What is the meaning of "invoking other than Allah"? Do the examples mentioned – such as addressing inanimate objects, animals, or absent individuals with ordinary phrases – fall under "invoking other than Allah"? And when does invoking other than Allah constitute Shirk (polytheism)?

A Muslim should not surrender to doubts or indulge in them. Rather, he should strengthen his faith and trust in his Lord. For when the heart relies on Allah and trusts in Him, worries and sorrows are dispelled, and strength and ease are attained. The difference between the polytheism (shirk) intended in calling upon the dead and inanimate objects to seek benefit or avert harm, and the unintentional address in people's everyday language, is that the first is shirk practiced by polytheists in their supplications, whereas the second is a common linguistic style not intended as a true call or address, and it does not indicate any religiously prohibited matter. Polytheism in calling upon the dead, stones, trees, and the like occurs when one seeks needs from them. As for merely addressing an animal or an inanimate object, there is nothing of polytheism in it.