If you’re reading this, there is a high likelihood that you have (or had) an animal companion that you’ve known all his or her life. You knew them when they were young. You watched them grow, mature, slow down. You’ve nursed them through health issues. You’ve watched them grow old. Together, you’ve made a lifetime’s worth of memories and can’t imagine life without them. It seems like they have always been there. How can they leave? How can that be possible?

This is the kind of animal that keeps living and living, even though they have no business still being around at their age and in their condition. And yet they keep on going. It’s clear they do not want to leave you as much as you do not want them to leave.

Eventually, like all things physical, this has to end. But let me tell you, if there is ever an animal that wants to come back to you, if there is ever a little being that wants to be reborn into a new animal body and return, it’s this animal.

In my last blog entry, I wrote about what it’s like to live with a reincarnated cat. This week I want to talk about what it takes to encourage an animal to reincarnate back to you.

I confess, I’m no expert. But, having read many accounts of this kind of phenomenon, and having some personal experience with it myself, I’ve come up with a list of things to consider doing if you want to coax your animal companion to return to you.

1. Set Intentions

This may seem rather obvious, but I did want to call it out. This involves more than simply intending to adopt to new animal. This goes a step beyond that. It’s deciding you want to adopt the next incarnation of your previous animal

If you have spiritual friends with whom you feel comfortable discussing this sort of thing, then tell them your intentions. If you keep a journal, write about it. One of the things I’ve done in the past is to write a list of personality traits that I might expect to see if that animal returned or what behaviors that might clue me in that the old animal has come back to me in a new body.

If your animal is still with you but growing older, you might ask them if they would come back to you in a new animal body. Explain that they’ll be young again and you can play with them the way you did when they were young. Tell them that you would welcome their return and love taking care of them again.

Whether your animal is still with you, or in spirit, they will get the message. That’s all you are hoping to have happen at this stage. 

2. Ask

For the most part, I consider myself a nuts and bolts kind of guy. I don’t want to just believe something because someone tells me it’s so. I want some personal experience to back up my beliefs. As a result, I feel a little weird putting this one out there.  But because I’ve had personal experiences with this, and because I think it’s an important part of the process, I am going to discuss it. 

There are spirit helpers “out there” who are even now guiding you along your life path (or ready to step forward to help you, upon your request). But here’s the thing: You have to ask. 

How you ask is up to you. If you pray, then include a request for your animal to reincarnate back to you. If you don’t pray, that’s okay. Just because you’re not used to doing this sort of thing or even if you don’t believe in it, that doesn’t mean that it won’t help. If you really think about it, how can it hurt?

Find some alone time—in your car, on a solitary walk, etc.—and ask for your animal to be reborn and come back to you. You can ask once or you can ask whenever you feel the need.

Additionally, if your animal has already crossed over, talk to him or her directly.  Ask them to come back in a new, young, healthy animal body.

3. Let It Happen

This is easily the most difficult part of the process. It involves trust. It involves letting go of expectations. It involves being open to adopting an animal in a way that maybe you’ve never done before.

I’ve read many accounts of animals in spirit making his or her intentions known (through animal communicators) of reincarnating back to their former humans. The human in the scenario, always excited to learn of the animals intentions to return, invariably asks the question: “How will I find you?” 

The answer from the animal is always the same: “I will find you.”

Okay, you say. Great. But what does that really mean? How?

If you, like me, are used to keeping your animals safely in the house or back yard, careful what they eat and get into, the idea that they have died and their spirits are out there somewhere, beyond your protection, is unsettling.  The idea that you have to trust your animal to reincarnate back to you on their own, without your help, can be tough to accept. But that’s what I’m saying. You have to trust.

Now, if you’re into Golden Retrievers and you always go to the same breeder to adopt one, then it seems likely your animal will know this and go back to the same breeder to be reborn. That certainly narrows it down, right? If you always get the same gender Golden Retriever, then that makes it even easier. Maybe the particular litter that is ready when you go to adopt a puppy has a limited amount of animals of that gender. That makes it even easier.

If you don’t have a situation as simple as a single breeder, it makes it a little less straightforward. What I’d say here is to stay open to adopting an animal in a way you might not expect. It could be a cat that shows up in your backyard and decides to adopt you. It could be a friend that needs to find a home for a new dog and asks you if you’re interested. This doesn’t mean you jump at adopting every new animal that comes your way, it simply means to stay open to the possibility that your former pet might show up in an unexpected way.

Know that your animal may come back as another gender or breed or even another species than it was before.  Your old horse may show up as a new dog.  Your old dog may show up as a a new little kitten.  Be open to that possibility, but don’t be distracted by it. Just don’t rule anything out because you expected to happen one way and it turns out to happen another.

Here’s the not-so-fun news. You may have to wait. You may have to be patient. It could happen in a matter of months. It could be a year or more. Again, you have to trust that when the timing is right, it will happen. When you’re missing your animal and you want him or her to come home, it can be difficult to be patient. Just trust and let the process unfold the way it is supposed to.

Set intentions. Ask. Trust and stay open for unexpected arrivals. Answers may come in dreams.  Or simply knowing that today is the right day to visit the animal shelter or go online to look at available animals.  Listen to your inner voice. 

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention (and Jamie would chime in to add if I didn’t) that the chronology might not fit your expectations. 

What do I mean? Let’s say your dog crossed over and you want her to come back. You stay open to possibilities and a new dog comes into your life. She has a very similar personality. On some level you recognize her. Heck, she even looks like your old dog. But, wait. Your dog died a year ago and this dog is two years old. This can’t be your old dog, can it?

Jamie would say that it can. Time, the way we experience it here on Earth, in our physical bodies, is not the way it is experienced for spirit. Incarnating into physical bodies isn’t like going behind a curtain, exchanging an old set of clothes for new ones, then returning looking different a little bit later. That animal that seems too old to be your former pet can very well be that former pet, even if the chronology doesn’t work the way we understand it.

Last year, my cat, Mrs. Claws, crossed over. Then, less than a month ago, I adopted a new kitten. Mrs. Claws was such an amazing soul. Do I hope this new kitten is the same cat soul returned in a new body? You bet I do. Next time, I will write about what it was like encouraging her return and picking out this new kitten, in light of everything I’ve discussed above.