How Do I Know When to Get Another Pet?

 How do you know when a new pet is right for you? Have you found one and are now agonizing over the decision? Agonizing over it probably means the time isn't right, or the pet isn't the right one. 

Remember that everything feels right when a new pet is right for you. You will be put in the right place at the right time. The process is smooth and easy. Sometimes the pet will come to you without your having to do anything.  You usually feel it in your heart when its right. The price is always right because you want that pet and you will pay the price. 

Read Chapter 4 in my book. Kate went through the same dilemma. There is nothing worse than regretting this kind of decision. Of course you will have the normal What If's and perhaps some fear of commitment but there will be an underlying confidence that this is the pet for you. 

Try not to be too stressed about it. There are many many pets available out there and there will always be another opportunity. The timing will always be right. Let your heart and soul lead you to the one that's meant for you. Let your heart lead the way...not your head... or what someone else thinks.

Thank you for wanting to love again. We love you the way we do so that you will miss the love when we are gone (from your sight) and so that you will seek it again. After all, love is what makes everything else worthwhile. 

Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master can be found on Amazon Worldwide.

One Death after Another. My Dog Then My Father.

In Honor of Father's Day

(Excerpt from Book 3: Jack McAfghan's Return From Rainbow Bridge")

Upon my arrival at Rainbow Bridge Crossing.... 

CHAPTER 14

Never Alone

As I was happily reuniting with Grady and some other friends, I heard someone calling my name. It was a commanding voice. “Jack!” I raced back to the Bridge. I was so excited! I thought maybe they were calling to tell me that Kate was coming!

But no, I was being summoned. They were recruiting me to go back to escort Kate’s father across the Bridge. No one crosses alone without someone they know and love beside them. I was the chosen one.

When I crossed the Rainbow Bridge with Thalia in the wee hours of that morning, I would not have expected Kate’s father to be crossing over the following afternoon. It was complex, for while she wept bitter tears for me, she also cried guilty tears for the fact that, while she loved her father a great deal, she simply had loved me more. Dealing with yet another loss interrupted her grieving process with me. The anger stage she was supposed to go through with me she applied to her father instead. Once she was done dealing with her grief over losing him, she would have to come back and finish the grieving she started with me.

I was told why I had to leave the day before he did. It was because they needed to teach me what I needed to know to be ready to best assist him. Lizard was my role model. He had shown me what to do and I had been well prepared.

When I arrived back on the other side of the Bridge to collect him, it was very hard not to think about going to her instead but I promised them I would stay true to my mission. It was the hardest thing I ever did, to be that close to her and to walk away again. My Rainbow friends had promised me that they would soon teach me how to be with her despite the veil between us, so I focused on that and it gave me hope.

It’s interesting that they chose me to be the one to escort him, but I guess it’s because he had one more lesson to learn before he got to Heaven. When Chuck walked the earth, he was one of those people who didn’t quite understand that I was a thinking feeling being just like him. He thought of me as Just A Dog, but then he would glare at me if I acted like one; if I barked or got too rambunctious or got my nose too close to his food. I was so surprised by his reaction when I came back to get him that day. Boy, was he happy to see me! It’s interesting how you learn how much someone loves you when they thought they were all alone and then you show up for them.

I was there with him because the moment we leave this world our Master makes sure that we are not alone. Not ever. I thought it was quite amusing how Chuck kept walking with a limp all the way across the Bridge, as if his knee still hurt him.

You don’t have to limp anymore. You don’t have a reason to limp anymore.

“I know,” he replied, but his head hadn’t yet caught up with the miracle that was happening. Sometimes the head takes awhile catching up with what the heart already knows. He was still stuck in the belief that he was who he was on earth, with his limitations in body and mind. His body was free and yet still he limped all the way across the Bridge, at which point he would be sent to the Rainbow Healing Center to correct his thinking so that he could be free.

I knew she would be okay because when you keep yourself very busy with tasks, you don’t have much time to grieve and feel sorry for yourself. She was getting ready to go into the city to close out her father’s apartment. We would all be very busy in the days ahead. She had cured me of my fear of bridges but nothing had been able to ease my apprehension over the unpredictable slam of the teeter-totter. After we returned to the other side of Rainbow Bridge, I went into the Healing Center too, to resolve that issue. We cannot take any fear into Heaven with us because love does not coexist with fear and Heaven is all love. The only way to be free is to rid ourselves of the fears.

Let Jack Heal Your Heart. Available on Amazon Worldwide in Paperback, on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited and through your favorite bookseller. 

Just like your angels, you are never alone. You can take Jack wherever you go and he will keep you connected to your loved ones, who are with you wherever you go. 

Jack: I AM the Spirit that Moves

Dear Jack: 

Is it okay to get another pet if the spirit moves you?  

Don't you know, I am the spirit that moves you?

You can't replace me, but you can bring in a new kind of love. You've had her now for almost three months. You see her healing. You feel yourself healing too. It has taken this long for you to trust each other. She no longer runs from you. She comes to you seeking love. You are healed enough now, to give her everything and more. But I know. I know you still love me. I still see you cry when you don't think you have everything, but you do. You do have everything.

Love, Jack

"Jack McAfghan: A Dog's Memoir on Life After Death"

The Rainbow Bridge Poem

It is the most popular request I receive on Jack's Page and Blog. 
To publish the original poem that comforts the soul.... This is one of the greatest poems about the afterlife of pets, yet no one knows who the author was who wrote it so long ago. 

Thank you to the one who wrote it, who continues to inspire so many of us to this day. Love never dies. The power of the words of this unknown author will never die either. 

 "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."  Reflections on Life with my Master, Chapter 67

Review: Jack McAfghan is "A Treasure!!!!!!!"

☆☆☆☆☆ "There is so much healing and love flowing from this book it will spin your head around and you will forever know the reason your beloved pet came into your life and then left. For every time there is a season and for every loss there is a reason. A treasure!!!!!!!" Amazon Customer Review

"Are All Your Books About Dead Dogs?"

Our first book in the Jack McAfghan series was "Jack McAfghan: Reflections on Life with my Master".  Jack quickly developed a following by helping people to work through their grief, walking them through it each step of the way. As a canine "grief counselor," Jack connected readers with their own loved ones and brought those loved ones back for healing. 

After that book was published in June 2015 I just kept writing and writing and writing.  

Last month, a family member called to congratulate me on the then-upcoming publication of "The Lizard from Rainbow Bridge."  She had no idea what this book was about. She then asked me: "Are all your books about dead dogs?"  

Well, no. This second one is about a lizard actually. A dead one. A dead one who lives on in another dimension. Ok? 

My next book, yes, it's about a "dead dog" too. Jack is back again. In the style of his first books, he helps the reader through their grief by teaching and supporting... and sharing the wonderful story of his journey to Rainbow Bridge and back again. "Return from Rainbow Bridge" is a book, also narrated by Jack McAfghan, that speaks of why we die, how we die, how we can return to life and how the end of this life is not the end of life at all. We hope to release it by the end of this year. 

What's next after that? Well, I guess it's about a "dead dog" too. It's a book about the progression of death in all things.  It's a small booklet that guides a stressed reader through the dying process. After 30 years working with Death and Dying I have witnessed the same things happen over and over again. There is a somewhat predictable course when one prepares to die of natural causes. This little book will prepare the reader to recognize the stages of the journey and to best prepare for the inevitable. It is told by---- Jack, the canine grief counselor. Jack just seems to have a better way with words than I do.   

....And the next book after that comes along as a matter of course. Over the past year or so, as Jack worked his way into the hearts of his readers, they wrote him fan mail and many letters seeking support, comfort and advice. "Letters from Rainbow Bridge" brings his answers to their questions about death, dying, decision-making, emotional issues and confusion that are a part of grief. He teaches the reader how to find the best help and how best to help others who are going through loss.

That said, there is another book. I was almost finished with it before the fateful week that changed my life. In July 2014 I took Jack in for surgery on a Monday, taking that week off to be near him and to finish the book. But it didn't unfold that way. Jack  passed that Friday and my father passed the next day... I short sold my home the following month. Caught up in grief and loss, I was paralyzed for six months. Then Jack brought me back to life. He came back into my life and rocked my world. He gave my words back to me and brought my intuition into the light of day.  I never planned to write all these other books. He inspired all of them. 

"It's All About You" will be finished after "Letters" ...and there are many many more books forthcoming. This journey is definitely not about a 'dead dog'. It is about Letting Go of everything we ever thought Love was.  Everything we ever thought Life was. Everything we thought Death was. 

Sometimes you have to reach a certain age, a certain stage in life to find out what makes you happy.  I am currently looking for new housing and a simpler life, financially and otherwise, because All I Want To Do Is Write.  I will sacrifice everything and do whatever it takes to make this happen. 

See you in my next book!