Dan Crenshaw - Your Pet Is Gone: Life and Pet-loss Coaching, Growing from Grief to Greatness

YOUR PET IS GONE

Life and Pet-Loss Coaching, Growing from Grief to Greatness

DAN CRENSHAW

Copyright 2018 Dan Crenshaw.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com

1 (877) 407-4847

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9822-0452-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9822-0451-8 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 05/30/2018

CONTENTS

May you experience Creative Furry Farewell Support,

As your grief-coping skills increase and your symptoms abort.

Dan Crenshaw

T HIS BOOK CAN empower you to grow creatively through the grief of pet loss. First, through the arduous climb out of the valley of grief coping muscles can be strengthened. Second, it can guide you into using your enhanced coping skills to grow beyond grief to greatness. As a result, you can experience a transformation. While you are in the throes of grief, you may possibly not foresee a life after grief of greater excellence, purpose, and passion. This book can gradually enable you to obtain a lifestyle of purposeful positive action. Therefore this book is both life and pet loss coaching.

The level of anguish that many people experience when they lose a pet is often not understood. This book honors the pain that pet loss brings and demonstrates how creative grief work can result in gains. In bereavement, with dignity and reality, you can come to grips with deaths finality.

Many people who have lost a pet can relate to the following poem that I wrote. This grief experience can begin right after griefs bolt of lightning has given you a jolt. This poem happens to be about the loss of a dog, but this book applies to the loss of any pet that can leave you in a dense fog.

When Your Dog is Gone

Dan C. Crenshaw

Doggone it, my dog is gone.

What went wrong?

Why cant I be strong?

People tell me tears do not belong.

These words throw salt on my bleeding heart.

It seems that my dog and I were never apart.

I need someone to understand.

The precious dog wagged his tail as I came home again and again.

It was just a pet, I hear over and over.

He was more than a pet; he was my companion named Rover.

The look in his eyes let me know his love was mine.

He loved me 100 percent of the time.

In my mind, I heard melodious bells chime.

We relished each moment in harmony.

He never seemed angry with me.

He helped me to see what kind of person I could be.

My welcome home experiences will never be the same.

He always was elated when I came.

He danced and pranced in sheer delight.

No matter how the day went, my precious pet made things all right.

How can anyone say that his death was trite?

I loved that dog with all of my heart, soul, and might.

The bond that we had was out of sight.

Regarding lifes values, he often helped me to see more light.

How much I miss him goes beyond words.

A painful memory constantly occurs.

Every moment we were together my heart was stirred.

Not taking this loss seriously is more than absurd.

I can see him romping in the fields in heaven waiting for me to come home.

Then we will feel each others spirit as we playfully roam.

Doggone it, my dog is gone.

But I will see him when I go home.

Giving dignity instead of shame to your grief enables you to gain traction to begin the grief journey with appropriate action. You will need to give yourself compassion as you experience each painful intermittent reaction. Various coping muscles can be strengthened with grief work. Your healing can become a skillful journey as you forge through the valley of grief without becoming berserk.

Regarding grief, there is no deadline. No matter how long one lives, one generally does not completely cross the finish line. It is important that through the ups and downs you are moving forward bit by bit. Grief may leave some smaller emotional bruises, but you will not quit. You can manifest heroic grit. When these bruises surface, with dignified determination, you will keep your wit. You may have frustrations, each one will be a short-lived fit.

Grief can tax a persons emotions by its painful size. A heroic level of coping will need to arise. You will not listen to others demeaning lies and what people ignorantly advise as you will seek allies. The enormous weight of grief can come as a shocking surprise. You will be able to live with the surfacing whys. You will know which coping skills to apply as you express your goodbyes, and let go resulting in griefs gradual demise.

As you adjust to the loss, you will improvise and not take your grief lightly or have it sensationalized. As a result, you will be able to allow the healing tears to pour from your eyes. You will have hope that out of the darkness the sun will rise. Your courage will end up giving you a renewed life prize. You can cut grief down to a manageable size as you set boundaries with people who encroach with unwise replies.

The pain of the loss of a pet can be from mild to monstrous. Some people may think a high level of pain is preposterous. In reality, pet loss can be like losing a significant other. People who do not understand pet loss may say, Why bother? Emotionally you may feel like you are your pets mother or father. As a result, this priceless lost bond can feel like torture.

The bond may have seemed like a magic wand. This bond was worth more than a huge sparkling diamond. It seems that your tears could fill up a pond, but deep inside you know you can have a creative future. This loss can result in coping skills that spawn as your mourning becomes virtually gone.

Gradually the strangling, entangled emotions can become unraveled. You can begin another chapter of your life without feeling bedeviled. Then, your life will be less stressful, and you will become more zestful. Throughout the journey of grief, you will miss the bark. With courage, you will be ready for your grief journeys start.

A new beginning, will not feel as stark as your grief will not seem as dark. You are journeying toward griefs healing mark. When the pain of grief begins to fade, you will see new possibilities that can be made. You will not experience pet loss as an overwhelming pestilence. The second part of this book reveals how your enhanced coping skills can strengthen your lifes excellence.