Are Some Losses Actually Life Lessons? By Ann Hoff

 Ann Hoff is a well-known Animal Communicator, Intuitive Medium, and a regular contributor to our FB Group “I Am not Crazy Because I Talk to Animals” and leads a monthly Zoom call with members wishing to chat with a pet, or simply ask Ann a question. This month's content is meant to make us think, and perhaps begin to question our own life's mission, appreciating the value others bring to our journey, and what we offer theirs.

When animals and people come into our lives, many times they show up with a purpose. Every pet I have ever communicated with has had a purpose for their human, and many times it is a spiritual one. Often there is a lesson to be learned from them, or an experience they are supposed to have with us. One woman had her dog come into her life so she could learn how to express her anger. She had never done that before, and the dog exasperated her so much that she finally hit her anger ceiling. It was SAFE to get angry at this dog, when it hadn’t been safe to be angry at humans when she was a child.  We are SUPPOSED to feel our feelings, not suppress them. Pets know this and let us feel our emotions while being there to comfort us and guide us through. They know we are not “less than” by showing the truth of who we are.

Pets also can stand in front of a disease that is meant for their humans. I have had multiple clients tell me of their cancer being cured only to have their dog die of the same cancer a few months later.  It is not our choice if they do this, it is theirs. As much as we would want them to not risk their health for us, many of them do it willingly. They die sooner than we would like, and they do so because they were taking care of us. Some maladies they take on (like urinary tract infections or weight gain) aren’t life ending, but some are. It is one of the reasons our pets cross over to the other side sooner than they should. They take on our energy and transmute it, losing their life in the process. I’ve talked to pets on the other side who have done this, and they would gladly sacrifice themselves again to benefit their humans. It is a different way of thinking than humans have, and it takes a while to absorb what is really happening.

The reason I am talking about this is that some pets do not live out a long and happy life. They have come for a specific purpose and will leave this earth when that purpose is completed. Another example of this happening is when Spirit guides or higher vibrational beings incarnate in the body of a pet. Unlike someone who is here to learn something, they are here to teach others something, and to protect or guide their humans. This is also what is happening when a young baby comes and dies shortly after birth. That spirit did not come to do their own life path but came to interact with the humans around them and impact their lives.

Many people have trouble with a baby or an animal dying young. It feels unfair, it feels like they were an innocent, they are being punished unfairly. The actual truth is far from it, the being is actually making an appearance to impact the lives of others and doesn’t have a long life planned. Some pets will come to learn lessons here on this earth, but not all. Some come grow and expand the knowledge of their soul.

The exceptions are higher spiritual beings that have no need to grow, or beings that came exclusively to impact others. As higher spiritual beings they may be here just to do their mission and then go home (to heaven). They don’t have a long-prolonged death because they do not need to learn anything from that experience.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross taught that people who have unfinished business will have longer protracted experiences when they go down the road to death. That is to give them time to finish what they have done in this world and make amends with people and situations. She said that people who were spiritually ready died in their sleep or in an accident, here one minute, gone the next. The same is true for animals that are spirit guides. When they leave, it is usually immediately, and we are left unprepared. There is no suffering, or if there is, it is of short duration, like from an accident. I have lost dogs both ways, from a long drawn-out illness and immediately the same day that I found out they were sick or had an accident. The grief from those two kinds of deaths can feel very different.

To me, immediate grief feels like it is unbelievable, unreal. One minute the being is there in body, the next they are gone. There is really no way you can prepare for that kind of death. It seems like it takes longer to process because you are in such shock. I am bringing up this topic, to shine light on this aspect of those types of deaths.

There is another dimension to this loss. That is the spiritual aspect of the lesson you have learned from that being existing in your life. This is very important because it expands who we are as a soul- we are more because they have lived. I am not saying that there isn’t something that we learn from everyone that crosses our path. Instead, it is saying that the primary reason that being existed was to love you and teach you that spiritual lesson. Sometimes beings that love us as souls can be very difficult for us to get along with in this mortal dimension because of the specific purpose of teaching us. That was the case for the dog that helped the woman express her anger. The dog was being incorrigible to help the woman with her spiritual growth, but if you asked HER when she was mad at the dog, she would have said it was anything BUT loving. Yet that was actually a sacrifice of great love.

When your pet crosses, think of what you have learned from them, the lesson that came with their passing, and the lessons they taught you by living with you. It doesn’t make the loss feel any less, but it does put the loss into perspective. It happened for a reason- it wasn’t random, it wasn’t meaningless. What I have found out about life lessons is that once you learn the lesson completely, you move on to new adventures. When you realize the meaning your pet had in your life, you can love them even more, because they did sacrifice for you. Or at least it feels like that. I will admit, when I talk to pets in heaven they are in pure joy, bathed in Christ consciousness, whole, completely healthy and radiant. It doesn’t seem like a sacrifice that they have shed their mortal body. Yet we miss them terribly, and it feels like an incredible loss.

My dog Patsy was killed by stepping in between two of my horses, and the one reared, coming down on her neck. She died later that day. I was bereft. A few months later Patsy came to me, and as an angel lifted me up letting me feel the radiance of her being and the power that really belonged to her. It was so beautifully breathtaking. I realized that I was so blessed to have her share herself in a physical body for even one day. I felt honored and loved. Now, I have both the memory of her life with me, the memory of the grief, and the knowledge that her being was far more sacred than I ever imagined.

If you or someone you know is dealing with loss, reach out and let them know you care and that you’re there for them. Send them a note, or remembrance in memory of their loved one.

Not sure what to do? Pet Perennials can help make reaching out easier.