When we visit a new culture, we encounter beliefs and interactions that are foreign to us. The same is true as we get to know the nonhuman cultures of the world (including those found in our backyards). There’s a tendency to either overly-anthropomorphize nonhuman animals or to consider them to be overly-other. It’s tricky to find the right balance between similarities and differences (as it is with human cultures as well).

Although words can breach trust, developing trust requires more than words. If someone broke your trust, look at where they are providing you with a learning opportunity as your energetic mirror. Are there ways that you break promises to yourself? Or let yourself down in your goals towards your betterment as an individual? Are there similar ways you let others down?

We teach cooperation to youngsters; and, yet, it requires some finesse. While personal growth is necessary to enter into genuine cooperation, we must move beyond ourselves to collaborate with others effectively.

How do you interact with others energetically? It’s useful to consider the differences between connecting and relating…