Imagine you are (or maybe you are!) a sweet, kind, playful and compassionate person. You smile constantly, you’re very generous with time and gifts, and always up for an adventure. Yet your husband calls you “Trainwreck,” your parents call you “Mistake” and the people at work call you “Pig.” How do you feel about that? Do those names affect the way you feel emotionally or even physically? Can you see that eventually it would affect the overall perception of your place in this world and your personal power?
People do this to animals every day. In other posts I’ve mentioned the importance of the words we use, and the same is true for the names we give our animals. I have many stories of how changing an animal’s name has changed their behavior, sometimes almost instantly.
The words and names we use carry weight – emotional, vibrational, even intellectual – and of course our animals pick up on it. As I’ve said before, they may not know the meaning of the name coming into the human world, but it doesn’t take long for them to feel the meaning that you or society gives it.
You’d be amazed how many clients I have for whom the animal directly reflects their name. For example, the incessant barker named Thunder, the princess queen named Diva, the energetic bundle named Hyper, the lazy cat named Sloth and on and on. I realize some of the names came after the witnessed behavior, but we need to ask ourselves if that behavior is something we want to continue to play up in the animal, or if it’s time to shift things a bit. In these examples there is no harm with these names and behavior, but that’s not always the case.
Anytime someone gets in trouble for their behavior it casts a small shadow in the world.
You see, all life is composed of energy, and the energy field of every person or animal extends beyond themselves into one another, forming one large, perfect energy system. Because of this energetic connection, what affects one life has a ripple effect that affects all lives. When we help bring peace or joy into one life it has no choice but to also affect all other lives: lifting fear from one life lifts all lives, and vice-versa.
I worked with a woman once who was looking to adopt a cat named Akuma and she wanted to know if the cat would be open to a name change. As I checked with the cat I could feel a shadow lift from him, and the woman then told me the name in Japanese means devil or demon. That name was not the essence of this beautiful, loving and joyful cat! Yes, please change his name!
There is a viral video that captures the topic of name choice very well. Diablo the black leopard had been in a roadside zoo for many years. Anna Breytenbach changed his name when he was sent to a sanctuary, and the behavior shift after his name change is amazing. If you’ve not seen it, you can watch it here.
Please be thoughtful when naming your animals, even the nick names! Such a simple gesture can have huge long-term effects.
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