The Rainbow Bridge, Animals in Transition | Joan Ranquet | TEDxWilmingtonWomen

I remember this moment distinctly I was walking from my barn to my house with my and cats and I took a moment to just glance over at my whole family my three beloved horses my three beloved dogs my four beloved cats and I noticed that I wasn't actually in grief anymore I'd gone through about ten years of cancer between my two parents and my dad had been dead a couple of years and I felt this relief nobody was dying nobody was sick and then that relief door slammed shut when I realized yeah most of my family is dead and I have 10 animals and they're all going to die so I started taking stock who was gonna go first would it be Olivia would it be one of the cats which one or would it be Gabrielle my 25 year old Arab I went through the whole thing couldn't this go chronologically couldn't there be some order to this it made me nuts right all of a sudden I'm going through everybody and we humans need to make some order out of this don't we animals know better and I honestly believed that if I could be human if I could be God just for a moment I would expand the lifespan of dogs and cats I would I would improve the intestine of the horse and I would make smoking and drinking completely healthy actually if I could be God I would end this whole death thing altogether nobody's going to the Rainbow Bridge not on my watch and you know that Rainbow Bridge right that meadow in front of heaven where when our animals die they go there and they wait for us and then when we die they take us into heaven with them I've been an animal communicator for about 20 years I communicate with animals telepathically which is the transference of pictures words and feelings I am an interpreter I am speaking on behalf of the animals so if someone's having a problem then I am the voice for that animal often I'm the last stop for people in animals and I've even talked to animals in the afterlife I'm no stranger to death I've lost my sister both my parents I've lost a best friend to suicide a generation of friends to AIDS and it was two horses that I lost in the early 90s that brought me to animal communication you could say I'm an uber trained highly skilled Midwife for death I know it's not in the college curriculum but one of the important things with animal communication is helping people make decisions when their animals are in this final transition and I train my students to walk their clients through the very same journey and often we get a lot of questions like does my cat want a surgery where do my dogs want their ashes spread does my horse want to be by himself or does he want his friends around does my bunny want to reincarnate and of course will my guinea pig mind being buried even though he was completely claustrophobic but actually one of the biggest things that comes with all of this is guilt right people really want to know should I have done it sooner did I wait too long and is he hanging on for me and I actually believe to my core that nobody can die a moment before or a moment after they're supposed to they're all in their little dog cat and horse suits containing a soul and that soul has a mission a purpose a trajectory a karma a wounding and a potential for healing in this lifetime animals offer us an opportunity to understand family in a way that we wish we could understand our own families and by being present for them in this final stage we're getting to experience being of service we get to experience unconditional love we get to experience uncomplicated love and we're not just receiving it we're being it and by being present with our animals in this final stage even when they're going to the Rainbow Bridge we're actually gifting the entire universe is it painful yep is it beautiful yeah and it's also really perfect when I had this epic realization that all of my family was going to die I thought what would it be like to have a really connected relationship with all of my animals in a way that when they were to cross over I wouldn't feel guilty and so I thought about a few of my animals some of them had a specific reaction to my stress and often we think that animals are marrying us I think it's much deeper than that I think they're actually first responders to our energy so I thought I'm going to level out my stress and I'm going to replace it with harmony and soon after that moment that I was really engaged in that my horse Gabrielle was diagnosed with the bizarre little encapsulated cancer and once I had that removed I realized we really were on a time bomb sitting on a time bomb and so I took everything I knew and everything I'd ever learned and I downshifted into what I call precious Ville and in precious Ville we were slowing time down completely all of us we took care of each other in a way that we made up for each other's weaknesses in our older age we laughed at cats chasing the dogs through the house we applauded every great dog trick and I eat they could have been bad and I somedays rode three horses even in the rain we were all for one and one for all because we knew it was never going to be this way again and so we were very happy sure there were dogs snarls there were cat screeches there was plenty of human cussing but it was just a momentary blip on the Harmony screen I've been with both my parents my sister several friends when they've crossed over I've actually faced my own death I've gone down in a small airplane I was nearly murdered in my sleep I'm not afraid to die I'm just sick of everyone else dying I hold space for people several days a week sometimes it's just so that they can grieve they grieve about their animals in a way that isn't safe for them with other people people say to them often it's just a cat it's just a dog you can get another parakeet not even recognizing that it's a family member and that family member can offer so much more that family member that animal is never going to grow up and not talk to you that animal is never going to grow up with a different political belief than you that animal is never going to grow up and marry asshole instead they love like a continuum and when that much love goes away it's like the Sun going down forever and our animals offer us an opportunity to be a better us and us that we don't always get to be with other people I mean I swear people in animal relationships I know ninety percent of them are better than most of the people people relationships I know right and when you look into an animal's eyes and you see that innocence you also see your own innocence being reflected back they really return us to wholeness so my precious Vil was shattered one rainy night I went down to feed my horses and I found my tall dark handsome sexy funny thoroughbred Rolly in the throes of colic and colic can either be gassy tummy or death and a whole lot in between and so I called the vet and Rolly was 22 at the time and just the week before I had ridden him and I'd had a sense of completion and I can't explain it except that I knew it was going to be our last ride when the vet got there he examined him and said Rolly had a tumor in his intestine and all the blood drained from my head I knew I couldn't put him through a surgery there was only one thing to do let him go to the Rainbow Bridge so I quickly brought over the other horses and the dogs and let everybody say goodbye and then as I went to walk Rolly out he balked in the doorway like he did every single day but this time I looked at him and I said Rolly be brave you're leading this whole wacky family to the Rainbow Bridge and so he stepped out with me and he put his head on my chest and when the first injection came I felt him slipping away and when the second injection came I felt such a oneness I almost went through his third eye and out the top of his head our lives are so busy our lives are always in transition and their lives depend on us and if you get a moment to be in between worlds with them like that take it it's really a state of grace and find ways to laugh find ways to celebrate find ways to move into precious Ville people ask me all the time do I believe in the rainbow bridge all I know is this is helping people and animals through this transition is one of my greatest honors thank you [Applause] you

Channel: TEDx Talks

Views: 203,506

Rating: 4.887094 out of 5

Keywords: TEDxTalks, English, Life, Animals, Communication, Death, Emotions, Empathy, Energy, Love, Mindfulness, Relationships

Id: JWW3iRzN7oo

Length: 11min 37sec (697 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 15 2017