You do not have to give birth to a child to be a mother. You do not have to have children to be a mother. You can begin with you and expand out to mother others.

If you think about the qualities your mother possesses or possessed, her special traits and effortless actions, you will find that you, too, can mother others even if there are no human children involved.

When thinking about my mother, Leah, the first quality of hers which comes to my mind is compassion. There is no time like the present to shower others with your compassion. The world as we know it is in need of much more compassion and understanding. Read More

Would you agree that our canine, feline and other non-human companions/family members are as important to as our human companions?

They have their own special way of communicating; we understand and respond accordingly. Oftentimes, we refer to them as our ‘buddy’, ‘good friend’ and ‘family’. We form tight, loving bonds and are often left devastated when our animal companions transition to cross over the ‘rainbow bridge’.

Perhaps you have lost an animal companion and experienced the exact same cycle of emotions as you did when you lost a human family member, friend, spouse or partner. I suspect you know what I am talking about. The same seven stages of grief, as defined by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: shock or disbelief, denial, anger, bargaining, guilt, depression, acceptance and hope, apply to the grieving process whether you grieve for a human or an animal. Read More