When we think of grief, it’s usually in human terms.  We may not always consider grief as it applies to animals.  But pets often grieve the losses of their companions.  They may not be able to completely verbalize what they’re feeling, but their actions and body language tell us what they’re experiencing.  As pet owners, we need to recognize animal grief and provide support and stimulation for our furry companions as they navigate through loss.

Recently, our family experienced the physical passing of our fifteen-year-old Labrador Retriever, Poodie.  Although the loss was difficult for us, our three-year-old white Shepherd, Sampson, struggled more than anyone in the family.  As soon as the veterinarian left our house the day Poodie died, Sampson ran upstairs and stayed under our bed for the duration of the night.  Over the next week, he withdrew from the family and stayed upstairs under the bed, only making the trek downstairs to eat or go out to the bathroom.  He didn’t play, snuggle, or partake in any of his usual activities.

The following week, we decided to create a new stimulating routine for Sampson.  We took him for walks twice a day and for a daily car ride.  Usually his car ride destination was Papa and Nana’s house a few miles away, so he could play with his best friend, a yellow Labrador named Simon.  Within two weeks of Poodie’s passing, Sampson adjusted to his new schedule with bright eyes and an upright tail. He played ball in the yard daily and stayed downstairs in the den all day.  The only time he went upstairs was at night for bed.

Exactly one month after Poodie’s passing, Simon died of cancer–a disease he took on for his best friend, Kyle.  He had been fighting it for over a year but his body couldn’t hold on any longer.  We hesitated to take Sampson over Nana and Papa’s after Simon’s death because we feared he might withdraw the way he did with Poodie’s passing.  So we waited a couple of weeks to bring him over.

Yesterday, we drove over to Papa and Nana’s for the first time since Simon’s physical death.  Sampson bounded up the front lawn to the door.  But Simon wasn’t there to greet him this time.  Papa opened the door and Sampson tore through the house both upstairs and downstairs searching for his buddy.  Then he darted out the back door and scurried all over the yard sniffing each step.  After he scoured the yard, he jumped up on the porch, and let out a loud whine.  He looked up at me with his big amber eyes and whimpered a few times.  I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a big hug.

We walked in the house as Sampson trotted through the kitchen and sat down right where Simon’s bowls of water used to be.  Then he rose and walked into hallway and sniffed the marble foyer–the last place in the house where Simon rested before he died.  Sampson stretched himself out in the foyer and stayed there for the duration of the visit.

As we drove home last night, Sampson seemed a bit sad, as he rested his head over the back seat.  But, when we got home, he didn’t run upstairs to hide under the bed.  He stayed in the den and we gave him lots of rubs on his belly and hugs.  I’m sure it will take a few visits to Papa and Nana’s house, before Sampson gets use to not seeing Simon.  But his response to Simon’s passing was much better than his response to Poodie’s passing.

Grief comes in many forms and affects everyone including pets.  When our pets encounter grief, we can help them by providing love, support, stimulation, and perhaps a new routine.  Our pets are always there to love and support us.  In times of their grief, we may need to give them a little more love and support than usual.

Love and light,
Anysia

Sometimes when our loved ones pass, we feel as though God has taken them from us.  We may feel like God has singled us out or punished us by taking our loved ones from the Earth plane.  These feelings can compound deep grief with strong emotions of anger. Our emotions can create a veil of darkness, blocking us from light that would heal us.

Physical death is a transition. Though their physical bodies are gone, the souls of our loved ones–the essences–live on in the afterlife with God. Our loved ones have simply changed from a physical form to a spiritual one.  This spiritual form allows them to transcend space and be with us when we need help and also be with God in the spirit realm.

When loved ones pass, the souls returns to God and continue to grow and evolve.  God has specific purposes for all souls on Earth.  On the other side, the souls may continue those purposes (if their time was cut short) or some souls will begin new purposes.

Once we understand that our loved ones are still around us as spirits, we can take the steps to continue spiritual relationships.  Only then do we pierce the dark grief clouds allowing rays of light to shine again in our lives.  When we let in the light, God helps heal our grief-stricken hearts with love and illuminates our lives.

God does not take our loved ones from us, nor does God abandon us in our times of sadness.  We are the ones that sometimes shut God out by the darkness of our grief.  God is benevolent, loves us unconditionally, and allows our loved ones to still be with us in spirit form.  This is a magnificent gift, if we are willing to accept it.  Our loved ones are only a thought away from us. We just need to unwrap this gift of spirituality from God.  When we open it, we find the spirits of our loved ones waiting there for us.

Love and light,

Anysia

I never had much of an issue with grief.  As a lifelong medium, I recognize death as a continuation of the life process–a transition from physical form to spirit, but never an ending to life.  Although I briefly grieved the physical losses of those close to me, I could always communicate with them and hence, they were just a thought away from me.  My clients have helped me to experience and understand grief on a very different level.

Although I have worked with clients that experienced a variety of physical losses coping with grief at various stages, a couple of groups of clients helped me learn the most about deep grief.  I’ve met many parents who’ve experienced losses of children.  Though the circumstances differed, the grief was consistent–very deep and overwhelming, like a strong current funneling them helplessly to the bottom of the deepest darkest ocean.  They bore jagged scars as pieces of their own selves were torn away with the loss. They always missed the physical connections of being able to hold, hug, kiss, and nurture their children but having the ability to connect spiritually with them helped heal the emotional wounds. They’ve received signs, symbols and dream visits from their spirit children.  All of them communicate with their children telepathically and it has changed their views of the physical passings.

Interestingly enough, I encountered a similar type of grief with adult clients who had lost a parent during childhood. It didn’t matter if the parent had passed ten, twenty, or thirty years ago.  Most of these clients had buried their grief, but when they connected to their parents those hidden scars of vulnerability immediately surfaced like tiny crabs tossed upon the sandy shoreline after a storm.  Their ropes of grief were knotted in childhood fear, deep sorrow, and loss of love. Communication to their physically-deceased parents helped heal them deeply, as layers of raw emotions melted into a new candle illuminated by security and eternal love.

Grief is a part of the emotional life process when we lose a loved one.  Since we’re in physical bodies, we mourn the physical connection with our loved ones and we miss feeling their loving connections. When we wade through the thick pain and suffering, and float to a peaceful place of healing, we open ourselves to the spiritual relationship with our loved ones, by learning to communicate with them in a different way.  Not everyone will act as a universal medium communicating with all spirits, but everyone has the ability to communicate with their own passed-on loved ones. God never takes our loved ones away from us in death.  God only changes them from physical to spiritual form, so they can be with him and us when we need them.

I’m grateful to my clients for helping me to experience and understand grief on a deeply emotional level and allowing me participate in their healing processes.  I thank God and in particular, the Holy Spirit, for giving me these abilities, so I can assist others in healing grief and opening them to spiritual relationships with their passed-on loved ones.

Love and light,

Anysia

The loss of a child can be an incredibly difficult time for a parent, whether the child passes as an infant or  an adult.  I have met with many parents who have lost children and although the specifics of each experience are different, they all share a couple common feelings including both guilt and anger.  As loving parents we feel responsible for children, even after physical passings.  Many parents wonder who will look after their children?  Who will help their souls?  What parents don’t realize is that God has planned for these passings and all of the logistics are coordinated.  There are always souls of family and friends on the other side to cross children and someone will look after them; they’re never alone.  They meet with a soul group of other souls with a shared similar mission and they work together on the other side.

Often, parents feel like they’re being punished or singled out by God, when their children pass.  I have  heard parents ask, “Why did God take my child?  What did I do wrong?” This anger can cause parents to lose their faith. They have done nothing wrong.  God needs the child’s soul on the other side for a very specific purpose.

My friend, Cecelia, lost a daughter, Laura, in a sudden car crash; she was just twenty-one years of age.  Cecelia learned how to communicate with Laura.  She asked Laura to send dimes as a physical symbol.  The dimes were a reference to a childhood book Cecelia read to her daughter.  In times of distress, she found dimes in random places–she knew Laura was around her.

About a year ago, an acquaintance of mine asked me to reach out to her brother, who had passed in a sudden car accident.  Ironically as I spoke with the brother, Cecelia’s daughter came through.  She explained how she helped this man cross over, though she had no relationship to him.  She told me that on the other side, she worked with sudden accident victims.  She sent them where they needed to go as she put it.  Apparently, sometimes a sudden accident can be jarring for a soul and it can cause confusion.  Laura and others like her, work to get these souls in the right area, so they can move on.  Laura also had a plethora of information for her mother, for which I took copious notes. The next morning, I sent an email to Cecelia with the information from Laura.  She was thrilled and surprised by all the specific details Laura shared.

At the time of Laura’s passing, Cecelia had no idea why God had taken her child.  After Laura’s visit with me, Cecelia not only understood why Laura had to go to God but also why she left the Earth through a car accident.  Laura’s passing was and still is directly related to her job on the other side.

Parents share an eternal loving bond with children that supersedes physical death.  When parents understand that the souls of their children live on, they can open to a continued spiritual relationship with them.  As parents let go of grief, they will find their children lovingly waiting for them to engage in a different sort of relationship–one that involves signs, thoughts, and symbols.  When children cross over, we need to abandon hopes of physical relationships with them and embrace the concepts of everlasting spiritual relationships with them.

Love and light,

Anysia