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S1E13: Our Animal Companions and Our Connection to Them (Pt.1)
36 Plays1 year ago
Join us in this week's episode where special guest, Dr. Lauren Simermeyer, D.V.M., joins us. In part one of our animals series, we discuss our spiritual connection to animals, an animal's life's purpose and afterlife, what our pets are here to teach us, and more.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Spiritually Desperate' Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome to Spiritually Desperate with myself, psychic medium, Jimmy Bay, and my co-host, spiritual enthusiast, Danny Amaya. Please join us as we deep dive into the soul, connect with spirit to help answer some of life's challenges. We'll be discussing a variety of topics to help guide you and keep you empowered. Let's begin.
Spiritual Connections with Pets and Animals
00:00:23
Speaker
Hey, everyone. Welcome to this episode of Spiritually Desperate. I'd like to welcome my very good friend, Dr. Lauren Simmermeyer. In today's episode, we're going to talk about pets, animals, and our spiritual connection to them, as well as animals in the afterlife. How are you doing, Lauren? Hi, Jimmy. How are you? I'm doing good. I'm doing good. I'm happy that you could join us. Yeah, I'm excited to do this episode with you guys.
00:00:51
Speaker
i yeah I guess I could do just by way of a brief introduction for myself. I'm one of those people who knew from the time they could talk that they were meant to be a veterinarian.
Dr. Simmermeyer's Journey to Veterinary Medicine
00:01:02
Speaker
So that's really the only thing I've ever wanted to be since I was three. Um, also was blessed in this lifetime to have many animal allergies. And so there was a long period of time in my life where I wasn't sure it was going to be doable to be a vet, but that's ultimately where I was guided. And so I've
00:01:22
Speaker
um worked mostly in the emergency room with dogs and cats for the last 15 out of 17 years that I've been out of school. um And I also have had the great pleasure of reading corgis for about 25 years. So I've been with Dogs from the start of life all the way through the end. So I'm particularly excited to Walk through this topic with you guys. I Think it's gonna be a great time and I've known you a long time. It's been maybe a little over ten years Probably yeah. Yeah, I think it has been just over ten
Spiritual Awakening and Friendship with Dr. Simmermeyer
00:02:07
Speaker
years. um I Had met you through a mutual friend who got me hooked up with everything with you
00:02:14
Speaker
um after going through a really big transition in my life. And I was, I guess, spiritually desperate at that time ah and wanted to see kind of what this was all about. And it started and kicked off a very dear friendship between the two of us.
00:02:35
Speaker
I know I'm so grateful for you. I'm grateful grateful to have you as a friend. And and like I said, and when I met you right around the time I had my cats as kittens and you saved my kittens lives, both of them, as though with a hot mess and everybody that has animals and pets knows it's hard to find good vets. And I think you
Animal Spirituality and First Impressions
00:02:54
Speaker
were a gift to my cats as well as myself. I'm so grateful that we stayed friends for such a long time and I hope that continues. Yeah.
00:03:03
Speaker
Oh, how sweet. Love that. And I know Danny and I are meeting you, Dr. Simmermeyer, for the first time. And we're both big animal people, as you'll probably get to know. So we're definitely excited to hear your views as well. And also, I'm sure we'll all have questions for spirit because you know animals play a big role in all of our lives and probably from a young age. And it'll be interesting to hear their thoughts and also just insights. But to begin, for you, Dr. Simmermeyer, because you on a daily basis or, you know, from for you said 17 years now that you've been out of school and you've been reading corgis, so you've been around dogs most of your life.
Pets as Soulmates and Spiritual Bonds
00:03:42
Speaker
When did you come across, okay, obviously I have this pet that I love, but this almost spiritual connection or dive deeper into that, because I think it might still not be as common to maybe come across a veterinarian who is more open that way to realize, oh, there's something deeper here that's going on. So if you could elaborate a little bit on that, that'd be great.
00:04:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's funny because I think even before Jimmy and I knew each other, I had um a couple of dogs in my life at the time that I was going through vet school, and I referred to them as my soulmates. And they were there were actually four of them that I had at pretty much the same time, and they were my soulmates. And I felt that each of them sort of spoke to a different part of my of me and who I was at that time.
Energetic Healing Between Pets and Owners
00:04:32
Speaker
Um, and I just felt they were, um, I think three out of the four of them were born in my house. And it was almost like a weird, um, poll to eat for that particular dog in each litter. Like I just knew that they were meant to be mine. Um, and, um, it felt like comfortable, seamless, um,
00:04:59
Speaker
like they just sort of understood who I was at ah at my core. And I have struggled in life to feel known by people. um But I have never struggled to feel known by my dogs. That has kind of just been, I felt that they're a gift to me in that way. And once I started actually out in the field working, I was able to start to pick up on similar types of relationships with the clients and the animals that they brought in. um There were times that they were they almost seemed energetically connected to each other, um either you know that that that animal would be in and sick, but you know with the owner's visits, and it's almost like they they wanted
00:05:56
Speaker
um that animal to recover together and it was like their will that kind of carried that pet through that really devastating illness or you could almost see people walking through um I guess what it would seem like a lesson, like they're they would be like, oh, this dog I got in this way. And it's meant so much to me for this and this reason. And sometimes I've had to help people you know walk through that ah transition of that pet out of their life. And also, I've had the blessing of getting to see that animal you know work through that illness.
00:06:36
Speaker
and bring change and healing to their owner through that too. It's almost like um'm an undertone of that relationship. That's so sweet. I know I felt that way with Chunk. I was because Chunk got really sick and then magic was really sick and you walked me through that because I remember I was ready to give up Chunk. Yeah, you were. Well, yes, but I don't know.
00:07:07
Speaker
When Jimmy's cat got very sick with a urinary obstruction, he wasn't able to urinate. Jimmy was distressed about it. And he actually asked me to perform the procedure on the cat that I had not performed previously, but it felt like it was supposed to be somehow. And it worked out really well in this case. And it's actually the only one of those that I've ever really done.
00:07:33
Speaker
um was just for for Jimmy and Chunk, but, you know, that was kind of, I think further solidified our friendship and relationship together. It did, it did. it You gave me such a sense of um confidence and and peace. And like I said, and then getting magic and having magic be sick as well, you know, both of them have taught me so much and a lot of that I owe to you and your care to them. Oh, that's nice to hear.
00:08:01
Speaker
Well, way to go, Chunk, making people do procedures they've never done before. No big deal. i love I love meeting quote unquote animal people because I feel they just understand each other that maybe living as a human is kind of difficult, but leaving living as
Do Animals Have Souls and Reincarnate?
00:08:18
Speaker
an animal person makes it a little bit more relatable. And so, ah Jimmy, I have a question for you kind of going off of Dr. Sarah Meyer's insights of that connection.
00:08:28
Speaker
Because obviously then, you know, we know animals have this soul, this spirit. Comparing it to humans, what what is that like? Is it similar? Are we all souls? Obviously, what what's that comparison like? We're all souls. They're souls as well. We're all still created around the same time. There are lower level vibration. So that's why they don't have the um the free will that we have. They have more intuition.
00:08:54
Speaker
than anything, an instinct. So they act more on their instincts than they would, say, for free will. But yeah, they have definitely souls like the rest of us. And they're definitely incarnating with us and along with us, and again and again, to learn their own life lessons. And there is a level of life lessons. And also, a lot of reasons animals will incarnate, as well as pets,
00:09:19
Speaker
for the own evolution of the Earth and the planet itself, because they're evolving as well like we are. So they'll come in to grow and help us grow. But when you say lower level vibration, just to clarify, it that doesn't mean you know humans are better than animals. It's just they're more primal. And they can tap into their intuition maybe a little bit better because they're not as, how do I explain it? their Well, their brains are different right than humans. Maybe we stay in our minds more.
00:09:48
Speaker
Well, I would say it's maybe a different frequency. When I say lower, it's not lower in a bad way. It's more, it's the word. It's more of an instinctive frequency. So it would be more instinctive rather than lower, but it would be more of an instinctive act. Animals act on instinct. They don't bite they don't bite you just to bite you. They bite you out of instinct. Yeah.
00:10:14
Speaker
Whereas a human might bite you just to bite you, right? Right, right. A human will attack you just to attack you. But yeah an animal doesn't really think, oh, I want to go after this, this person. An animal is protecting itself or, you know, or was provoked. So it's more instinctive and instinctive frequency.
00:10:32
Speaker
I think animal behavior, I'm sure you see this a lot, Dr. Simmermeyer, where there's so much, animals can be so misunderstood. And um I always go with the notion that it's really the human that needs to be trained as probably more so than the animal, but- Absolutely, absolutely. And particularly with dogs, and I think there was a ah book that I read, I think it's called the The Other End of the Leash, but it it kind of outline that a bit for me, like how we are primates and they're canines and like the way that we communicate is just completely different. And, you know, learning a little bit more about the way they communicate can make our interactions with them a little easier, um you know, and we have that capacity. They don't necessarily have that capacity. So studying their behavior and their instincts allow us to interact with them.
00:11:29
Speaker
more on their level um and more respectfully of you know the way that they that they interact with the world, which is that instinctive way that Jimmy mentioned. Yeah, they're more um they or pure entities. So it's a pure frequency, a pure vibrational energy. And and that's the thing. They're a pure heart. Children and and pets and animals are pure. So that's the energy. the they're evolving from and they stay in that energy. It's like Lauren saying how humans interact with them and what we do. They create karma for animals. Yeah, we'll definitely get in into that as well. And I know Dr. Zimmerman, you were saying earlier too, how you know personally and also professionally you've walked through animals you know through beginning through the end. And I think a lot of maybe where people
00:12:24
Speaker
first time might come across a spiritual connection with an animal. So I've heard in my community is more so when their animal does pass and they kind of feel
Communication with Passed Pets
00:12:33
Speaker
they might say, Oh, I knew when, you know, the soul left or, you know, in the, it's after they pass that maybe they see the signs that the animal sends. So.
00:12:42
Speaker
you know before we dive into that with spirit, very curious for your own personal, whether professional or personal, your experience with you know animals passing, transitioning as we say, we don't say death, right Jimmy? So as they transition into their their next life or to the afterlife, what has been your experience or insights around there? I think I'm a little bit different as a veterinary practitioner than others as I do. I am a very intuitive practitioner and so there's like I'm sure just like for you guys, it's just like an unexplainable portion of that for me, like where I kind of know, and I almost can have a sense with some of my patients, like which of them are just not going to survive the illness that they're in for, even if what they're coming in for is something that is generally quote unquote survivable. I think that I can almost have a little bit of that sense or when the animal is done, even though their body is not yet done.
00:13:41
Speaker
Um, I can feel that, that separation for them and know, and kind of know that they're going to head in that direction. Um, but as an emergency that particularly, you know, my job on any given day, it could involve, you know, five plus transitions of pets into spirit, um, just because of the nature of.
00:14:08
Speaker
the the field in the emergency and sicknesses and things that animals are but also for some reason owners seem to bring their pets in through the emergency more for a euthanasia than doing it with their regular vet which seems strange and maybe a little counterintuitive but I think that they have an easier time doing it with someone who is not emotionally connected to their pet as well and a lot of You know, you when you see a pet on a yearly basis and a regular basis and you're with that client, it can be emotionally heavy to even have, you know, their general veterinarian there for that. And I am able to have a little bit more of that separation and so it can be more in the background. And I try to let that experience really focus on the owner and the pet saying goodbye to each other and make myself very peripheral to them.
00:15:07
Speaker
um so that I don't interfere with that separation as they're going through it together. um so and I don't know, does that help with some of the question how you asked? That's a unique insight, actually. I never really knew that or thought about that. and ah you know Later on, I do want to maybe tap into how veterinarians can move through something like compassion fatigue, right as you all experience a lot, especially I can't imagine in the emergency room.
00:15:37
Speaker
Because you're also not just dealing with the animal's emotions. You're dealing with the human's emotions that's walking through the door. So now you're dealing with ah with a lot energetically as well. not And then you have to yeah kind of clearly think, how can I deal with and but this animal? So um for you then personally, do you?
00:15:54
Speaker
and It sounds like you've been intuitive from a young age, spiritual from a young age. With your dogs that maybe you felt particularly connected to, have they sent you signs or do do you feel them around at all? um I personally haven't had to, my family pet passed when I was really young, but my living dog, she's almost 18. So I haven't had to go through that just yet. um And hopefully not for a while, but I'm always curious other people's experiences of if they do connect with their pets after they pass? Yeah, well, so it's pretty interesting for those four dogs when when they pass. It was sort of bright as this new dog. Well, she's newer than them. She's 12 now though. So she's been with me for a good amount of time. But she sort of entered my life as the four of them were transitioning out of it. And it's interesting because she reminds me of each of them.
00:16:50
Speaker
So she's almost like the four of them embodied in one soul for me. And in my self, I almost see that as like an integration of those parts of me into sort of who I am spiritually grown at this moment. And like Valerie is sort of like my whole heart outside of my body. um I get to almost see that and interact with that on a daily basis. um So I feel like with her,
00:17:20
Speaker
there, that the four of them are very present with me almost all of the time. So it's like they never did leave. um And Valerie was there, particularly when it was her grandmother, one of them, and she sort of like laid with her as her grandmother passed when I euthanized her and I could it was like a very special moment in that way too of having them there for that. So Jimmy I think has talked more about like actual signs and visits from some of his other pets. I don't know that I've had that so much because of Valerie being with me for these last 12 years. I just sort of feel them on a continual basis.
Pets' Soul Groups and Spiritual Journeys
00:18:07
Speaker
Well, to open up that topic a little bit, Lauren, too, our animals do have soul groups. They do have soul clusters like we do. So like like when Onyx was transitioning, I got Chunk. And Chunk always reminds me of Onyx. And he looks like her. He feels like her. He's got the weight of her. So they do come in as soul groups. And I believe that I couldn't have her transition without having him present. There was something about that. There was a trade-off, so to speak.
00:18:33
Speaker
on soul level. One came in, one was leaving. and But they do have their groups. I even believe on some unknown universe, magic is in his group too. I don't know how, because they're completely different cats. But yeah, we ah cats and animals do have groups that they come into. And I know when they transition, they go back to that original group. So they go back to the group as well and reconnect with the there are other siblings.
00:19:04
Speaker
I love that Chunk just jumped into your screen right when you were saying that. I know. I was thinking the very same thing. Chunk is the best. But um as far as signs of animals and pets coming through, you'll usually hear, like if it was a dog, you might hear the collar.
00:19:21
Speaker
You might hear a ball dropping. You'll hear the footsteps. With Onyx, I'll feel her on the bed when she visits. She's heavy, like Chunk is heavy. And I'll feel like Chunk's in the bed with me, but he's nowhere to be found. um You could smell them. you know You'll hear them barking. If it's a dog, you might hear them meowing. And a lot of times, what happens with people, and I've had this happen with several friends that have visited, that's where they see Onyx, one cat, sigh the eye sightings. It'll look like a little shadow. You'll get the shadows. That's a lot of lot of ways that they communicate with us. um I know your pets can show up in your dreams. So you'll see them in your dreams as well. And you'll usually see them young like kittens and young like puppies are very youthful and very healthy to let you know they're around you as well. I think you said kind of similarly to humans where if there's something that
00:20:17
Speaker
you see, because sometimes a butterfly is just a butterfly, but if you do see a butterfly and a thought pops in or a memory pops in or a smell pops up, then that is a sign and it's unique to the individual. Like I just had someone tell me that their dog had passed and a little bit later they were walking to work and there was this bird perched in this rock wall and it seemed a little odd that a bird would be perched there, but ah we have tons of birds in Hawaii, right? So birds of bird.
00:20:41
Speaker
And he was looking at the bird, and then all of a sudden, randomly, the thought of his dog popped in. And the dog had passed quite a bit ago, and he kind of paused and watched the bird till it flew off. So that's probably a sign, right, where just out of nowhere, that thought and that memory of his dog popped in? Absolutely. And especially with birds, birds, as far as animals are considered, and they're communicators, they're messengers. So the prettier the bird, the prettier the message, and the fact that he thought of his dog, absolutely.
00:21:13
Speaker
That's a pretty message just as a reminder that a dog's still with them. Yeah, I think that's comforting to know and we don't have to question it, right? Where if that pops in and that thought pops in, then it is. And that's a beautiful thing.
00:21:25
Speaker
exactly And our pets stay with us. They do move with us. They stay say around us. you know They do do miss us. The one thing about um animals and pets, they're not afraid of death the way we are. they Death is kind of a submission or an embracing. you know It's part of the natural process. Again, it's instinctive.
00:21:47
Speaker
And I think humans could take a big note from that one if we could start to get intuitive and instinctive ah about our own loss of life and letting go of people around us, that it's a natural cycle. But like I said, they're not afraid to die in transition. Like it's similar, they're not in so much pain.
00:22:06
Speaker
They don't experience pain the way that we do.
Lessons from Animals: Karma and Love
00:22:09
Speaker
That's our own energy projecting upon them. It's more of a submission and more of an abracement into spirit. And just like human beings, they have spirit guides. They have other animals that come around them. And they'll have their loved ones in their group, as as I was saying. Like, I know when I have to let go of Chunk or let go of Magic that Onyx will be around because she's part of my group and they're part of my group. So we're never alone. Also, when Onyx was transitioning, I had somebody photograph and you can see my guides were around me and you can see the soul energy leaving through the top of her head.
00:22:47
Speaker
So you can definitely film that if you want to film it. But the guides are with you at all times, both animals and our human guides. Interesting. I had no idea that animals had their own spirit team.
00:23:03
Speaker
Absolutely, absolutely. Like I said, they come in as groups and that's why Lauren with your dog, because you felt so connected to them, they all came from the same soul group. And usually those connections that are really, really deep and really, really strong are animals that have incarnated with you many, many lifetimes.
00:23:20
Speaker
And usually the ones where you're struggling a little bit, I don't want to say that they're not connected to you. They might be more sent to you to help you through challenges in your own life, to help you evolve, to teach you things. Like Chunk, the one thing he teaches me is patience. I've never been more frustrated with an animal that I just don't, I think doesn't listen to me at all. And not that he doesn't care about me, he does. We're getting better as he got older, both of us.
00:23:50
Speaker
But like I said, we're mellowing into each other. But like I said, it'ss they teach us things, they guide us through things. I think, and I do agree with Lauren too, I think the way to tell that the soul connection is there, they're very similar to your personality types. And theyre they take you through different times. They take you through different times in your life.
Animal and Human Behavior: A Reflection of Consciousness
00:24:10
Speaker
Like Onyx, when I had her,
00:24:13
Speaker
She was so chill. These two, they're uniquely different and special in their own way. But that cat was my buddy. She was my lab cat. She was very chill. People liked her. She didn't bother anybody. These two are teaching me a lot of lessons. But like I said, I was a different person then. And I could be more independent then. And Onyx was more on her own. These two I've raised since they were kittens.
00:24:38
Speaker
and so I like the fact that it taught me a lot about nurturing and compassion and really accepting, you know, even with their quirks, even with their medical issues, learning how to accept them and just love them for what they bring to my life and appreciate their differences. I appreciate Chump's attitude. You know, magic again is in my face all the time, but I appreciate that too. I think they're both sides of me, like Lauren was saying.
00:25:08
Speaker
Yeah. And hey, there, you do say that to pet owners and their pets sometime even look alike, right? I don't know, Dr. Sumire, if you've seen that in your practice, but I've definitely seen that walking down the street, you know? um Oh, definitely. Yeah. And it's, it's not even like a, not even like a real physical resemblance, but like I feel like the energy, like the person's energy and their, but and their pets energy really match each other. Um,
00:25:36
Speaker
in like almost comical way for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Jimmy, you said that animals have their own guides, spirit guides. And this might be, uh, I was about to say stupid, but I felt like spirit wouldn't like me saying that word. So a little bit of a, um, you're going to trigger them. Uh,
00:25:56
Speaker
ah might be an incorrect statement. Well, Because I know humans have guides, and I think we envision them human-like, even though they're energy. Do animals have more animal-like guides? Does that make sense versus human-like, or is it all the same? Yes, yes. It's all energy. OK. Yes, they have guides, too, because there's different theories on this. And I don't know how you feel, Lauren, but I know how I feel. I don't think a cat can become a bear, but I do think a cat can become a lion. I think we can evolve and grow in different ways.
00:26:30
Speaker
And I think like you're going to get animals and and pets and things that are more evolved. They do have animal spirits that are more evolved. um And you can tell that in their disposition. I think you see a lot of that in their disposition, if they're much more common. Onyx might have been a more evolved cat because, first of all, I think she was a show cat. She used to sleep in her crate and used to fold her paws. like She was really pretty. She looked at him a lion. But she was mild.
00:27:00
Speaker
really mild around people. That's a cat that has a lot of wisdom. You know, ah you could tell there's wisdom and a grace in that. And I think if you start to look at your pets as your companions and as equals, ah you start to look at them differently and you can see the wisdom within them. Like I think um Chunk is extremely majestic.
00:27:22
Speaker
extremely majestic and very wise, very clever. But I think magic is very sweet. They're like night and day, like I said, not to get on a tangent because we could talk about our pets forever. like But like I said, the wisdom behind it. For instance, Lauren, when you had Noni, Noni I thought was really wise. You're corgi. Yeah. It was really wise and just really mild. And I think Val's a lot like you and really mellow too.
00:27:46
Speaker
Yeah, Val came in with, and she was like born and she's had the same eyes since she was like six weeks old. Like even now at 12, like you can look back through all of her pictures. She just was an old soul. Like she came out like a mature dog and has been her whole life. She definitely holds a lot of wisdom I would say. So then do animals also have a life purpose like humans do?
00:28:12
Speaker
Yes, yep, they definitely have a life purpose. A lot of their purpose is to um help us heal as a big thing and to teach us things. But they are healing some of their own traumas. I think that's why you're seeing more so now. I don't know, Lauren, about the past. um And you may or may not know this, about the allergies and the sensitivities of things. you know So their life purpose might be to teach us to be more sensitive in compassion.
00:28:41
Speaker
That's why they're their innocence. They teach us about our own sensitivities. you know When people say, I love animals more than I love people, that kind of irks me a little because animals are supposed to teach you to love people. The same compassion you would show to an animal europe're to show to human beings. Guilty.
00:29:03
Speaker
But it's the same thing. It's like like I said, um if your dog bites you, would you not forgive it? Are you going to hold a grudge? And you know like I said, Lauren, I struggled when magic was sick because he ended up getting chunks thick. I had a little bit of a grudge for a little bit. And I had to go through that because I was like, I bought this other cat in and the other cat's sick and they're both sick and my bills are going through the roof.
00:29:25
Speaker
But yet they have lessons to teach us about sensitivity, about compassion, and that is a lot of their life purpose. Their own life purpose is how they're evolving as well into animals with the maturity and the wisdom they gain through having experience with the love through the human and the connection to all humans and interactions that they have. you know When I went into the field as a veterinary and I was like, oh, I want to do take care of animals because people are so complicated an animal are you know easier and I would definitely say that animals came easier to me, but through all of this year, all of this, these years of experience with animals and their owners, it has actually brought me more to recognizing, accepting, and seeing my connection to other people um and has really like sort of been the, I don't know. It's kind of like set me in motion more toward honoring
00:30:24
Speaker
my connection to other humans. And, you know, I used to say for years, like, if you know how to interact with a dog, you know how to interact with another person, even if you maybe don't recognize that, like, you know, the same kinds of things of like being clear and consistent. And a lot of that is what other human beings need from you as well. It just feels harder for us to give that to them or to get that bridge started with a person.
00:30:53
Speaker
Yeah, no that's a good point, Lauren. I think that, um, I think people, because of our, the way we think, the way we perceive ourselves in the world around us, we think that it's about the reaction to us versus the animals. You don't have that. You know, a dog just unconditionally loves everybody. It means a cat, maybe some people, maybe not everybody. I tell people chunk lives. Everybody bought me, but, but I think you're right. I think it's.
00:31:23
Speaker
It does, if you can love an animal, you can love anybody and it it really softens you. Yeah. Okay. We'll work on it. Danny and I will work on it to be nicer to humans. Like we are to our animals. Well, you think about, um, if I can add to that for a minute, you think about the stresses animals have, you have neurotic animals, you have temperamental animals. Think about people. They're the same thing. It's all the same. That's how, you know, we're collectively a consciousness together.
00:31:53
Speaker
And if you can navigate your dog's anxiety, you can navigate your sister's anxiety, you know your own anxiety. you know So it's learning ah it's learning temperance. i think I think pets and animals are here to teach us balance, a lot about balance. True. Because you can also give a human a treat just like an animal, and they'd probably be happy in that moment. True. I don't know how many you're petting them on the head. or yeah but then behind I'm just gonna start dealing with humans like you do with animals. We're getting really literal. Roll them over and start rubbing their bellies. Yeah, well sometimes with my daughter I notice that the way I'm handling her is similar to the way I handle.
00:32:36
Speaker
ah my dogs, you know, and they definitely teach us patience. I think we're just so lucky to have animals because because as you mentioned, Jimmy, that if they're here to help us learn, grow, evolve, and also heal, then that's a lot that they have to go through for us, you know, and let's be real, they don't get treated well. um I mean, it's changing, definitely, but there's many instances where they're not. So that's a lot that they have to deal with for us. No, I agree. And if you look at animals in the wild,
00:33:07
Speaker
They all work together. They all live off of each other. And that's what human beings, that is one of our biggest and greatest challenges. We keep thinking we're separate from everybody else. We keep thinking that someone has more than me, ah you know, a wolf out in the wild doesn't think, oh, I had more food than the other pack, you know, or I need more food than the other pack. They share.
00:33:30
Speaker
It's about interdependence, so they're teaching us on a whole about interdependence. They're also teaching us endurance and survival because the weather is, they're you know, they're out in the weather, they're out in the climate.
00:33:43
Speaker
So there's there's a lot to learn when you look at animals across the board. you know Like I said, when I got here, I have a groundhog issue. And the groundhog and I had a telepathic communication. you know As long as I don't fall in a hole, you can eat because this is your territory and your home too. You have to learn that it's interdependence. And I think that's the one big thing that human beings amongst each other have difficulty with. it we're that we're here to be connected and interdependent among each other. and Because you know animals and even insects and trees, they all create the ecosystem and it works fluid. Human beings are the only species that doesn't seem to want want to be fluid with each other. And we separate ourselves by our differences, by our cultures, by our religions, by our genders, by everything, instead of just live and let live and love each other.
00:34:34
Speaker
Jimmy, random question. You know how we pray to our spirit guides for help? Can we spread can we pray to our pet spirit guides?
Animals' Spirit Guides and Afterlife Interconnectedness
00:34:43
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Really? Yes, absolutely. you can ask And you can ask your spirit guides to help your pets because they work together. Wow. Pets in general, or animals in general, their spirit guides will innately come when they're sick.
00:35:00
Speaker
Well, Nately, just like yours will. When you're sick, Danny, your guides just know you're sick and they come right away. You don't even have to ask. However, if you have a sick pet and you're working a sick dog, ask their guide, ask their spirit guide to help or ask your guide to assist our guide. That's so cool. Because what happens is with spirit and we didn't get into life in between lives so much a little bit. We touched on things.
00:35:28
Speaker
we We teach each other in spirit. We teach each other in the theory. So we're constantly learning. Remember when I spoke of a little bit about you can swing from a different group to a different group to learn lessons and lives and you can step in at times through your life plan. Like not everybody might not everybody in your immediate family could be in your group, but they might come in because they're learning a specific lesson. Same with animals, same with the guides.
00:35:53
Speaker
they They interact with each other. They teach each other. So there's guides that are specifically assigned to the animal guides as well, but they interact with each other. And it's and it's kind of like what Lauren was talking about, um not some a telepathic knowingness. Your dogs, your cats, they know who you are. Like when my mom passed away, magic would hug me. I would sit on my bed crying and he would just come up and jump on my bed shoulder and just hug me from behind. Your animals, there's a knowingness. And it's that way with the guides working amongst each other as well. I didn't think that was going to be the answer. That's incredibly cool. Going back to how when what happens in pets transition. So I think we touched upon this briefly in a previous episode about afterlives. What do the animals afterlife look like? Is it similar to humans or do they have their own afterlife? What what goes on there?
00:36:53
Speaker
They have their own level, so to speak. They say that they have their own level, but it's, and I feel like they're light beings, like we're light beings, and they have their own level, their own, I don't even know how to explain it, to put it in a human words, it's a thing. It's like its own um dimension, so to speak, for a lack of wording. I still can't even express it into words. It's like their own dimension, but they can go above and and below that to connect with us.
00:37:23
Speaker
And if we want to see them, we see them not only as their light ethereal being like you would see your loved ones, but you can manifest, like I said, and I think I said this to you, and then you can manifest chunk. If you want to see each chunk, you'll see him as chunk. like yeah you know But you're your soul energy and ethereal being will know his soul energy and ethereal being. There's a connectedness there.
00:37:45
Speaker
So you don't necessarily have a form, but you can take a form. You know don't necessarily have a name. The name you have now is not necessarily the name you have in spirit. So when we um transition and before the review, wow when as soon as we transitioned, you said we're met with our guides. Are we met with animals?
00:38:06
Speaker
um Yes, your loved ones and you'll meet your spirit guide and your loved ones and your pets will meet you at the gate. And sometimes you will see your pets before you see your loved ones. ah Because they're a different frequency. And when they transition, there's not that much to heal because they're not afraid of death. So there's not a lot to heal. Unless the animal experienced a lot of trauma based on the person, they really don't hold onto that trauma. Even if you're scolding your dog, if you beat your dog,
00:38:36
Speaker
God forbid, but they don't hold on to that. They do need to heal it, but they don't hold on to it the way we hold on to things. um But when you're transitioning, your pets usually come first because it's a lighter energy. It's a different vibrational frequency. It's more pure. And they can they can um cross cross between those that energy field easier.
00:39:00
Speaker
Oh, okay. That's nice. Where humans are different because um like our loved ones are a little bit different. It takes a lot of energy for us to do that. The animals, it doesn't have that type of energy because of their frequency level. Will they have a life in review as well, the animal?
00:39:17
Speaker
Yes, yep, they'll have a life in review and see what they taught and see what they learned and see how they helped us and what they need to work on and what they experienced. Do you hear that, Jack? Do you hear that?
00:39:31
Speaker
But yes, they have a life in review as well because they're when they're with their guides and they're with the council, um it's more so how they helped. It's more so europe're you're your loving animals, your pets,
00:39:47
Speaker
have a purpose, in a sense, to help us. So when they're getting that life from review, it's how did they do? Just like we did. But it's the judging on it. And then it's going to sound so off the wall. And it's so hard to put this all into earthly terms and earthly wording. Because when I hear it, it's not in earthly terms. It's showing me a lot of images. um It's more so the life from review of judging themselves like we judge ourselves. It's not a judgment, but it's a ah knowingness. So what they had to work on, did they accomplish what they set out to do? You'll find a lot of cats teach people a lot about their power, their personal power, because cats are power plays. Cats don't listen to anybody. Dogs guide you. They pull you in the direction they want you to go.
00:40:37
Speaker
So Danny, you were speaking about Jack going in many directions. It might be you're going in many directions and struggling with which direction to go into. So he might be here to teach you to rein that in so that you have your focus and help you find your focus of what what direction you would like to be in and to temper yourself a little bit and maybe take that erratic energy out of yourself. It's it's an interesting tie between humans. But like I said, when they do their life from a review, this is what I did to teach this.
00:41:07
Speaker
this is what This is how I grew. it's they They sit and learn and grow. it's But it's a knowingness, an instinctive knowingness. I love that. It's not like a human voice as it is more like a knowingness. And that's what I'm having a hard time conveying. Because when they're showing me what they're showing me right now, it's the image. I see the image. And I see the guides. And I see how they're reviewing it.
00:41:30
Speaker
I wish I could see these images, but maybe someday we'll get the technology that what you think will just be able to be projected. The only way I can kind of describe it, if you ever want to experience this, do you remember um the movies and stuff where they should the there was like ah a screen, like a a clear translucent screen that pops up out of nowhere and it's like you can see through it and everything? That's what it looks like, except it's like big. It's like a being in an amphitheater and you can see all the way around and the life all the way around.
00:42:02
Speaker
Or you can just sketch them Jimmy i don't have those I Don't have artistic gifts are maybe not yet but one yes a i let use a i you say yeah lauren Are you a good artist i No ah yeah Lauren I have a question for you. Okay. Have you um did you feel like you Do you feel the the soul detached the way that I feel the soul detached from the animals as they transition?
00:42:35
Speaker
Um, you know you and I you had talked to me about this a couple of years ago and I think that Subconsciously I had prior to that conversation and there are time Since that conversation where I will try to sort of tune in a little bit but um You know because I do that transition so frequently in my day to day I almost have like a it's Like a boundary a barrier or desensitation. Yeah for myself because I can't be in so many emotional because I'm an empath to like being in so many of those emotional situations if I Bring my full self into it then I become very emotional and I can't serve in the role that I'm meant to for that and
00:43:28
Speaker
um But there have been some situations where once I'm pulled in, because it does happen from time to time, then I do try to take um more notice. And I have noticed, you had mentioned sometimes the lights in the room will seem brighter or there'll be like this, almost like a sigh of relief after as the animal transitions. And I do i do notice that in those moments.
00:43:57
Speaker
Yeah, because I noticed that with, um, I've noticed that with my clients, when I read my clients, how they say it's like a, like the, the and and I can see this with some of my readings to the energy, the air gets lighter. yeah I don't know how to explain it. Like the energy gets lighter. Yeah. Yep.
00:44:13
Speaker
How do you move or any advice, I guess, even for people listening who maybe want to go into an animal field or veterinary field, but they might be highly empathetic or highly sensitive, how do you navigate compassion fatigue and, you know, moving through there those kinds of emotions and feelings? Yeah, I mean, so there is there is just like I had mentioned, there is like a a have say it except to say like a version of me that does those those more emotionally heavy things. And I think that I have sort of and with Jimmy's guidance through the years, because I didn't have a good understanding of my empathic nature. I think that's why human interactions felt so hard for me.
00:45:03
Speaker
for so long because I was just like a sponge and I was taking in too much and I didn't know how to make heads or tails of it, but I've learned sort of, um, I have a better knowing of myself and I trust, trust my intuition. Um, and in doing that I have some somehow navigated like a boundary for myself and also,
00:45:32
Speaker
what I have done is like there's ways that I kind of can move through that emotional heaviness like some days are just excruciatingly heavy um and there's no other way around it and those are the times that I do feel the compassion fatigue about the hardest but I've tried to to kind of tune into myself and see what my soul needs to like let that heaviness go and sometimes it's music sometimes It's time with my own pets when I come home. Sometimes it's time in my garden or in nature. um And I think that has been the best service to me to move through that those moments is finding and figuring out there's a couple of things that really helped me sort of move that energy out of myself.
00:46:22
Speaker
I always suggest, and I will suggest it till I die, that if you're going through compassion fatigue, go be around kittens and puppies, because they are especially puppies. Dogs, not the cats aren't healing. Dogs are more healing than cats because the cats, you know, they you have to finesse them. But like puppies goes around, Lauren, when you've bred your corgis and I've been around, oh my God, it's the best feeling ever. It's just talk about a pick me up.
00:46:51
Speaker
Yeah, even if your body when you were even bottle feeding them one time I was over it and I was like, oh my God, it's so cute. How can you not love kittens and puppies? Yeah, but it's healing. I used to do that when um my readings were getting heavy, I would go sit at the shelters and go be around the cats and just let them jump all over me and sit all over me and just to kind of get that energy off and allow myself to get in that loving, nurturing mode. So I know what you mean. It's and it is Kind of like that release. and And I believe to do this work on a spiritual level for you, Lauren, there is a sense of detachment you have to have.
00:47:27
Speaker
yeah It's like me with my readings. There's a place you have to put it because it's not necessarily your pain. It's not necessarily your loss. It doesn't mean that you're cold or I'm caring. It's work. And even with me at times, I go through that. It's work. yeah it's like this is I can't carry this into my everyday life. But there are certain times where certain readings hit me and I'm sure certain losses or certain care hit you. Yeah, exactly that.
00:47:56
Speaker
Yeah. I know we talked quite a bit about dogs and cats and obviously there are other pets and stuff. if yeah We don't mind kind of talking about other animals. We talked a little bit about wild animals. But how about, you know,
00:48:11
Speaker
farm animals, right? And I'm sure they're also here to teach us compassion and um empathy and sensitivity as well. ah Do they have a similar purpose to pets or do do humans just create their own judgment and distinction on this is a pet and this is a farm animal? Does that make sense? Well, some animals are incarnated to work.
00:48:38
Speaker
like it's to work the farm. if they're if If they're incarnated to work the farm, but it's still their life purpose. It's still their life purpose to do that. It doesn't mean that they're just work oriented. It means that's that it was part of their life growth and their purpose. And um hopefully they have good humans ah and a lot of space and good places. But yeah, there are animals that are incarnated just to work. And that's where it gets into helping us evolve as a culture.
00:49:06
Speaker
Because what did we come from farming and then we had industrial like you know they're here to teach us that and again. um I think when you deal with farm animals, it's a lot to teach us about simplicity, about how to to work with nature, to be closer to nature. Because if you have a farm and animals on your farm, you're working with them some maybe for food, maybe for to to cultivate um the land. So it's about that interconnection to nature and teaching us that it's, again, interdependent.
00:49:40
Speaker
And I'm sure that guides and spirits and, you know, as a human collective, we're moving towards, it doesn't matter what kind of animal, we're all here to treat them with love and respect and kindness, even if they do end up being food, right? That we can still respect a life and treat them as so, versus I think humans are still moving through a big ah break down an ego of, okay, I am better than these other species versus we're an whole entire, you know, connected ecosystem. Actually, the earth would arguably thrive without humans on it. ah But whereas other species, you can't really say that as much if you were to remove one. ah But I'm hoping that and we do see it more and more so by the humane truth. We're going to interject. We're going in that direction. We are going in that direction. And that's why I think
00:50:32
Speaker
You're seeing all the endangered species pop up. You're seeing all the the SPCA, all the different advertisements to get people to think about things on a larger scale. But you're right. we're We are moving in that direction. And there are animals that incarnate for food, but you want to hope that they have the best living condition they could have.
00:50:53
Speaker
i know You know, you want to be mindful of that. But, you know, hopefully spirit will direct it in that way. And we're getting that way. That's why you're starting to see more organic, more free range. And if it's free range that they can move, you know, so that they're like, how do you feel about that, Lauren? Well, I mean, I i will say that there is actually now like some so like science based evidence that animals that are not stressed actually perform better in even a food You know, when they're being raised for food setting, like those animals have better body condition and they actually, you know, we can talk a lot about the effects of cortisol on our bodies, but cortisol also affects animals bodies and.
00:51:38
Speaker
you know as an animal that is intended to food, if that animal has a lot of cortisol in its system, it actually changes the the taste of the of the food um that's produced from them. from them And so there's a lot more of a movement in the animal industry.
00:51:58
Speaker
for Food even to reduce stress improve living conditions because you actually those animals do better um And I like I love that that because not everybody you can't take the spiritual route with everyone for sure but you know that is a a Sort of way to make it more appealing to you you know that farmer or the people who are caring for those animals And treating them better that it will actually there'll be a better return in the end for that as well. I Yeah. I mean, imagine, as you mentioned, all the hormones, the stress hormones we secrete as a human, it that has to get stored somewhere. Not everyone is going to think that animals are kind of on the same level as humans, which is all right, but we can at least respect a life for what it is. And if a life is going to be given for our consumption, then what we can do is treat it with the utmost respect, whatever that that looks like. So. And you know, Dan, Maya, I mentioned this before.
00:52:58
Speaker
about ah being grateful for your food. Like, there's a gratitude that goes, be grateful for the life of that animal for your food as well, so that it has some type of meaning and purpose behind it for yourself. And, you know, if that can give somebody some sense of peace. Yeah. You know, that's why, like, when you are eating some meat,
00:53:20
Speaker
or anything like that, be grateful for it. Even for the vegetables. like I think everything's so connected. I think everything's a soul. But I do know that we are gonna go into a more, I can tell you this, this is interesting.
00:53:33
Speaker
I do know that we're going to go into a more vegetarian style of eating because we're going to find that our bodies no longer need meat to eat. That is something futuristic coming way down the road. I don't know when, but I know it's coming down the road. And that's why you're seeing more people become vegan and vegetarian because our spiritual DNA is changing.
00:53:54
Speaker
And that's why there's a lot of odd illnesses and things like, you know, for me, I have hormone issues with my thyroid and testosterone. I've had that since my 30s. And that's my spiritual DNA changing. So with that comes dietary changes. And what you're going to see as this progresses, that people are going to have to start really being in tune with their body.
00:54:17
Speaker
and in tune with what they're eating and how they're eating, but we will get to a space and place where we, where meat won't be able to be processed within our bodies. It's way down the road, but that's what they tell them, that it's going to be more vegetarian. And then at some point we're going to lose the body and come in ethereal being.
00:54:35
Speaker
I understand the kind of purpose of quote unquote death on this earthly realm, right? It teaches us many different things as we talked about in our episode on death and transitioning.
00:54:49
Speaker
What was the purpose of creating, then, the need for not just humans to eat other species, but other animals to eat other animals? I hope that makes sense. Like, death, I understand. But the whole notion of a little bit more violent notion, if you will, of having to kill and eat something, what was the purpose of that being part of? Because if we could just die, right, and not eat each other, we could still maintain population that way. Our evolution.
00:55:18
Speaker
You have to remember everything. We have everything here on this planet. We are emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and physical, and everything on the earth evolves slowly. So part of animals killing other animals and eating them and us eating animals is all part of our evolution. What makes it difficult to add to what you're saying, and I agree with this, is that we're not all on that same trajectory. we're not We can't make people, like Lauren said, to have the spiritual overtone or the spiritual thought with making choices because it's a collective choice. but But like I said, because Earth is so
00:55:56
Speaker
dynamic and complex, it's more of the earth's evolution. And that's why you'll you've had dinosaurs and they're all evolving animals. So we're evolving and think about how many years it took for us to get to where we are, to actually be here as you know human beings. you know So it's about the evolution of the earth. It's not so much that they're torturing us. And I think that's the, like, you know like why does why does an animal have to die?
00:56:22
Speaker
Yeah. Killing is very intense to move through emotionally, right? Death is one thing, but I think killing, murder, that feels a little bit harder to move through. Right. The thing is with animals in the wild, though, when an animal dies in the wild by another animal, it's part of that purpose. And again, it's a submission, an instinctual submission. For instance, if a cat kills a bird, that bird's instinct is, I'm going to be that cat's meal.
00:56:50
Speaker
I'm gonna i'm goingnna be like, it's an instinctively. But it doesn't look at it like, pain and it doesn't look at it like karma. it's not There's not a karma consequence. you know With humans and animals, there might be a little bit of karma only because we could eat other things, you know but but also it's the way spirit looks at it, it's our evolution and where we're at. And it's also the evolution of the body. Our bodies are still made right now to process meat.
00:57:23
Speaker
But like I said, where we're going, we're not going to need to process this meat and it's going to slowly evolve out. yeah But you're starting to see that now. For so long, many years, I've tried to wrap my head around what's the purpose of an animal coming into this life just to either be subjected to cruelty or other aspects and it doesn't make it okay, but to almost get just a little bit more peace that maybe there's things that they're teaching the human or their own soul growth as well and that hopefully their afterlife is just absolutely beautiful. Well, their afterlife is going to be beautiful because they don't hold on to too much of that, but animals that are treated cruelly are more so the change society, the view of
00:58:06
Speaker
animals in society and their purpose in society and starting to try and get a viewpoint of integration. Like I said, we're all interdependent and codependent amongst each other. But and that's why you'll see animals being treated cruelly because it changes society. It creates laws and structures around that for protection so that they're not so looked at as just things. Because like I said, sometimes people think their pets are their babies. They're not babies. These are These are creatures, they are your baby, but they're but they're creatures that are living just like we're living. So it's to make people aware of that. It's to make them aware that you know there's a soul energy there, there's compassion there. And um that animal may also be helping that person that's being cruel learn a soul lesson in that. I will tell you this though, this I can put money on. There is major, major karma.
00:59:05
Speaker
when you hurt animals. There's major karma. uah When you abuse animals or mistreat animals, there's major karma. So that definitely does not go unforeseen. But I just know there's a major karmic repercussion with that. Because of the innocence, they can't defend themselves. But like I said, there's lessons for society around that. And sometimes there might be lessons for the person, the part of the lifeline. Because maybe the anger or the rage someone has, the dog or the cat is teaching them not to have that rage.
00:59:41
Speaker
you know You do want to hope if somebody is abusing an animal, maybe they're not abusing them as the animal ages. like and Not that it makes it better. not They're not condoning anything. But what I'm trying to say is, how are they growing? I always say this. like you know I don't know. It was one of the books that you and I started reading. I think it was your soul's gift when he talked when Robert Schwartz talked about animals. yeah I started seeing my cats as my equal. I started seeing the groundhog as my equal. You start to shift your perspective, even just a little bit,
01:00:11
Speaker
And it changes how you relate to that animal. Yeah, agreed. It changes how you relate to the world around you. Like I said, with the groundhog in me, I'm like, listen, as long as I don't fall in a hole and break a leg, we're cool. You can eat all you want out there. I really wish I was here for this discussion. Oh, my god. I would have loved to hear that. Was that before or after your quad? That was before my quad. OK. And then the deer would come up to me, all kinds of stuff. The chipmunk and the little rabbit would sit.
01:00:40
Speaker
How can we strengthen our communication with animals? And I'd be curious to hear both spirit side and both ah Dr. Sommermeyer as well. You know, to watch them, to really observe them and to observe their behaviors and learn how to accept them. You know, like, a I have the neurotic cat that I said licks magic licks himself into oblivion, and I've just learned to accept it I've tried everything I could try, Lauren knows I've tried everything I could try. But he's not hurting himself he's not hurting me and I'm just like you know what, that's his, his tick. And I don't feel like putting in my Prozac.
01:01:18
Speaker
and because he's 11 but like I said it's I think it's more so with spirit when they tell me it's more of so observing them and really starting to understand them and looking at them oh I love this looking at at them with purity with a pure heart a very compassionate heart a very gentle heart learning how to be more gentle when you're approaching animals even if it's an animal that's has a different disposition than you would like to still have kindness and consideration and love towards that animal. And that's how you start to shift your perspective and and communicate with them better because you'll start to really see why they're exhibiting the behaviors they're there they're showing and how to connect closer to them. I don't know if that made sense. That's what I heard. Yeah.
01:02:07
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think too, I mean, but ah basically what Jimmy said is what I would say inherently. I think though, you know, having a curiosity about, you know, why they do what they do, how they do what they do and curiosity and intention to understand, I think are the key to inner interaction with any other, right? So even if it's a different and an animal or even another human, like approaching that with curiosity,
01:02:37
Speaker
and an intent to understand, I think that improves our communication like across the board. I love that. And I agree. And to really not project yourself onto your animal. I think that's a big human flaw, so to speak, or a crutch. I think a lot of people project their energy onto the animal instead of just receiving the animal as they are. Agreed.
01:03:03
Speaker
Okay. Well, as we kind of wrap this up here, um, any other questions, Danny or Dr. Surma Maya, that you have for spirit at all? I don't, I don't necessarily. No, I don't think I do either. So then does spirit want to close us out in terms of just last parting words of humans and their connections with animals and things for us to keep in mind as we live alongside our furry friends? Yes. the Um,
01:03:30
Speaker
To really remember that you, your pets, the animals, the wild animals, we're all working together. And we're here to work together to make the planet better, to improve the planet, to improve each other, as well as the other animals, and the conditions and living conditions for everyone and the world.
01:03:49
Speaker
Perfect. Love pot. Well, with that, thank you so much. Thank you so much, Dr. Sirmayar, for joining us. And thank you, of course, for all that you do as well on a day-to-day and all that you teach and educate, not just your fur patients, but the human ones as well. And thank you, Spirit and Jimmy, for your insights. Thank you, Danny, as always. And we'll see you all next time. Bye. Thank you so much. Bye.