know, “Okay, here’s an opportunity, it’s time for him to go, here’s an opportunity we’ll do this.” Sometimes it’s sickness and disease is the way it happens, but…
Danielle: Yeah, and actually with animals, a lot of the time they’ll choose that. And a lot of the time they’ll choose it you know, depending on what lesson they’re teaching you. They’ll choose to have a long drawn out sickness or they’ll choose, “Oh no, it’s gotta be right away, because that’s gonna help this person learn.” Just depends on your lesson.
Bob: You know, you have a…is it a workshop called, animals in the afterlife?
Danielle: Animals and the Other Side, I have yeah.
Bob: Yeah? When’s that?
Danielle: So that’s on July 27th. And I’m purely gonna focus on what the animals have told me about the other side, so how they feel about dying, what it’s like over there, how they connect back with this side. I find that it’s really helpful to hear it from the animal’s point of view, and I’m kind of as close as you can get. Unless you are an animal communicator yourself.
Bob: You know, great story. I don’t know you know because we’re friends with Danielle we are blessed in that Melissa was able to call Danielle, it was kind of weird the way it all happened but by some serendipity, Melissa and Danielle were talking minutes before Libby passed, for about a half an hour before Libby passed. It was beautiful and it was one of the best gifts that you ever could’ve given us. And it was amazing in that…I’ll get upset if I talk about it more but anyways, I want you to know that was amazing. How often have you done that? How often have you been with somebody either on the phone or whatever while the animal’s passing?
Danielle: Usually, I’m on the phone just prior. It could be just prior like it was with you or it could be a few days prior. A lot of people will reach out when they’re starting to feel, “Okay, I think it might be time. Is it time? What does he want? What does she want? What does she want it to be like?” So, I do a lot of work like that in helping animals cross over, but I’m not really helping the animal cross over, I’m helping the humans…
Bob: Deal with it.
Danielle: …come to terms with it and feel good about however the situation is going.
Bob: Well, what I loved about it…and I know this is the same for humans too, but what really stood out, very emotional time obviously when anybody passes. Libby was coming through and it was so clear that she was coming through you, she was saying things that you couldn’t have possibly have known and…but one of the things that I loved was you know, her sense of humor was still there, even in this very emotional moment her sense of humor was coming through. I know this happens with humans too, but I don’t know if that was just to lighten it or is that’s just the way she is but…
Danielle: But that’s who she is. So even though she’s crossing over, since they don’t view that as a bad thing, she’s still gonna be her. So, she’s still gonna tell us how beautiful her teeth and her fur is…
Bob: Yes, she did.
Danielle: Yeah. Because that’s who she is. So yes, this is a big thing to do for her to cross over, but it’s not a bad thing, it’s not a scary thing. And animals understand that. Which is why they’re able to use their crossing over so often to help us learn lessons because they’re not all wrapped up in, “Oh no, dying is horrible I must avoid it at all costs.”
Bob: Yeah. And I bring it up just you know, anybody who’s lost a pet or will lose a pet in the future. If you can recognize that your pet still has this sense of humor, it’s not as big a deal for them as it is for you, but if you can think of it in that way…it was a wonderful reminder and a little bit of a wake-up call in that moment for me to recognize, “This is not as big a deal for her as it is for me.”
Danielle: Yeah. It’s physically and energetically a big deal but not emotionally, not mentally. But physically it’s a big deal.
Bob; Anything else you wanna announce? You’re going to the Afterlife Conference soon?
Danielle: Oh yeah, and I think it’s June 1st through 5th. I’ll be doing the keynote at the Afterlife Conference on animals on the other side actually. And yeah. So that’s the whole thing is that yeah, it’ll be fun. And that’s in Portland, Oregon. And then also that weekend I’m teaching a beginner weekend workshop in animal communication. Yeah. Because everybody gets all excited so they wanna go and try it, you know?
Bob: Yeah, yeah. So, you have an online course as well, online school that people can take, what’s the website for that?
Danielle: That’s animalgurus.com.
Bob: And that’s like a video course that people can take, right?
Danielle: Yeah, yeah. It’s a six-week video course, so each week you get a new lesson. And literally, I teach you how to do animal communication, and manage your energy, and work with animals on the other side. And it’s a pretty awesome course because you get to do it on your own right, you don’t have to go anywhere.
Bob: And you know, it’s not just for people who might want to be an animal communicator, it’s for people who want to connect with their animals in a new way.
Danielle: It’s basically animal lovers of all kind who just wanna go in deeper. Yeah, and no experience is necessary. And it’s kind of cool because people come in knowing nothing, having no intuitive experience, and then you know, by class three they’re like, “Ah, I can’t believe I did it.” So that’s really fun.
Bob: The newest book that just came out, “Animal Lessons Discovering your Spiritual Connection with Animals.” I just read it this week, I just finished it yesterday, and I absolutely loved it, I learned a lot from this book. And I wanna go through it again because I wanna go through it more slowly, you know.
Danielle: I keep hearing that, that people like to read it once through, and then they wanna go back and actually…you know because there are steps in there and some exercises, they wanna go and do those steps and exercises.
Bob: And I mean if you buy a book like this and then just read it through, yeah, you’re gonna get a lot of information on one level. If you then go back through and actually do the steps you know, do what’s being taught and what you’re told to do sort of like you have some things where you can fill out, figure out what your animal lessons are, fun. And I highly recommend it so all the links will be in the show notes, at afterlifetv.com, but you can also go to daniellemckinnon.com in order to get information about all these things that we’re talking about.
I can’t thank you enough, I wish we had more time to talk but I’m not gonna make this a two-hour episode today.
Danielle: And you know that you and I could do that.
Bob: We could do that, yes. We can just go talk over coffee for an hour or something. All right, thank you so much, I appreciate you being here and until next time, I wish you the best of luck with this new book.
Danielle: Thank you, Bob.
Bob: All right, bye-bye.
Danielle: Bye.
Bob: That’s it for another Afterlife TV episode, thank you so much for listening, thank you to our sponsor, Best Psychic Directory. Check out Danielle’s book, “Animal Lessons.” And she mentioned the “Magic Mala”, I wanna thank everybody who has left comments or Amazon reviews about the “Magic Mala” since reading it. A few of those on Amazon, I’ll read very quickly. Teresa Quinn [SP] says, “The book you use. I would highly recommend this book. Well written and very insightful. Every page filled with wisdom you can use every day.” Gameplayer says, “Very inspirational. This is a compelling story and very inspiring. I highly recommend it. Once you are done, you want to recommend it. Enjoy. Daniel says, “I heard about the book through Bob’s Afterlife TV. I’m glad I read it because, through the story of Robby, the main character in the book, we see how much our thoughts manifest themselves in our lives. And the necessity to change negative thought patterns. Nuttyme, love that, nuttyme says, “Wow, this book has really opened my eyes to new ways of working with my mala.” And it goes on to say your book has given me so many new ideas. I’m excited to practice them. This does remind of the Celestine Prophecy, and like that book, this too is a spiritual adventure. Thank you for writing it and sharing wisdom and a great story.” Finally, J just the letter J, says “This the second book I’ve ordered from Bob Olson. He is a profound author who I’ve enjoyed reading his work. His most recent book, “The Magic Mala” is truly amazing. It is life changing and I can’t wait to implement what I’ve read. I’ve already begun recommending to family and friends to read his recent release. What a wonderful story and a great treasure.” Maryanne Colgan [SP], I hope I said that right, says “I so enjoyed reading this book and found it helpful on many levels. I now own my own mala beads and would most definitely recommend this to readers age early teen on up.” Which is great to hear.
So, thank you, everybody, for those great reviews, anybody who’s left them on Amazon, Facebook, iTunes Twitter, YouTube, even afterlifetv.com. So, I hope you have a wonderful week, next week Melissa will be back with me, we’ll have another bite-sized episode. until then, enjoy life. All right, bye-bye.
Afterlife TV is presented by Afterlife Investigator & Psychic Medium Researcher Bob Olson, who is the author of Answers about the Afterlife: A Private Investigator’s 15-Year Research Unlocks the Mysteries of Life after Death.
Check out Bob Olson’s other sites: BestPsychicDirectory.com (a directory of hundreds of psychics & mediums by location with reviews & Instant Readings) & BestPsychicMediums.com (his personal recommended list of tested psychics and mediums) or visit Bob’s Facebook Page. Bob also has a popular workshop for psychics and mediums at PsychicMediumWorkshop.com.
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