Near Christmas day my dog passed away having bourn the cross of a tick. Her name was Mysty Mouse and, like all dogs, the gifts she gave throughout her life and even in her death were manifest. Dogs have a great deal to offer!
One thing all dogs offer their people is substantially better physical health. Indeed dogs are estimated to save the Australian health system as much as 4 billion dollars per year. Perhaps if more people owned a dog our community could afford the much discussed hospital upgrades we’ve waited for so long!
In addition to physical health improvements there are demonstrable mental health improvements to be gained from the gift that dogs do bring. Dogs never stop giving lots of love, loyalty and laughter without an iota of judgment. Dogs can be trusted with your heart.
Mysty Mouse was a fine and divine example of a dog’s health giving generosity. Dogs know intuitively when people aren’t doing well and they reach out to help as best they can. When she was with us Mysty would make a point of staying close when someone she loved was sick or sad. Even after she passed the gifts didn’t stop.
When a loved one dies you tend to cry a lot. That mightn’t sound too good but the reality you experience is that your tears truly do set you free from the pain of grief. If you don’t allow this discharge of sadness the pain drags on forever.
Another deep aspect of life that’s revealed in the passing of a loved one is the nexus between sadness and joy. The depth of your sadness is precisely aligned to the depth of the joy that together you shared. Indeed the thing that best allows your tears to flow is your reflections upon the beauty that lived.
Sadness and joy are as close as brothers and sisters. They’re like two railway tracks running parallel: together but a short distance apart. Sadness and joy are so close that you can jump from one to the other at will. You do choose which line you prefer to travel upon.
After I buried my lovely little Mysty Mouse three black cockatoo’s wheeled over her grave sounding their mournful refrain as though they carried her soul towards the distant mountains to the west. We all know, as I was reminded at that time, that love once lived can never die rather it circles around you forever alive.
When a loved one leaves the worn out cloth of their body behind it’s tempting to live in the sadness of loss. I assert however that this is a transient emotional experience that must ultimately find an end if the loved one is to be fully honoured. Feeling the hot tears of your grief exhausting does give birth to a shining new day.
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Yes, I remember my neighbors' dogs growing up. As my sister and I walked to school, there were many different dogs along the 1/2 mile past many yards. I've often stopped and thought about these animals. It's sad that they seem to be taken for granted, this has always bothered me a great deal. And I wanted to bring the animals with us so they didn't have to stay in those damn yards fenced in all day. Then there was one dog on my paper route, we had the blizzard in '79 and this one was outside in its house. It would bark as I walked by - when I got done my route I had to take it for a walk 9 out 10 times. I couldn't stand the thought of the animal outside in the cold like that. Animals are fortunate in that they have limited consciousness. We humans have to deal with the moral sense - look at the mess the world's in! I should've been a dog.
thanks for your input super dave
i once heard of a little kids saying at the death of his dog
" we get born to learn to live in love, but because dogs already know how to do that they don't need to come for as long as humans "
loving dogs and caring for them is a gift they offer us...shame that some dont take the offer...they mostly feel ashamed of their failure if not in the life they leaad then in the ethers between said lives
enjoy
BeLoved
great photo ( as usual :))
i know my dogs come back
i can feel her calm patient knowledgeably patient presence with a constancy
all my dogs come back so we're stuck with 4 ..the cats do to! ( 2)
in fact these dogs have been in my past lives repeatedly...i rarely incarnate with out their company
and there is a bloody donkey on its way again soon ( now that was a tough cool clever loved one. better than a guard dog to keep my nandini safe and happy until i returned from the tasks i had to perform) ...... smiling laugh joyful knowledge i thank you for drawing these statements of historic facts out of me
loved loved loved
I too, understand your loss and love for our four legged friends. Believe it I 'm sure we are the students and they teach us how to act and love with no strings. I would like to extend my heart felt energy too. Hugs to Misty Mouse in Spirit.
hugs to you too
i feel your sweet heart energyu now
i thank you very very much
you are powerful
loved
enjoy
great idea re dandilion..i cant eat much other than salad these days....everything tastes yucky
and YES re soul mates....though i think the guardianship goes both ways.... if not that the dog is the real guard....
brief story for fun
a mate was attacked by a mugger whilst his placid white elderly boxer was up ahead...apparently the dog put the thief to foot . changing from a never angry poochie to...quote...a snarling ferocious blood thirsty beast from hell.... lol...no person was hurt but the theif might have PTSD now :)
you get what you deserve ?!?!?
LOVED
thanks cat
im totally proud to have known ms mouse
she wasnt sure she was welcome to begin with...no past life back ground with me...but i was able to feel fully loved(actually she was my new partners pl dog and so was part of us comming together)
all my dogs always come back...my coolie is called merlin( like your dog :) )...he was my smithfield cattle dog before that.
mysty is due back soon...we expect she'll be a red cattle dog...she always wanted to be larger and tougher
dogs give and give...didnt say it in my colunm because its a bit wacky/true for mainstream media but dogs insist on sharing and so diminishing disease... i asked her not to but she took my liver toxicity upon her self :(...im so proud tpo know that beautiful soul
and fyi we still have three dogs in the family and two snooty in charge tonkinese kittens :)
loved
I'm sorry for your loss (in the physical sense). I like your post... it's meaningful to me. I hope you can work through your grief and cherish the good times. RIP Mysty Mouse!
cherishing the good times is the resolution of sadness
and there were many good times in her to short a life ( 5 )
its a bit hard not to hate ticks....wtf was god thinking...isnt satan, mosquitoes, and leaches enough..lol
loved
enjoy
Sorry for your loss.
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