A Day in the Life of a Dream

My Poem. 

In Honor of National Poetry Month on National Pet Day.  

Look around at what you've got. 

What you value matters not.

The eyes of love see everything.

Let the ones who love you bring

The meaning of this life to you:

To learn to love before you're through. 

Beyond this place is a world that's true

Not this dream you thought was you. 

Things are not what they may seem.

It's just a day within a dream. 

All I Have to Do is Dream....

"She had a dream last night. In her distress she turned and I was there and then she knew she'd be okay.

We use dreams to connect with you. We find our way into your unconscious mind to remind you that we're always there. I know it's hard to believe right now, but someday you will find that nothing of the world was really worth being so upset about. One day you will wake up in Paradise just like she woke up from her dream today. You will see that it was all just a silly ride!

Hang in there. It will fly by in the blink an eye. Don't simply endure it; find a way to enjoy it. I'll see you in your dreams... and on the other side when the time is right for you to return to me."

From: "Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master"

Dreams are awesome, aren't they?  Sometimes they are just a mixed up bunch of "debris" that we are sorting out (we often decide whether to store things in our short term or long term memory when we are dreaming -- so dreams can help us sort through the things that aren't necessary and also help us to process the things that are.) 

Dreaming is like going to another plane -- where your soul joins the souls of others to accomplish what you need to accomplish with them.  

Life is the school, love is the lesson. Dreams are our teachers too.  

Planning for the Inevitable: Learn to Communicate Ahead of Time

Hi Jack, 
It has been a long time and when it is too hard for my human brain to know, I must come back to you. My Balto is 12 years old. He still looks like a baby but he is having increasing issues with osteoarthitis. His Vet asked me if I wanted to try laser treatment to ease the pain. I wonder if this will work? I just want to be sure he will let me know ahead of time so I do not let him suffer...On the other hand I want Him to have a quiet life.  I don't know much about his life before he came to me. He was 9 years old when we met in a shelter. I really hope I will understand his signs when they come to me. Sometimes Veterinarians are only doing their job but in the same time I want to try everything to ease his pain. I am a little bit lost. Anyway I can at last feel his love now. I am sorry if this message is not clear. And as I told Kate I have your Book close to me...... ♡♡♡♡
Love, 
Balto's "Mom" 


Dear Mom, 
The energy of your message is very clear because you write from a place of love and I always understand love. Please say Hi to Balto for me. If you can get a product called Dasaquin, it helped me a lot. I was struggling a bit moving around too and once we went on that I was like a puppy again -- all the way till the end. I don't know if it will work for Balto but it worked for me. Start with that... and then the laser if it doesn't work. 

I am glad you keep my book close to you because that is where I can always remind you that everything is okay, even if it doesn't feel like it is at the moment.  

I must tell you that the most important thing you can do these days is to sit quietly with Balto. Put your hand on his heart and the other hand on yours. Tell him that you want to learn to communicate with each other through your hearts and that you may need his help with this. This is where he will communicate with you when he is "gone from your sight" one day.  Sit quietly with him, breathe with him, feel your hearts together. It will be good for both of you.

Whenever the world gets to be too much, with your hands on your hearts everything always seems better because it reminds you that your power is in your heart, not your head.

Love, 
Jack

Try to Go With the Flow

I remember spending some weekends at the river. We'd hang out on the edge with our feet in the water. Quite often someone in an inner tube would come along or a colorful kayak would glide by. We'd all say "Hi!" and "Hello!"; the ones on the shore and the ones in the water. We might all have a moment to chat as they floated by --depending on the strength of the river's current -- but all too soon we were all saying "Goodbye!"  My tail would be wagging as they arrived and it would still be wagging as they had left. I was just always so happy to see everbody! Whether they coming or whether they were going!

It's kind of like life. We come and we go. It's a constant ebb and flow. 

Embrace the moment. Embrace everyone who comes your way, then be willing to let them go when it's time to say goodbye, thankful for the gift of knowing them.  

Jack's Sequel Is Coming Soon. Here's a Glimpse.

"Jack McAfghan: Return from Rainbow Bridge"

The end of this life is not the end of life.

Life never ends.

Love never dies. 

Stay tuned for our next book which is due for publication this Fall!

So Do Pets Go To Heaven or Not???

Dear Jack (I can't believe I am writing a letter to a dog):

No animal goes to heaven. St. Thomas stated and the Church approves: "The soul of an animal after death returns to the potency of matter." Anything contrary is simply fiction and nonsense.

Anon E Mouse

Dear Anon, 

Now that I am in Heaven, I join the common mind which knows Everything.  That said, since you are a doubter (much like the St.Thomas who you refer to in your note to me), I will provide a link to a reputable source to reveal the Truth. As an apostle of Jesus Christ, St. Thomas was transformed from doubter to believer. Click here to read more about that.  

I also would like to clarify that we do not "live" at Rainbow Bridge. A lot of people think we do. Rainbow Bridge is just the passageway by which we reach the Other Side. The other side is Heaven.  We cross the Bridge and we wait for you on the other side. When it's your time to cross the bridge into Heaven, we are the first ones waiting at the edge of Rainbow Bridge to greet you. So yes, we live in Heaven.

But 'How do you know that pets go to Heaven?' you ask. 
How do I know? ...

 I know because The Bible tells me so. 

I know because animals have a soul and souls return to Heaven when they are done experiencing life on earth. 

I know... because animals have eyes in which you can see the entire universe. If Eyes Are The Windows Of The Soul, this is further proof that animals have a soul. 

I know this because Pope Francis (like his beloved namesake, St. Francis) tells me so. 

Source: ABC Nightly News and Google Images. 

I KNOW. I mostly know because I know where I am. I am there. I am Here. I am in Heaven. I am in Life Everlasting. I AM Life Everlasting. We all are.

"Life goes on and something is always turning into something else. I now know this for sure: Love is all there is and love never dies. Love is energy and energy does not die; it cannot die. Einstein would tell you that it is a proven scientific fact. If it’s energy, it must live, although sometimes it changes form.

Love does not sleep. I am not dead. I am awake."

("Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master" Chapter 66)

Now Kate knows -- without a doubt-- because she wrote my book and she never planned on writing it. She never planned on my reaching out to her to give her a message to give the rest of the grieving doubting world. 

I know because I know.

I'll See You At Rainbow Bridge

Kate made a video the other night and when she learns something I learn something too. After all, we are always connected. So last night I made a video too!  You can view it here. It's just a few minutes long and it gives you a unique view of Rainbow Bridge.

 

Can a Pet Determine When It's Time to Cross the Bridge?

Dear Jack, 

I was told that animals are able to determine the way and time they will pass from this world into the next. Could this be true? 

Caroline

Dear Caroline,

Your pets know what's going on. They probably know even better than you do because they are very tuned in to Spirit, living in the moment and being hyper-alert to how they feel within themselves and the world around them.

When a pet lives a long life into older age or if a pet is sick and has time to process the illness and eventual outcome, no matter what the age, they have an element of control. They have control over the Where, the When and the How. Just like people do. It is not always the case when there is an accident or a sudden trauma. When trauma or sudden accident happens, there is a moment just prior to the impact when your pet leaves its body. So there is no pain at the end of life. Typically they never know what hit them and if they do, they have an "Aha" moment of realizing "This is it" and by the moment that thought finishes, they are already heading for Rainbow Bridge ....while the drama and human questions and suffering take place at the scene.  

Many people feel bad that they were not with their pet at the moment it passed, but this was because the pet did not want its Beloved to witness the final moments which would be imprinted on the memories of a chaotic mind and take away from the joy and pure love of the memories shared. In the case of narcotics and medication, pets are also a lot like people -- when they take a powerful medication, it reduces their awareness and their alertness. Like a person on morphine, they will simply slip into sleep and wake up at Rainbow Bridge. When they are medicated, the medicine often decides the when, the how and the where -- not the pet. We are not so different from people this way.  Also, like with people, there are exceptions.  If someone is in enough pain or discomfort, sometimes they would rather go to sleep. The comfort can be more important than the awareness in certain situations.  

If you read my book, you read about the process I went through when I became sick, when I declined, and when I crossed Rainbow Bridge. You read about how obedient I alway was, but at the end I did not want to take my medication. It wasn't just because it tasted awful (and it was awful!) but I did not want to be sedated. I wanted to be aware of my Beloved who was there by my side and I wanted to be fully present with her in my final hours and in my departure. Because I was present, I was able to write the book, with her good help, that explains all of this in detail. I was able to be fully present in my leaving her to cross the Bridge. Click here to see my book and read the reviews.  ("Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master"- available on Amazon and most other booksellers worldwide).

There is also the question of Euthanasia. Why do people find themselves responsible for making the dreaded decision to help their pet to cross the Rainbow Bridge?  There is always a reason. Sometimes the person needs to learn how to make a decision.... or they have lessons to learn from making the decision and living with it.  Putting a pet to sleep can wreak havoc on a person's feelings of guilt, shame and self-blame.  Life on earth (for a human, not for a pet) has to do with learning the lessons needed to LET GO of the guilt and shame and blame of life. Guilt and Shame and Blame are things the human mind created to make themselves or others feel bad. Guilt and Shame and Blame are not real and they do not exist at Rainbow Bridge or in a mind that is full of only LOVE. They only exist in a mind that is filled with fear. Us animals don't understand this, but we accept that it is part of life for you and we do our best to teach you love and forgiveness in the time we have together with you.  

Growth from learning is always built into the act of making a difficult decision such as this. Life on earth is the School and True Love is the Lesson and everything you go through on earth is designed to teach you and bring you closer to being the fully loving person you are in your heart and in your soul. This means loving others, but loving yourself as well. Your mind is not always your friend. Your heart always knows the right answer. Your heart knows everything. This is why we animals know what we know. We pay more attention to our hearts than our heads. We always did. Fear lives in the human mind. Love lives in the human heart. Love is always more powerful than fear. We know this. This is why we live in the power of love. Love directs our course, not fear. Love is more powerful than anything else. Love is what lives on, long after we have crossed the Bridge. 

It takes time but if you ultimately learn to live in the moment, can be loving and forgiving of yourself -- the way we taught you to love unconditionally -- you will move forward, grow into a New You, a New Normal, and you will be stronger and more loving than ever.  This is what we are eagerly waiting for! We are watching and waiting -- and celebrating when we see that you have healed and have learned to live your life in love the way that we always did.

We are here at Rainbow Bridge. We love you and we are waiting for you to love yourself and embrace life again. You. You will determine the How and the When and the Where of your healing. You don't feel like you have control over it, but you do. Some day -- if you are fortunate to live to a ripe old age, you will see what I am talking about. You will see you have a part in the decision and an element of control in the dying process.  And when you decide it's your time to go, we'll be waiting for you here. After you've learned all the lessons you need to know to come here.  

Thank you for writing. I hope this helps.  

Love, 

Jack

Dear Jack: I Didn't Get To Say GoodBye

Abby (R) and Clyde (L)

Dear Jack, 

I am missing my sweet Clyde today. It has been almost 5 months since he crossed over Rainbow Bridge. There isn't a day that goes by where somewhere in the stillness I will think of Clyde and feel like he should still be here with me.

3 y.o. SofiaBella says, "He didn't die. He's in Heaven."

The last couple of years I feel he was here on borrowed time. He had cardiomyopathy and I know he had struggled every day.

With heart medication, acupuncture and lots of love I am thankful we had the extra time with him. The day I took him to the vet because he was getting sick I never imagined he would have to have surgery the next day to remove his spleen and a kidney due to a rare form of cancer. He actually survived the surgery. Upon waking from the anesthesia he went into cardiac arrest. My vet tried CPR.... For 45 minutes. I just worry that he wondered where I was? I worry that he felt I left him. I didn't get to say goodbye.

Dear Clyde, 

I love you and miss you and I will remember you all the days of my life until we meet again my friend.❤

Love, 

Dianne 

Dear Dianne,

Your Clyde is an amazing soul.  Humans come to earth to Learn To Love and us dogs come to earth to Be Loved. Clyde says no one on earth could have loved him more than you did. When he was sick, you were there for him. You made him more important than many of the other details that humans tend to focus on. You both needed to go through Borrowed Time to learn what you learned. To love on Borrowed Time is bittersweet. Your heart grew and grew and grew while the two of you went through all the creative treatments. You both learned so much from all of it!  Mostly you learned how much you loved one another.  

What Clyde especially wants me to explain to you is that when he was under anesthesia the day of surgery, that was  when the angels were communicating with him. You know how we say that dreams are real and that life is illusion?  He was in a dream while he was in surgery. He visited Rainbow Bridge. I met him that day. We all embraced him and told him what to expect. He seemed very comfortable with it and was eager to come to be with us. When he woke up, he immediately remembered the Plan. He knew that he had to come to Rainbow Bridge. The moment he woke up he knew this and that is why his heart seized. He was being called and he knew he had to leave. 

It's So Beautiful Here

It is quite a dynamic for us when we realize that we are going to Rainbow Bridge, yet at the same time we are leaving the world of the one we have loved most of all. This is why we have to come back to see you. We have to be with you because we still love you very much. You would not believe how often I visit Kate and how often Clyde visits you!  He knows your thoughts, he is glad you didn’t get to say Goodbye because it’s not goodbye at all.  

Love,

Jack

The Only Way to Fail When You Have Loved a Pet

Grady and I were walking one rainy evening up one of the main streets in our town... just off the Main Street.  As we reached the place we usually crossed to take the road to the village school, a moment was captured in time. If only we could turn it back and rewind. 

Grady and I waited at the edge of the street. As we were looking both ways before crossing, we heard a voice across the street call, "Widgie!" Widgie!"  The woman was calling for her dog; a beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog. The dog was running towards the street. Fast. Towards us. It had seen Grady and I guess it was rushing out to say hello to her.  It had no clue that a car was coming from Main Street. The car was not going fast; perhaps 25 mph. The roads were slippery from the rain. The dog kept running. It all seemed in slow motion. I can count on one hand how many times I have screamed in my life, but deep out of my gut came a loud involuntary scream. The collision was inevitable.

After the impact, the dog picked itself off the road and dragged itself into the nearby bushes.  We ran over, as did the owners, and we were with it until it lay lifeless... it just took a few moments. I thought it was interesting at the time that as soon as Widgie's spirit left, Grady turned and was ready to leave too. She knew his spirit had left his body, while Widgie's family clung to him and draped themselves over him crying --- like most humans do when the final moment comes. 

There was something about the incident. I felt responsible. Jack says in his book, if he could have any wish, he would always be in the right place at the right time.  I couldn't help but think If Only! If only Grady and I hadn't been walking at that time at that place! If only we had gone the other way towards the park instead of this way towards the school.  I felt to blame.  

I took a bouquet of flowers to the people the next day. They were very appreciative. With tear-filled eyes they told me "We should have gone through obedience training; then he would have come when we called."  "We should have built a fence; he never would have been near the street."  Shoulda. Coulda. Woulda. We all do it.  The following week they were building a stockade fence. A few months later they had another dog, a Bernese also, and they were getting ready to start Obedience Training classes.  They had learned the important lesson that the loving Widgie had come to teach. 

We can get stuck on the guilt forever if we allow it to take over our minds.  Or we can learn from it and do better next time. This is what life is all about. Life is the school, love is the lesson.  We learn from every pet that comes to us what to do next time.  Eventually, if we have enough "teachers" and we are willing to learn from our circumstances, we will get it right. It will come as second nature. 

Widgie crossed Rainbow Bridge satisfied, knowing that he had fulfilled his promise. Like all other pets, he came into this life to teach. His loving "students" learned from the love of him...and the loss of him.  This is why pets don't live so long. We need enough sessions with them to get it right.  They live just long enough for us to live our lives with them and get it right.  It's all by Design and so are the circumstances.  I learned too. That's why I'm here on this blog and that's why I wrote "Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master", to share what I've learned from Jack and from Grady. And from Widgie.

It's not our fault, it's just life.  We only fail if we fail to learn.

Just Shadows in this World

Do you think your life is real?  Most of the life you think you know is just an illusion. The only thing that's really Real is the love between the beings who live there. Love is the only thing that lives beyond the mortal existence you call "life".  

We are all just shadows in this earthly world; silhouettes of Who We Really Are. In this photo, you can see Kate and Me only because the sun shines from behind and casts our image on the wall. Whether the sun is there or whether it isn't, makes no difference. We are there just the same.

Remember this the next time you think that I am not there; that your loved one is not there. Once in a great while conditions are right and we can Come Through to reveal ourselves to you ... but no matter what, we are there beside you. Always. 

Love, 

Jack

"MEMORIES of HEAVEN" Will Help You To Understand Life at Rainbow Bridge

Wayne Dyer's Last, Latest and Greatest Book

Kate is so excited that the "late" Wayne Dyer's final book is now available. It is a book full of the intuition and memories of children who are still young enough...and connected enough...to remember where they came from. If you read it, you will have a much better idea of where I am and where your four-legged and two-legged friends are!

I've met Wayne several times here. His presence is so big, he can do many things at once, and he does them all really well! He is one of my favorite people here over the Rainbow Bridge. 

It's kind of hard to explain what he "looks" like because we don't use our eyes to see and we don't have physical bodies, per se. We are energy beings and we all have a certain feel. The photo below is kind of what Wayne looks like me.  

If you've read my book, you know how fascinated I have been with language and the study of English words and their origin. Wayne fit easily into the rainbow lifestyle. I saw him come over the bridge and it was like he already knew everything. He didn't need an orientation like some humans do. Of course he wouldn't. Wayne was good at everything and, of course, he would be good at dying too. After all, he was Wayne Dyer!  He came into the earthly realm with a name that would see to it.  

I have learned that when one lives well, one typically dies well.  If you don't learn anything from Wayne (but you will), it is to live a good life. That's what all of us are all trying to teach you even now.  

Click HERE to see the book which is 10% off at the time of this posting

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Letting Go Doesn't Come Naturally

All human beings struggle with letting go. You come into this world clinging to nothing and then all of sudden, Daddy's index finger hovers in front of you and you find it and curl your fingers around his. He shakes it to find that you won't let go. It is human nature that makes you do this and, look, already you are human! You learn clinging in your first moments in this brand new world. It is one of the first things you learn -- to find your mother's breast and to cling to Daddy's finger.

You gather childhood things and you turn into an adult who seeks out adult things and experiences. Time passes. Your beloved pets come and go. Your children leave an empty nest. You watch your marathon time get slower as you move into the Master's Division. Over time maybe your eyes, your ears, your taste buds go. One by one the people you love get older and leave. Each one teaches you another lesson in letting go. 

Do you see that your perennial life is designed to shift like the seasons; for everything to come and go? You are supposed to grow through the comings; through the goings. This is one of the reasons us dogs don't live as long as you do. We are gifts for you not only because we love you but because every time you say goodbye, you grow. 

It's all by Design. You will leave this planet too. By the time you do, you hopefully have learned what you need to learn. Your load is light and you are ready to fly. That final trip over the Rainbow, into Heaven or Paradise (however you define the afterlife) is what it's all about. 

Life is the school; love is the lesson.

Guilt Runs Rampant

DO YOU HAVE FEELINGS OF GUILT? YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Kate suffers from it too. In fact, most human beings do! She posted this on my support group page and it generated quite a bit of dialogue and thought:

"I keep seeing the guilt that keeps running amuck in our lives. I experienced some more of it today.  We all LOVE LOVE LOVE-ed our best friends. I loved Jack more than I loved myself! I put his needs before mine (except for my having to go to work to pay for the things we needed...and I felt guilty about that too).  He ate better than I did! Now that I have Immy and Joey, we are walking many miles each day -- morning, noon and nighttime too.  It is more than I ever walked with Jack. Today we were out on our two mile morning walk and I found myself crying again.  "Maybe," I said, "just maybe if I had walked Jack more, he'd still be here." 

We cannot beat ourselves up. I have to tell myself that if he were alive today, he might have to endure a worse fate -- like becoming old and crippled into his senior years. He never had the chance. Instead of declining for months and years, he went with dignity in a matter of days. 

Someday I hope I can look back on this -- after I have completely healed -- and know that it was perfect and By Design. We can only do what we can do."

~ Kate

Letter to Jack: We All Have Something to Offer

"A dog can wag its tail but a dog needs more than that. Just like a person needs a purpose, a dog needs a purpose too. We don't feel good when we are just taking up space."  

(from Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master")

Dear Jack: 

That is how my Dad feels right now. He is older now and he has been so used to being productive that it's hard for him to be so limited. I try to think of projects he can help me with. 

Ann

Dear Ann: 

You make a very important point. 

A lot of what applies to us, applies to people too.  We are, each one of us, loaded with vast potential.  We were each brought into this world to serve a unique purpose. People should really think about this before they harm, abuse or abandon someone, two legged or four legged. Each of us has a gift and every one of us should be honored, respected and appreciated for what we have to offer. 

If we don't or can't fulfill our purpose, we feel an emptiness inside that nothing else can ease. Please keep trying to create opportunities for success in your father's routine. Please tell him we love him, that always helps. We love you too. 

Jack