A recent social media video caught my attention. It featured plastic animal heads that could be filled with food, so squirrels stand on their hind legs and stretch to stick their heads inside while eating. The squirrels looked very silly, and the post was intended to be cute and amusing.

However, one commenter pointed out: “They are very vulnerable to predators when they don’t look around. Not a good idea.”

Someone else replied: “How often do you see squirrel predators running around in a residential area? They are fine. Always one person who has to ruin it.”

I joined the conversation because it wasn’t only the dismissal of the squirrel’s vulnerability that bothered me. It was the assumption that predators don’t live in residential neighborhoods.

I live in highly urban Seattle. We have hawks and eagles. We have coyotes. We have raccoons, owls, crows, opossums, skunks, and countless other wild beings living alongside us.

They are not visitors from some distant wilderness.

This is their home, too.

Hawks and coyotes have adapted to urban environments, just as squirrels and pigeons have. And they are an important part of the ecosystems we have created around ourselves. Coyotes, owls, and hawks help keep rodent populations in check. The squirrels, birds, insects, plants, and all the other beings around us are part of an intricate web of life, even when that web exists amongst houses, apartment buildings, sidewalks, and streets.

What struck me most was how easily we can stop seeing them as neighbors.

A squirrel becomes a prop for a funny video or, cynically, an opportunity to sell a non-essential product that cannot be recycled like the animal heads.

A hawk becomes something people are surprised to see in the city.

A coyote becomes an intruder instead of a wild animal trying to survive in a landscape we have dramatically changed.

And perhaps that is where we need to begin: by paying attention.

What are we choosing?

The commenter who started the conversation eventually said something that stayed with me:

“I always try to think about what’s best for them, instead of doing things for my own entertainment and getting ‘likes’.”

That, to me, is the deeper question.

Are we making choices that are best for the animals and the world around us, or are we making choices because they are easy or make us happy?

Recently, I had a little light bulb moment of my own.

I had been using a plastic scrub brush to clean the outdoor bird bath. It worked. I hadn’t really thought about the brush itself.

One day, while scrubbing away, I realized the plastic bristles were wearing down, and some of that material was making its way into the soil of the flower bed as microplastics. And how about the handle? It was made of non-recyclable plastic.

I had the best of intentions: scrubbing the bird bath and the fountain because I wanted to provide a clean source of water for birds and wildlife, yet I was potentially introducing plastic into the environment they live in.

Once I saw the problem, I couldn’t unsee it.

So I did some research and replaced the plastic brush with a wooden brush with natural plant-fiber bristles made from the Palmyra plant. I replaced my kitchen scrub brush with something similar.

Was using a plastic brush intentionally harmful?

Of course not.

But I hadn’t stopped to think about the consequences of something I was doing routinely.

And that is something I think we can all learn from.

We don’t always stop to consider the choices we make. But once we begin paying attention, we start seeing things differently.

We notice the hawk circling overhead.

We realize that the coyote crossing the road isn’t lost.

We understand that the squirrel in our backyard has to navigate a world filled with both food and danger.

We begin to notice how the things we buy, use, throw away, plant, feed, and build affect the beings with whom we share this land.

That awareness changes our relationship with the world around us.

And maybe that is one of the most important forms of healing we can practice, simply becoming more aware.

The wild world isn’t somewhere else.

It is here.

It is in our backyards and parks, along our streets, in the trees outside our windows, and sometimes right above our heads.

The animals are already teaching us if we are willing to notice.

So perhaps before we ask, “Is this fun?” or “Do I like this?” we might pause and ask:

“Is this the best choice for the beings and the world around me?”

That question can change a lot.

This kind of awareness is part of why I continue to teach Reiki and created Sacred Rhythms: A Year in Nature’s Wisdom.

Reiki has taught me to slow down, listen more deeply, and become aware of what is happening within and around me. Sacred Rhythms grew from that same awareness outward, inviting us to notice the natural world and remember that we are not separate from it.

Both have changed the way I experience my own life and my relationship with the world, and both continue to teach me.

And if you haven’t yet entered September’s Sacred Rhythms, it is not too late. You can begin now and spend time with this month’s wisdom of Wind and the changes it carries.

The more we notice, the more we understand. And the more we understand, the more consciously we can choose how we live with All Our Relations.

Enjoy the beauty of the season,
Rose De Dan, Night Sky, and Tamerlan

Photo (above): Opossum adapted the squirrel picnic table at the Wild Reiki Spa to better suit his dining needs.

*Fair Disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate. Purchases made using the links may result in commissions, which help to support my pro bono work for the animals.

>>>>>>

Learn how to walk in harmony with the natural world, connect more deeply with animals, restore balance to your life, enhance your intuitive skills, and help heal the Earth through my live Reiki and shamanic virtual classes and digital workshops.

>>>>>>

SHARE THIS ARTICLE
You are welcome to share this article with others by email, on your blog, or to your mailing list, so long as you leave it intact and do not alter it in any way. All links must remain in the article. And, you must include the copyright notice and the bio.

©2026 Rose De Dan. All Rights Reserved. www.reikishamanic.com

A WILD WAY TO HEAL
Rose De Dan, Wild Reiki and Shamanic Healing LLC is an animal communicator, Reiki Master Teacher, shamanic energy healer, and author of Tails of a Healer: Animals, Reiki and Shamanism and Out of the Darkness and Other Animal Tails. Her classes, sessions, and ceremonial work are inspired by wild and domestic animals who have issued a call to action for personal and global healing.