What I Learned From My Talking Cat- with Nick Musica EP 387

You know you need something, you're just not sure what. You've been listening, you're doing the work, but there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place, like you're waiting for the thing that finally moves you. Now maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back, the timing, the money, or you're just not sure you're ready yet. I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you. I built a resource for exactly this moment, guided meditations for when the waves hit and you just need to breathe. Workbooks to help you get out of your head and onto the page, ebooks on what near-death experiences tell us about the people we've lost, and whether they're really gone, a full course for widows and widowers who are ready to find their way back to living, and a full course for the evidence of the afterlife. And all of it is available for pay what you want. Nobody gets turned away because of money. I think these resources are valuable, but I don't want to hold them back because you don't have the money to pay for them. You don't have to wait until you're ready for coaching. The next step might be a lot smaller than you think. To find out, go to grief2growth.com/store. That's grief, the numeral 2, growth.com/store. And check out the resources I've made for you. Close your eyes and imagine. What are the things in life that cause us the greatest pain? The things that bring us grief are challenges, challenges designed to help us grow, to ultimately become what we were always meant to be. We feel like we've been buried. But what if, like a seed, we've been planted? And having been planted, we grow to become a mighty tree. Now, open your eyes. Open your eyes to this way of viewing life. Come with me as we explore your true, infinite, eternal nature. This is Grief to Growth. And I am your host, Brian D Smith. Hey everybody, this is Brian. Welcome back to another episode of Grief 2 Growth. As I said, I'm Brian Smith. I'm your host, and I'm glad you're here today. So whether you're a longtime listener, or you're joining us for the first time, we'll let you know this show is dedicated to helping you navigate the complexities of life, and uncover deeper understanding of who we are, where we came from, why we're here, and where we're going. Today we've got a fascinating guest. His name is Nick Muzica, and Nick is the author of— or Nick is the, uh, owns the website My Cat Schooled Me, which talks about lessons that he's learned from his cat. His journey with feline companions has opened up new perspectives on mindfulness, on patience, acceptance, and surprising ways that animals can teach us about ourselves and our place in the world. And Nick is a animal communicator who not only communicates with his own animals but also connects with other people's animals on their behalf. So in our conversation today, we're going to talk about some of the lessons that Nick has learned through communicating with the animals and help, help you maybe understand about how your animals would like to communicate with you a little bit better. So with that, I want to welcome Nick Musica.

Thank you so much, Brian.

Nick, it's, it's great to have you here. Uh, really fascinating story that you have about, you know, communicating with animals, because some people don't— are not even aware that's possible. So hopefully by the end of this show today, people will understand that it is. And I understand, uh, your journey started maybe off with some psychedelic experiences. Is that how it started?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's been a few milestones along the way, and psychedelics has certainly been part of it. Um, so it was about 2017, um, I got introduced to or maybe reintroduced to psychedelics. And, you know, in the '20s, it was, it was something different. It was experimentation. So I experimented a couple of times. But in 2017, I got introduced to a cactus called San Pedro, and I didn't really understand the context. And I went to this— it's a ceremony. It's a sacred plant. And, you know, it's used a lot in South America. And for, for generations, for a long, long time. And, um, it, it was a, uh, it was a wonderful, humbling, fantastic, um, experience. It was amazing. Yeah.

Tell me about it. Tell me about the experience.

Yeah, I mean, I've done it more than once, so, so it's become part of my, part of my bag of, of experiences. It's, uh, I like to kid that my therapist is a cat and a cactus. Um, and so I've been, I've been spending time with San Pedro about every 6 to 12 months since 2017. Um, for folks who are into meditation, um, it's, it's sort of like meditation on steroids. At least that's my perspective, uh, in terms of the connection that it gives you. And, um, the day sort of starts out like this. You get there early in the morning around 8 o'clock-ish or so, and, um, you sit down with a group of people. There's an introduction about the background of the, of the plant, where it comes from in South America, and a little more context around it. Um, and then everyone gives an intention for the day, what they're looking to get out of it. And then you, and then you drink some cactus, which you should do rather quickly depending on how it's how it's given to you. Some folks, it, it's, it's in a tea. I've only done it where it's powder mixed with water. And so here's the thing about cactus is that it sort of wants to come back into a cactus form after it gets dehydrated and you add water to it. And so the longer that it stays in a cup, that like, it, it goes from liquid and slowly transforms into like a gummy worm of sorts, right? And that's, you don't want to drink that. Mm-hmm. You just, that, that, that's gonna be a little terrible. So you, you want to get it down as best and as fast as you can. And, and also it's hard to get down. Like you need to earn it. You, you need to earn the experience. You can get a little nauseous. And, and the guideline is don't, don't let it up for the next 45 to an hour because then we're back at, at square one. Like we didn't take anything essentially. But once, once you're past that 45 minutes to 60 minutes, you're, you're, you're, you're in the clear for keeping it in your system. That doesn't mean that in an hour, 2 hours, 3 hours that it's not gonna come up again, right? So in the, in the beginning of the time, after you drink the cactus, uh, you could qualify that as throwing up, um, as just a biological response to it. Afterwards, um, we don't say throwing up or vomit, we say purging, um, because it's, it's really, there's something else going on at that point that's, yeah, biological, but there's something else that's running. You're in tune with, uh, something greater than yourself. And if there's something that has to come up, it's really tied to not that, oh my God, my, my stomach feels queasy because I ate something, but there's something that has to move, that has to get out of you. And, um, and that's— it's such a wonderful thing. That didn't happen for me for a long time, and then the past couple years, uh, it sort of snuck up on me. And, um, and the purging, while it's awful— it's— I mean, there's nothing enjoyable at the time, um— afterwards it feels fantastic because something is no longer there. You asked for it to leave and it's gone, and now it's just sort of the manifestation of it leaving.

Now, is this similar to ayahuasca?

I have never spent any time with ayahuasca. So I'm going to go with yes, because I've heard stories.

It sounds similar. Yeah.

Yeah. But so there's ayahuasca, from what I understand, it can like shoot your soul out into the, into outer space and you're spending time with entities that like just are not on the planet.

Yes, that's true.

Have you had time with it?

I have not, but I've read a lot about it.

Okay. Okay. I would say that San Pedro is— that there's a book by, um, uh, what's his name? Carlos Castaneda, I believe. And he's— and in the book, he— I think he's talking about San Pedro. And he says it's essentially about a gentleman in the States who goes to Mexico and meets a guy who knows all the old ways of tuning into spirit. And he's like, why are we doing this? And the phrase that comes out in the book that got my attention was, it helps you live the right way. And so that, that for me, that really landed because you, you see things, you're shown things. Um, but it's very, instead of like ayahuasca where it's like, you know, outer space and who knows what's going on over there, I don't know. Um, San Pedro is really about this experience on this planet in this body now. It's very now, right? Um, where ayahuasca, I'm not quite sure if that's always the case.

Yeah. And so I know you, you said you, you did some psychedelics in your youth. That was, I would assume, was more recreational.

Um, it was out of curiosity. Mushrooms because reasons. Um, you know, that, that type of thing. Yeah.

So when you start doing San Pedro, what was your, what was your intention?

Uh, well, first it was a complete framework shift, right? Because going to a dead show, taking too many mushrooms is way different than sitting with San Pedro. And, and the conversation going around is, um, you know, what, why'd you come here today? Well, I heard you could talk to God. Oh, interesting. Okay. And so like, now I'm playing catch-up because really, here's how it showed up, was a buddy of mine calls me and he says, you're going to come on Saturday, right? And I said, I don't know what you're talking about. And, uh, he said, well, he said, I— we talked about this a while back and you said you would come if, if the other party couldn't, couldn't make it. Well, this party can't make it, so you said you would go. So it's Saturday. I still don't know what you're talking about. And the more he explained it to me, the more I'm going like, I don't like— this is not sounding all that interesting, um, just because it felt so foreign to me at the time. And, um, but I decided to go. I have a lot of trust in this individual, and I decided to go. And, um, my intention going was, uh, at least the first time, I couldn't even tell you what it was. I really don't remember what it was at all because it was sort of— I felt like I stepped into something that I should be in, but I didn't really understand what I was doing. Um, but it was, uh, it was, it was magical in terms of just what you're— it, it changes everything. It changes your view on existence and what is possible. That was the big thing that it did for me. Like, meditation has been super helpful in terms of consistency and building skills. St. Pedro has been very helpful in terms of like one time you could sit down with it and you can see what is possible.

Stay with us.

We'll be right back.

You know, one of the hardest things about grief, most of the people in your life just don't get it. They want you to be further along than you are. They get uncomfortable when you bring it up, so you stop bringing it up. And that's why I started writing. My Substack is where I go deeper. Thoughts I don't always get to on the podcast. Essays on consciousness, on continuing bonds, on what it actually means to carry a loss and still build a life. The stuff that used to keep me up at night, written out in a way that I hope meets you in the morning. But here's what I didn't expect when I started it. The community that showed up. People who are doing exactly what you're doing. Listening, learning, learning, trying to find their footing. Readers who comment, who share their own stories, who remind each other that none of us are as alone in this as we feel. And that's what the Substack has become— a place to go deeper with me and to find your people. It's free to subscribe. Find me at grief2growth.com/substack. That's grief, the numeral 2, growth.com/substack. Or just go to Substack and search for Grief to Growth. I hope to see you there. So can you explain— you told me about the experience of taking the, the tea or the powder with the water. Yeah. What did you, what did you see?

It really depends. Sorry. So I've done it, um, I've sat with San Pedro more than 10 times at this point, and it shows up in very different ways depending on what you need. And so my intention after the first time— because what did I know the first time? My intention after the first time was clarity. Like, it's, it's— clarity is, is very inconvenient, and it's also very helpful, right? Um, it can be inconvenient, uh, but it's also— it's always very helpful. Always, always, always. And so when something shows up, it's, um, it's what you need right now to move forward. So for example, when the animals were showing up, my intention was like, if there's anything that has to get out of the way, let's just do it. Like, I want to get back, I want to get on the path for these animals and have these conversations. And that was the first time that I puked, purged. And that was surprising. And now it was a rough time for me. I never had a rough time with it before. And I don't know if it was that time or was the time after Uh, and I've never had an experience like this before or after, uh, but what I saw, like written in your mind's eye, like you can see things, you can hear things, you can feel things come through in various different ways. What I saw in my mind's eye as I was laying down was someone, whoever is there, what— however you want to call this, this connection that you have, Spirit, Source, whatever the label is you want to give it, but there is a guide, I believe, that shows up with, with San Pedro. Like mushrooms, not so much from what I understand. Ayahuasca, I really don't understand that part. But there is a guide that brings you through this experience when, after you take San Pedro. And I'll say the, the guide or guides at one point wrote right in front of me, animal awareness. Like it was so clear, someone writing this out almost like on a chalkboard. And you're sort of going, what are they writing? And then it, and then it, it's, it's just right in your face. And it was just extremely, extremely clear. And so the awareness of all the dynamics around how animals show up, um, on the planet, off the planet, and the various ways that they support us is what I took away from that.

So when did the animals start coming through? Was it the first experience or was it later on?

The animals started to come through, um, outside of, uh, San Pedro. San Pedro, like I said, gave me— very quickly helped me see what was possible. Like it just, it just opened the veil and like just changed things. Meditation's been core, uh, since the animal showed up. And I was off and on for a while since around 2017, um, but once the animal showed up— and they showed up about a year and a half ago— I went to, I went to a medium. My wife and I went to a psychic fair here in Carlsbad where we live, and, um, we took this little loop around the, uh, the booths, didn't really see anyone. And then we approached it from the opposite direction, and, and right in front of us was this woman. Her name is Medium Adelita. She's amazing. And, uh, I went to my wife and I said, hey, Jewel, what do you, what do you think of her? And my wife said, that sounds great, why don't you go first? And so I sat down, um, and, and she starts by drawing this. Adelita started by drawing a heart, and she goes, this is, this is either a formal romantic relationship or it's an animal. And it turned out to be Henry. So Henry was my cat who lived to be 22. And the last 2 years of his life, we're going back and forth to the vet, right? Checking, checking the food, right? Getting hydrated. Um, you know, blood work, like everything you can do to treat the symptoms of old age for an animal, for a cat. Um, and, and in hindsight, it was really, it was really, it wasn't so much about making the animal comfortable. It wasn't about making Henry comfortable. It was really about making me comfortable as the person who was, just didn't want to let go of Henry at the time.

Yeah.

Um, and so, you know, I'm thinking about the past 2 years, um, when she circled animal, and then she says the messaging is, you did too much. And she didn't know anything about what I just said. She didn't know anything about the past 2 years of back and forth to the vet and all that, right? So that, that landed pretty, pretty, um, pretty sharply. And as I'm like— it was the first time that I sat with the medium. I've been to a psychic before, but I've never been to a medium. It just wasn't in my lens of um, things I wanted to do, I was very skeptical. Like, it just wasn't a thing for me. Um, that's, that's, that's changed. It's changed quite a bit. Um, and so, so as, as I was catching up to understanding that I'm having this conversation with my cat, who was 22 when he passed, and it's been 20 years since he's been on the planet, she says, they're now showing me Dr. Dolittle. She's talking about her guides. They're now showing me Dr. Dolittle. They're showing me that you can talk to animals and it's going to be easy for you. Oh, okay. Um, and I thought, man, like, I've never heard anything more truthful in my life. I couldn't tell you why, but like, that phrase just really was a whole bunch of truth in it.

Wow.

And so, um, I mean, that's sort of how I felt, like, how can— like, and also like, how can you possibly think this is true? But, but also like, it's, it's 100% true, right? So I go home and I do the meditation that I've been doing off and on for a while, uh, inconsistently, sometimes more, more often than not, um. But, but doing it over the past few years, and I, I sit down, I meditate, and I tune into my living cat, Chuckie. And, and immediately, I see this bright white, like, it's the type of light that you would associate with, like, a higher level being, like a spirit guide or an angel or something like that. That's at least, at least that's how it's written about. And, and my thought was, like, there's no way, there's no way my cat is a higher level being. Like, he's just, that's just not what's going on, right? So I call her up and I say, this is not, this isn't working. Never mind being easy, it's not working. And, uh, her response was, well, you're expecting things to show up in a very specific way, and that's not how this works. Just be open to the information, and what you get is what you get. Okay. So I, uh, I gave it a second chance. I gave it another shot, and I bought animal communication books. There's, there's so many of them. Um, I had no idea. And I booked a couple animal communication sessions with folks who, who do this Um, you know, all day long. And, uh, and as I was getting up to go to one of those sessions to come to this computer for, for a Zoom session, I was getting up from my dining room table and I get this flash. I get this flash of Return of the Jedi. I see the ghost of Obi-Wan and Yoda, and I'm realizing that one, this is coming from Chucky. And so that white light was coming from Chucky. Uh, the first time he showed me who he was broadly, and now he's showing me who he is specifically. Um, because the— what came through was the student-teacher relationship, and I was like, oh man, like, I'm, I'm not the teacher in this situation, right? And, uh, and I get on the line with the animal communicator, and, you know, she validates who— what we're doing today, and we're here to see Chucky. And she goes, do you, do you know who he is to you? I go, oh yeah, like, he just literally showed me about a minute before I got here. And then we spent our time talking about him. He's been, he's been wonderful. I mean, it's amazing. It's amazing how a lot of folks, and I'm guilty of it to some degree as well, obviously, you know, just sort of dismiss this, um, this aspect of animals and, and everything really at this point. I know it's everything, anything with a, with a life source. There, there's, there's a consciousness tied to it. And because we have thumbs and credit cards, Like, we're like, we're the bee's knees, right? Like, we're the higher level thing on the planet. Like, look at all the things we've done. It's like, yeah, look at all the things we've done, right? Yeah, yeah, all the things we've done. Um, but animals— and I mean, I would argue animals and trees and like all the things you pass by when you're driving on your car or your bike ride or your walk, uh, there, there's something going on there and there's an opportunity to, to get quiet. And if you can find that, that place where you can connect with them. It's a, it's a, it's a magical, magical thing.

That's a really, really interesting perspective, um, because we do, we, we feel like we are the, we are the, the top, we are the apex, we're as, we're as good as it gets, you know. And, and as evolution come along, we have all these lower forms, so to speak, and then we're the highest form. And you're right, look at what we've done. And, uh, I am, I'm on Facebook a lot and I love the videos of animals when they're showing empathy, where they're, where they're rescuing each other, where they're showing all kinds of intelligence. And people think just because we can do these specific things with type of intelligence that we have, that means we're better than they are. But, you know, you watch a spider building a web, that's pretty incredible feat. Incredible. Yeah. And that's just one thing, you know, bees, birds, all, all the animals, the things that they do. So, um, Your cat Henry, he's still with you?

No, Henry is the one that passed. Chuckie. I'm sorry.

Uh, Chuckie.

Chuckie. Still, still here. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So what is, what is Chuckie's, uh, take on, on your relationship now?

With, with he and I?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's interesting. I mean, he, um, he get, he likes to give me corrections. It's really funny. Like, he, he really is here. I, here, here's, here's the broad scope of animals for as far as I can tell. Mm-hmm. Is we all made an agreement to be here. Right? Before we got here, we said, this is what I— this is so funny, he comes, he comes at very interesting, very specific times.

And there he is on cue.

There he is. Um, and so we— I believe there's a syllabus that we, we subscribe to before, before we get here, right? These are the things I need to work on, here's where I'm going to go work on it in this, in this life, uh, in this body, on this planet. And, and we don't, we don't get here without support. We have support that comes with us in one form or another. I mean, you could just from a biological perspective, we are given everything we possibly need, right? We may process it to death and make it not good for us, but we are given everything that we need. And I would argue that animals are part of that, right? We have guides that come through, and animals are there, are here to support us. And he does the same thing for me. So really, from that perspective of teacher-student, um, it's proven itself to be true. And so there's been multiple times where he has given me corrections. And so I'll give you a couple examples. So one time he does— yeah, I, I try to do meditation every morning. I have a little space where I just sit down. It's usually the same time, give or take, uh, same, same space. And, um, and sometimes he comes and sits in my lap like he just did. And, um, you know, one time I'm sitting there just what I felt was dilly-dallying, you know, not getting into the, the meditation the way I wanted to. And I just— I'm sitting there just stroking him on the head, petting him. And, uh, you know, internally I think, okay, like, it's time to stop screwing around. Like, let's, let's get down to serious meditation business, right? Yeah. And, and what I heard was, but this is the meditation, right? Just spending time with each other. This was the meditation. Like, appreciating each other was the meditation. Oh yeah. I mean, like, so, like, so simple and so right on. Like, it's amazing. Um, like, what do we— like, you and I can go for a walk on the beach, go for a hike. We don't have to say anything. We're just enjoying each other's time, right? Like, we, we don't have to force the situation. We can just simply enjoy each other's time. And there's a lot to be said for it. There's so much that is like, go, go out to eat someplace and what's the latest and greatest? Like you see 4 people at a table, everyone has their head in their phone, right? Is there any appreciation for the, the living being next to you? Probably not as much as there was, right? Right. And so that was sort of the lesson of like, but like right now while we're having time with each other, like this is really where we get to just be with each other. It's pretty good.

I, you know, it's fun. I love that. And, uh, I usually, when I meditate, I go up to my bedroom and I sit on the floor, and my dog likes to come up and lay on my lap when I'm, when I'm trying to meditate. And I've started to— I used to be like, like that, push her away, you know, it's, it's time to meditate. But now I'm like, you know, I'll still keep my eyes closed, but I'll just, you know, rub her head, um, and just because she wants to spend time with me and I, I enjoy spending time with her too. So I think a lot of times we do take that time, that meditation time, too seriously. And I think that's one thing animals can teach us.

For sure. Yeah, agreed, agreed. Yeah. And he's proven, uh, repeatedly— I mean, here's one, here's the animal communication lesson 101, right? So a lot of times animals are here for, uh, that support, um, that I was talking about. And they show that through lessons. And one, one lesson is, is super easy how it manifests. It's like this mirror or modeling type of behavior that shows up, right? So for, for some folks, um, the mirroring— you may have heard someone saying to some degree, like, my dog is so lazy. Uh, well, why do you say that? Because he sits on the couch all day long while I play video games, right?

Yeah, yeah.

No, okay, so the dog's lazy all day long just sitting on the couch. Mm-hmm. So there's a mirroring behavior going on there, right? Um, for me, because I will sit in front of the computer and I'll, I'll grind for too long in front of the computer, um, I, I get a modeling behavior from Chucky. So every night, um, 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock at night, he will be ready to play. He's at the top of the stairs, he's at the bottom of the stairs, he's calling me, he's, he's, he's— it's playtime. Every night. Uh, and a lot of folks will go, it sounds like your cat likes to play. Well, that's because you're looking at it from this 3D dimension. He does, he does like to play. But the bigger lesson here is break out of your, your routine. Like, step away from the thing that's no longer serving you. You put your time in, step out of it. You need more play.

Interesting, right?

I do.

Yeah, interesting. So, um, when we talk about animals and, you know, sometimes people will talk about reincarnation, some, some people think we, we can come back as animals. Some people say we can't come back as animals. You mentioned Chuck, Chucky being like a higher level being.

Yeah.

Do you think Chucky's ever been a human being, or what are your thoughts on that?

You know, I, I have no idea. I'll, I'll give it a shot. Let's, let's see how this works. Um, I think that— I mean, I was, I was told that he was assigned to me, and, uh, it's really easy to say I feel like that's true. Yeah, 100%. So whether he was here before or not, I don't know. Or whether he raised his, his proverbial metaphorical, um, hand, paw, um, energy, whatever it was before he got here, uh, I, I don't know. Um, here, here is something that I heard that I found interesting, was, um, like, before we can move on, before we can move on to you're not being human anymore, because this is where we go to learn the lesson. Um, I mean, we need to come back and learn the lesson, whatever it is, whatever that, um, that level is that we need to meet to, to have that soul progression. Um, it doesn't seem like animals are on that same path. Like, it feels like we are here doing the majority of the work. And while they may be here in these little furry bodies or in the trees or whatever, whatever it may be, um, it seems like they have— I'm sure they're doing their own work, but at the same time, it feels like we're doing the heavy lifting because we need to do the heavy lifting. Like, they— it sounds like— I think they've already done it, is my perspective.

Yeah, it kind of feels that way to me too. Um, it feels like we're the ones that are kind of lost trying to figure out who we are, why we're here, and As you said, you know, sometimes people say, well, look at all the great things we've done, but look at all the things we're destroying our planet. I mean, um, animals don't do that. They don't, they don't destroy their own habitats. No, um, they don't, you know, extinction has just become— I just saw a special yesterday about an animal become extinct in Tasmania, and, uh, we're doing that, you know, that's, that's humans doing that. So I do feel like we've got the heavy lifting to do. And it's really interesting, this, this, uh, connection you've got with animals. And maybe some of us can start looking at our animals differently and look at them as like, you know, this— maybe we should be a little bit more that way.

Yeah, I mean, I, I've always appreciated animals, always, always, always. Uh, and I think there's a couple different ways, like tuning into, um, your intuition shows up. And for some people it's It's an event. Like, I know a gentleman in New Jersey who had a near-death experience, and he came out, and now he, now he hears, he communes with, with spirits that have passed, or humans that have passed in spirit form. There's other folks who, uh, you know, seemingly come, like, they, they come to this, uh, the planet, and they, they know immediately that they, there's something going on for them that is, it's normal for them. But then they say something and people go, what are you talking about? What What, what thing did you see over there? You don't see the person over there, right? Like, and so like those experiences show up early for me. While I had a, what I would consider a tap on the shoulder since I was about 20, I was, I was having experiences with, uh, with dreams. I would, I would end up living, uh, snippets of dreams that I have. Uh, so I, I learned just a few months ago, I think it was 9 months ago, whatever, uh, that they're called clairvoyant dreams. So it's, it's like, I never had this dream, but it would be similar to being in your car driving in a random city. You go past a random corner and you see a random person or dog on that corner, right? Uh, and you go, oh man, like, I dreamt about that person, that dog on that corner in the city that I've never been to. I did that like yesterday or a week before or whenever it was. But that's, that's been happening for a long time at this point. So that was the thing that was always sort of like just poking at me. I think for a lot of other folks, this, this statement rings true for a lot of folks. Have you ever been thinking of someone and then magically they call or text? Yeah. Or you call and text them and they go, man, I was just thinking about you. This is so crazy, so weird. Like, that, that's what we're talking about, those little taps on the shoulder. Um, but in terms of like, did I always know this was a thing for me? I don't, I don't think so. But I think it's the appreciation that I always had, and then it happened to open up. And maybe that's too soft of a, of a statement, happened to open up, but animals happen to show themselves. Like, it was time for something to show themselves, and this was, this was the easiest thing to show up. Like, it made the most sense for me. Um, where a young lady who, that I currently work with, she, um, she, she has a funny story. She was, she was, she was having a time just trying to understand herself a little bit, and she goes on to Instagram and she She says, I was looking for a sign, Nick. Well, what's going on? Well, you know, uh, you know that I do this furniture flipping. I do, yeah. And so when I saw you talking, uh, in Santa Barbara a couple months ago, talking about, uh, psychedelics and, and, uh, and cactus and, and animals, I, I knew I had to give you a call.

Oh, why?

What's happening? Well, you know about the refinishing furniture, but what you don't What I never told you was I get this, I get this voice, I get this sort of push, I get a tap on the shoulder that says, go down this alley and you'll find the furniture. And every time I hear it, find the furniture. Hmm. Hmm. And then there's more. Every time I touch the furniture, I start to glean the stories from the furniture.

Oh, wow.

And so that's how it showed up for her, right? So because she has this appreciation for furniture, so it's time for her to open up and, and And now she's the furniture psychic, right? Like, it's part of it. It's not everything she does, but it's part of it, right? Um, so that appreciation aspect, um, for me seems very natural, uh, for animals to have shown up. And then, and then, at least for me, once I got out of my own way, because I was, I was pretty good at putting some, like, blocks in front of me, um, once I got out of my own way and the animals started to show up for me consistently. I then, uh, I went on to— I went on to Nextdoor. Are you familiar with Nextdoor?

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's like Facebook, but it's, it's your neighborhood and it's people that you don't know, uh, versus people you do. But there's a lot of the same conversations really, right? Um, and I went on there and I posted. I said, hi, my name is, and, uh, I'm an animal communicator. That means I psychically communicate with animals. And, and free 15 minutes, like click, click here and submit your information. And, uh, because I didn't know if I could do one of these a day, zero of these a day, 10 of these a day. I didn't know if I could do that for someone else. I had no idea. Like, it was just showing up for me a lot. And, uh, with Chucky, with, with horses, with dolphin, with like— it just kept on showing up. And so I put this invitation out there, and I'm capturing information through a Google Doc. So I can see in a spreadsheet, like through the browser, when someone submits the form, you can see the, the information come through, right? And so I'm just staring at this form after I make my submission, and shortly after I post, I get the first row of information filling up. First name, last name, age of animal, name of animal, breed, that type of thing. And, uh, and I felt the woman come through and I thought, oh yeah, this is gonna work. And so, so I, yeah, like immediately it was, it was, it was super cool. And, uh, and so I got— my process is have the human submit the information, and then I'll talk to the animal like on a Wednesday or Thursday, and then I'll get the human on, on the line on Friday and debrief. Here's, here's what it was. Then we have a chance to unpack what the animal said. Um, but that, that's the basic process. And so I got her on the line after talking to the animal the day prior or something like that, and at the end of even 15, 20— I forget what it was— minutes, she said, so the reason why I wanted to talk to you is because my former animal communicator passed, and me and my friends are looking for, for someone new. Would you, would you be okay with me sending you references? Um, no, I, I think, I think that's very okay. I appreciate it. Thanks. So first one out of the gate of wondering if this was going to be true or not, right? Um, it seemed to work out pretty well.

So you, you, it was, I go, was Chucky was the first animal you had a connection with, is that correct?

Yes. Yeah, I'm trying to remember.

Yeah, was it— is it like random? Like you said, a horse and a dolphin, you'd be driving by and see a horse and it's—

yeah, yeah. So, um, it showed up in, you know, spits and spurts, but also consistently. Uh, so there was a case where like I was at the Home Depot and, and I just saw a dog at the checkout and I just recognized the dog. This is why I say the, like, the appreciation, there's a thing there. Um, like, you don't want to spend time with people who don't appreciate you, right? That sounds silly. And so same thing happens energetically. And so I looked at this dog and I just, like, felt good on the inside. I probably smiled at the dog, and the dog is not paying attention. The dog is looking at the owner, he's looking outside, whatever the dog's doing. And, and then I sort of refocus my attention after I, I gave the dog a little bit of energetic appreciation, and all of a sudden I feel it's like this, this wave coming back at me. Wave of energy coming back to me. Like, oh, that's, that's the dog. That's the dog recognizing this interaction, this connection that we have. And then, and then it's gone. But like, that's how it showed up for— with, with the dog. Um, for me, um, things really started to get cooking, and I started to know that, oh, I mean, like, I can, I can sort of tune in when I want to and, and then work from there. Was we went to We went to Mexico last summer and, uh, we went to Cabo. Then we haven't been out of the house on a plane for, for years because of COVID right? And so we finally get out and, and we're like kids in the candy store. We're just doing all the touristy things. Um, and, and there's this opportunity to go swim with dolphins and it's in a tank, right? So, and I've never, I never liked animals in cages. I just don't, I don't feel good about it. Uh, and this is sort of the equivalent, and they're born there and they're treated well as far as I can tell. And, and, but, but I still have this feeling. And at the end of it, we decided we were gonna go. And so there's, there's this one time, uh, where we're with the dolphin. Her name is Liz, and it's like SeaWorld where the dolphins can come up out of the deeper tank and onto this little ledge. And Liz is on this little ledge, and the, the trainer is at her nose, and there's 6 people three on each side of her, and I was on her tail area. And, uh, and I thought, well, let me see, let me see if I can talk to Liz. Let's see if she's game to play. And, and so I felt the connection, and then I felt this overwhelming feeling of sad. And I'm like, oh yeah, like, because, because you live in a tank, right? Because, because that's my narrative. Like, this is, this, if I was you, I would feel this way because, right, right. And, and that's one of the things you can't do, right? Back, back to what Adelita said, like, you, you can't expect things to show up in a certain way. You just got to get the information and that's what you get, right? So to bring your own narrative into it— the reason you feel this way, Brian, is I'm going to tell you why— like, that's wrong, right? And that's what I just did. Um, and so I recognize that and just, you know, reopen the channel and, and I asked why. And what I got back was one word. I got back family, and then the connection was gone. Hmm, okay. So afterwards, I went to my wife Juliette, and I said, well, I gotta, I gotta validate some information here. So I went to the trainers, and I said, I really love to understand Liz. What's, uh, what's her story? Is mom, dad here? Siblings? Like, what's, what's going on? Oh no, dad's not here. Dad, that's not on the planet anymore. Okay, well, that doesn't feel like it's relevant. Uh, what about mom or siblings? Oh yeah, mom's here, and she has a, she has a sister. Liz has a sister. Oh, uh, well, where are they? They're in the other pool. What do you mean the other pool? Well, there, there's this pool that you were in, and there's a pool adjacent. And like, now I can see it, uh, adjacent to this pool and separated by like a 2-foot concrete wall, right? Oh, well, why are they separated? Well, because when Liz's mom had another baby, Liz still wanted attention from the mom. And, and that was causing nursing problems with, with the mom and the new baby. So what we did is we separated Liz and the baby— I'm sorry, mom and the baby from Liz, put them in the other pool so that mom can nurse the baby. Got it. And so when was that? Well, that was 3 years ago. Oh, and Liz has not seen her mom since? No. And how old is Liz? She's 5. So when Liz was 2 her mother and her new sibling were put into the other pool.

Wow.

Well, that explains sad. Okay.

Yeah, right.

So yes, things started to show up for me. And horses— I started to volunteer at an animal rescue, and the horses are amazing. If you've— anyone who has the chance to be around them, they're super healing. Like, I had no idea what I was getting into, but going through, going through figuring out how How can I get this thing to work? How can I get this animal communication thing to really work for me? What showed up multiple times talking with, uh, multiple psychics was, so what do you do with horses? What do you do with horses? Like, all the time it would show up. And I thought, well, maybe I should do something with horses. And, and so I volunteered for about 9 months, and it was, it was an amazing experience. They're just super present, super healing, um, and very similar to this broader conversation. Like, you have this 3D aspect, but, um, you know, there's way more if you're— if you want to see it.

Yeah. So what kind of issues do people reach out to you with, with their animals? Why are— yeah, I know there's some, because you do animal communication for animals that are on the other side as well as animals that are here. So let's just maybe take those one at a time. So for animals that are here, what do people want to know?

Yeah, you know, it's, it's, it's sort of interesting how the conversations start and then where it ends up, right? So a lot of people, um, let me just take Chucky as the example, right? Like, why, why did Chucky poop? I, I could come to someone, I could say, Brian, I hear you, I hear you talk about animals and, uh, or talk to animals, and, and here's, here's something strange that happened with Chucky. This, this was a real thing. I opened up my guitar case one day and I'm tooling around on the guitar and and he goes to take a poop in the guitar case. Now, it's, it's normal for him to go into the guitar case. It's not normal for him to start scratching and pooping in there, right? And when I— and when I kicked him out, he went downstairs and pooped on the bed, and he pooped on my side of the bed. I want to understand what's wrong with my cat, right? That's sort of the framework. My animal's doing something in the 3D. I want to understand what it means, right? And so here's, here's a great example. Um, a woman showed up, and I asked people to give me 3, 3 questions. I, I, I say I will, I will be happy to ask the questions. Whether the animals want to answer the questions, I have no control over that, right? I'm just the interpreter. They give me information, I give it to you. That's it. That's, that's what I'm here for. And, um, her question was, how do I get my dog to stop biting people? My dog is biting people. A little, a little Chihuahua being aggressive, biting people in the ankles. And so I connected with the little Chihuahua. And, and the dog says, um, you should ask her about her job. Why am I asking her about her job? Because that's what has to change.

Hmm.

Oh, okay. All right. So I get her on the line. She says, so did you talk to my, my dog? I did. Did you, did you tell him to stop biting people? I didn't. Well, what'd you talk about? Well, he, he wanted to talk about your job. What's going on? Well, I'm sort of unemployed right now. Well, that's not entirely true. So what do you do? Well, I'm a private driver. Well, what does that mean? I drive limousines, I drive Uber. Okay, and how's that working out? Well, I have a lot of spinal issues and my doctor says that I shouldn't be sitting down for long periods of time. So after like an hour or two sitting in the, in the driver's seat, I'm very banged up, I'm very aggravated in my spine, uh, and so I He says, my doctor says I shouldn't be doing that. So here's, here's what your dog said. Your job is the thing that has to change. And that opened up a whole conversation around how you're spending time, what are you doing with your life in terms of, you know, your, your vocation, um, and what's your contribution is, right? So, uh, the reason why, going back to the mirroring modeling, right, was this woman happy about her job? No, right? Wasn't. Right. And so was the dog biting people? Yes. Was the dog biting people because the dog was aggressive? Sure, you can argue that. Was the dog biting people because it was aggressive and was reflecting the feelings of the owner being unhappy and frustrated? As far as I can tell, 100%. Hmm.

Wow. Do you know what the outcome was there?

I don't. I don't. I don't. Yeah, I, I don't have a closed-loop system, right?

Like, right.

Yeah, it's a moment in time. Here's, here's what the truth is, and now people get to go and do whatever they want with it.

Yeah, sure. Well, it's interesting because animals, you know, again, they don't— I guess they, they can't sit down and talk to us, so they maybe have other ways of getting our attention. Like you said, like sometimes they start to poop in the wrong place or they start to pee in the wrong place, and, you know, we always want to look for a physical thing, but maybe there's something spiritual that's going on there that they're trying to get your attention.

Totally. Yeah, you know, I— you know what I do is not— it's not a substitution for veterinary care. It's not behavioral training substitution, right? If you need to get your dog to walk better on the leash, you should get behavioral training, right? If there is something, you know, there's a lump on your animal, take them to the vet, right? Like if there's something going on, like do, do the right things. This, this is different. This is very, very different.

So in terms of people that come to you for the dogs that, that have passed, uh, or not dogs but animals. What types of messages do you get from them?

Yeah, I mean, typically people, they want to feel that connection, right? There's, there's a loss there and they want to make sure that they weren't responsible for anything or feel bad about how it played out. Because, I mean, things can get messy at the end, right? Um, and I'll use myself as the example. Like, it was, it was messy and I wanted to keep Henry around as long as possible, assuming the situation was good. So my definition of keeping this situation good was let's, um, let's, um, tackle the symptoms of, of old age, right? And so his message was, you did too much. Oh shit, like, oh, language. I don't know if, I don't know if we're okay doing that. Um, it was, you did too much, right? So, oh, like, so I shouldn't— that was a lesson for me. Like, so we— it would have been okay at that point, whatever that point was, where there's the signals that I was not accepting to pick up around, like, like, I'm sorry, I'm sort of done. Like, our time here is, is wrapping up. Let's talk about that. Right. And my reaction to that was, well, how do we prolong this? Right.

Yeah. And I want to ask you, I know that, uh, when I've talked to, to pet owners, they always— a lot of time, not always— a lot of times they feel guilty whether they thought they held on too long or whether they gave up too early.

Yeah.

Um, and so what are the, what are the messages that the animals give us about, about death, about leaving?

Yeah, I mean, there's typically— so let's talk about the physical first. There's typically signals that show up, right? And, and we— I, I think generally speaking, we, we don't like those signals. Like, we have a hard time with death. Human beings do. Like, because this, this little container and this little body is what we know to be true, and it's— and not only is it true, it is 100% true, and there's nothing outside of it, right? I'm exaggerating, but like, we're really We really like our bodies that way. Yeah. And my interpretation with animals is they see this experience in, in their bodies as sort of a stop on the train line, right? There was a before, there's an after, and here's, here's the current, and, and we're going to keep on going down the path, right? But this is just one stop on the trail train line. So to recognize that there's more to come, and also there was more before, is I think helpful because they're, they're really clear about it. Um, it, it's just, it's an, it's another meal in the day. Like, let's not hunker down to breakfast being our first and only meal ever. Like, there's another one coming, it's okay. Um, and the lesson that they typically give is, I mean, this is just the natural part of things, this is just how it works. And so I think if there's If we can accept that, then we can apply that to ourselves. And then, you know, we get to pull out— we get to pull out from the experience of, of me stubbing my toe today and how terrible that was. Well, it's, it's just a toe on a foot on a body that walks around. Like, it's way bigger context. Like, let's stop talking about the toe already, right? Uh, and so we are— if we're open to it, we get to see the bigger picture, or minimally go, man, I think there is a bigger picture. Right.

Yeah, I think it's such an important lesson, and I, that's, I think that's why we hold on to ourselves for so long. You know, we, we can't stand the end of life for ourselves or another human being. And the same thing with our pets. Um, and I, it makes sense to me because of that higher perspective that I don't think they lose when they come in, that they don't fear death the way that we do because it's, it's not the end for them. It's not the end for us.

Right, right. And so I, I think every— I want— I don't want to sound like I'm giving advice. I don't want to do that. Um, but here's— and here, so here's some considerations. Like, when the signals show up, pay attention to them. If your animal is in pain, pay attention to them. Um, ask them what they would like to do. Maybe you have a sense of it, maybe you don't, but minimally, like, we, we all may want to ask, like, what's, what's— what would you like to do? Like, we just got, we just got some news. How would you like to spend the rest of your time? And with one young lady who came to me with a critter, with a cat who is in bad straits, she's like, well, what, how should I, how should I, like, what should I do? How should I spend the rest of my time with him? And the response was, like, how would you like to? Yeah, like, do you want to go back and forth to the vet every day? Do you want to be sad about this every day? Or can we, can we enjoy our time until we can't enjoy our time anymore? What's— how would you like to do that?

Yeah, I think one of the lessons that maybe pets are here to teach us, because most of our pets have a shorter life expectancy than we do, you know, when we, when we get a dog, we know it's— we're probably going to outlive it. When we get a cat, we, we know we're probably going to outlive it.

Yeah.

Um, so we kind of know that that's part of the— that's part of the deal going in, but we get into it and then we're like, we forget. It's like we never want to— we never want to let them go. And, and I think That's one of the things that maybe having a cat or a dog, you know, is here to teach us. It's like, we're all going to make that transition. That, you know, I think, I think about for kids, a lot of time, that's going to be the first death that they're going to experience. Yeah, it's a death of a pet.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think the, the temporary nature of it all is a super important thing for us to just constantly remind ourselves, like, this is all temporary. The good feelings we're having right now is temporary. The bad feelings we're having right now, that's also temporary. Like, it's, it's, it's a sine wave. We're going up and down, up and down to our destination, right? And the time we have on the planet is temporary as well. And so however we want to approach the realities of the situation, be it, uh, not permanent, being it reacting to everything emotionally or not, being it how you spend your time, uh, being what you focus on being at what your thoughts are. Um, you know, thoughts are real things. What it all starts there and then it projects out from there, right? Your, your thoughts turn into actions or, or inactions depending. Uh, so if we can, if we can just accept these universal truths of, of there's more and this is temporary and there's a syllabus and I just need to do the right things and— but I'm doing the right things and it's still hard. It is hard, right? Like That's just how it goes. It's just how it goes. Sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's hard. But when you get on the right path, those are the right hard things to work on.

Yeah, yeah.

Or you could be on the wrong path and that's the wrong things, and they're really just trying to shoot you over to the right path.

Yeah, exactly. Now I know in addition to animal communication, you also help people develop their own intuition. So how does that work?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, like the young lady who, who showed up with the, with the furniture, uh, I had another, another gentleman show up who, uh, he's he's gotten visitations from his dad for a while, and, uh, he shows up and says, you know, I want to, I want to experience the same thing that I just experienced. He, um, he had a super trippy experience of like being in outer space and moving very quickly. It sounded like astral projection. Um, and, and then at the end of it, he sees his father's face, and there's, there's a bunch of things that showed up, but like that was, that was the core of it, these visitations from his father. And he says, I want to have that experience, the thing that I just described. I want to have that experience again. Okay, well, we probably can't do that, right? We just like— think about the best food you ever had, that one night at that restaurant with that company and that waiter, and like, you can't duplicate that. It's never going to work. Everything is going to fall short to that. It's just not going to work. But you can have other good times with people. You can go out to good restaurants. Like, you can, you can figure out what makes sense for you. And so the conversation was that, well, let's now that we have this thing that's working, like, let's work to expand it, let's work to stabilize it, let's work to have similar type of experiences— not the same, but similar in this vein of experiences. And, uh, and so we, we did. And so working together on what this means and contextualizing what it all looks like, um, how to, how to manage it— energy management is a huge, huge thing. And once you own, once you open it up like you got to figure out how to manage yourself. You need to figure out how to shut it down. You need to figure out when you're going to tune in. You got— there's a hygiene aspect to it. Like, there's, there's some funk out there that you can— that, you know, just sort of builds up. It's like, it's like plaque on teeth. Like, you gotta, you gotta keep cleaning it, um, or else, or else it's just— it's not gonna be that finely tuned machine anymore, right? You can you gotta change the oil or else the, the Ferrari just doesn't run as fast as it used to, right?

Yeah. So what, what types of things do you do for your, for your spiritual hygiene?

Yeah, for, for me it's, it's, I, I, I would think about it as a trifecta. There's, there's the, the consistent morning meditation. I mean, that, that, that's sort of, that's, that's the equivalent of the gym. Like that, that just keeps me in, in good working condition. Mm-hmm. San Pedro is, I have a really good relationship with that cactus. It's super, super helpful for me, whether that's someone else's thing or not. You know, a lot of folks have good reaction to psychedelics, some folks don't, and it depends on what you're trying to get out of it, uh, the set and setting of it all. Um, so, um, if, if I had to encourage people, I would say 100%, without a doubt, do meditation. 100%. If you talk to anyone who does anything like I do, or mediums or psychics, typically the commonality is meditation.

Yeah, right.

I can say I, I could have done this without San Pedro, 100%. It showed me what's possible super fast, but I could not— but it's not a daily meditation. It's not the daily discipline. So I— so you need the meditation. And then there's the, the cleaning of, of the, of the system aspect. Like, there's, there's an intentional just wanting to clear your system and doing a meditation where we're not just necessarily tuning in today, but we're, we're intentionally working on the hygiene. We're intentionally working on clearing things out.

Okay, awesome. Well, uh, Nick, we're coming to the end of our time together. I appreciate you, you doing this. Um, it's been fascinating talking to you. So I know we talked about some of the things that you do. If there's anything else you want to let people know that you do and let people know how to find you, that'd be great.

Yeah, yeah, I would say, um, thank you, thank you for that. So go to mycatschoolme.com. You can, you can, uh, get an animal communication session there. You can submit a form and say I want to work with you one-on-one, whatever makes sense for you. For other folks, um, here, here's what I like to encourage is this is how it happened to open up for me. Like, I know if people come to me and they say I want to learn animal communication, sure, I'll show you, I'll teach you what I do to do it. But I think the bigger— I think the bigger win is, uh, like the gentleman that I was talking to, like, let's not try to get that thing. I think it's too early for that thing, uh, for a lot of people. Um, but I think we have a chance to open up your channel and manage your, your energy and tune into the greater aspect of things, uh, Source, Spirit, whatever you want to call it. Um, that's the bigger win.. And you can do that with meditation. It is harder to do it just like listening to a tape or something. There is a benefit when you work with someone one-on-one to, uh, to be in the space that— and I've heard this multiple times, like, it's different when you and I sit down, Brian D Smith, versus when I go to do it by myself. Um, it sounds self-serving, but it's, but it's true. Uh, until you build the skills, until you can actually generate that, that energy by yourself and get into that space easily by yourself, it certainly helps It's, it's a mentorship, right? Think about anything, anything. It's always helpful to have someone who's done it before you to go, no, no, no, come over here this way, just do a little bit more like this.

Yeah, it's, it's really interesting because we talked about, you know, you talked about the medium person you met before, and I happen to know a lot of mediums and a few animal communicators, and almost every medium I can think of, with only a few exceptions, studies like crazy. They study under other mediums. They, they do, they do the meditation, all that stuff too. But it, it takes the, it takes, um, effort. It takes something to build those skills to the point where you want them to be. Um, I would say to people also, and you can tell me whether you agree with this, but you know, anybody that has a pet, start working on communication with your pet. You know, the intuitive communication you've already got. Um, I've been, I've been amazed by the things like I can I know what my dog is thinking a lot of times, um, you know, and it's not because— it's not just because of the physical communication, you know, we have that, that sense. And I know she knows what I'm thinking, um, so that, that they already know what we're thinking, so we have to figure out what they're thinking.

Totally. Yeah. So, so if, if we could round it out with one, one tip for animal communication, right, that's what we're here to talk about a lot anyway, is, um, communicating with your animal in the 3D, but like The realization before you can get here is the animal is a sentient being. I appreciate my animal. My animal has— can, can do it or not do it, right? They get to make a choice. But in order best to communicate with your animal in the 3D, there's, there's, there's 3 points we can go through. One is you say exactly what you mean. So for example, with my little boy Chucky, I don't say get off the piano. I say get to the pink blanket. Different, right? Because, because here's what happens. If I say get off the piano, chances are I'm thinking piano, I'm visualizing piano, right? And he's going, but I'm, but I'm on the piano. Yeah, right. You're saying one thing, you're visualizing something else. So what you say and what you visualize should be the same thing. And then the feeling tied to it, but there's, there's, there's an energetic communication to it. So there's a woman that I was working with a few months ago who said, my dog doesn't go out and use the bathroom at 9 o'clock at night. I open the door, I ask the dog to go out and do the business, and the dog doesn't go out. And I asked, well, how do you feel about going out at night at 9 o'clock? Oh, I don't like it. Okay, but it's okay for the dog? Oh, right. So you need to feel good about it as well. So if we have that trifecta of say it, say what you mean, visualize what you mean, and feel what you mean, uh, that trifecta is your best chance for a good outcome.

Wow, that's awesome. That's a great way to wrap up. Well, Nick, thanks for being here today. Uh, enjoy the rest of your day.

Back at you, Brian. Thanks.

Hi there, I'm really excited to tell you about my latest ebook. It's 4 lessons that you can learn from the near-death experience without going through all the trouble of dying to learn them. I've been studying NDEs for several years now. I am completely convinced that not only are they 100% real, but that there's some very universal wisdom that we can get from the near-death experience. And I've distilled that down in this book into 4 short lessons. And I've also given you all the reasons why I believe that NDEs are absolutely real. So go to www.grieftogrowth.com/NDElessons to pick it up for free. www.grief-the-number-2-growth.com/NDElessons. I hope you enjoy it.