A client recently called, asking about her beloved dog, who is older and suffering with dementia. She wanted to know what all parents of ailing fur babies want to know: Is she hurting, is she about to leave me, am I doing everything I can, does she know I love her?
The answer was that she is not about to leave, and not physically suffering, just feeling confused sometimes. But then, as there often is, because of the innate generosity of pets, there was more information. It was shared with us that it was no accident or misfortune that she had this disease in this life. It had been a choice. She knew that in future lives she wanted to be of comfort to people who would have dementia of some kind, so she wanted to have the experience herself, so that she could not only love her owner through their suffering, but that she could understand it. Her soul would have a memory of that experience and it would make her better equipped to offer the best support and comfort.
This information coming through led us to another question: are pets always pets, or are they sometimes human? What we learned was that yes, sometimes they do choose to be human, but they often go back to being pets, because they are such highly evolved entities that their main mission here is what hopefully we are all aspiring to: the love and support of each other, seeing through the pain and fear that often guards us from allowing that love. So, when pets choose human form, it is for the purposes of further understanding us, especially if the missions they know they want to take on later, will be more challenging situations, or with more difficult people.
I have brought through many pets who have passed on, and the common thread is that they are so grateful for our love, and hate to see us in pain, especially pain brought on by a feeling of guilt. In their eyes, our love allowed them another experience to learn, and another person to share their extraordinary love with. Even when the pet seems to have behavioral or mood issues, that’s for us: a chance for learning and understanding that our soul requested.
Losing a pet is always hard, not just because we love them, but because of what that love brings out in us. Sometimes he or she is the only part of our lives where we don’t have to be guarded, or wear some kind of mask just to feel OK in the world. And that lack of guardedness allows love to flow freely, which allows us to be fully ourselves and to really connect with someone, without the fear of it backfiring or at some point, abandoning or humiliating us. All ego is removed, and there is only love left, and that is a little bit of heaven on earth for us. We recognize everything they are to us, so we feel like it must somehow be our fault when that time ends.
But we have no control there. As unpredictable as their entry into our lives is, so is their departure. But it perfectly timed, and exactly what we needed, exactly when we needed it.
And we were exactly what they needed, too.
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