Self Healing Corner

You are a very private person and we respect that. The loss of your animal companion is just too fresh or way too personal to open up at this point. Could you please try to introspect to take the first step towards healing? In not speaking and opening up, even to our own self, is our own loss and that of those whose lives are connected with us.

  1. Scribble down the pain on a piece of paper, just for your own self or try talking to a friend who will be empathetic to you.
  2. Have you cried yet? If not, please do, regardless of your gender. It helps.
  3. How did this friend come into your life?
  4. Which is the happiest memory you have with your friend? Do you have a picture or a video? If yes, please have a look at it. If not, it is absolutely fine. You just need to replay it in your mind as a beautiful memory.
  5. What did your friend teach you that no one else ever could?
  6. How do you wish to bring their teaching into practice?
  7. Your friend deserves more than an obituary and is watching over you from the rainbow bridge hoping you will honour his/her life. What all out of the following would you do to celebrate your friend’s life?
    1. Let the earth be greener, plant a sapling, nurture and name after your friend.
    2. Considered turning vegetarian?
    3. Shun plastic for life.
    4. Put a water bowl and ensure to clean and fill it up every day (there is no greater community service than quenching the thirst).
    5. Become a vocal supporter of mental health by helping others heal having dealt similar losses.
    6. Consider penning a book or a photo book.
    7. Take up the responsibility (feed-sterilise-vaccinate-feed) to look after one stray on the roads for his/her entire lifetime.
    8. Help put an end to the Indian puppy mill system (stray mother dogs allowed to deliver litter after litter, instead of timely sterilisation) by actively engaging in sterilisation, creating rabies free zones – the most soul satisfying service.
    9. Foster a needy animal (please do not throw him/her away one day if he/she does not get a home).
    10. There is still a lot of love and place in your heart. Adopt an abandoned or orphaned dog/cat from a shelter or the streets with a promise for a lifetime to keep (let us not insult any life form by buying them, exception is, buying to save a life from further misery and cruelty).
    11. Bring home a senior stray dog/cat (they are the most marginalised, let us make their remaining time a little memorable and dignified. Serving them brings immense peace).
    12. Open a sensitisation and compassion club named after your friend.
    13. Start an awareness group in the name of your friend to highlight and sensitise about the issue of climate change.
    14. Gift a book(s) on animals to children to sow more seeds of compassion.
    15. Sponsor a child’s education in the name of your friend

…and, there are so many other things we can do to honour our friend. What special did you do? Write to us at admin@bridgingrainbows.com or fill the form below.

Want to share what you did to heal yourself? Please write to us at bridgingrainbows.india@gmail.com or fill up the form below.

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Disclaimer: The contents published in Bridging Rainbows are not a substitute to professional help. Kindly seek the help of a mental health professional, without any shame and delay, if you need further assistance in coping. Please read our disclaimer policy in detail.