The Power of Intuitive Animal Communication with Maribeth Decker- EP 339

You know you need something, you're just not sure what. You've been listening, you're doing the work, but there's still this feeling that you're circling the same place, like you're waiting for the thing that finally moves you. Now maybe you've thought about working with me one-on-one. Maybe something's held you back, the timing, the money, or you're just not sure you're ready yet. I get that. And I want you to know there's still a place for you. I built a resource for exactly this moment, guided meditations for when the waves hit and you just need to breathe. Workbooks to help you get out of your head and onto the page, ebooks on what near-death experiences tell us about the people we've lost, and whether they're really gone, a full course for widows and widowers who are ready to find their way back to living, and a full course for the evidence of the afterlife. And all of it is available for pay what you want. Nobody gets turned away because of money. I think these resources are valuable, but I don't want to hold them back because you don't have the money to pay for them. You don't have to wait until you're ready for coaching. The next step might be a lot smaller than you think. To find out, go to grief2growth.com/store. That's grief, the numeral 2, growth.com/store. And check out the resources I've made for you. Welcome back to Grief 2 Growth, another episode. My name is Brian D Smith, and I'm the host of Grief 2 Growth, of course. And we talk about the deep mysteries of life, death, and the connections that transcend the physical realm. Today we're going to talk with Mary Beth Decker. She's an intuitive. She's an animal— an intuitive animal communicator, I should say. She's a medical intuitive, and she's an energy healer. She's not just a voice for our pets. She's a bridge between human understanding and animal consciousness. She's at sacredgrove.com, and she helps pet guardians face challenging issues with their animals, including using her intuitive and healing skills to address physical, emotional, and behavioral concerns. In today's episodes, we're going to go into the mysteries of animal communication, and Mary Beth hopefully will demystify that for us, showing it's not just a special gift for a few people, but that we can all do it. We'll delve into how white people learn from this type of communication. And we're going to cover the basics, help you get started on your journey. We'll explore the topics of our animals' senior years, how do we make peace with their passing? We'll talk about the, the myths that might surround that.. And we'll talk about how to deepen the bonds with our animal connections, and what might be holding us back and what can help to strengthen that. So whether you're a pet parent or an animal lover, or just intrigued by the deeper connections in life, I hope this episode provides, provides for you a heartwarming and enlightening journey. So stay tuned as we explore these themes with Mary Beth Deckers. So with that, I want to welcome Mary Beth to Grief to Growth.

It's great to be here. And we're We're getting to have my cat Bunny visiting too with us today.

So I love it when animal companions join in on the podcast. It's funny because sometimes people ask me, should I put my dog in the other room? I know cats, sometimes you can't put them in the other room because they won't stay.

That's true. She was crying. She was outside just saying, wait a second, I know what you're doing. Let me in.

Yeah. So Do you— I just, just got to get off the cuff, but do you think that they know sometimes what's going on when we do stuff like this? Because I do see dogs and cats that want to join in.

I, I think they do. I've noticed that even in my sessions, especially when it's about them, when we're talking about them, that many of them will come on over to say, oh, let me, let me be part of this. Um, and I got to say, there's probably And you probably have it. There's a certain energy that they're attracted to. And Brian D Smith, that might be why people, their people's dogs and cats and birds, whatever, want to come in because there's something that you're creating that is like, yeah, I'd like to get a little more of this, a little closer to this. So I think it's almost an accolade to you to say when, when they want to come in and hang out with you. During these—

that's, that's interesting. Thanks. So how did you discover your ability to communicate with animals? How did this come about?

Well, my, my dogs literally started communicating with me, uh, after I had, um, two full careers, and I got this urge to, uh, go in a completely different direction into massage, and then From there, I, I learned energy healing, and during my energy healing training, um, my dogs showed up and, and started communicating with me. And what was most interesting is the two that showed up first had passed on. They were in the spirit realm, and, um, my first dog that came in was Timmy, and he was— he's a great dog. He, he was a street dog from Hawaii, and, um, we picked him up when we were stationed there. And he was— he, he traveled just like a Navy dependent should. He's been all over the place. And, uh, but he passed away here in Virginia, and he was sitting in in the dining room. And now he's passed away, right? But it looked like my dog Timmy, full, full guy, can't see through him. He's sitting there, one— I would say one ear up and one ear down, big grin. And he's looking at me, and I'm catching him out of the corner of my eye as I'm doing dinner, and I turn and I go, Timmy, and he, and he leaves. He's gone. But it was real, I got to tell you, it was real. And, and clearly the communication was not like, let me tell you my life story, but it was, Mom, I'm still around, I survived death, I'm happy, and I wanted— I just wanted you to know I love you. I love you still. Uh, and so that— he was the start of my saying, what the heck? And I had some others. Let's see, it was really fun. My dog Eddie, who had also passed She accompanied me. Now she's passed, so it's— nobody can, can sense her except me. She accompanied me on a plane because I was going to an annual meeting where I was going to staff it. And you know, if you've gone to anything, well, if you're staff, you got to be happy. You got to be smiling. And I'm in total grief because we just let her go. And so she was sitting in the aisle next to me. I didn't see her. But I felt her presence so strongly that I was petting her. And I always laugh and think, I wonder what the people on the plane were thinking, you know, like, who is this woman? She— there's nothing there. And she's moving her hand like this. As if she's petting a dog, because that's what I was doing. And she stayed with me, um, and came and stayed with me that first night when I didn't have to actually go do anything, and let me just experience my sadness and feeling her loving me anyway, comforting me, so that I was able to get up and do what I need needed to do for the rest of the meeting. And it was just awesome. There's what a gift, right? So, and we had— well, we'll keep going. Then we have Mitsubishi. And he is a Siberian Husky. And he knew Eddie. Now he's still alive, right? I gotta be clear on this now.

Yeah, yeah. They're either physical or in spirit is like, oh, I guess they're all alive.

They're all alive. There you go. Thank you. He's physical. His big old furry self is sitting with me on the couch, and I'm doing some— I'm, I'm doing some energy healing for him. Now, I have not just declared I'm an animal communicator because his back end is getting stiff and things like that, and he looks at me, and in my mind I hear Don't try that. Don't do that shit on me. And he, he says, it killed Eddie. What? First I thought, well, if I was really hearing him, this is what he would say. But reality was I heard the guy and he jumped off the couch like he was offended. Um, and after I got over the damn, my dog just swore at me, I, um, I thought about it and thought, well, I was doing energy healing for Eddie. She still passed away. Did it make a difference? And I thought, yeah, it did. She's— she was at a good place. She showed it to me when she, she got on the plane with me, or she was really there. Fully present. And so when I got better at communicating, I went back and said, no, no, Mitsubishi. I know I couldn't keep her in her physical body. Mhm. But I did help her transition to make it easier, to just smooth it out. And then he let me do energy healing on him after that. Hmm. So finally we come to my dog Tibor, who we got after Mitsu died. That was a guy that really pushed me into moving into animal communication. Hmm. He had come from a pretty tough background, and I was picking some of that up. He also had physical scars. For such a young dog, uh, you knew that it was clear, and his behaviors made it very clear that there were some issues in his life. But when I sat on the couch with him, two times I saw the same vision of this training that they do for dogs, uh, guard dogs, where the guys put on these big thick suits and the dogs attack them, and they grab and do all that stuff. And I'm like, what the heck? You must have seen this, because I've seen it. I, it came into my head twice, and I know nothing about that stuff, so it's not like I, I think about it on a regular basis. And I said, I finally said to my friend Mary, I, I don't know what's going on. I keep getting these visions. And she says, Mary Beth, that's animal communication. I'm like, that's a thing? So, um, after that, we— I used both my energy healing and animal communication with him. It helped a big deal. And I also started working with people and their animals after getting some good training. So that's how, that's how I became an animal communicator. It certainly wasn't like I was, um born with it, at least not in my understanding as a kid.

So where do you go for training to be an animal communic— communicator?

Well, there's a, there's a lot of good people out there that train, and, uh, I, I do a— I, I've created YouConnect, uh, my own training for people. It's specifically designed to start connecting with your own animals in case whether you want to be a professional communicator or not. But I'm one of many, and there's some great— there are some great folks out there that do this. And it's lovely when you start making those connections and you can hear and you can also send information. And it just— it adds such a beautiful quality to our relationship with our animals.

So what's animal communication like for you? Do you, do you hear words in English? Do you get images? You kind of touched on a little bit, but just give me some more detail as to how that works for you.

Okay. I, I have my own definition of, I think we'd say telepathy, the intuitive connection, because I think For me, the way it is is information, energy, vibrations are coming into the mind and the brain. I mean, there already does that. We, we get stuff coming into our ears, but it actually goes into the brain, and the brain's the stuff that says, ah, Mary Beth's talking. Same thing with eyesight, it goes to the brain. I think that information comes in that way. So Having said that, uh, I get knowings, like I just know. I've heard things in English. I have, uh, visualized things, and it's, it's not like I'm watching a movie, but in my mind's eye, I'm kind of going like this into my head, but sometimes for people it's a little in front of them. I'm a picture shows up. Um, also feel things in my body. Uh, that's where the many different things like medical intuition come in. But you— I can also feel like if somebody's anxious, I can ask them how, how it feels, and I can feel what it's like in the body. Mhm. Um, so Smell doesn't come in too often, but these are the other ones come in pretty regularly, all these different ways. Brian D Smith.

Yeah, yeah. In mediumship, they call those the clairs, the different clairs. So, and it sounds like you're also a medium as well as an animal communicator, at least with animals.

Yeah. Yeah, it's, it's something that's How do I say it? I know some mediums who are very, very good. I'm not sure I'm at that level, but I certainly can communicate with those who've passed because the truth is their, their energy is still there to be communicated with. Whether you're in a physical body or not, there's, there's, there's somebody out there to communicate with. I just have to learn how to connect and feel that connection with them. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

You know, one of the hardest things about grief? Most of the people in your life just don't get it. They want you to be further along than you are. They get uncomfortable when you bring it up. So you stop bringing it up. And that's why I started writing. My Substack is where I go deeper. Thoughts I don't always get to on the podcast. Essays on consciousness, on continuing bonds, on what it actually means to How to carry a loss and still build a life. The stuff that used to keep me up at night written out in a way that I hope meets you in the morning. But here's what I didn't expect when I started it. The community that showed up. People who are doing exactly what you're doing. Listening, learning, trying to find their footing. Readers who comment, who share their own stories, who remind each other that none of us are as alone in this as we feel. And that's what the Substack has become. Come, a place to go deeper with me and to find your people. It's free to subscribe. Find me at grief2growth.com/substack. That's grief, the numeral 2, growth.com/substack. Or just go to Substack and search for Grief to Growth. I hope to see you there. Yeah, and I was gonna ask you about how we can learn to connect with our own animals. But you know, the thing is, I think anybody that's ever had an animal, and I I'm a dog person. We're talking before we start recording. I've had dogs for the last 30-some years. And they communicate with us in a different language in a different way. And they pick up a lot more than we realize.

Oh, that's so true. I, I felt for forever that our animals are already intuitive. They're already picking all that stuff up. And they're wondering why the heck we aren't able to, you know, get what they're sending in? And why isn't it a two-way street? Uh, um, so this, this little girl, one time, uh, I could not go to sleep. Anybody said— you probably had it— you go to bed and your mind will just not shut up. It just keeps roving and roving, roving. She came over and she slept on my tummy And all of a sudden I realized the next day I had just gone to sleep. She just like, like, you got a problem there, Mom. I can say that. Mary Beth, let me, let me see if I can just clear that stuff out for you. Yeah. Um, yeah. And there's a lot of stories of animals who understand when we're, we're upset or we're grieving and they're there for us. Um, They also pick up on, on our anxiety. I think that it is definitely a two-way street, that our, our own emotions will affect our animals. And, and even the energy of things that we're thinking about doing, even before we get the suitcase out, I think they probably start to pick up the, like, Hey, they're getting ready to go somewhere, or what's, you know, what's going on, things like that.

You know, it's, it's funny that you said that because, um, we were going to try— we were traveling last weekend to go to my parents' house in Columbus. And, you know, we've all had that experience when you get the suitcase out, right? So again, the rational mind says, oh, they know because I've got the suitcase out, and when I got the suitcase out before I left, so they put that together that I'm, that I'm traveling. And then they act all weird. Well, we were leaving that morning and we were, we were driving and we weren't— it wasn't an overnight trip, so we weren't packing. And my dog has never driven to Columbus with us. It's a 2-hour drive from us, but she's never been with us. But we were taking her that day. And but as far as our actions go, nothing was different. It was just a normal morning. But she was acting weird all morning. She was just following right behind me, like right on my legs. And I'm like, how does she know what's going on? Because I haven't done anything out of the ordinary.

There you go, perfect example, Brian D Smith. There's just— they're connected. And who knows, they may even— I think we visualize as much as we speak, and visualizations are really good. So you're probably thinking about where you're going, where's the car going to go, uh, what time should you get there, you know, what do you need to put I think they're picking all that up. And obviously, you just gave me a perfect example of that.

Yeah, I guess it was really wild because— and I know now I wonder, like, did she know that she was going? Because again, she normally doesn't go in the car. She goes in the car to the vet. We don't, we don't take her places. But she was, she was acting really weird that day. And so I think we all have that experience. So when people ask you, how do we communicate with our animals? I think it's And I'll let you answer, but how do you, how do you think we should better connect with our animals?

Um, let's see, how do I start with this? There's some things you can do in the physical world in addition to, you know, using telepathy, the clair, the different clairs. Um, you, you can pay more attention to them in a mindful way. And I'm, I'm saying this based on what I've noticed in my life. Simple things like— I'll say it the way I understood it. We don't walk by them like they're a piece of furniture. We start acknowledging them. Anytime we can with a touch or a look or something like that. So that increases the bond between us. Um, and particularly if you notice that they're looking for you, to you, for some kind of a reciprocal, you love me, right?

Yeah.

Like, just don't walk by, because I've noticed that sometimes with my cats and dogs, and I'll look back and they're like, She just walked by. So I go back and, you know, it doesn't have to be a long one, couple seconds. Um, because we get so absorbed in our human life and our to-dos and what the next thing we have to do is, uh, we forget that there are beings— I don't know that we forget, but we, we put them at a lower level of importance because we got to get stuff done. So I like to move them back up there and And just, it's such a simple thing to do, especially again, when they're, as I said, when they're really looking for you to give them something, when maybe your dog or cat comes up and jumps and just looks at you, or they're, you know, my cats will do that and my dogs will do that also. My little, my new Mali will come and go like this. My little dog, she'll say, excuse me, excuse me, can I have some time from you? And, uh, the answer is generally, yeah, okay. Um, so that's the physical stuff. Um, one more thing which most of us could do a better job at is if we're with them, particularly for walking dogs, It might be a good experience to, to, um, disconnect from phones and anything else and just be there with your pup. Mm-hmm. Uh, enjoying— it's good for us, but it's also good for the dogs. It's like, it's our time. I think if you think of little kids at some point where you just have to be you and them playing in the playground. And you're not, you're not doing this and doing that, you're actually with them doing— that's another way to just increase the bond through physical stuff. All right, so intuitively you could create, just create a mindset that, uh, one, they're already connecting with you, they The stuff's coming in already, and they really want to, so they're ready. And then do a little bit of practice of just being quiet and asking a question. And when I say getting quiet is, is imagine you're just moving your thoughts and emotions out of the way. So I, I, I sometimes I would, I would actually take my mind and say, okay, here's, here's a game, go play solitaire over in the corner because I'm talking to my animals right now. I just need, I need to be with them. And then, um, ask them to tell you or show you something and sit quietly and see if anything comes through. Something probably will. It'll be fleeting, but take it because the first piece you get comes in, slides in like your imagination before your, your thoughts start to beat it down and say, I knew, already knew that, or that's not possible. And then thank them if you get anything and say, I'll take more. That, that's a beginning to start. I'll stop for a second because I want to talk about sending information too. But if you have any thoughts on that, or—

I think that's, I think that's great advice. And it's interesting, when we started the conversation, you talked about your first communication being a mediumistic communication with an animal that was in spirit. And as I hear you talking, I've worked with a lot of mediums, and it sounds like what mediums do. It's like getting my mind out of the way, getting open, that communication is being able to feel that energy. And, you know, and knowing that energy is already coming. It's like, it's like we need to encourage them because your dog is always looking at you, trying to get you to understand what they're thinking.

It is. I really do. I have this picture of them saying, my beloved human, what is wrong with you? I can't think this any louder. Please, where— why aren't you getting this? Yeah, yeah. And so you start opening it. Sometimes I think about it as, as as if you're sitting in a theater waiting for the movie or the play to begin, and you're all quiet because you're just— you're there, open, ready. That's one of my ways of thinking about it. But people probably can come up with their own ways of how to just be quiet for a second and let it in.

Yeah. So that's receiving. What about sending information to our ancestors?

Sending? Sending for me is 3, 3 pieces. Again, you've got to— the preface is, the mindset is you got to trust that you're going to send and they're going to receive it. Like, just imagine or pretend or just say, I'm going to just try this. Who knows, maybe it'll work. If I never do it, I'll never know. So just, just have an open mind about it. Then I like to do pictures, thoughts, and emotions. Pictures are really useful for our animals. Hmm. Um, I think they think in visuals a lot. So when you want to share something, if you can think of a, a visual that will Give them an idea of what you're talking about. Then you, then you say the words that you're going to say. And then if there's an emotion that you can generate, I believe that that amps it up. So for example, when I, when I work with some, I do something called Postcards from Your Pets where I let dogs and mostly dogs and cats know that when their people are coming back and, and tell them they, they're definitely coming back, they love them, I just keep the love connection going. One of the things I do is show them how many sunrises until their people come back. Oh wow. So we, we actually start a countdown after a while. Like, so you picture I'm closing my eyes and I'm, I'm seeing whoever I'm connecting with in my mind's eye. So yeah, and then I'm saying, hey, in case my dogs and cats are listening, this is just a test, I'm just practicing, guys. Um, your people would be back. And I show them the sun, like the day lightning, the sun coming up. And I go, I show 1, 2, 3 And then I, I show on the day they come back is the, my picture of their people walking back through the door and everybody being so happy. So you, you've got— I'm telling them, I'm showing them, and I've got— I actually send the emotion of joy when everybody gets reunited. Mhm. I have more examples, uh, but I'm just stopping to see if anything comes up question-wise from you.

Yeah, I just want to reiterate, I love that example because we, we rarely leave our dog. My wife and I both work from home, and when we take her to the kennel to stay, I always am concerned, like, and I'll tell her in words, you know, we're going to be back in 3 days or whatever. But I like that being able to amplify that with the sunrise, because what I've even thought about, like, tell her it's going to be, you know, certain number of meals, or, you know, so the sunrise is a, is a great way to do it. So yeah, thank you for that. I think that's, that's really going to be helpful for people that, you know, we hate leaving our pets and they don't know, you know.

No, I know. And, and you can communicate while she's there to just continue to say, I, hey, I'm coming back.

I've actually done that.

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I've actually done that. We, we had to go, we went to Arizona last year and we were gone for like a week and we're never gone for a week. And I'm like, you know, Stevie's going to be freaking out because usually it's a day or two. So for 7 days, every, you know, every morning I get up, I'm like, okay, it's just, you know, it's just this many more days. So I like that. But I like sending the picture too. I think that's really helpful. And the emotion.

The emotion makes it just, you know, so, so great. We can, if we have time, we can even, I can give you a technique, we can practice a technique of connecting through the heart. If we have time, we can do that.

Oh, sure, we have time. Yeah.

Okay, what I want to do, one more thing. Let me see with this. All right, excuse me for a second. So we go— the other important thing that I've learned is if you're going to use a visual or you're going to send them information it has to make sense from their point of view. Okay, I'm going to give a couple examples. People, you know, I work with people and they have some rowdy pups generally. I have two. And they say, I want them to behave when people come to the house. I said, that doesn't mean anything to your dog. Behave? What the heck? So then I say, what do you want them to do? How do you want them to behave? Give me a picture. Um, like my, my dog Stella, who passed away, I— and Tibor, I said, when they come in, I'd like you guys to go and just jump on the couch. Tibor's like, yeah, whatever. But Stella— and I would picture her, people coming in, I'm closing my eyes here, I picture people coming in, she's all excited And she looks and she jumps on the couch. Tibor just stands there and just stands, but he, he knows, but he says no. What was so beautiful is that that is what she did. She would go, people would come in and she would jump on the couch and then she would look at me and she would say, I did good, right? I'm like, Stella, you're great. Thank you so much. That's perfect. Um, another one that was very cool was I was working with Lynn and her dog Chef, and they would go to this, um, house, their second house in Colorado with lots of land. And the dogs, she would tell Chef, she would say, don't go any farther than where I can see you. I've got to be able to see you. And he finally said, I don't know what you mean. He actually told her, because she just took my class, he said, well, okay, let's, let's turn it around. How about don't go any farther than you can't see the house or you can't hear me call for you. That's— and then he's like, oh, okay, I get it. Okay.

Yeah.

So, so you really got to think about what— not just the words, but like What are the visuals that you're asking them or you're telling them? Put it in a concrete way. It's very helpful.

Yeah, very helpful. Very helpful.

All right.

You're gonna tell us about a technique to enhance this.

Okay. Yes. Yeah. Um, this is my energetic green smoothie. Um, I used to call it just a green smoothie and people thought I was gonna get a blender out, so that's why I added the energetic into it. But it is a, thank you. Um, and I'd love to do it right now if you want to practice it with me. We'll do it.

Okay.

All right. So we're going to close our eyes and we are going to picture, we're going to picture all the souls in our family. I'd like to do it this way, even if there's just you and one other, uh, uh, soul in the family. Uh, hopefully it's an animal because that, or animal companion. But picture everybody in a circle around you. And, um, I always think of it almost like the feeling of, uh, when I went to Thanksgiving dinner at my Nana and Papa's, and we, that we're all around the table. It's that sort of happy gathering. So it's in your mind's eye. It's just like a memory, but you think of each one that, that is in the family. When you've got that picture in your mind, it's really easy because you love everybody. And I want you to picture or, or imagine or pretend, whatever word works for you, there's a beautiful green light coming out of your chest, your heart area, and it goes, it goes into the heart of whoever is on your left. I, I got people in a circle, and I mean animals as well as human species when I say people. So let it go into their heart. Then if there's more in the family, have that, that beautiful green light, very gorgeous. I think of spring leaves trees, that beautiful green. Go to the next one in the circle's heart, and it keeps going around to each heart until it comes back to you. What's really funny is sometimes people and animals in spirit will pop in to be part of the circle. You just say, yeah, there's, there's always room. Come on. So if, if somebody pops in unexpected, just make room for them because you love them. And now the energy's— the circle is beautiful green light this beam is through everybody's heart area. And I'm— we're using green because the, the heart chakra, the heart energy is always seen as green in what I've learned. Now I want you to add the energy, the feeling of love, and it, it can start to the left and feel the love you have for these lovely souls and send that energy through. Imbue that light with love and have it go through everybody's heart. When it comes back to you, keep it going like a— it's like a really slow river. It's a very gentle movement of love and light. And in your mind, you can tell them some really beautiful things. Um, I'm doing the generic version, but we can talk specifics. So things like, this is what it means to be family. We're all connected at the heart level. We love each other. We take care of each other. I'm always there for you. And then in your mind, just whatever it is that's coming through that you need to say right now, or you want to say, think it to them and know that they're hearing and feeling it too. Okay. Now, as, as you're in here, um, just keep it going, and I'm gonna talk about different ways to use this. So you can do a one-on-one connection. Like when the dog's got to be in the kennel for a longer time. Not only do you connect with them and show the sunrises, but use that green light to connect to their heart and send love. Because I believe love is an amplifier of any communication in the physical world or in— I don't know— the spiritual— at the spiritual level. And you can use that to say, hey, I'm going to be back in 5 sunrises. Let me show you. 1 sunrise, 2, 3, 4, 5. And then I'm coming back. I'm coming to get you. Walk through the door, pick you up, take you home. Yay! Whatever it is. My two dogs, it's been a lot of reminding them that they're going to be with us forever. Every day they wake up, they're going to be with us because they've had some— my two recent guys who are here in the physical, they are having a— they had a rough time, rough start. Mm. So they need to know every day they wake up, they're going to be with this. I'll be quiet, let you say your own things to whoever you need to. Whenever you're ready, you can keep the connection going if you like and just come on back, Brian D Smith.

Yeah, yeah, thank you. That was, uh, that was great. It's really, uh, I think it's a very powerful thing to do. You know, it's funny, because when you said picture everybody in the circle, I already included the people that were in spirit. So I'm glad you gave me permission to do that. But for— because to me, that connection is always there. So I know for some people, they might think of only the people, and I get a lot of times people that are, that are dog lovers, you know, and cats, we've had multiples, we've got several of them. And spirit. So I want to talk about our dogs and our cats as they get older, as they become seniors, and that the struggles that we go through. So, you know, there's, there's taking care of them, and it's also making that decision sometimes to let them go. So how do you help people make those transitions?

Oh, it's In the taking care of them part, one of my most important realizations that I, I want to pass on to others is that when we start to see them decline, or we get that diagnosis that, that clearly says there's an end in sight, our grief starts right then. I mean, we always— I don't care how many people and, and animals, how many souls we've lost, we still have this, you know, belief that not today, not now, not soon, and then it hits. So the one thing I'd ask people to do is to remember that they didn't get that diagnosis. They are not, they are not grieving like we humans are. And I haven't met any human who loves their animal that doesn't start grieving when they hear that stuff or they notice that stuff. Um, and we jump to, we jump to the end of what we're going to do and things like that. And, uh, there's, there's a phrase I'm not being a smart aleck, but I say, but I do want to wake people up to say, I'm not dead yet. Come on, be here now with me. I'm not dead yet. Focus back into the joy of daily being with them daily and making their life as joyful as possible. With Stella, I used to sing to her. I'd say, every day with Stella is a great day. Because that's how I felt, you know. And I'm, I'm gonna— I'm getting teary-eyed because I just, I just miss her. Um, but be— find the joy as often as you can. I, I'm not saying to shut down the other feelings, but find the joy as often as you can with their being in their presence. Also, look, sometimes look to alternative therapies or just basic things. Good veterinary care is great. I found acupuncture to be wonderful. There's, there's all kinds of things that you can use to help them stay mobile. You can even look into, say, is, I think, vets are better at this than maybe 30 years ago, but are they in pain? And would it help if we decrease their pain? Something just simple like that. And pay attention to the basics of keeping them comfortable. Mm-hmm. And sometimes go outside to alternative therapies because a lot of those are really good. Massage, hydrotherapy, things like that, if you can do it., you know, do it or learn how to do massage yourself. I was actually working with somebody over Zoom, and I wish I— because of my background in massage therapy, I was telling her how to work on her dog while we were there. And she was down there, she says, oh yeah, yeah, his eyes are like, oh, he loves it. I said, yeah, do that. Because, um, I'm saying this because a lot of times their muscles are tight. It's not just arthritis. It's that there's tight muscles and that makes everything worse. And so if you can start making sure the muscles are moving around and all that, you're going to have a happier animal as long as they're here. So there's— that's the physical stuff that you can do. Look for what— we do this, but look more Mindfully what brings them joy and make sure that you're doing that with them and become the most flexible person that you can be about what they can't do anymore and how we can still figure out how we bring them joy. Somebody wants to go outside, but they can't walk much. Is there something you can do so they can still walk? Are you going to get one of those, those contraptions that look like baby carriages and put them in there and take them out. What can you do to keep bringing joy into their life? Physical touch is also very important. Most of us love having physical touch with their animals. Cats make their own decisions about how much they want. Generally, in, in these later years, even if it's a soft sitting next to or whatever, being, being physically connected is very comforting for them. Okay. Um, so Anything that you want. I, I was going to go into— I'm going to go into about, um, the ending part and how, how I've seen it happen, or, and give some ideas about that. But anything before that, Brian, that, that you had a question on, or thought?

No, I think, um, I, I love what you said about staying in the moment, because I think about— when I think about animals, our dogs and cats I believe that they live in the moment. And as you said, that thing, like, I'm not dead yet. So we get that diagnosis, and we immediately jump to the end, and we're, and we're sad. And they're probably looking at us going, what is going on with you? Everything's okay, you know, because they're still fine today, or they're, they're focused on today, they're not focused on tomorrow. So I do want to ask you, And this, this relates to when we do get to the end, because I'm thinking of a really good friend right now. She's had several dogs, and she's had to make a decision to let some of them go, and she just recently did it. And she's like, I can't have any more dogs because my, you know, my heart breaks too much when I, when I have to let them go. Um, but I, I think, and that since we do that, we're kind of denying ourselves the joy of, of having the time with them. So what would you say to that?

Yeah, I'm— well, I'm saying that she has to honor the fact that she's not ready. And the immense pain. I personally have been through that. I lost 3 out of 5 of my dogs and cats a year ago, right about this time. And But I want to say that my dog Mitsubishi, um, when he passed— and he was like my heart dog, he was the guy that was there for me when my first husband died, um— so when he passed, I was like, why, why did you have to go? I, I still needed you. And he said, somebody else needs you. I need to move out of the way so somebody else can come into your life. And that's when Tabor, who probably came as a bait dog from a dog fighting group. Wow. Yeah. So, um, I would ask people to open your heart and find whatever it is that— whether it's compassion or remembering the joy of their lives and how much they bring into your life. And do it again.

Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I had to go so that you could make room for someone else.

Yeah, because we're— it's not like we can have 10 dogs in our family. I live in a little townhouse in the suburbs, you know.

Yeah, yeah, I'm the same way. Every dog I see, I want. And a friend of mine just recently had a dog. She's in Wisconsin, I'm in Ohio, and she's like, I have this dog, I can't keep him because my son has allergies. And I'm like, yeah, I can't, you know, we can only have so many at one time. So that's a great way of looking at it. Sometimes one has to go to make room for another. And that answers a question I think kind of was gonna ask you about: do animals have soul plans the way that I think— I believe humans do? So what are your thoughts on that?

I do. I'm glad you asked that question. I believe that— I've gone as far as to say yes, they do. And I believe they're part of our soul families. And I believe love is eternal. And once we have that connection, We are bonded. Now, how— I won't— I don't know how it all fits together. I have my own opinion about that. But boy, they're part of our soul families. And I believe that they have things that they want to accomplish in this life, and things that they want to give, as well as the human species does. And that they choose us and we choose them.

Yeah, I 100% agree with that. So when it comes to that, that decision of having to make a decision to let our animal go, and I say it's a privilege that we can do that. Because we can't, you know, I don't know how you put people's thoughts are, but with humans, we don't get to make that choice. With animals, we do. But then there's always— there's an inevitable guilt. Did I do it too soon? Did I wait too late? And people will usually fall one side or the other, but they're going to beat themselves up either way. So what do the animals have to tell us about that?

This is the best thing that I've learned, and I hope everybody who's listening takes this to heart. In the animals that I've connected with in the afterlife, they don't hold grudges. So they're not saying, you did this. Um, what it— what they have, they have communicated through various ways is that what they bring with them is our love. That's what carries over into the afterlife. And the other thing that I want to say is, when our— when they come into our lives, I believe that they give us their medical power of attorney. They say you— okay, I, I get it, uh, you're going to take care of me. And, and it is at a soul level. It's not like the dog says, let me sign this thing. I know I'm not— it's not there, but there's a soul level where they agree that we, we will be their guardians. And so letting them go is not— it is not required to be perfect. It, it is not a requirement that we have to be perfect people in this area, and I don't even think that is possible. But if we do it with love and compassion, it, it's— that's what they bring. That's what they bring into their afterlife. And they— the other stuff starts to just fade away, um, the difficulties and whatever they had going on in the physical world. It's, it's it, it generally gets cleared out. Mhm. So that's a— that I really want to say that. I think it's so important for people to hear. And, and then to also— I also want to point out that what I've realized is this stuff of too, too late, held in too long, did it too soon, it's a barrier to feeling the full grief of their loss. It's a human way of coping, um, and I get it, because once you pull that away, it's like, nope, they're gone. Yeah, that's it. They physically— I'm not going to be touching them or looking into their eyes. That's— that part of our connection is finished. That's And that's a hard place to get to.

Yeah, that was, that was very well said. As someone who works with people in grief, and we usually talk about people, but we also grieve our animals. That guilt is a, is a very common thing. And it is a barrier to healing. And I, and frankly, until you just said that, I've never thought of it that way. It's kind of a way of distracting ourselves. The way of not, instead of dealing with the grief, I'm going to deal with the guilt. And, and so you, you beat yourself up over it to avoid dealing with the fact that, you know, that they are physically gone from us.

They are physically gone from us. Yeah. And it took me a while to figure that one out. Because it was so— I mean, just all of us have it. Yeah, that's part of it. It's just, we're not quite ready to move into the reality, this new reality that we have.

Yeah. And I've had to make that decision twice. And, you know, you're— and, you know, my dog, the last one I had to make the decision for, was about 4 years ago, I think it was. And she hadn't been able to walk for a couple days. She was having seizures. She'd spent a whole day, like, in her, in her room. We have a mudroom where she would stay. I'm like, she's not having any quality of life. She's not be able to get out. I already taken to the vet and they said it's going to be a while, but it's not today. One of those types of things. So we take her to the vet and they throw a treat on the floor. I'm like, she's not going to eat it because she hasn't eaten anything like in 2 or 3 days. And she jumped up and ate the treat right as we're about to put her down. And I'm like, oh no, you know, but so that, you know, start thinking, well, maybe she could have had a little bit more time. You know, those thoughts go through your head.

Oh, it's so funny that you say that because I think, um, oh, this is just my theory. I saw when I went home to say goodbye to my dad, he had been close to a coma and, uh, had all the family here and my kids were like, uh, 2 and 4 at the time and he perked up. Uh, he wasn't eating, he had stomach cancer, but he grabbed my son a treat that my son had and he ate it just to be a smartass. And then he, and like 2 days later he was gone. But it was like a, just on a final, like, uh, okay, it's almost over and I'm gonna, I'm just gonna do it.

Yeah.

Because I can't, you know, uh, I feel like that happens sometimes, that, that final splurge of, and I, I think part, partly sometimes it's relief. It's like, I know it's I know I've got a better outcome, that there's something good on the other side, and this body is, is, is not— it's no fun anymore. And I'm okay.

Yeah. And I think it's really important. And I love this conversation. And I'm glad we went to this point. Because it's not the end. We think of like, when we're making the decision for our animal, we think of it as— I think of it as we're releasing them. You know, we're getting to the point where our bodies are designed to fail. They all do. Inevitably, they all do. And when we do get cats and dogs, we know that theirs typically fail sooner than ours do. So it's time to free them from that, that, that body that no longer functions the way that they needed to, to, to have the joy that they could have.

I think it's so— that's so true. And I, I, they also get to that point too. I was, uh, talking to a cat. We, we do check-ins every month, um, who's got neurological problems. And the, the way that it came through for this cat was that, uh, if you have the analogy of the body is a car, She tried to shift, wouldn't go, turn the steering wheel to the right and the car would go to the left. She's like, I'm— and then couldn't even get out, like started to feel trapped in her own body. And then we kind of know that the fun stuff is— there's not much left anymore.

There's a question I wanted to ask you and it's maybe outside your area of expertise. But, you know, I had someone ask me just the other day, you know, people that are very sensitive will say, why do animals come to Earth to suffer? You know, like, well, especially like food animals, for example. Have you ever gotten any insight into that? Like, you know, being a cow or being a chicken?

Well, you know, everything we, we feel or know always, um, changes. But at this point, I'm not— so this is on a bigger level, not on the— if you ask me if I was a cow, I'd say no worries, I'm going to choose this. At a cow level. This is not a life that I want. However, I wonder if there's some goodness, big enough goodness in their souls that says, um, we'd like to give you the chance to relook at how, how you are treating another species in this world. Uh, we're willing to— I, I don't know. That's what's coming through is humans, uh, we'd like you to learn to have compassion for all of us. And, um, I wonder if that's possible. That's just a wondering. Is it at a very high level?

There They're like, "Wake up." Yeah, I kind of threw that at you out of the blue. So I appreciate you playing along and answering that.

Thanks. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. We'll see how that plays out for me. But that's what I was— I was wondering if that's, that's possible for, for them to choose to.

So the last question I want to ask you is about reincarnation. And You know, there's, there's some debate about whether people— animals have been people, or could be people, or people could come back as animals. Have you had any insight into that?

I, I have felt that there might be some ability to choose to not be a human and to come back as an animal. I don't believe that it's punishment like some of the stuff I've read about, right? I think it's a choice. I met a horse that really loved this woman, uh, and was a— as a guy, and um, he was— he felt very human to me in his relationship because he said— if he's— he explained that if he was a man, he would fight her husband for her. That's a very human thought. And yeah, the anthropomorphism— but that is what came through for me. Um, and I, and I also found a really interesting story about a kid who had a memory of being a snake in a village and had many of the— knew the story of the man in the village who had killed the snake. And it just felt true to me. It's a very fascinating story. So I'm kind of open to it. I mean, like, I don't know that the rules are as stringent as some people have said.

Yeah, we always want to apply rules to everything. And people want to say, well, animals— well, it's interesting. Some people say animals don't have souls, which to me is just— that's not even debatable. They clearly do. And then some people say, well, their souls are different. And, you know, so humans could never be an animal. But why not? Why couldn't I want to experience what it's like to be a dog or a cat? It's, it's just, as you said, different vehicle to drive for my soul.

Yeah. And, you know, I met people who say that they're sure that their cat is their grandfather or their grandmother. And I'm like, I don't, I don't know that you're wrong. I don't know. You knew him.

Yeah, I think it's certainly possible. Mary Beth, we're coming to the end of our time. I really appreciate you doing this with me today. Let people know, like, what services you offer, because I know you do work with people one-on-one, people and animals. And how people can find you.

Okay, thank you, Brian. This has been great. So you can find me— the best way to find me is go to my website, sacredgrove.com, S-A-C-R-E-D-G-R-O-V-E.com. I work with people and their pets, people and their animals to to help with behavior— that's Buddy— behavior, emotional, physical stuff, end of life. I do most of it over Zoom, some phone calls, and I do it if you can speak English and you can do it in some time zone that agrees with you. We can work together and we look— we can do both animal communication getting a little bit into the bodies of what's going on there, and energy healing. So it's— and sometimes it's for the person as well as the animal. I, I also teach YouConnect, and, uh, that's twice a year. And I've created something called Family Animal Communicators Community for folks who want to try learning it themselves with my prerecorded sessions and doing some practice. So that's it in a nutshell. Thank you.

Awesome. So we can find all that on sacredgrove.com. Yeah, I think what you're— I know what you're offering is, is very valuable. And I love— I loved our conversation today. As I said, I've had dogs for a long time. I've always felt like I can communicate with them. And I don't understand people that really don't get it. So I appreciate the the practical tips you've given us today and people being open, because you said, I know our dogs are there, they're sending us stuff, they're receiving stuff. You know, there have been studies like, like dogs know when they're, when their owners are coming home. Like, my dog will come, I'm out walking every morning, and 5 minutes before I get home, she'll go to the window. And again, I'm like, how does she know that? She can't hear me. She probably can't smell me for, you know, it's, she, there's a connection.

I saw the same thing with my cat because my husband will take the dogs out. And, um, I'd always noticed that Shadow was sitting on the rug when the dogs came in, but then I noticed before they were even close, she got on the rug facing the door waiting for them to come back. I'm like, yeah, okay.

Yeah, I think your, your cat knows that it's the end of our interview because she just got up and left. She's like, okay, well, it's been, it's been great having this conversation with you today. Thanks a lot.

Thank you. It's been wonderful.

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