Life is the School, Love is the Lesson, Grief is Our Teacher

 

Only those who avoid love can avoid the pain of grief. Grief has a Grand Plan. Grief teaches you to quiet yourself and learn to tune into the unseen world around you. Getting through grief will strengthen your faith in that which you cannot see. 

When we struggle we can die. When we resist we can get hurt. Surrender to the grief. You are not required to feel anything. Just FEEL whatever feelings come.  Don't be afraid of them. They will not hurt you any more than struggle and resistance.  

Only those who avoid love can avoid the pain of grief. Don't let yourself be one of them. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile --- and it's only a ride, this life. The Real Life is Yet To Come. 

Keep the faith. Keep going. Keep growing. It will all be worth it in the end --- in the beginning. 

A Walk In The Rain Turns into an Unexpected Date with Love

It's the anniversary of my crossing. Late this afternoon she went out in the pouring rain. She didn't really know why she went out there, but I think she heard my heart calling her heart. She doesn't always listen she's so busy hearing with her ears and thinking with her head. Humans have to pay attention to that feeling in their gut, in their heart, or they miss a lot. 

She went right to the place where we would sit after a long hike and overlook the wash below. If you've read our book, it's the same place where I sent her the lightning bolt and the hummingbird moth so long ago.  Today as she sat there she was talking with me, tears rolling, but not crying. I covered her with my "signature" goosebumps -- It's as close I can get to hugging her full body from behind. It is always the same. I always send her the same feeling. That's how she know's it's me. She was chilled by the rain, but her back was warm with my love. "I can feel you Jack. I know you're here with me." 

As she spoke to me, she thanked me for all I have done for her and for helping everyone who reads my story. It pleases us so much -- all of us at Rainbow Bridge-- to be able to help so many people work through their grief. Her words made me so happy that I sent a most beautiful amber light that lit up our wash like it was a flood light on a stage set. It was lightning, yes, but it lingered longer than a mere bolt. Like so many miracles from Rainbow Bridge, it can't really be described. As soon as the light came, the thunder rolled from one side of the wash to the other. It rolled long and deep. Then it rolled high above her as it traveled up over the nearby mesa. 

I know she knows the truth. I was the thunder. I was the lightning too. I knew she knew it was me because when she said, "Thank you. Thank you Jack," she was crying because she knew in her heart that it all was my response to her.  

...And the brave mourning dove who usually becomes uneasy with such things and flies away, she remained in the nearby tree and stayed for the whole show. 

So many things can happen when you pay attention... and when you rise to the call.

Do You Love Me Enough to do This?

Letting Go - Balloons

When we are faced with a difficult life challenge there is usually a lesson in it. Most of our life lessons are about Love 

and about Letting Go. 

Letting Go doesn't mean you don't love them anymore. Letting Go doesn't mean you won't miss them anymore. You can never cut the ties that bind two souls together who truly love each other. What you DO need to cut is the Leash of Grief and Guilt that binds them to you and prevents them from doing what is best for them.

As They say, set something free and if it was yours to begin with, it will come back. It's natural law, in Heaven and on Earth and in all the spaces in between life and death and life. Your loved ones cannot come back from a place they have not yet arrived. 

If you are looking for Signs and not finding them, take a look at what you are doing. If your best friend is still on the leash of your grief, your best friend is not yet free to be everything he or she can be. 

Letting Go is the most important thing you can do for both of you. It is the ultimate act of faith... and you will be rewarded for it. 

Breathe. Then Let Go. It's time.

You say you love. Do you love them enough to let them go? 

Do you trust them enough to have the faith that they will never leave?  Do you trust yourself enough to have the faith that if they leave, you will still be okay? 

"'Do not cling to me,' said Jesus, 'for I have not yet ascended to the Father.'"

John 20:17

(Jesus to Mary Magdalene) 

The Natural Cycle of Life and Death -- and Life

IF YOU WERE A FLOWER: THE NATURAL CYCLE OF LIFE

An excerpt from our latest book, 

Only Gone From Your Sight: A Personal Approach to Human Grief & Loss

"Even the tiniest perennial grows only to die. It comes back again and again when the season and the time is right. Even annual flowers grow seeds as they grow so that they can drop the seeds of themselves and live again year after year, life after life." 

The Lizard from Rainbow Bridge, Chapter 11

Nature continually reminds us of the natural cycles of life. If you were a flower, when the harshness of winter comes you would pull yourself deep inside to protect yourself from freezing, to prevent yourself from dying. You toughen up the outside, close yourself up and go deep within where you are always safe.

Then after quite a long while there comes a bit of warmth and a welcoming day brings with it the thaw. Spring comes and something inside of you stirs. You realize you’ve survived another winter. The ice melts away and you can feel the outside of yourself again. As the warmth so long gone from your life surrounds you, you decide maybe it’s worth blooming again for another season. Hope returns to your heart as you prepare for new life.

You begin to open again as the sun fuels your soul. Your energy returns. An infusion of life force comes to you, giving you more power than you have known since you went into hibernation. This power is the force that pushes you to develop your stems, to press through the soil, to stretch forth and reach towards the light again.

Sometimes Spring can make you an April fool, bringing a bluff! What you planned on, the rain that waters your roots so that you can grow again, turns unexpectedly to ice then snow and it finds you unsuspecting. You are vulnerable and alone, exposed and unprotected. Your tender life is threatened. In some seasons the storm will pass quickly and you will survive; other seasons you can be hurt so deeply that you must withdraw and retreat deep into your roots where you will take the remaining seasons off to rebuild yourself and prepare for the distant day when Spring returns and gives you another chance to thrive.

Despite everything in this year you have survived and in the next season you will grow hardy and beautiful, thriving for the harshness that once threatened you. The early blooms that sprouted, only to be frozen, pinched back by Nature Herself, are destined to return brighter and stronger than ever.

This is the YOU that has grown from the cold harsh winter of your loss. You are the flower that is destined to bloom again. You are the root. You are the bloom. You are the spirit; you are the soul that lives inside every living thing. With each passing season you become stronger and wiser. You go deeper and deeper within where your power can be found. Your roots reach further and further into the quiet nourishing protective earthy space that surrounds you. Look how far you’ve come from being the fragile shoot that first made itself known in the landscape of life!

Your colorful blooms will burst forth stretching now to the sky and you’ll show no fear because you know that no matter what happens you will adjust to the climate that surrounds you and you will be okay. It’s what you’ve learned.

And so it goes.

Book 6: "A Unique and Life-Changing Book"

Now Available on Kindle 
Coming Soon in Paperback !

Author Kate McGahan brings 35 years of clinical hospice experience and end of life social work into this uniquely powerful life --changing book! Kate offers her compassion, empathy and understanding which fill this healing book to the rim with substance, spirituality and love. Her empathy allows her to be the voice throughout the book of the one who is dying. This book was written to help the grieving reader to open their mind and heart to all the possibilities in the afterlife.

​

Learn to communicate with your loved one in new ways as you work together to get through the grief, keeping the powers of faith and love at the forefront. This book applies to anyone grieving the loss of a spouse, partner, parent, child, family member, pet or friend, no matter where they are in the dying process. Life is too short and too long to live under the cloud of heavy grief.

​

There is no “right way” to grieve. There is no “wrong way” to grieve. There is only YOUR way. Empower yourself with the guidance given in this book and you will find your way out of the grief and back into the power of a love that never dies. 

Click HERE for a FREE PREVIEW

Holidays and Grief

If you grieve the loss of someone you love, holidays can be especially difficult. As you rise to meet social obligations, try to keep your focus on the love in your heart, not the grief in your head. Try to keep it as positive as possible and know that you are blessed for having had such a great love in your life. All the love you ever gave is waiting for you on the Other Side; it's waiting for you when the time is just right. Keep the faith that love never dies.

Prayers to all over the upcoming holiday season. 

Find our books to heal your grief on Amazon Worldwide in Paperback and Kindle Unlimited 

Only Gone From Your Sight: For Humans. Coming December 2018.

Written in the style of "Only Gone From Your Sight: Jack McAfghan's Little Guide to Pet Loss & Grief," Book 6 shares material that applies to human beings but includes additional material related to planning, options for end of life care and encouragement and support to help humans with their loss of their human loved ones.   

COMING TO AMAZON in DECEMBER.

PREORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!  

Review of "Reflections on Life with my Master: A Dog's Memoir on Life After Death"

starsA healing journey through loss and grief.

Jack brings you into his world - a world of wonder and thoughtful consideration infused with unconditional love. Observe the world through Jack's eyes and find yourself transformed and connected in a new way to those you love. You will discover that we all should give careful thought to how we interpret the actions of others, question what is happening, and understand that our Master has things in mind for us that we cannot even dream of yet.

Oh, and bring tissues. You will cry. You will feel the deep, soulful ache at the loss of a great friend. You will weep at the recognition of beautiful, simple truths and the bitter-sweet release of letting go. And, in the end, you will shed joyful tears at love found again and remembered. Discover and cherish the sparkling jewels along the way. And in the end there is love, as it was all along.

Let Jack be your companion on a healing journey through loss and grief. You will not regret it.

~Sandra MacEachern, Verified Amazon Canada Customer

Find Jack's Books and more Reviews by clicking HERE.

Click HERE for a Free Preview!  

The Key to a Love that Lasts Forever

Letting Go doesn't mean you don't love them anymore. Letting Go doesn't mean you won't miss them anymore. You'll always remember. You can never cut the ties that bind two souls together who truly love each other. What you DO need to cut is the Leash of Grief and Guilt that binds them to you and prevents them from doing what is best for them.

As They say, set something free and if it was yours to begin with, it will come back. It's natural law, in Heaven and on Earth and in all the spaces in between life and death and life. Your loved ones cannot come back from a place they have not yet arrived. 

If you are looking for Signs and not finding them, take a look at what you are doing. If your best friend is still on the leash of your grief, your best friend is not yet free to be everything he or she can be. 

Letting Go is the most important thing you can do for both of you. It is the ultimate act of faith... and you will be rewarded for it. 

Breathe. Then Let Go. It's time.

You say you love. Do you love them enough to let them go? 

Do you trust them enough to have the faith that they will never leave?  

"'Do not cling to me,' said Jesus, 'for I have not yet ascended to the Father.'"

John 20:17

(Jesus to Mary Magdalene) 

Special Promotion for our Loyal Readers

We are re-releasing our original book, "Reflections on Life with my Master: A Dog's Memoir on Life After Death" with a new cover and updated Afterword information inside! We have reduced the price from $14.99 to just $5.99 during the re-launch period so that our readers can get an updated copy or buy extras for those who may be grieving. 

For less than the cost of a nice greeting card, you can give a great book that will heal the grief in a matter of hours. Jack is the best four-legged counselor in the universe, and he can do it in ways no one else can.  

Find us on Amazon Worldwide. 

Also available on Kindle and in Large Print.  

https://amzn.to/2yCNam4 

Did God Take Him Away to Punish Me?

Dear Jack,
If it wasn't for my dog I would surely be dead or in prison. He had this little look he would give me like he was saying, You Know You Shouldn't Do That, then he would come up and lick my face like he still loved me. He really turned my life around. He was a God send. I thought at first God took him to punish me for things I've done but a Preacher told me God loves all the things we do and wasn't like that. 
Could that be true? 
Pete

Dear Pete,
Oh my friend it's true. God was not punishing you at all. You cannot lose God and you cannot lose your dog either. They both live in a Place Beyond Time. Try to keep your beautiful dog in the present tense, because Love Never Dies. It's hard to realize amidst your grief and your loss that your dog still is very much alive in spirit and soul. He is not in your past. He is your Now. He is your Forever.  He is your Always. 

It was the voice in your own head that you projected into your dog's head that said, “You Know You Shouldn’t Do That.” Your dog never ever stood in judgment or blame, not for a moment. God was simply giving you a glimpse of Him and His Love through your dog's awareness, forgiveness and acceptance of All That You Are. All. That. You are. You are loved. You are accepted. You are forgiven. This is what we come to teach you and this is why God sends us.  We are His gifts to you so that you can know how much you are Loved. 

I love you too.
Jack

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. 

Roommate Has The Bed By The Window

An old story I've heard since I started working in health care -- so many years ago....  

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.  The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour 

periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline

could be seen in the distance.  As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it. In his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Days and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in

his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up 

on one elbow  to take his first look at the real world outside.

He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.

It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window

The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

Follow Your Gut Feelings - They Know More Than You Do.

I was just reminded of a St Patrick's Day when I was in my early 20's working at the nursing home. I was excited to get out of work to celebrate with my friends, but my last patient was an Irishman whose only wish was for a McDonald's Shamrock Shake. He was not diabetic, was considerably underweight and was a dear lonely soul. A disabled Veteran with no family, he was a bit of a curmudgeon. I always gave extra love to those who were rough on the edges. I knew they needed it more than anyone.

Much to his surprise I came back to his room about an hour later with an extra large Shamrock Shake for him. His eyes were wide and his smile was so big! He reached his bony hands out for the plastic cup and awkwardly fit the straw into his mouth. You should have seen his face; he was in Seventh Heaven. He drank about 1/4 of it and then asked to me to put in the unit fridge. He would sip on the rest in the morning.

www.flickr.com

The next morning I came in to work and learned that he had passed in the night. I was at the nurse's station with tears in my eyes, unprepared for such news. The Charge Nurse, my superior, took me by the shoulders and with a sharp glare shook me to my senses. "You can't go getting upset every time someone dies here! People are always going to be dying here! " Well, it was not the last time I cried over losing someone. I was so glad I did that for him.

Now that I know what I know about nutrition, I can't help but wonder if I pushed him over the edge with all that sugar and sodium! ...But no, I actually think he was able to leave once he knew that someone cared...once he knew that he had been considered beloved and valued upon the earth.  

Walking Over the Bridge into Shamrock Heaven

Editing Grief for a Happier Ending

My goal is to help you to heal first and foremost with this post, so if it means pointing something out to you that can help you to achieve this, then I will point it out to you.

There are quite a few of you who do this. Many health experts say we must heal from the inside out, but sometimes we need to change something OUTSIDE of our ourselves if we are having a hard time healing the INSIDE of ourselves. One thing you can change has to do with how you express yourself in writing.

When you use a lot of exclamation points, it fuels the urgency and the pain of the past. It actually keeps the incident alive inside of you. It empowers the things you are talking about which are the memories that continually come back to haunt you. No wonder they keep coming back...You keep fueling them!

Here are two examples. Read the first one, with the exclamation points. How do you feel? Then read the second, with the exclamation points replaced by periods. How do you feel? 

Feel free to leave a Comment below if you have any thoughts... or if you feel different. Some of you may not. Some of you will. Some of you can move towards healing just by changing the way you "talk" about things! 

Our thoughts are what create the inner environment. They can affect our total health, inside and out. With just a little discipline and "tweaking," you can shift your world and expedite your healing.  

Meditation on a Dozen Roses ❤️

Each perfect flower picked by you

Now full in bloom, at beauty's peak

Each rose opens ripe and red and true

As if to say "Here I am!

I entrust myself to you."

Like love that's unconditional

The blooms unfold with innocence.

They share with us their gentle gifts

They know not how to have defense.

Like you and me, they're in their prime!

How to keep alive and well

Though time's passage threatens

To bring with it the thorns

Of change, of loss and unplanned pain....

My time with you is cherished.

Will every shared and lovely moment

That I long to keep in bloom

Soon fade in it's own time?

The rose, divided from its roots

Has no choice but to fade and dry

But love that grows from roots of truth

Also has no choice; it cannot die.


Excerpt from "One Heart's Journey"

Visions that Come at the End of Life

I'm still working in Healthcare where so many people are dying. I see it all the time. Today I sat with a dying man. His open eyes did not seem to see me. He was not unhappy. He was staring unwaveringly at that special place I've come to know where the wall meets the ceiling. I've seen it happen over and over again. The eye travels to the where the greatest light shines and to the creases of the room where everything comes together. The seams where walls meet ceiling. Doorways. Windows. These are the places, the portals, where the veil is pierced. The thin veil that separates Heaven and Earth. 

The man is more Where He Is Going than he is here now. He's preparing for his Passage. It is likely he'll be gone before my scheduled return on Friday. Was there light in those creases that I could not see? What was it that he was seeing there? 
Find out in Jack's next book, "Only Gone From Your Sight." We're working on the final edit. 💜

In the meantime you can find the Jack McAfghan Trilogy here: http://amzn.to/2ipa4zE

Soon You Will Know. You Will Know That I Am Here.

I know you're grieving. I know that when you grieve it can be a dark and unhappy place. 

Do me a favor. Right here right now. Read the brief excerpt below from Book 3. Then put your device down and sit back and take a deep breath. Look around you. You are more than your grief. Look at your family, if you have one. Your pets, if you have them. Your home, Your furniture. Your houseplants. Your view. 

Close your eyes and think of those you love who have traveled on over the Rainbow Bridge. The Rainbow Bridge is simply a passageway to the other side of the "veil". The veil is so thin, thinner than the thinnest fabric or screen. We are just on the other side of your world, right now. See if you can feel us there. Talk with us. We are waiting for you. 

We are all around you waiting for you to smile again. We are continually trying to show you what you still have in your life that is good. You have what you can see, but you also still have what you cannot see. You have me! You have "We"! We are always trying to help you to know that we are never gone, we are just Gone From Your Sight. We live closer to you than your breath! 

Your heart is our home. When your heart is unhappy, we are unhappy too. When you heal and make your heart a pleasant place, then we can be free to live again and love again. But until then, we wait patiently, for you to see the sun shine on your life again. 

It never went away. 

Nor did we. 

"Heaven is all around you. You just can’t see us because we are vibrating at a higher level than you are. It’s kind of like a dog whistle. There is a noise, a pitch so high that the human ear cannot detect it but it is there nonetheless, for don’t you see all the dogs come running!

When we cross Rainbow Bridge we become only love and love is the highest level of vibration; the highest “pitch” so to speak. This is why you cannot see us. We are here, only gone from your sight until one day you are the same vibration as we are.

When you vibrate in love all the time you will not have to ask again if I am here, you will know that I am here with you."

from "Jack McAfghan: Return from Rainbow Bridge" Chapter 65

The Very Fact You Thought of Me is Evidence that I Am There

Chasing my memories of you!

Or are they chasing me?

It seems that you are everywhere!

...Yet you're so far away.

Please don't forget me.

You don't have the reminders that I do:

Our house, the corner coffeeshop,

The park and symphony hall;

How is it you seem to be there!

Everywhere I go,

Everywhere I am.

I guess

You maybe aren't so far away

After all.

Rainbow Bridge is not a "Real" Bridge...

There is one thing you need to understand in order to heal your grief....and you will understand clearly when you read "Reflections". Heaven is not up in the sky somewhere. Rainbow Bridge is not a long apparatus made of bricks and mortar and steel. Our loved ones live all around us... in the very same space... just on a different level of vibration, like a radio that has different stations and frequencies. Your best friend is right beside you where they've always been. The Bridge is a thin veil of love. Only Gone From Your Sight.

Heaven is all around you. You just can’t see us because We are vibrating at a higher level than you are. It’s kind of like a dog whistle. There is a noise, a pitch so high that the human ear cannot detect it but it is there nonetheless, for don’t you see all the dogs come running!

When we cross Rainbow Bridge we become only Love and Love is the highest level of vibration--the highest 'pitch' so to speak. This is why you cannot see Us. We are here, only gone from your sight until one day you are the same vibration as We are. When you vibrate in Love all the time you will not have to ask again if I AM here; you will know that I AM here with you.

~ Jack McAfghan: Return from Rainbow Bridge 

Available Worldwide on Amazon and through your favorite bookseller