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Is Your Pet Psychic? What Animals Know That we don't

7/20/2017

Have you heard about the cat Oscar who lives at a nursing home and has accurately predicted the deaths of 50 patients there? Well, Oscar’s finely-tuned talents may not be unique to him.

"People's pets
communicate clearly,”hospice director Nina Friedman told me yesterday, “and they seem to connect in unusual ways to the soul of their owner.”

Hospice professionals from Connecticut to Atlanta to San Francisco have described to me that dogs often become fiercely protective in the hours before their master dies.

“One gentleman who passed away this weekend had a very loving poodle who for many weeks was very friendly to hospice workers when they came to the home. However, on Saturday, the dog would not let any of us in the front door. The dog growled and barked and threatened to bite...It was as if the dog was marking out a territory around the man’s bedroom.

It is not unusual to see animals react in very unusual ways right before their owners die. It was as if the dog was telling us to stay away and let his owner pass away in peace--as if the animal knew something we didn’t….felt something we didn’t…”

I heard similar accounts from other hospice professionals.

Could it be as pack animals, instinct leads our dogs to protect the dying and their kin from possible predators during these final, vulnerable hours? Some folks have shared with me that their pets left behind their homes and families to die alone. Perhaps there is an instinct connected to dying alone.

Many years ago, my dog Spreckels walked away from my husband’s job site, and we never saw the dalmatian again although he was a loyal pet for 17 years.

Whatever the reasons may be, it appears that our pets may be aware of certain cues or messages that clearly communicate that death is approaching —and will let us know.

Attached find an article about Oscar “the psychic cat." He clearly is tuned into some form of communication that many of us humans still do not fully understand.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7129952/Cat-predicts-50-deaths-in-RI-nursing-home.html

If you have an account to share about the pet(s) in your life, please comment here or contact me at finalwordsproject@gmail.com.

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Mother and brother appear and take him for a ride

7/18/2017

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Joy B. describes her father as a 'very scientific, hard-facts-only kind of guy, a chemical engineer who loved to argue against the existence of god(s), spirits, angels, or an afterlife, and often said, 'If people need such beliefs, that is fine. I have no need of them.'

"In November 2014 he began saying he was tired of living, that the effort to stand and walk even a few steps was becoming more painful and frightening since he couldn't breathe well. He said he wanted to die, and wished we could "Just get him some pills or something". He was "just plain tired of living like this."

I began discussions with his wife Terry and doctor so we could get a plan together. On January 9, 2015 he began telling Terry that he was being visited by his deceased mother and brothers. She did not like him talking about it and wouldn't listen. I came the next day, the 10th, to give him his shower.

When I arrived at 8:00 am, he was sitting propped up in his bed as usual, but he'd taken off his oxygen tubing and had it coiled on his chest. He had a smug, knowing look on his face and his arms were crossed with an amusing sort of pride. He said "Well, today's the day. I don't need that anymore."

I smiled, pulled up a chair and asked, "What do you mean, Dad?"

He said, "I saw my brother and my mother. They came and talked to me. I'm ready to go!"

We didn't talk about it any more that day. Three days later, I came early to get him up and he was animated and talkative, like he couldn't wait to tell me some exciting news! He said "She came to me, and she held up 3 fingers." (He held up a thumb and two fingers.)

I asked "Who, Dad, who came to you? Was it your mother?"

He nodded yes with a broad smile. He went on: "She said 'This one is Bud [first of the family to die, his younger brother] and this one is your other brother [who died in 2014] and this one is YOU!' [touching his thumb]. "And she was happy that she was going to have all three of us! She looked marvelous!"

Dad got tears in his eyes while he was talking. He told me this story a couple of times and he was smiling a lot. He was very happy. A few days later, again in the early morning, he said "Oooh! They took me on quite a ride!" He said this with much drama and had a big smile. His eyes were half-open and his eyeballs were darting back and forth while he talked, like he was remembering a real experience.

He said, "They took me way out there and we saw lots of people and then they brought me back." Another time, out in the living room sitting on the couch, he motioned with his hand, making a big arch and saying, "She showed me one of those, you know what those are?"

I guessed an arch-of-triumph type thing, like with balloons, or a rainbow, and he nodded yes to both. He said, "She was making that just for me! and she looked so wonderful."

I asked if this was his mother and he nodded yes. He said, "And they all reached out their hands.." (he smiled broadly and his eyes were darting back-and-forth while remembering.)

I asked "Did you touch their hands?" and he said "OH YES! It was wonderful --their hands-- hundreds of them!" He motioned with his hands, reaching out and grasping.

And smiling all the while. Another time, motioning with his head to where Terry usually sits (she was out shopping), he said, "She was gone in the car ... so they came and took me for another ride! It was a wild one! Whew! They didn't want to bring me back but I asked them to! This time we went WAAY out there!"

Again, he talked dramatically and with big smiles, like it made him very happy to remember. "

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This account has many of the elements we have heard and seen frequently in the transcripts we have collected over the last five years: descriptions of unusual ways of moving through space, rides or trips, and the appearance of deceased loved ones. Christopher Kerr and his team at the Center of Hospice and Palliative Care have done extensive research into the dreams and visitations of the dying that resonates with the hundreds of final words from The Final Words Project. Discover more here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbnBe-vXGQM

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He Stood on a Ring of Light, Waiting for Me

7/12/2017

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Kirsten Cox shares this account of the final words of her father, Gerald Adams.

She described her dad as a kind man who made others feel important. “He always cared more about listening to what you had to say, rather than being concerned about what he wanted to say.”

Kirsten explains that her father was not religious, so the words she heard on his deathbed very much surprised her:

“My father passed away in 1998. My brother and sister had already flown down to the hospital in Florida while I was a day later in arriving. My dad was somewhat lucid when I arrived at his bedside and once I arrived, he told the nurse ‘I'm ready to go now.’

The nurse looked puzzled and told him, ‘Mr. Adams, you know we can't do that.’ My dad was on no pain medicines, and only on a mild relaxant, valium.

Shortly after I arrived, all the other family members left the room, and left me alone with my father. He looked at me and I took his hand, and he told me:

‘I was waiting for you to come, I was standing at the edge of a ring of bright light. You were way over on the other side of the ring of light and my father, and mother and brother Dean were standing on the side with me, welcoming me to come with them. When you came, I knew it was okay then and I was ready to go with them because they had been waiting for me to be ready.’

My dad’s mother, father and brother Dean had all passed before my Dad. I believe that he held on until he could see me and be with me once more before he left. It really floored me because my Dad was not known to be "religious" in nature. He said he believed in a higher power, but didn't believe in worshiping in a church. He was the most honest person I know, and he never exaggerated anything for attention, no drama, just a real down to earth kind of guy."

**** ***** ***** *****

This story has so many of the elements we have heard and recorded through FWP and also commonly appear in near-death accounts: images of light, deceased relatives waiting , a clear boundary between the living and the dead/dying , staying alive long enough to say good bye to the people who matter to us and a sense of being at peace.

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NEW FINAL WORDS FROM THE FINAL WORDS PROJECT

7/10/2017

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Four months have now passed since the publication of Words at the Threshold.

Among the blessings of getting published are the many people I have met and the abundance of final words we have recently received through the FWP website. (We are still collecting accounts and transcriptions. Every one we receive is a precious gift. Thank you!)

I have decided to share many of these with you—with participants’ consent of course—to build upon the examples and ideas published in Words at the Threshold. I will blog three times a week with a different account each post. Nothing complicated. Mostly just the stories. They speak for themselves.

Sometimes I will say a word or two about how the specific account relates to the patterns and themes we have discerned or how they may represent a new pattern. But mostly just hearing the words of the dying speaks of the ineffable mystery of the threshold.

Right now I am reading Of the Light by Dr. David Lerma. The book was recommended to me by my colleague at Cohearence, Dr. Melvin Morse, author of several books, including Parting Visions in which he talks about the dreams, premonitions and visitations of end of life. There are so many great books out there. I will continue to let you know about the ones that I am reading, that nourish my deep curiosity.

So here is the first in a series of 100 blogs with 100 accounts of last words. I hope you receive them with the same sacred wonder that we do. Please feel free to comment or ask questions.

From Robert B. : Is it Time?

“My brother was in his death bed. He was dying of pancreatic cancer. The whole family was around him. We knew it was close to his time, but of course nobody, especially our mother, wanted to see him go. He was quiet for several days. Did not say much.

But then at this moment as we were all around him, he looked up toward the ceiling and asked out loud, “Is it time to come now?”

We, of course, did not hear the answer. But it seemed he did. He then closed his eyes and died.”

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Is Your Pet Psychic? What Animals Know That we don't

Mother and brother appear and take him for a ride

He Stood on a Ring of Light, Waiting for Me

NEW FINAL WORDS FROM THE FINAL WORDS PROJECT

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