Losing an animal companion that you love doesn’t just leave you with a broken heart and a huge hole inside, it can also teach you painful and valuable lessons.
The one lesson I’m thinking about right now is
to be fully in the present moment
with whatever we do and in all interactions with other people – and our pets.
How often are we actually 100 % present in any situation or in dealing with another person. Often we are far away in our minds, thinking about what we’re going to do next or worrying about something. Even when it comes to being with our precious pets, we are often too busy, too tired, etc. to really to be with them with our whole being – body, mind, soul. No distractions, no worrying about what happened in the past or what might happen tomorrow – just being there fully with our pet.
That is one of those painful reminders that can come after the death of a pet. Like Willie Nelson says in his song “Always on my mind”: “… little things I should have said and done. I just never took the time.”
=> Watch Willie Nelson sing “Always on my mind”:
Quality time
And what I have realized is, that it’s not just about the amount of time spent with our pet, it’s about the quality of the time and being present and connecting with them. You can spend time with your pets without really conecting with them.
A couple of my cats are basically indoor cats and did not have the possibility of going out before, but since moving to a house with a garden, they want to go out. Since they’re not used to being outside by themselves, they don’t go out unsupervised, and wear a harness and leash when they do. So you can imagine that a lot of time is spent just cat watching.
Cat watching as a spiritual practice
I care about them so much, so they get the time they need to be outside, but I have had to work on changing my state from being stressed, thinking “I have so much to do and really don’t have time to just stand around like this” to accepting that this is where I am right now, so I can just as well actually be here and really connect with these beatiful beings. When I manage to be in the present, it brings about peace and a much deeper and closer connection with my cats and with the nature around me. It’s not like standing around being stressed is helping me get anything done.
Never again
After realizing how much time I wasted not really being present with my deceased cat when he was alive, I don’t want to make the same mistake again, so now I’m constantly aware of and reminding myself to be in the present. I don’t manage all of the time, but whenever I slip, I keep returning to the now.
If you have the same feelings of guilt for not always being fully present with or not always being there as much as you wanted for your now deceased pet, try not to judge yourself but simply make a resolution to practice being present with whatever you do in your daily life. And if you have pets, they’ll benefit from your efforts.
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