Healing Circles

Book excerpt: Healing Circles: Grieving, Healing, and Bonding with Our Animal Companions, is a guide for those grieving the loss of a cherished pet, as well as a celebration of the healing bond between people and their animals. This book contains practical suggestions for working through pet grief, along with accounts of how other people have experienced loss, healing, and bonding. Joy Davy, a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with a special focus on Pet Grief, offers insights into the depth of the human-animal bond, as well as ways to grow through the pain of bereavement. The intense pain we may experience after the death of a pet is called a "disenfranchised grief," meaning it is a grief that society does not recognize. Healing Circles gives reassurance and comfort, and offers the words to teach others to respect your loss. You will find a guided imagery for re-connecting with your pet and some ideas for memorializing the bond. You will find an exploration of how children and your other pets may experience grief, and how to help them, and a discussion of when to consider bringing another animal companion home, and how to create a loving bond with that pet. Throughout this book, you will see examples of how animals heal us, and how we heal them, as well. Our bonds with animals are uncomplicated by grudges, criticisms or judgments. Many people today find that their greatest emotional support comes from their pets. We are more stressed than ever before. We are nutritionally impoverished, sleep-deprived, frazzled from over-scheduling and trying to multi-task. The human beings we love may not be present for us, because they are on their smart phones. And we may not be present for them, because we are tweeting and posting. Meanwhile, the cat curls herself into a perfect circle on our lap. The dog settles in next to us, nuzzling our arm, leaning against our leg. The animal is the only one who comes to find us in the blazing, buzzing, electronics-filled house. And we feel accompanied on our solitary path; we feel deeply loved; we love in return. Of course we still love our people, too. But it's the companion animal who values us enough to give us warmth and time. This meets our very deep need for connection. We appreciate that. And so, we bond. There is the pet-who-completes-a-family, the sibling-pet, the once-in-a-lifetime pet, among many other types of bonds that we create. These relationships enrich us beyond measure. Our pets' lives are short, however, and those of us who dare to love will have to face the loss that inevitably follows. This book is a guide through the dark path of pet grief, but it is also a joyful celebration of the beautiful bonds that people and animals create with each other. Healing Circles is an indispensable guide for every animal lover.