Love: The Language of the Heart Is the Language of Animals

Our animals don’t speak a verbal language. They “speak” the language of the heart.

The language of the heart is one of emotions, unconditional love, and the pure present moment of awareness. When you praise your beloved pet, it isn’t necessary for them to understand the words. They are listening with their heart and they hear your tone and most of all, they feel your energy of loving affection. Their heart is their core communicator and connector to everything around them, including us.

When we are grieving the loss of a loved one, whether a human or another animal in the household, know that your animal is not only feeling your grief and sadness but that of everyone in the home, and they too will also be experiencing their own grief.

We can learn many lessons from our beloved fur friends on grief and grieving as they are here to help remind us that despite the depth of our pain, we can find our way back out and begin anew. After a loss, grief not only opens our hearts to the pain we feel but also leaves us changed in the process.

In our time of deep grief, our animals can provide us with much comfort and support.

During our heartache, they can help us walk through our pain, stay in a routine, get outside, find courage, begin mending our heart, and start us on our healing journey. And it is important we know that we can do the same for them. Being able to walk this grief journey together with our animal companion helps each other respectively.

But what if the loss is that of our only beloved animal?

We hurt so much with them being gone. Often people say that the loss of their pet feels harder than other losses they have experienced. It is often harder because we typically are the ones that need to make the decision to help them pass in an effort to ease their pain and suffering. This adds to the grief and often carries extra feelings of guilt, doubt, and questioning. In addition to the difficult decisions that need to be made, our beloved animal understood, loved, and accepted us fully and unconditionally and was our constant companion.

How can we ever consider finding gifts from our animals in our grieving process without their presence?

This is where we need to explore our love for them and their love for us as their love will be the gift that remains in our hearts. When they die, it is their physical body that is no longer here. And we yearn greatly and miss their physical presence.

But love is an energy and a feeling, and it lives on.

When we can tap into the feeling of love we have for them in our heart, connect to memories of them, and recall the moments of joy we had with them, we will begin to mend our aching hearts.

How do we feel love again?

By beginning to remember the moments that made you laugh, smile, moments of adventures, experiences, and firsts. It is these moments that create the stories of memories. These memories are what connect you to love and it is the gift of love that sparks a smile on your face and welcomes back the sense of joy. A joy we had lost and now are slowly beginning to feel again.

We now move from having had a physical relationship with them to move into discovering a loving reconnection we thought we lost. We open up to the possibility of a spiritual relationship with our beloved animal. And the feeling of love we carried for them is the key to a deeper level of compassion and connection with ourselves and with them. For when we are in our grief over their loss and we can connect to the love from our memories, our heart begins to heal. Yes, there are tears when this happens. Yes, there is pain.

When we can match and meet the pain and grief with equal amounts of love, we begin to experience the wonder of their gift.

When we choose to let the love back in, we see that it is timeless, endless, and lives on in our hearts.

After a loss, we are forever changed because grief has opened us up and left a wound. Love has then healed us and left us with a scar. A beautiful scar filled with memories of our beloved animal’s final gift so that we can remain connected to them even after they are gone.

For more information regarding animal communication or animal end-of-life education, visit endandafter.com or email Hana directly at info@endandafter.ca.

Bio: Hana Mäkinen is a Certified Animal Communicator and End of Life Educator, who helps people navigate and walk through the end-of-life journey of their beloved pet. She creates a sacred space that respects their emotions around this difficult time and honors the special relationship between her client and their animal companion. Hana’s mission is to help normalize the sense of loss and grief we feel before, during, and after the death of a beloved animal companion. Her training through the Gurney Institute of Animal Communication, as well as her degree in psychology and 25 years of experience in natural health and healing, come together to support her clients on all levels.