Furever Friends: Love & Remembrance - 10/14/24 - Live

Hello and welcome to everybody.

And as you know,

This is a special event honoring our forever friends.

And I know that a lot of you have been through that.

And it's interesting to me that I have a lot of playlists on Insight Timer and the one with the biggest follows is the one on pet loss.

So it's obviously something that a lot of people go through.

And when I went through it with mine,

I needed a lot of support and I definitely got it here on Insight Timer.

And I was just saying before we went live that Renee and Cindy were two people who helped me a lot,

You know,

Through the loss of my pets,

Which was just last year that I lost the two of them.

So between them and Allison,

Who does some amazing work with animals,

I thought it would be awesome for us to get some tips and just,

You know,

To talk about the things that helped,

The ways we can remember and honor their memories.

And I am gonna go around and let everybody introduce themselves.

I'm gonna start with you,

Cindy.

All right.

Hi,

Everybody.

It feels kind of funny being on a different live video.

I am a teacher on Insight Timer.

I am very passionate about animal spirit guides.

So that is one of my things.

I'm very passionate about interconnectedness with the earth in general.

And yeah,

I'm fairly new on Insight Timer.

I've been on here about a year now and still learning.

I admire Violet's courage to lives and I don't know that I'll ever get to her level,

But yeah,

Really happy to be here.

So yeah,

I would be happy to answer any questions you have about animal spirit guides in general.

And yeah,

I'm looking forward to the chat.

Miigwech.

Thank you.

And Renee,

I'm gonna move over to you.

Thank you.

It's so excited to be here.

I have been to Cindy's lives.

Alison,

You're new to me,

So I'm very grateful that the opportunity for me to meet you.

And my name is Renee.

I'm the founder of Sagittarius Way.

I work as an animal communicator.

I've been doing that since I was a little girl.

I grew self-taught as they like to say,

But it was just a way to get through my day.

And I'm a Reiki master that came later in life.

And I just love connecting with nature.

Nature is a warm blanket for me and for lots of my clients as well to work with that.

It's wonderful to work with different sounds.

So the wind is a big friend of mine,

As is the rain.

I really like the sound of the healing and smells that that brings as well,

Especially when we're talking about grief and talking about,

You know,

Our bodies.

Grief and our bodies is many tools.

I've been in Insight Timers around a bit,

And I have sessions on Tuesdays and on Fridays and Reikis for people to tap in.

And yeah,

I'm very grateful to be here.

So I hope within our group,

We can answer as many questions and hold space for- Thank you,

Renee.

That's beautiful.

And Alison,

I first found Alison when I started watching her goat yoga,

Which I was totally fascinated by.

So I'm thrilled that you're here with us,

Alison.

Tell everybody about yourself.

Hi,

It's actually alpaca yoga.

I do animal-assisted therapy.

I love educating people about animal-assisted therapy because there's a lot of misconceptions about it.

Goats aren't technically therapy animals due to their ability to have zoological crossover.

And they tend to,

You know,

Go everywhere.

So that's like part of the equation.

So I technically can't do goat yoga as a animal-assisted activity due to the fact that goats aren't technically therapy animals,

Especially in the day and age of immune-compromised individuals.

Anybody can be immune-compromised at this point.

And if anybody's getting sick,

It kind of does defeat the purpose of animal-assisted therapy,

Not to get too technical right away.

I have a small,

Well,

It's larger now.

I have a therapy farm sanctuary,

Meaning that we started as a rescue.

My forte is large animals.

I don't want to live in a world without large animals.

I don't know if anybody else feels that way,

But that's my forte.

So I started rescuing large animals and some special needs cases of smaller animals as well.

I've loved animals my whole life and have always kind of been Animal Al or Alley Cat in that even people in the neighborhood,

Even when I was a young child,

They would bring me animals if they were hurt or injured or sick.

And I've had some success with that,

But with that also comes having to say goodbye as well.

So I'm very blessed to be here.

And many of you are,

I look up to on Insight Timer.

So thank you again for having me.

And thank you for that correction because I definitely don't want to confuse the goats and the alpacas.

Well,

A lot of people ask me why I don't have goats.

So I thought I'd get that out.

I have some donkeys,

Chickens,

And alpacas,

And I love to share the joy of animals and have been able to do so in a digital space here on Insight Timer.

So I feel blessed to do that.

Yeah,

I used to love watching those lives on your farm.

They were so cool.

Thank you.

Yes,

I still do them.

I've been doing a little bit more sound healing lately and the weather hasn't been cooperating for many of us,

But we hope to get back out there before,

Well,

I do it all winter as well.

We do Snoga.

And that's so cool.

I don't like being cold.

I'm wearing a sweatshirt today just because it's getting chilly in New York.

So I admire you for everything you do.

It's good for you.

Yeah,

Definitely.

All right.

So Melanie,

I'm going to let you introduce yourself.

I know everybody knows Melanie,

But I'm going to let you take it from here.

Thank you,

Violet.

Well,

I do actually Mindful and Insight Timer here.

I joined November last year and started doing lives in January.

And I grew up on a farm and I always talked to as a very little girl.

And no one has ever read Charlotte's Web.

I lived Charlotte's Web and she profound it because growing up on a farm,

My dad and granddad,

You know,

Sure animals.

And that's just sort of where I was taught that we're meant for,

I had a pet pig and through all kinds of various ways.

And then another one was a really important part of it.

I'm glad that I- Yeah,

That's awesome.

I have to say that you all have a lot more connection to animals than I do.

My very first experience having pets of my own was like 10 years ago when we moved to this house because I'd lived in apartments my whole life.

So we finally were able to get pets and we rescued these two brothers from the same litter,

Simon and Barney,

Who were the doggies I was talking about that I had for almost,

One was 10 years,

The other one was almost 10 years before they crossed over.

And of course now I have my puppy,

But I didn't grow up with animals.

My mom made me deathly afraid of dogs growing up.

And now I can't imagine my life without one.

You know,

When Barney crossed over and Simon I knew was getting close,

I said to my husband,

We're getting a puppy.

And he was like,

You know,

Cause we hadn't had a puppy and he thought I was nuts.

And in retrospect,

I probably was,

But it was the best thing I ever did.

I think it was a lot of adjustment for me,

But you know,

It's awesome.

Like the connection that all of you have to animals to me is amazing.

And the fact that I didn't grow up with that,

Like what a loss that was for me.

Now that I have it,

I can't imagine not having that.

So yeah,

I'm so happy that we're all here and that we can do this.

And Melanie,

I'm sorry,

I'm gonna let you take over.

I just had to jump in and say that.

No,

I think you touched on a really big thing Violet is I know a lot of kids have pets,

Which I always find an incredible way,

Kindness,

Compassion,

Taking care of.

I mean,

I consider pets my children in a way,

But in care of them,

If you,

Unless you have allergy to have pets.

Well,

Let's open it up and talk,

You know,

Cindy,

I'm curious and anybody I know,

I have a group of friends here.

I live in New York and sometimes I'll talk about connections to nature and to animals and connecting with a spirit animal.

And people are like,

What does that even mean?

So is that something that you could touch on a little bit?

I can do my best.

I've had experiences with,

I'm gonna say both.

To me,

There really isn't a distinction between the animals that most people are seeing and the animal spirit guides.

But let me share one experience with you.

It might be helpful.

It was the first time I was committing myself to work for the universe.

And it was in 2003 and I was close to our reserve,

Which is in Northern Ontario.

So North of Lake Superior.

And part of our practice,

Our cultural practice,

I'm Anishinaabe,

Indigenous.

Part of our practice is to offer tobacco.

When we're praying or we're harvesting medicines or anything like that,

We're gonna offer tobacco.

And so I was still very new at all of this.

I wasn't raised with the language or the culture or the practices.

So I was still very new,

But I was feeling my way that year.

And so,

Yeah,

I put tobacco down in the river.

I was kneeling down next to the river.

I put the tobacco in the river and I'm offering myself to creator.

And when I opened my eyes right in front of me,

Which doesn't make any sense,

Right in front of me was this giant loon.

And it was very bright.

So the black and the white were both really bright.

And I had had a couple of spiritual experiences before,

But yeah,

This was very monumental.

And yeah,

I've had other,

What some people would call metaphysical or spiritual experience.

So these guides will come to us to give us messages.

Sometimes they may stay with us our whole lives.

Sometimes they might stay with us over a certain,

Over a certain,

I guess,

Situation that we're working through.

Sometimes they may only show up,

You know,

One time during one day to give us a message.

I think the key is that first of all,

We're aware enough and grounded enough to be even noticing these animal spirit guides.

And then the next step is to look at interpreting the messages.

And again,

I started doing that intuitively.

And then the biggest step,

The third step is to take action on the guidance that you are receiving.

So you could call visions with animals,

Would also be spiritual animals.

The two that really carried me on this journey that I've been on for over 20 years is Wabayma'ingen or gray wolf and Makwa or bear.

And so those two animals truly carried me on this spiritual journey that I've been on since then.

And so,

Yeah,

I think that's a very long answer,

Melanie,

To your question,

But it can be,

It's not that it's complicated,

But it takes a while,

Right?

It takes a while to work through it and understand it.

And I wanna make sure that I'm explaining.

Alison or Renee,

Do you have anything to contribute?

I've had a very similar experience and it's been being validated by other people as well.

Like I wasn't sure that it was happening to others,

Especially with the animals in real life in real time in the moment,

But it has turned to that,

At least in my experience and other people that I have shared the experience with.

Like for instance,

Just the other night,

We were watching Northern Lights up with my livestock guardian dogs and a beautiful doe came out from the woods.

And to me,

That means I can send a prayer to the creator.

And it's just been awesome because it's been a journey from being more of a meditation,

More of a card reading,

More of a intentional setting and learning of the,

What I call the unspoken language of the universe.

But for me,

And I would be interested in what others had to say if it happened the same for them,

Is it really turned into real life that there's a constant natural interaction and communication constantly going on that continually keeps me in awe.

I'm happy to chime in as well.

I always get carried away by listening to the others,

But so my roots are in Europe.

I grew up with the storytelling.

I was very lucky that I still had not only my grandma,

But my great grandma as well.

And growing up,

I learned the importance of silence.

So my best friend,

Rooster,

And I think what I learned in connecting at that time with real life is that I didn't realize the difference between the other world these days is being called and that I saw everything as is.

I think we sometimes get so overwhelmed with our own emotions or with things that are happening that the things we see out of the corner of our eye,

I'd say,

Is that kind of tries to grab.

So for example,

At the moment I see in the corner of my eye in Cindy and that kitten then draws in that kind of thing.

And I think we're blessed.

Everyone's blessed with that.

When we grieve animals that have crossed over,

They are always on our side.

And English is not my first language.

So I kind of feel that freedom or getting attached to certain definition as well.

It gives me a little bit of freedom.

So the gift that we all get when we're crossed over is that they are in a corner of our eye.

They're always next to us.

And they may become a spirit animal.

They may become a guide,

But they will always in our hearts,

Stay our best friends.

And then when we need guidance,

We can pick guidance in the things that we've learned together.

So I'm not quite sure if that answers your question.

I did kind of- I think that that is- No,

That is perfect what you just said.

And you know,

That was one of the things that you had said to me that really helped me.

And to this day,

I still feel like they're always with me.

So I don't feel that separation.

Like initially it was so hard for me to,

You know,

Accept that they were not gonna be here,

But feeling like they are with me all the time,

I think is what really comforted me.

And it's funny that I have two little statues on my deck that have solar lights and the lights don't always work.

And they're little dog angels that I got after Simon and Barney crossed over.

And there's one that's for Simon and one that's for Barney.

And the one that's for Simon has these lights that don't always shine.

And I'll go out there and I'll talk to them.

And just the other day I said to my husband,

The light's not working.

So I sat out there today and I spoke to him and I said,

Simon,

I know that you're with me and I know that you're gonna turn this light on for me tonight.

And that light went on.

And I was saying to my husband,

Look,

I'm like,

I'm telling you,

He hears me.

And that's why this light is shining.

And I think that those things would give me so much comfort because,

You know,

When Barney crossed over,

I was a mess.

And I think finally accepting that they're still with me is what helped me to get through it.

That brought me so much comfort.

So I love that you said that.

Yeah.

I think that if you guys are able to see the chat,

Cause a lot of people are talking about having that very same of their eye.

It was,

And I just want to acknowledge how many people have lost animals and people in the chat.

And everyone I love.

Yeah.

And that was one of the reasons I wanted to do this because so many people,

I realized when I lost mine,

So many people were going through similar things,

You know,

When I would talk about it,

Everybody would tell me.

And,

You know,

It's funny that it's not something that we normally talk about.

And I think it's because,

You know,

If you're grieving the loss of a family member,

Everybody runs to support you.

But if it's a pet,

I don't know that we're as comfortable reaching out for help in that sense.

And I think it's good to let people know that,

You know,

For me,

Losing them was almost worse than some people I've lost,

You know?

So I wanted people to know that,

Like I want them to acknowledge that and to share that.

So yeah,

Tanya.

So I'm so happy to see so many people here talking about,

You know,

Their pets that they've lost.

And like I said,

You know,

These teachers who have so much experience with animals,

I think are such,

Were such a huge help to me.

And I think can be a huge help to everybody else that's going through it or has been through it.

And I love it because I see so much agreement.

I think Cindy already touched on it as well,

Is that creating ceremony for as well is such a powerful way or with grief,

Having a place where you can say thank you,

The soul of your animal,

And taking that moment.

And ceremony can be anything that we want it to be.

So it can be having a statue that has light that creates a little ceremony for you also to reconnect and want the spirit,

Like,

You know,

Give me a little sign that you're there.

But ceremony also helps with the grieving cycle that we're in,

Which is as strong with losing an animal soul,

Which is a different soul group,

Okay,

But it's still,

It touches a heart and finds a place in it too.

So creating a ceremony for yourself is really important.

Give yourself space to release,

Relieve yourself from the grief,

Because sometimes grief just grabs your chest and it stops you from getting air in,

Get life in,

Because air is life,

And that stops us.

So when we start creating ceremony for ourself,

That really opens the opportunity to breathe in again,

To offer some soul that has.

Yeah,

I remember doing those kinds of things even when I was little with the things that I learned.

And I know everywhere in the world we have different ceremony.

In Europe,

We definitely,

We used to make a box with memories that we would put in that would go with the animal in the barrens.

But every single thing that would go into the box was a memory that we were giving,

A good memory that we were giving the soul when it was traveling to cross over,

And that was quite wonderful.

That's beautiful,

I love that.

When mine crossed over,

I built these little,

I have these little shelves with their little things that were part of them,

The paw prints and the pictures and little snip of hair,

And of course my crystals.

So,

And I've got them sitting by the door,

So I walk by and I'll touch them and I'll talk to them.

I talk to mine every single day,

And it's been over a year since I lost Barney,

And I still talk to them every single day.

So I agree,

Those things really,

They help so much and they're so healing.

I'm reading some of the comments here.

Amy asked a question,

Really tying it in,

She said,

How can we know our animals or our loved ones are still with us past Cindy?

So Renee was mentioning a few examples.

Yeah,

You might see them in your peripheral vision.

Again,

I think if you're grounded and quiet enough that you're present and you can really be aware of things,

My scout that's passed over now,

I don't even know,

It's probably a few years now,

I'll still hear his snort from time to time.

He'll give me a little snort,

And so I'll know he's here.

I might see Chico,

Chico's been gone for a while now too.

I might see his tail,

He's a Cocker Spaniel.

I might see his tail go around the corner.

I might feel one of them on my bed,

Feel that weight on your bed,

And you look and yeah,

If you're not one of your current five,

Somebody else.

You can hear them,

You can feel them,

You might see them,

You might sense them.

There's so many ways that you can validate it for yourself,

That they're still here.

But I do want to raise a point here when we're thinking about that.

I think it's great to be communicating with them because you know,

You have this knowing that yeah,

They are still very much you,

Their energy is still.

However,

I also like to be aware that when they leave,

They don't want us holding them back.

So when Renee mentioned ceremony earlier,

That is our way,

That is our family way of releasing a loved one.

And so our ceremony is very simple.

We gather in the front yard,

We have a spot where we place everyone and we'll have their favorite food ready to,

We put it out as a spirit plate.

So it's for the spirits.

We usually sing a couple of songs and one of the songs is called the traveling song.

And the traveling song is,

So in our culture,

We don't say goodbye.

We say,

See you later.

And so the traveling song is,

Which is see you later.

So it's our way of actually letting them go.

So many times,

You know,

I've had the pets cremated and I'll hang onto the ashes,

But they always let me know that it's time to let them go.

And usually it's before they've been gone.

Scout was a little different.

He passed at the end of July.

And in the fall,

He said,

My favorite time of the year is the winter.

He,

You know,

He's a Husky cross.

And he said,

I want you to release me before it snows.

That was tough,

Even thinking about it now.

So we did,

We honored his wishes and we let him go.

So yeah,

So there's a family component to it.

There's a nature component to it.

There's a ceremony to it.

And yeah,

Of course it's hard.

We recently released Whiskers,

My older cat.

I still have her three babies here,

The three sisters.

They're going to be 13 next month.

And this one's going to be hard,

But my grand dog,

Brutus,

Brutus passed away in a very traumatic way.

And my granddaughter and grandson were devastated.

And so just like you were saying,

Violet,

They made these beautiful little blocks.

And so they released the box while we released,

We didn't have his ashes.

So we released memories for him.

And,

You know,

My granddaughter was,

She's nine now.

She was really having a hard time with it.

And I know that that ceremony helped.

It was a way to let Brutus go in a good way.

Because I said to her,

We don't want to hang on to him.

We don't want him to think that he can't go on his journey.

We need to let him know that we love him and we release him in a good way.

And even at nine,

She understood that.

And so,

Yeah,

I think that's a powerful way to release our babies and to,

Yeah,

To give them God's speed,

Right?

Let them go the way that they need to.

It doesn't mean that they're gone.

Their energy is always going to be with us.

So we can reach out to them anytime,

But we need to let them go on their spiritual journey.

So thank you for letting me share that.

Yeah,

And thank you for sharing that.

Because I remember you saying that around the time that I had to put Simon down.

And I always kept that in my mind because I wanted him to know that it was okay to go.

So instead of,

You know,

I mean,

Obviously I cried a lot,

But instead of sitting there just crying endlessly like I did when Barney crossed over,

That was my frame of mind was like,

You know,

It's okay.

Your time here is done.

It's okay for you to go.

And I know that you're always with me.

That was a huge help.

Laurie said,

Question,

Any thoughts about special signs from other animals?

The night after he passed,

A loud,

Raucous,

Great horned owl.

He stayed here for about a week outside of my window.

I feel like- So again,

I'd love to answer that one.

So even,

So this is the thing,

I have five adult children.

The youngest one,

When I was trying to make the decision,

Scout,

He had a really large mass on his leg.

He was already,

I was not going to do what the vet was suggesting.

I was not going to amputate his leg and have him,

You know,

Go through that for his senior life.

That didn't make any sense.

But she said to me,

She said,

If you're thinking about it,

Then Scout is,

Because Scout is helping you to think about these things.

So the very thought,

Laurie,

That you wonder if that owl was a sign,

That's your confirmation.

You already know it.

We need to learn to trust our intuition and follow that.

Don't step on my,

This is Oscar.

So Oscar is one of the examples of miracles of animals.

So Oscar's 15 or 16 years old.

I don't know exactly.

But when I adopted him,

He had kidney failure.

And $5,

000 later at the vet,

They're telling me they don't have any other resources.

They don't know what else to offer.

They're telling me to take him to Minneapolis,

Which is about eight hours away here.

And I'm thinking to myself,

My God,

There's gotta be some traditional teas or something that I can,

To help Oscar.

And I found this vet from Wisconsin.

She's a dairy vet,

But she does Reiki healing.

And so,

You know,

What was that,

Like 13 years ago?

That was kind of unheard of in our area.

So I latched onto her and yeah,

With increasing his insulin,

Feeding him salmon like every three hours.

It was very,

It was very intense,

Let's say for three or four months.

But you can see he's very healthy.

He's had a long life here.

He's lived very well.

So yeah,

I am,

Oscar has gone through probably nine of his lives already.

Definitely a walking.

And yeah,

I think it's the power of our intention,

The power of belief,

That's the important one.

Thank you.

Yeah,

And I'm with you on that one.

You know,

When Barney had cancer,

They had suggested the same thing.

You know,

The last thing you can do,

You can try is to amputate his leg.

And he was almost 14 years old.

And I was like,

I'm not gonna put him through that,

To have this senior dog try to learn,

You know,

To maybe get a few more months out of his life.

Because the one thing I had promised myself I would never do would be to prolong their life to make me feel better.

I wanted to do what was best for him.

So I'm glad you said that.

I know a lot of people struggle with those decisions too.

I would like to jump in here because this is exactly what I felt called to share here today.

I just had to make the call,

Which is such a hard call to make,

On two of our beloved pets here,

Miss Maisie,

Who was a special needs mini dachshund,

Who truly melted the hearts of so many individuals.

And our oldest alpaca,

Amanda,

Who was 22,

And she,

Which is equivalent to like 102.

And as a healer,

And I know many of you are light workers,

Caretakers,

You know,

Really serve keeping life alive.

It could be a very tough decision in the animal world to make that call.

But what I always want to remind myself and also you is that it's not really about keeping anything alive.

It really is about alleviating suffering.

And I know that it can be such a hard decision to make,

But when you know that the animal's spirit is no longer matching with its body,

And as a owner,

You know the spirit of this animal better than anybody else.

You would know when you would be compromising the quality of this animal's life.

You should take solace in giving the last gift,

Which is what death truly is.

It is a gift to that individual,

Not us who survive,

Who continue on living,

But it is the final gift,

The final honor of that,

You know,

Sentient being to honor their life by giving them the gift of alleviating that suffering that would not allow their spirit and their body to be one,

Work as one,

If that makes sense.

So for those healers out there,

You know,

Making that call is a gift and it is in the purpose of alleviating suffering.

And you can feel really good about giving that final gift.

Yeah,

That is so beautiful.

And that's such,

Like I was saying before,

It's such a hard thing because we're always questioning ourselves.

Did I do the right thing?

Did I,

You know,

Did I give it enough time?

And I think that,

You know,

That's something that we all need to,

The people who are going through it to understand is that,

As you said,

And I love the way you put it,

It's not about prolonging a life,

It's about alleviating that suffering.

And,

You know,

As you said,

We know what they're like.

I saw my pup go from,

You know,

Bouncing around to just,

He would go outside and just lay on the ground.

And the second pup had such anxiety that he would sit in a closet and stare at the walls.

And I looked at him and I said,

This is not a quality of life.

This is not the way he was living,

You know?

So as much as it hurts and as hard as it is,

It's definitely the best call when we look at it that way.

So thank you for saying that.

And one more clarification I wanna add,

Just in a very real,

Literal way,

Is that,

You know,

We have the,

I like to call them the four horsemen of life,

Which applies to anything.

So if these beings are eating,

Drinking,

Peeing,

Pooping,

You really have to look at their quality of life.

I also am very blessed to have,

I really look at this kind of care as like a team and to have vets as a team to work together,

Especially when you've been in it for a very long time and you have a good team,

You can be very,

Very effective at geriatric animal care and special need animal care.

But there's that fine line that you really have to look at.

And it's tough cause there's such a bright light there.

Some of these animals bring so much light to this world and we miss that light so much,

But that light does continue.

I,

This might be just my silly thing,

But I believe that there's this big barn in the sky.

And the interesting thing is I now have a big barn that looks very much like the big barn in the sky.

And I always joke about how they're so similar and I try to emulate them so much that sometimes they don't wanna leave,

You know,

Because,

But then once they do,

It's a very smooth transition to that big barn in the sky.

And it's nice because the people in my life who also loved animals,

Like my mother who passed away after a long battle with cancer three years ago,

It's kind of fun now because I get to send them to her and just to validate Lori's comment there,

For my mother,

The animal is a hummingbird.

So it'll be so interesting how the hummingbird will pop up in my life.

Even they're only here about,

You know,

A few months out of the year,

Cause we're in the North,

Like many of you there,

But still it'll be interesting how even the gifts of hummingbirds and the talk of hummingbirds and the sight of hummingbirds will always be synchronistic with tough times.

Like it was interesting when I had to make that call,

The hummingbird was there,

Came right into the window,

Was hovering right by the window while I'm having to make that really hard call.

And it just validated,

You know,

I'm sending that animal to the big barn in the sky where my mother loves to visit.

That's so beautiful.

I truly,

Like I've seen it,

Like I believe that.

And I believe that what we truly love to do exists on both planes and we can share those in a communal way as well.

You know,

It's a little easier in spirit cause it just happens at the mind,

But we're happy to have the time here to not have what our mind thinks manifest so quickly.

And I think it really resonated with a lot of people.

Lisa Nanda wrote in the chat,

Right?

Cat,

She has stage four,

But all of her blood was,

And she asked if anyone was called.

Absolutely.

Sending her so much Reiki love.

I'm sure Renee chime in with that as well.

But in my heart of hearts,

When the animal no longer wants to sustain life,

You do need to hear that.

So it might be time,

But she will let you know.

And everybody loved your big barn in the sky.

I think that gave a lot of people a lot of.

It's real.

You might have your own,

You know,

Your own family barn.

I find that there's a lot of lineage with that for individuals where if you might have a vacation home or you might've been a farmer or your family farm,

Or there's a lot of big barns in the sky is what I would say.

True.

I see Lisa said something about if she doesn't wanna eat anymore.

You know,

With my two dogs,

They were still eating,

Which made it even harder for me because I felt guilty.

I was like,

Well,

They're still eating.

And,

You know,

They're still having all their normal functions.

It was just the quality of their life was just not there.

And the one with cancer literally would lay by his bowl.

Like I had to lay him by his bowl for him to eat.

And I was like,

Yeah,

He's still eating,

But that was not a quality of life.

So I just want people to know,

Cause I know I felt a lot of guilt over that.

I was like,

Oh gosh,

He was still eating.

Maybe it was too soon.

Sometimes that's just not enough.

My vet always said,

If they're not able to do dog things,

Cat things,

You know,

Alpaca things,

For Maisie and for Amanda,

That was within a weekend,

They both could no longer walk anymore.

And they were both senior,

You know.

And I still tried every avenue for my own peace of mind.

I was like,

You know,

The vets were like,

Rehab.

And I'm like,

Yeah,

Rehab,

But- Acupuncture.

I did everything.

You know,

You can have peace of mind that you did do that,

But at the same time,

It is inevitable as much as we,

You know,

So giving a smooth,

My large animal vet calls it a smooth landing.

If you can provide,

Especially these rescue animals,

I know a lot of my animals,

They just really wanted to live and they had an exit point.

A lot of them,

You know,

Were not going to survive,

You know,

Whether they were going to slaughter or to auction or,

You know,

A number of different avenues that usually doesn't lead to life.

They wanted,

It was like they,

And that's what I find the real magic is the prayers.

It's the answering of the prayers that really brings people together.

And I feel that those are the real miracle that we have.

And even within animal to human as well,

Because we answer each other's prayers.

Do animals ever share insights about their purpose or what they have learned?

I do.

Oh yeah,

Sorry.

Yes,

They definitely do.

They have different ways of doing that.

So some animals will do it before they cross over.

All of a sudden you have a period of time.

I think that's also the doubt,

You know,

Are we making the right decision or not?

Is that there is this small period of time that they all of a sudden play and do things they used to do when they were a puppy.

And it's a way of them communicating or reflecting back about life that they had with us and that they were able to fulfill their own soul purpose as well.

And sometimes when they have crossed over and they will come back in our dreams or we'll send signs like the beautiful owl.

I like to refer always back then to the silence that we all have,

The silence that we are all given to sit in that silence and to really let those messages come in.

Because when animals get sick and souls get sick,

We get so overwhelmed by the emotions,

The emotions that they are sharing with us,

The emotions that are from our own heart.

And it becomes this cauldron of different emotions that are just a whirlwind that goes round.

So gifting yourself a place of silence and trees are beautiful places to hold space for us for that to really be able to tap into.

And they love sharing their feedback.

They love sharing creation,

How grateful they are for all these safe places.

Someone posted in the comments that are we feeling all the feels,

But I'm just looking at all these bubbles and people who are here for this session,

Holding space for each other.

And that is such a powerful thing.

And to sit in that in silence,

To let that energy overflow like a beautiful blanket is such a healing feeling,

But it also opens your heart up to get messages.

So anyone who's kind of looking for a message,

Just feel free to mute me,

But sit in that silence and in the love and kindness that is being shared at the moment by people listening,

By people being present in this moment is very healing.

Messages will come through.

So if anything is popping into your head at the moment about your animal,

They're like,

Ooh,

There's a door open.

Let's throw in those memories,

Those grateful things.

And yeah,

They will try.

Stop trying until they know for sure that you're not missing anything.

They will keep coming back for it,

Throw that in.

But I'll leave it to you,

Cindy,

If you want.

I was going to add,

So definitely,

Definitely part of their mission or their purpose is sharing messages with us.

So they do that with us all the time.

And the other more recent one that I've realized is cats and dogs.

I don't know about other animals yet at this point,

But cats and dogs that are in our homes with us will do their best to keep us balanced physically,

Emotionally,

Spiritually,

Intellectually.

And so I noticed with my one cat,

My one tuxedo cat spider,

It's interesting that she's not sitting here,

Usually is,

She was getting ill.

She had lost a lot of weight.

She was getting ill.

And I realized that she was taking on my physical ailment.

And then when I started thinking back,

I started realizing that this is what they are doing because you'll notice they'll do different things at different times.

Whiskers used to sleep at my feet,

But her paws would always be touching.

And so I was always curious about that.

Oscar likes to sleep on my head.

And they all have their ways,

Right?

You know,

When a cat goes around your legs like that,

It's like an infinity around your legs.

They're balancing us.

That's what they're doing.

So when I came to this realization and I processed that and integrated that for a while,

And I said,

No,

I don't want that anymore.

I want my babies to have their own lives.

I want them to have their own autonomy and prayed to creator that,

Yeah,

I want them to have their own.

And so I did notice a big change in Spider,

You know,

Not too long after that.

And this summer,

So I live in the bush.

I've been here seven years.

I did not feel it was fair or right to let my cats outside unless my eyes are glued to them or unless I have them on a leash.

How am I gonna protect them from an eagle or a hawk or whatever to just come and put them up?

I have bears in the yard.

I have wolves.

I have coyotes.

I have everything.

So this year was the first time that I let Oscar go outside.

He used to go outside with me,

But he would meow and meow and meow and meow at the door.

And finally one day spirit said,

It's okay.

You can let him out.

So I did let him out.

This had,

He had a great side.

Spider wanted to go outside.

So I'm like,

Oh my God,

Spider,

You're so small.

You know,

You've never been outside in your 13 years.

You've never been outside.

So I was a little more nervous.

So yeah,

She's on a harness when she goes out and a leash and I'm keeping a very close eye on her.

But I've noticed she's changed again.

She's had that freedom.

And I'm hoping and praying that it's to help her health.

I'm starting to notice she's putting on a little bit of weight.

So yeah,

So while they are here,

Absolutely provide message to us and to help them.

I think we can choose.

We all have our own free will.

I'm just giving them their free will back.

That's what I decided to is give their free will back to.

Yeah,

And I'm happy with my decision.

Thank you.

I can't believe in an hour.

Right.

I just want to thank you guys.

I chat and really for everyone,

Including myself.

I lost my dad died in October.

As hard as it was to have those back to back.

I actually,

My dad was 100 times more.

I felt that Ash knew my dad gave me a lot of appreciate everything I've said from a personal standpoint and chat.

Yeah,

And I wanted to point out to people.

I know you're going to get to it,

But these three teachers,

You know,

Definitely follow them.

Check out their resources.

When I lost mine,

I created,

I was saying in the beginning,

A playlist of meditations from Insight Timer that I use.

And that list got to be so big.

And of all the playlists I have,

That's the most followed.

I think it's like almost a hundred people have saved that playlist,

Which blew me away.

I couldn't believe it.

And that's what made me realize how many people needed that,

You know,

Just as much as I did.

So,

You know,

Take advantage of those resources.

And I was saying in the chat,

You know,

Before Barney crossed over,

We had a chat with Renee and that helped me tremendously because I was struggling with the decision to put him down.

I still get teary.

So this has been good because I know a lot of people feel that.

And I want people to know you're not alone.

You know,

We're here to help too.

You know,

There's so much here that you can use and take advantage of.

There was an Insight Timer teacher who called me right after I put Barney down.

And she said to me,

Look,

There's this tapping thing that I use that helped me when I had to put my mom's dog down.

And I had a meeting that day and I was like,

You know,

I don't know how I'm going to do this because I could not stop crying.

And I did the tapping and it really helped me.

So what people say here about moving that energy,

It's so true.

It really does help.

Thank you,

Pete.

That's a good point.

I look at it from the animal assisted activity standpoint,

But some of these beings,

We spend more time than anybody else with day in and day out.

So that bond is very real and it's very chemical and the physical loss is still very,

Very real.

So just being kind and gentle and allowing you as much space and as much time as you need to process these feelings,

A lot of times this loss can be very,

Well,

It's not technically a loss,

But in the physical sense,

It very much is.

And it can trigger,

These animal losses can trigger the human losses and the human losses can trigger the animal losses.

And can be a healing opportunity to completely heal when a lot of times society,

They don't wanna talk about it.

So we get into,

You're in two months,

Two years,

Three years,

They don't wanna hear it anymore,

But you could still very much be in the grieving process and may have possibly pushed some of these processes aside that still need to happen.

So we can use these as an opportunity for healing.

Yeah,

I agree.

And that was one of the things I wanted to share with people when I first did one of these sessions was that a lot of people don't,

I was afraid to tell people how upset I was,

But fortunately for me,

I was on inside timer and I was surrounded by people who knew what a loss that was and were a huge comfort.

And I thought like,

What do you do if you don't have that?

Who do you talk to?

That love is real.

And I'm sorry that I'm,

Yeah,

Yeah,

Absolutely it is.

I was saying,

I'm sorry if I made anybody cry.

I'm such a crier.

Something never dies.

Melanie was gonna say something before.

I think I interrupted.

No,

Okay.

I was gonna say thank you for everyone just sharing.

I can't help Melanie.

I watched your live about sourdough and I can't tell you how many things I've made now that I got,

I call her yesterday.

I can't tell you.

I mean,

I have made so many different sourdough creations.

I can't,

I couldn't even list them.

So thank you for starting my Easter day.

And the one thing I'd have to say about that is treat it like a pet.

Once I realized like,

Oh,

I just gotta keep this alive.

It really took off for me.

I'm like,

I can definitely keep this alive.

So just on a lighter note.

Thank you.

And I'm glad to end on a lighter note to be perfectly honest with you.

Honestly,

I just saw Lisa's question that I do wanna address.

Lisa says,

Would you put your animal to sleep in front of the other or would the shock be too much?

I did do that.

I had Simon in the same room.

We did it at home and the vet came and I had Simon in the same room as Barney.

And even with the puppy,

When we put Simon down,

The puppy was there,

But the puppy had no clue what was going on.

I don't think it fazed him at all.

But yeah,

I don't know how the rest of you feel about that,

But I felt like he needed to be there.

I think it's an individual thing.

I find that some animals are more spiritual than others.

Some that have a deep bond need to see that that animal is no longer there or they will look for them.

So I wouldn't say there's no one size fits all on that.

Again,

You're gonna have to,

Like Renee says,

Go into your silence,

Go into your heart of hearts and know that you know that animal better than anybody else does.

If you're in that position,

Make that call.

Even if it is a human,

In any way,

Shape or form,

It is your final gift to them to alleviate their suffering and allow their spirit to be whole.

Yeah,

That's a great point.

Does anybody else wanna answer that?

Yeah,

No,

Absolutely.

I think that it's really important.

I had a really young dog and I tapped into it and I tapped into my family members.

They were there when Bella was over and we've decided to not invite younger dog room for the reason that he would not have understood.

He's a young soul and he's growing on earth for him,

The conversation afterwards,

Which took a longer time for him.

So I think it's with everything.

We sometimes forget how we are all sovereign beings.

We can embrace that part of ourselves.

What is it that I need?

What is it that the others in my community,

In my unit,

In my family,

However,

We would like to name things.

In love and kindness,

What does everyone need in their growth and learning is so important.

It's wonderful to have conversation around it as well,

But it's also important to understand that at the end of the day,

What feels right in your heart?

And when it feels right in your heart,

Making the right decision.

And it's something that if I can gift someone,

And give someone something,

Is that the embracement that you know and heart.

And I think everyone on this call today has that kind heart.

And so following that really,

And even if it's difficult,

Go out in nature and ask the question.

You know,

In the Celtic tradition,

We are living under the ivy at the moment,

Which grows everywhere and supports everything.

So yeah,

Tapping into that knowledge,

Really good.

Trust your roots,

They'll guide you.

Cindy,

Did you want to weigh in on that one?

I just wasn't sure you wanted to say anything.

A simple response because yeah,

It's going to get a little too emotional for me,

But I think it's really important that the other beings in the house,

Human and otherwise,

Know what's going on.

And if that means I don't have the privilege of having euthanasia at home,

They just don't have that here.

So I have no choice.

If that becomes my decision,

I am forced to drive them to town.

And let me tell you,

It's the longest frigging ride you'll ever have.

And it's kind of why I probably don't take my pets to the vet to handle it.

But I also think a few examples have been mentioned.

I also really important for them to know that they have left.

I remember after Chico was euthanized and I had left with Chico.

When I came back,

Chico wasn't with me and Scout circled around that truck for so long.

And he kept looking for him in the house and he kept looking for him outside.

And I didn't know what I was going to do or how I was going to let him out.

So yeah,

That is a very tough thing.

So if it's possible for them to know,

I didn't have the opportunity to bring Chico's expired body back to the house,

I think I would do it differently in the future so that they know that the other being has left.

Thank you.

Yeah,

Thank you for sharing that.

And thank you all for being here.

And I would like to end by having you let everybody know when your lives are,

Or if there's anything in particular you recommend so that the people who are here can definitely follow you.

I know you're known to a lot of them,

But I'm sure there's people here who are new as well.

So I'm just going to let you share what you do and where they can find you if you want to unmute yourself and we can start with you,

Renee.

Yeah,

Well,

I'm here on Insight Timer three times a week.

One session I connect with my own roots,

Our Gypsy.

And on Fridays,

I connect with a animal.

So I have a beautiful Reiki circle where everyone's very welcome to join,

Where we send healing to any animal that needs it.

And I like to be of service as much as I can.

So yeah,

Please follow me,

Cindy,

And here on Insight Timer because it helps us a lot.

And listening to our meditations helps us a lot or to our great supports for us and coming to our lives.

It's also very various.

And I know I've seen the hearts.

They're always very destructive to me,

But it's an amazing way of letting us know that our words are making sense and everything.

Because sometimes it can be a little bit weird to be in front of a camera and not seeing it.

I really appreciate you all.

I also want to take time to say thank you to Cindy.

So grateful this time for Melanie and Violet to create these sessions,

My goodness.

And yeah,

Keep them going,

I would say.

I happily come back as well.

So thank you for the invite.

And I just wanted to point out,

Melanie said,

A happy end of the session.

But today is International Animal Day.

So,

You know.

I didn't know that.

That was why I picked this day because when I invited you,

You told me that.

So I was like,

All right,

We'll do it on that day.

Normally I don't do anything on Mondays.

So yeah,

Let's celebrate.

Yes,

Thank you.

Allison.

Yes,

You can feel free to follow me if you want to keep up with the antics here at Friendly Ass Farm.

And I just want to thank you so much.

This has been such an honor.

Like I said,

I've looked up to both of you just as a guide,

As far as Insight Timer goes.

I'm a farmer,

So I've been out of the computer game for a very long time.

So my hat goes off to you,

Violet,

For being able to do this.

And I want to thank you both,

All of you,

For bringing us together in this moment.

Community is really how we're going to get through the next minute,

Let alone all that has been happening lately in our world.

So I think this is really how we get through these things.

So I just want to thank you also.

I agree with you.

This brings me so much joy to do this.

And Cindy.

Yeah,

Also thank you for the invitation.

I don't get to do these very often.

And yeah,

Please feel free to follow me.

I do lives Monday mornings and Thursday mornings,

Usually two hours each.

And if you go to my profile on the app,

Insight Timer,

You can find all the offerings that I have,

Which includes Sacred Circles and Freedom Classes and yeah,

Lots of other interesting things.

So yeah,

Please feel free to check it out.

And of course,

You know,

My friends and co-hosts,

Melanie,

I'll let you tell them what you do because she does a lot of amazing things.

Thank you,

Violet.

Yes,

I do mostly mindful cooking and intuitive baking.

And I have a month who have chronic illness and cancer for affirmation.

And I do also all teachers.

And I actually said to someone today,

Everyone's it.

But,

And I believe that teachers who work with in the classroom really need an extra little,

I'm here for you.

Yeah,

I love that you said that.

I do feel that everyone's a teacher,

Which is why I never call myself a teacher,

Which is why we named this Ask Your Guides,

Because I feel like we all are.

So thank you,

Everybody who came.

Thank you,

Amazing teachers who joined us.

And we are going to end the live and I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of you around soon.

So thank you.