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If you felt lonely, isolated, disconnected, with an empty feeling inside, and just yearning for more, knowing something is missing, then this podcast is for you. So here's your host, Joe Mittega. Hello and welcome to WE have you ever wondered why letting go feels so impossible? Have you ever tried to move on from a relationship? A painful memory, a betrayal, A dream that never came true? Or a version of your life you desperately wanted to keep? You tell yourself, I know I need to let go. But no matter how hard you try, something inside keeps holding on. For years, I believed I couldn't let go because I wasn't strong enough. I thought I needed more willpower, more discipline, or, you know what, maybe just more time. But I eventually discovered something that truly changed my life. The reason we can't let go usually isn't because we're holding on to the past. It's because we're afraid of what we'll feel when we finally let go. Beneath every attachment is an emotion we've been trying to avoid. It might be grief. It might be loneliness. It might be fear, rejection, shame, disappointment. Or the feeling that somehow we failed. Holding on often feels painful, but to our mind and our body, it feels safer than facing those buried emotions. So we stay attached, not because we want to, but because we're afraid. The irony, of course, is that the very thing we're trying to escape by holding on is the very thing preventing us from truly healing. We carry the weight of yesterday because we believe the emotions waiting on the other side of letting go will be too much to bear. But what if they're not? What if the emotions you've been spending years of waiting aren't there to destroy you, but are actually there to free you. Today, we're going to explore why letting go is one of the most misunderstood parts of the emotional healing journey. We'll uncover why fear keeps us emotionally stuck, why avoiding pain emotional motions give them more power over our lives. And how learning to safely experience those emotions becomes the doorway to courage, peace, and true inner freedom. Because healing doesn't begin the moment you let go, folks. Healing begins the moment you're no longer afraid of what you'll feel after you do. My name is Joe Mitiga, and this is WE we is a podcast about emotional healing, human transformation, and becoming the person you were created to be. Because healing doesn't happen alone. It happens when we remember the we. So I want to welcome everybody here today, and I want to thank you for being here. I have to tell you that typically, I have no idea what emotions are going to come up in a podcast that I'm doing. You know how I do these podcasts and why I do these podcasts. They're considered Experience, Strength, and Hope. I don't tell people what to do. I don't tell people how to do. I don't tell people what to believe. I tell people my experience, strength and hope. And typically, as I prepare, I have titles prepared ahead of time, but I just kind of let life and life experiences unfold and then share with you, my friends, the experience I'm in. And today I have to tell you, I know what today's podcast is going to be about. It's going to be about loss. It's going to be about sadness. And you are definitely going to hear me cry. So from the beginning, please be patient with me. I will make it through this podcast. I promise. I'm going to pray for strength and courage from a power greater than myself, which I've been doing all day. Because yesterday I had to make the very difficult decision to put my dog Zeus to sleep at 11 years old. Sometimes pain is that place you just can't breathe. And I'm in that today. I have to tell you, I was in it yesterday. Worse. And people say, well, Joe, what the hell are you doing? Why are you doing it now? And you know why? Because what better way for me to share with the world that if I can tell a million people, and quite honestly, the way the we podcast is exploding around the world. Welcome, Norway. Welcome, Canada. Welcome. My brain isn't thinking too good today, so I apologize for other countries I'm not mentioning. It's probably a million people going to hear this podcast, but what I say all the time, if I can tell a million people that I'm hurting and I'm grieving and I'm in deep loss, then you can tell one. Because if you're hurting and you're isolated, it's time to get out of that isolation. It's time to tell somebody. So I share my experience, strength and hope. And typically, I don't know what's going to come out. I write down a dozen or two sentences on a piece of paper prior to a podcast, and whatever flows, flows. A couple weeks ago, I was talking about forgiveness, and I grieved at the end of that about the death of one of my perps. I had no idea that was coming when it came. Well, I can tell you today, folks, I am in deep grief and I want you to know I can feel your prayers, I can feel your love, and I genuinely Feel your support. I do. I was a witness to my life coach, Dr. Karn, going through three months. She had to do the same experience a couple months ago. And I know a lot of you have been here. I do. And the death of a family member is different than a death of a pet. It just is. And a pet becomes literally a part of the family. Right. The difference is it's only unconditional Pets are the purest thing to unconditional love we ever experience. So when it's time to say goodbye, the pain is deeper. It just is. So today, I'm going to share with you what I've been doing and how did I make such a difficult decision. You know, I live in a world where my boys are my kids. They're not my sport. No, a parent is the kid's support. So where do I get my support? I'm in silence all the time. Well, it's from a power greater than myself. And I'm going to explain how I make difficult decisions. I'm going to tell you what I do, the how to. I'm also going to tell you what I've done and what people around me have done during these difficult times. We all have different styles. We all have different needs. We all have different approaches. I can only tell you mine. And over time, I'm going to tell you others as contributors, volunteer to be here with me. I want you to hear other people's experiences. That's why I'm working diligently on the voices of we. But I just want you to know, if you've lost a pet, a family member, I freaking get it. That is painful. And I'm in the center of that right now. I was literally talking to a man who I've shared the story. He's trying to get out of his addiction. Christian guy, good Christian, beautiful person. And he's in the phase of the voices, and he's getting off alcohol a little bit, but the voices are just torture. And you know what I told him? I said, John, which is not his name. I said, john. You know what? It's time to stop praying like a Christian. It's time to start praying like a warrior. And I meant no disrespect for Christianity in any way, shape or form, but I was trying to make a point. When you are going into battle and you don't say, hey, dear God, rescue me a little bit, please. I could really take a little support here. Remove the voices. No, you're going into battle. You say, hey, God, I'm going. Because of you. I need your strength and I need your courage. And that's what I told him. I said, john, time to pray like a warrior, strength and courage. And sure enough, the courage worked because he finally opened up a little bit, shared stuff with me he'd never shared before. I'm going to be that set of ears for him. He doesn't know me. I've never met these people, but so I'm a safe place for his words to go into my ears. And like I said to him, I've been on this path since I think what I say. February 16, 1990. Been doing it a long time, so there's nothing he could say that I haven't heard before. But I'm just going to tell you straight up, and I'm going to say it right now. Dear God, give me the strength and courage, because I'm going to share the best I can and show my strength by being willing to share from the depths of pain. And I want you, if you're on here, to feel the pain with me and understand the pain you're feeling is yours, not Joe's. Joe can handle Joe's. Joe is handling Joe's. Joe is sharing with the world why Joe is in the middle of it and how can I do that? Folks, I've been doing this a really long time, so do I have any fear of emotion anymore? No, I don't. Do most people? Yes. And that's all part of the spiritual journey. That's all part of the awakening process. That's all part of the emotional growth. That's all part of the spiritual awakening. Where did I learn not to be so fearful of my pain is years ago, when I realized the reason I was holding on, whatever the holding on was, wasn't because I was afraid to not have another girlfriend or afraid of whatever it is it was. If I let go of my girlfriend at the time, whatever the it was, then I'd have to feel the loneliness. I don't want to feel the loneliness. I'd rather be in a relationship that didn't work. And, you know, I could go on and on. This podcast isn't about that. This podcast is about sharing with you the strength. Where does Joe get the strength to be able to share? Literally in the center of my grief. And I get it from a power greater than myself. All part of the we human self, higher self, inner self. Well, I can tell you right now, my human self is grieving. I lost my. One of my closest friends yesterday, and I'm the one that had to make the decision. And I'm going to tell you how I did it with no guilt, no remorse and absolutely no fear. Of course the problem when you don't have the other deterrence is the only thing left is you feel is pain. You can't breathe. Well, did a lot yesterday, obviously still today. So let me just tell you Zeus's story. My past wife and I, we met in church. I got out of my seven years of darkness and ready to live life. I looked across the room and I saw this beautiful woman and I said I'm going to marry her. Sure enough I did preacher's daughter. And I always tell that preacher's daughter thing. I just think that's kind of funny, you know, I was an fu, I was an FU God guy and now I'm marrying the preacher's daughter. I mean there were so many oxymorons and so many cliches that I had a lot of fun with myself, with. And my past wife Elizabeth is a beautiful woman, a great mom, was a great wife, kind, loving, sweet, I mean anything and everything you'd want. And people say well geez Joseph, if she was so great, why did you guys divorce? Well, we divorced because as our path grew, we both are on a spiritual path, we grew differently. And quite honestly I couldn't give her what she wanted in a marriage. Wasn't her, it was me. I couldn't do it. So I take full responsibility for that. And I do. I say that with no remorse and no regret because for Joe, I can't put anything or anyone, including my wife and the love I had for my wife have still, you know, love's an ever going thing. I can't put that in front of the connection with my higher power. I couldn't. And I'm not saying she was asking me to. She didn't say hey Joe, stop that God thing and love, no, but the needs and the wants in her world, that's what I would have had to have done. And I couldn't do it and I didn't do it. So one day on a Tuesday she says and you know, we'd been having our challenges needless to say and two sided street I had plenty to do with it and trust me, so did she. I'll never talk about somebody else's issues because I had a tough enough time keeping up with my own. But in all relationship there's always two sides. Well, she comes in on a Tuesday after some challenging times and she says I've got to talk to you on Saturday. And I remember thinking, oh, that's not going to be good. And in the scenario of adults, there's two potential possibilities. She had some guilt filled behavior patterns she wanted to admit, or she was going to say divorce. And I knew my wife very, very well. She's a beautiful woman, woman of integrity. So it wasn't going to be anything of guilt and remorse on her side. She walked in and said, joe, I've divorced you and I don't love you anymore. And in the I don't love you anymore is where I said, I'm okay, I hear you and I'm done. You know, I'll leave. Because my esteem was so high, my worth was so high, I couldn't, I was, I couldn't fight for a marriage with, with somebody who could honestly tell me the truth. And I give her a lot of credit for that, I really do. She was on, it's very honest with me. And so four days later I packed up the stuff that fit in the front seat of the car and I left. And it's interesting because I said I wasn't going to do it, but I am. And I'm one of these people that, you know, I typically don't talk about other people's stuff until I've asked for permission. But I have to tell you right here in this point, I came across this website randomly, I mean literally randomly called Divorce Post. And I, as I was reading it and looking at it, I said, Jesus, what I would have done to have that kind of support in those days after my wife says, and I don't love you anymore. I had no support, I had nothing, I had no place to go. And I don't know anything about this. And I'm one of these guys that tends to beg for forgiveness before I ask for permission. Now, to my credit, I am in the beginning. I'm trying to get to the owners of this particular website, Divorce Post, because I have concern for my listeners, my friends, all of you and folks, we are growing at a rate that humanity's never seen. In my opinion, the divorce rates over the past decade are going to be minuscule to what they're going to be in the next decade. Why? Because people are growing and you're either growing or you're going. Your relationship is either growing or you're going. And you can be with somebody for 20 years and emotionally and spiritually outgrow them. Is that a bad thing? No. It's all part of your divinity. It's all part of your spiritual path. And that's why I'm hoping to get permission from this, this group, this ownership group to be able to talk about Divorce Post a lot because I believe everybody listening here now and we are well in excess of a hundred thousand plus downloads a month. I don't know the numbers, I don't look at the numbers. I just know we are ranked 86th or something in the fricking globe now, which means a lot of people. And you're either personally in a divorce or you know somebody personally that just went through one or you know somebody personally who's getting ready to. Everybody listening knows somebody that needs to visit Divorce Post. And I, you know, so I said it. I hope I don't offend the people there. I typically don't share unless. But you know what? Quite honestly, I'm putting the needs of my listeners first if I can't imagine them getting mad. But it kind of goes against a little bit of personal integrity. But what I would have done, let alone the tens of, I don't know, hundreds of thousands I'd saved in money and attorney fees and all that. Just the peace of mind, the confusion. Do you know, 10 years later, I still don't know where documents are, which if I would have collected them 10 years ago, which is all part of what this Divorce Post does, life would just be freaking easier. I still don't know. Well, so everything in the front seat of my car, that's it. I didn't hire an attorney. I'm not fighting you. I don't. You take everything, I don't care. All I want. My only request. And then I found out later it's Georgia law is my kids 50% of the time. And that wasn't a battle I didn't fight. I walked away. Do I suggest that for anybody? No. Visit Divorce Post. Let her help you. Why did I do it? Because that's just me. I've got a big personality. I knew I built it before, I'll build it again. Well, I was right. I did. So the building of the life and whatever. Well, now I've got a nine year old and a four year old that when they come to see me, which we were 50. 50. They're in a house that's 10 miles away from where they live their whole lives. My oldest son had never gone three days his entire life without seeing me. I've always worked from home. So my oldest son, I was his caregiver when my wife would go to work. So my oldest son and I spent every day together our his entire life. And now I'm gone. So when he came, when they came to stay with me, I was working to create a home. This was the first rental. I mean it happened so fast. I got a six month rental. Well, lo and behold, that's where Zeus comes in. And as a boy, as a young boy, I was more 11 or 12, I think probably 11. We got a German shepherd puppy named Roman. And all through my teens, Roman and I were really good friends. I trained him, he was my hobby. You know, I could literally take Roman in big fairs with no leash on and he would heal right next to me. Police officer walks up to me one time, I'm 15 years old, he says, son, you got a leash? I said, yeah, it's right here in my hand. He says no. Do you have a leash on the dog? I said no sir, I don't need a leash on the dog. He said, leash him or put him up? Okay, I'll leash him. But I didn't need to. That's how well trained Roman was. Well, that's where Zeus comes in. And so I bought Zeus 10 week old puppy, about 12 pounds. And I needed something so that when the boys came, especially my oldest who was super active to have a friend and that was Zeus. When Elizabeth and I told Joseph that we're divorcing, he's nine years old, he didn't understand really what was going on. He just knew everything was changing rapidly. And he cries for about 45 seconds and then he stops and he says, okay, can I go outside and play with Justin? Who was this? Who is the neighbor kid? We said sure buddy, go play. Well, I needed to replace a Justin for Joseph when he came to my house, hence a 10 week old puppy. And that's where Zeus came in. Over the pre, over the following years, Zeus got bigger, Joseph got bigger. When they were little Joseph, you know, Zeus is 12, 15 pounds, all puppy, all feet, all ears. You know what they look like? Joseph would run around the backyard, Zeus would try to chase him. And Zeus is a little puppy running 18ft while Joseph's running 80. And I always said to Joseph, have fun now buddy. Because he had no idea he's nine. Sooner or later, just going to catch up. Sooner or later he's going to beat you in a race. Now I'll always be faster than him. That's what Joseph used to always say. Well as you all know, 18 months later, Zeus now starts chasing girls. He's a 70 pound 2 year old German shepherd, he could out chase anything. He'd chase rabbits, he'd chase squirrels, he'd chase anything that would run, including my son Joseph. And Zeus became Joseph's friend, I mean close friend. And they always say that your owners, the owners of a pet are similar. Well, Zeus and I are definitely similar, but Zeus and Joseph were almost like brothers. It was the most bizarre thing. It's like they had the same personality. Every time Joseph would walk into the room, he'd walk right up the Zeus sleeping or not sleeping and bug him. Every time Zeus's entire life, Zeus didn't care. He'd jump up and go play. And they were close. And what did Zeus do for dad, right? My heart was breaking for my kids at that point. Naturally my faith in a power greater than myself caused my kids to have to now live in two homes, literally. And no guilt, no remorse. When there's no guilt and no remorse, the only thing you feel is pain. And that's what I felt a lot of in that period. Pain. Pain of loss of a life, of a marriage, of my, the love of my life. I made a commitment, a covenant to God, death do us part. Well, all that changed, right? But then I have kids and I have to care now for my kids. The reason I never I chose not to get into any type of female relationship all that next decade, which is still the case today, is because I had all intentions of giving any overflow I had to caring for my kids and creating a safe environment for them. Zeus was the answer. Zeus was the solution to that. So in my world we all have special rhymes and special reasons of the pet in our world. You know, they become a family member. They do well in my world for Joseph, Zeus was his good friend. For me, Zeus was a savior for my kids and it brought a tremendous amount of. The only place I could feel peace when I was grieving deeply over the loss of my previous wife and life, right Is that at least I knew when the kids came over they wouldn't be bored, they'd have fun. And they did. And that was Zeus. So Zeus grew into a hundred plus pound pure alpha male police dog looking German shepherd. You know the vision you do. The boys got older. I built the house I live in right now. I built, I was building while I was renting and moved in. And so I have a backyard that's fenced and Zeus is in our world. Zeus never went outside, I mean never went outside the fence. So he had a, you know, he had a few visits to the veterinary when he was little but I'm not a vax guy and, and Zeus was surrounded by Nobody. He was perfectly healthy. His entire life, Zeus would literally eat almost 50 pounds, those great big bags of food, about 50 pounds of food a month. He's that kind of big. And he would. Every time somebody. Because I live, my back deck is up because I've got a walk out, a walkout basement. So Zeus would stand there. He stands on my back deck, kind of like straight Simba in, in Lion King, looking over the kingdom. That's what Zeus would do. Looking over the neighborhood. And for a decade, every time a dog would come, Zeus would do that massive German shepherd. I'm going to kill you. Who. How dare you come onto my street. I'd go out there, I'd holler at him, I'd scream at him, I'd yell at him, I this, at that. He didn't care, he'd stop. But he'd do it again every day. Then, you know, it's kind of funny because Zeus, big, bad, mean, big ass German shepherd till dad came. And everybody knows who the primary Alpha is in this house, and it's dad. And so I would go out there, I'd say, have you lost your mind talking like that to my dog, right? And he cower down. You would think you would stop now, very next time. Big Alpha. I used to say to the kids, he just likes my attention. That's why he's doing it. Anyways, Zeus was a great dog and it was kind of spiritually, we know how it works, right? Massive transitions, big changes. My oldest son left for college a month ago. And I knew, literally when Zeus was little, he wouldn't eat for three days. The kids weren't around, he wouldn't eat. I'd sit with him, he wouldn't eat. That's why when he got bigger, if he didn't eat for a day or two, I didn't mind because I knew when he's hungry, he'd eat. That didn't happen. As they got older, well, I became a single dad. And then both my boys over time lived with me. Both my boys have lived with me full time for nine years. And Zeus, so it was the four of us. So about four or five months ago, Zeus starts growing like a, a big cyst on his stomach. And he's old. He's gonna be 12 years old. There was no way I was going to take him to a vet at this point. There's no way I was going to have any type of procedure at this point. He's too old. And, you know, a lot of German shepherds don't make it past seven or eight, he's on 12 and he's big, he's not little. Had a cyst on his stomach and we watched it, nothing could do. Didn't think a thing about it at first. And it was just amazing how as Joseph's world starts transitioning, that cyst is like rapidly growing. And I can't explain it. I didn't know this was going to happen back then, but it was when Zeus. I never shut my back door in my house. It's 100 degrees, it's 90 degrees, it's 40 degrees. Zeus comes in and out of just the back living room part of my house, which I have a huge downstairs. It's all hardwood. And there's an area in my house that Zeus always stayed. He could walk anywhere he could, but he was trained to stay in that area. Well, sure enough, as we start packing Joseph's boxes and they're all the way in the front of the house boxes to move to college, I see Zeus more than once. And he breaks the rules and he goes and sits with Joseph's boxes. It's like he knew he would go sleep where my son's boxes that were getting ready to be moved out because, you know, it took us a month or a week to pack him every night. Zeus should go break his own rules, go and sleep with Joseph's boxes. Of course, I didn't get on to my new what was happening. Lo and behold, Joseph leaves. I can't say Zeus was depressed, but certainly was himself. And the cyst keeps growing. And I knew sooner or later that cyst was going to be an issue. I just knew it. And because he wouldn't leave it alone. And you want to get mad, but he's a dog. He doesn't know. All he feels is something hanging. And I couldn't get him to stop kicking it. So we'd wrap it and keep it covered and. But he can do whatever he wants. He's £100. 100? More than that. Probably 115. Well, lo and behold, a couple weeks ago it got worse. And then you can't get mad at him, but he wouldn't leave it alone. And then eventually he tore it into a sore and I called. Nothing you can do, Mr. Mitiga. Keep him comfortable, keep him wrapped, put some medicine on it. Nothing can do. Okay. At that point, this is probably a month ago. Of course, I know it's only a matter of time. I didn't know timing. So I'm going to share with you what I did. How do you make these decisions, Joe. I ask for guidance, folks. We are a multi dimensional being. Right now, as you're sitting here, you're sitting in an emotionally intense conversation. I'm speaking with you. So your emotional senses. As I'm crying, I'm sure you're feeling twinges in your belly, twinges in your heart. If you just lost a pet, I am so sorry. Obviously, I can empathize with your pain. If you lost a pet a while ago, I am so sorry. I have compassion for your loss. And if you're getting ready and you've got an older pet now, it's one of the harder decisions. But how did I do it with no one to talk to? For those of you that are new here a month ago or so, I keep. I'm guided by a power greater than myself all the time. I don't have the voices in my head. I almost have no voices. And I'm guided back into silence. And I heard. I felt myself resist. Oh, my God, please, not silence, please. Because I was interpreting silence to solitude. Like I spent those seven years. All my higher power wanted me to do is take my headphones off and lo and behold, it I have. I am. And so, on any given day, if I'm not sleeping, I'm pretty much in silence. I don't own a television. I'm not somebody to listen to the radio. My oldest son is gone. My youngest son, who's just an absolute genius, literally, he's learning how to trade futures on the stock market. He's got his own apartment downstairs. I see him every day, but I don't hear him. I think he's up like $9,000 or something. He's 14. I don't know. Just bizarre. So I'm in silence. And I say that over and over because I'm asking each of you, have you started your day with some silence yet? Have you started your practice of silence, Meaning no external stimulus. Start with 30 seconds, start with a minute. And I always say, if I can do five or six hours, you can do five or six minutes. Build up to five or six minutes. And why do you want to is because even though you're still going to hear the chaos in your head, if you sit long enough, in enough quiet space, you're going to hear a deeper guidance. You're going to hear a deeper, softer voice. And that deeper, softer voice is your higher power. That's where you're going to get the guidance from a grander you human, you, inner you, higher you are, your divinity. How do we hear the divinity. How are we guided by the divinity? Well, for me, I can hear it. Some people can feel it. A lot of women can sense it. Your gut instincts, your intuition. And I hear it well. In my silence now, I would pray, ask, listen, live, ask for guidance, listen and then live your life. Live whatever the guidance is telling you to do. So I was asking for guidance. How will I know? How will I know when it's time? Because I'm the person has to make the decision to put a live human, a live being to sleep. He's alive one second. And because of my decision now, he's impure spirit. And I have no remorse, I have no guilt. I asked and I. And what I heard was ask Zeus. Zeus will tell you, Joe. That's what I kept hearing. Zeus will tell you when I trust that life goes on. Now, about two weeks ago, this big mass, this big cyst got to our point where Zeus scabbed it and it would start to bleed. So we'd wrap it and he's 110lbs. You could wrap it with a sheet of iron. When he wants the wrap off. Over time he's going to get the wrap off. And he did. And he was about. But you could tell it was getting worse and there was nothing I could do. I wasn't resisting, I wasn't holding on. How do I know I'm not afraid of my emotions, folks. Was I in pain? Did I know what was coming? Yes. Did I grieve the entire time? Yes. Was I fearful of letting him go? No. Why? Because I wasn't afraid of the pain I was going to feel. Why? Because I ask for strength from the divinity that's already in me. Alone. If I would be doing it all alone, with no divine presence, the pain of something you care so deeply about, it's terrifying. And ask for strength. And quite honestly, when it comes to pain, when it comes to emotion, strength isn't what you need. It's courageous. You have to pray for courage. Why? What's the opposite of fear? Courage. Why? Because the pain is hard and the pain is scary and the pain freaking. It hurts. It does. Nobody voluntarily wants to feel pain. But you don't have to be afraid of it. For Joe, my comfort is a power greater than myself and me. If you're in this place, find what's comfortable for you. A friend, a group, a sponsor, a therapist, a somebody healing doesn't happen alone. It happens in the we. Joe's we happens to be me and a power greater than myself. If I ever have a female in my life. Would I exclude her from this? No. But all I can say, she better be tough as freaking nails, because when I grieve, I vibrate the house. And I would be perfectly fine if my female partner someday said, you know what, Joe? It's too much for me. I have to go. I would be fine. I wouldn't feel lost or abandoned. I get it. I do. And. But that's. Joe. In future episodes, I'm going to talk about an experience I had of a death one of a child and what that family did. There's support, folks. There is. So when you're in grief, get support. Tell somebody, I want to share from the depths of my grief the best I can. 39 minutes in, I still haven't clicked it off. So I'm making it. I prayed for strength and courage, and God just keeps giving me the strength to keep this going. And because I want to keep telling you what happened. The end. Well, I said, okay, bud, to Zeus. You have to let me know. You let me know now. Did I know how I was going to do it? No, I didn't. My. My. My life coach, her dog Tucker, literally came to me in dream time. I didn't know what the dog looked like. Came to me and said, tell my mama I love her. Tell my mama I love her. And I was like, okay, I will. That happens to me a lot. You know, the veil kind of goes away a lot. I didn't even know who the dog was. It all clicked to me when I woke up the next morning. So I told his mom, it's very helpful. It was fairly healing for her. Well, I said to Zeus, you have to tell me when you have to tell me. Well, on July 28th, Zeus stopped eating. And I knew that was Zeus's way to, like, prepare me, you know, 50 pounds, 50 pounds of food a month. You know, any serving bowl you put a salad in, that's the kind of bowl of food Zeus would eat every day. Dry, not dry. We put water, no extra. When he got older, I put a little bit of extra. But he stopped eating on July 28th. And, you know, day one, day two, I get it. The sore on his belly, still pretty. I could still wrap it. He's getting uncomfortable. He did. Was no one in no pain? And then I asked Chat, like, how do you know? Well, Chad says it's not knowing its quality of life. Well, at this point, Zeus is still walking around. He's still barking, he's still whatever. Now it's day three, no eating. And he Will not leave this cyst alone. And no matter what I did, he wouldn't leave it alone. So needless to say, 100 pound dog decides he wants that. I cut up sheets. I cut up flannel sheets, big red flannel sheets. Wrap his whole body. And just to keep him protected from himself, you start seeing the blood come through the sheet little by little, and there was no pain and he wouldn't leave it alone. And then day five, day six, no eating. I keep thinking. I don't confuse the position of hope with understanding and allowance. I wasn't hoping Zeus would start eating, but I was allowing however it would unfold to guide me. Hope is a human experience that we pursue to try to make ourselves feel better, period. When you're in a great mood, just made a million bucks, you don't look for hope. You look for hope when you're feeling horrible, when you're sad, when you're dark or whatever. Well, I wasn't hoping for Zeus to start eating again because that would have been Joe, putting Joe's emotions in front of Zeus's needs. I've been Zeus's caregiver his whole life. Joseph and Zeus were friends. We're like little brothers, right? I was Zeus's caregiver his whole life. Zeus was around me every day. I've never said, today's the first day in my house, which is now 10 years old, that Zeus wasn't here. So every night, Zeus was next to me. Every day Zeus was next to me. I fed him. I, you know, the whole thing. So Zeus was my friend. He was in my darker times, as, you know, dogs and animals just come sit with you. Well, I kept asking him. I said, you let me know. You'll let me know. Well, sure enough, day before. No. Day before yesterday. No. What the hell? It's just yesterday. Yesterday I come downstairs and Zeus is. He's sitting in a puddle of blood. And it's like, okay, buddy, I couldn't. And I tried to wrap him, right? And I couldn't get it to stop. And no guilt, no remorse. I knew this was what was going to happen, you know? So there's a puddle of blood in my living room. I say puddle six inches or something. And I knew this was the time, right? So also in changing the ramp, he's big and I can't get it under him. I have to lift him and he won't help. He can't. And it was starting to hurt. You could tell. Not when he was. Not when he's just sitting. But now what? You have an open wound that medicine won't heal. Nothing's going to heal it now. You know, it's time. Time is the only thing going to. Going to heal it. And so I had to change it. And he would run from me, and he thinks he's hiding. He'd run off my top deck, go down to the patio deck underneath. And I wouldn't chase him. I wouldn't let him get out unwrapped, but I'd wrap him up with a new set of sheets. I didn't want it to get dirty. I didn't want it to hurt him. And then he'd run. Well, Yesterday, out of nowhere, he comes running back in, sitting next to me, blood on his chin. And we couldn't get it to stop. So I knew. I knew that was the time. So I'm making calls. I don't know what the hell to do. And I knew it was time. And I look at Zeus's eyes. You know, you look at the innocence of an animal, and there was no fear. There was no fear. He was ready. Animals don't have fear. Hell, they're purely connected. The whole time, they know where they're going. Purely connected. And he just ran up to sit next to me. And I didn't leave aside the rest of the time. So I call, I try to get someone to come to the house. And I remember out of nowhere, a place that Zeus loved to go on boarding eight years ago. I called the lady up. She says, oh, my gosh, how are you, Mr. Mitiga? How's Zeus? And I said, well, ma', am, today is Zeus's last day. Can you help me? And you talk about God on the phone. This woman's compassion was God. I have to take a second right here. Our world is so skewed with the delusion that money and fame and people knowing you and all of that has a special space for abundance. It isn't. Abundance happens when you are drawn to wherever your path leads you. And I believe there is. There are millions and millions of people out there that are literally living their God path by the job they're doing. And I don't know how much a receptionist at a dog veterinary clinic makes, but I doubt if it's a ton of money. My sense is, like most people, we struggle with money. We struggle to pay the car payments. We struggle with our kids. We struggle to make it. But this woman's voice, it just helped. She was so kind because I was reaching out for help. She says, we close, but I'll tell them and they'll stay. This place is 45 minutes from where I live. Had an appointment, Took Zeus out to the car. He couldn't jump in the car and had to lift him up this time. He's probably 80 pounds. He hadn't eaten in 10 days. And he just lays there. We walk in, like, he remembers. He always loved driving in the car. We walk in, they say, you do the paperwork, whatever. And she says, I'll take care of it. And I had given both my boys their time. Both of them said their goodbyes. Both of them are living their lives. You know, they're both good. I told my oldest son, make sure in your sacred silence you feel your feelings. He's been taught to grieve his feelings his entire life. He said to me, dad, I promise I will. And he will. I spoke to both of them. My youngest son said, as we're leaving, he text me and say, dad, let me know when you're gone. He said, I said my goodbyes to Zeus. I don't need to see him leave. My son setting his boundary. I said, buddy, no problem. I will, you know, I'll take him. That wasn't. My kids weren't going to come with me, and I took him. So I walk in and Zeus lays down. He's peaceful. He's peaceful. The blood finally clotted a little bit. But I knew. How did I know? How did I make the decision? I didn't. Zeus did. How did Zeus make the decision? Based on the circumstance that I could no longer do anything about. I couldn't do anything. I did everything I could. And sometimes you reach that spot where humanity doesn't have a reason anymore. It, like, doesn't have anything to do with it anymore. When I came down and we couldn't stop the bleeding, I was only going to wait a couple more days. You know, Zeus was strong. I wasn't going to allow Zeus to starve himself to death. I wouldn't do that to him. I had no intentions of doing that. I was going to wait a couple, two or three more days, maybe a week, 10 days. And then I had to make the decision, which would have been harder, quite honestly. This decision was emotionally brutal but very easy to make the decision. Now you make a final decision at one and the appointment's at five. Now you have to function for four hours. I sat with him, I rubbed his head. He'd look at me. It's like, what's going on? I'm good. Your pet is pure spirit. It's us that have the issues I joke about my kids. Hey, guys, you know what? I'm buying Frosted Flakes because I know you want some. I say all the time, I don't buy Frosted Flakes for them or me anymore. That was always the joke. I'd say it's about them. I bring the Frosted Flakes home and eat it. And I said it with my sons. You know, my boys, they're gonna miss Susan. My kids are fine. They both did their little bit of grieving. I've been grieving, hard, as you can tell. Zeus was a friend. And I had to say goodbye to a really good friend yesterday. So now what, right? I'm going to. I have to say one more thing. There are people out there. I remember when I was a kid, I was terrified of the dentist. And I had a hygienist. We had her our whole life, who was just the nicest, sweetest, kindest, gentlest, loving lady. I still remember this lady's face 60 years later. And I don't remember her name, but I remember, believe it or not, my dentist's name was Dr. Fromm. It should have been Dr. Frown, but it was Fromm. He was your stereotypical bald, 50 year old mean guy, basically saying, stop moving. And his kind dental assistant, she made everything okay the whole time. I'll never forget her. Ever. And I want to tell each of you now, whatever your role is in the world, whether you're aware of it or not, if you're in the service world out there where there are hundreds of millions of you, you change people's lives and I want to acknowledge you. I wish I could name all hundred million of your names, because it's because of you that the world is comforted. I walk in this place and I said to her, do I have to stay in here? She says, no, Mr. Mitiga, I promise you I will take care of it. I said, thank you. And I'd already said my goodbye. I handed her the leash. I asked for strength. And I got up and I got out, got in my car, sat and grieved again. No kidding. Well, eventually you catch your breath. Eventually. I knew the whole time Zeus was going to a better place. I knew the whole time Zeus was going to be peaceful. I knew the whole time Zeus was not scared. It isn't about knowing where Zeus is going. It's about honoring all parts. My divinity was very clear of Zeus's spiritual path. My divinity was very clear on how to guide me. My divinity was very clear on the whole process of unfolding the process called life. My emotions are emotions. We are emotional beings. We are human beings with emotions. It's the emotions that have. That caused the challenge, the angst, the humanity of it, the fabric of who we are emotional beings. And when we can really identify that emotions are a good part of us. I can promise you, when I'm done grieving all of this, I won't have a residue of grief. I won't, because I'm grieving it as I go now, my path. I tend to do things with just myself. Whatever you need as far as support. Do I suggest people take their. Their loved one by themselves? No, I don't. And dear God, don't drive if you don't have to. I don't have an adult in my world that could do that with me. I don't. I sat in the parking lot, I wasn't going to kill somebody because I'm grieving and kill, you know, so go with somebody. And when the decisions are hard, let somebody else talk it through with you. And probably not your partner. A lot of times, let it be a friend, let it be somebody. And sometimes, folks, the hard ones, these, sometimes you have to surrender and get out of the way because your emotions might not allow you to do what's best for the being you're making emotions, decisions for. Well, in other words, if you've got a pet that you're the caregiver for and you have to say goodbye, you might have to let a family member make that decision with you. And that's perfectly fine. That's not weak, that's strong. Where two or more are gathered, God is there. And so know that if you can't do it with just yourself and you can't make the decision all on your own and you're terrified as hell, know that that's okay. Don't stay in isolation with it. I promise you, if you're on this podcast, you're a good person. And if you're a good person, you got a whole world around you that will help you. I promise you, somebody will be there for you. Somebody at the church, your neighbor person, somebody. I don't know who in your world, somebody. Make sure you do it with somebody. Let somebody help. So now what, right? So the how to. How do we do it now? Well, now is the after, and now is when. Ask, listen, live is even more important because the asking for guidance, the asking for strength, the asking for courage, asking, the divinity that's in you to guide you now probably has to happen even more so you don't get slapped upside with a two by four over. Oh my God. I walked into my house today for the first time. Zeus didn't greet me. Oh my God. I woke up this morning for the first time in this house ever. Zeus wasn't there. For the first time last night I didn't have to make sure that the gate was closed so Zeus wouldn't go downstairs and bother my son. For the first time in three years, literally three years, I closed my back door, the back door on my living room, it is never closed. Just always walks in and out. For the first time in three years, I closed that door. And I say that right because on the other side of the loss now you go into the spiritual expansion, the spiritual awakening, the spiritual remembering, the, the growth part, your growth part. And as you're grieving the depths of you, there's going to be a grander you ready to express, ready to come forward, ready to be lived. How do we do that? We place guidance where there used to be structure. Let me explain. Every morning for the past 11 years, one of the first action steps I did in the structure of my day was get Zeus water every day. No getting Zeus water today. So what do I do with that three minutes now for Joe? I ask for guidance. I ask for divinity to fill that space, that action step space that's now void because Zeus isn't here to fill it with love. I ask my divinity, which is pure love. Your source of pure love is the divinity called you. I ask my divinity to guide me and to fill me every energetic action that I used to do with Zeus, now there's a void in those spaces. I went on my walk today, the first time I came back, no Zeus, that space. Every time I'd go sit in my chair every morning, Zeus would come up and I pet him, know Zeus. What do I do instead of trying to pet Zeus, I go to God. I go to my divinity. Please guide me. Please give me strength. Of course I've been grieving a lot. I miss my friend. I do. I emotionally miss my friend. And I am going to make sure that I spiritually grow as much as I possibly can in honor of my friend, Zeus. So in those places where your loved one used to interact with you, now fill it with a power greater than yourself until such time as you're ready to take it back out into your world, however that may look the other side of that right is understand that grieving is a process. And the loss of a pet now might push the button of a loss of A parent that happened 10 years ago or a loss of a pet that you had when a kid, you know, this is the place that if you're connected at all with your inner child, make sure your little kid is asked, how are you doing? And my little kid misses Zeus. He does. My little kid has been sad about Zeus. He does. But I can tell you, for Zeus, it was the adult man was more connected, really was. And. But I ask all parts of me because all parts. You're an emotional being. You're going to have multi dimensional parts experiencing multi dimensional things all at the same time. And always remember that as the emotional part of you is experiencing pain and angst and grief and remorse and anything else, there's a divine part of you that will give you the strength to feel it, will give you the courage to feel it. Like I said to my friend, you have to stop praying like a Christian and start praying like a warrior. What is the warrior position when it comes to spiritual emotional growth? The warrior position is when you embrace the depths and the dark of yourself in a way that you've never been able to do before. Why do I do episodes like this? Because I care. I really do. I want people to know it is okay to grieve. It is okay to feel. And if I can help one person, if one person gets on this podcast and my voice and my grieving and my expression and my feelings trigger them into a deeper place of grief, then I've been successful. That's why I'm doing it. That's why I don't look at the numbers, folks. I do it for the one person out there. I hope a million people are listening, but I truly do it for the one that's my passion. The reward on the other side is something that is truly amazing, I have to tell you, because when the grief kind of softens and you kind of move forward and the whole shift happens, the end result of the experience is more of spiritual one, a higher vibrational one. We have a grander sense of okayness, we have a grander sense of life. We see it more Hawk View. And sure enough, this morning, I'm on my walk and I had an experience that happened which was very bizarre because typically whenever I see an animal who had made their transition, I feel an emotional. I feel an emotional loss for the loss of this animal's life. Well, sure enough, this particular morning, I've been in so much loss and grief of my friend Zeus. I'm walking and for the first time ever, on this particular walk, I see A little bunny who had made its transition. And my reactionary thought was, well, Zeus will keep you company. Hear what I just said? A little bunny kid as a button. Instead of feeling remorse or guilt and loss for the bunny, my reaction, I didn't even realize I felt it or saw it, said it until about two steps later, I see this little bunny who had made its transition recent. And my reaction to it was, for the little bunny, Zeus will keep you company. Zeus will meet you. So I was able to, literally, in a reactionary moment, have a spiritual experience because of all the depths of emotion I've been in all these last days. For Joe, the reason my serenity is so great is because I've embraced the depths of myself. The reason I can go 10 hours in silence is because I've embraced the depths of myself. The reason I can live and do a podcast like this and literally have two or three notes and just share and talk. Because I've embraced the depths of myself. I've given a voice to the depths of my emotions and my message to the world. How do we heal humanity? We heal humanity, truly. When people understand that serenity, that sense of overwhelming okayness, the sense of the kingdom, the sense of Garden of Eden inside you, Serenity. Serenity is on the other side of your pain. Not avoiding the pain, not acting like the pain's not there, not suppressing the pain. Serenity is experienced when we reach the pain, feel the pain, grieve the pain, emote the pain long enough to where then the pain feels better. Why it ends up being such a spiritual event and why it ends up being such a overwhelming, powerful event is because the emotional intelligence, when you truly, intellectually understand that your grandness, your serenity, the peace to live a peaceful, prosperous life is when you accomplish the impossible. And right now, the impossible is. Joe, I have pain in there that I cannot feel. I know. I know you do. How do we overcome the impossible? What is the how to? The how to is don't do it alone. And I'm not talking about alone as if in another human in the room. I'm talking about your humanity is not designed to embrace the depths of your emotional sense of self without the support of your divinity. Hear me. You are a we. Your entire life and for millennia, humanity has been taught that if it's up to me, if it's to be, it's up to. To the me, the human sense of yourself. And you've got depths of pain in you that your humanity by itself is not designed to embrace, it can't do it alone. The other side of aloneness is pursuing oneness inside. Ask, listen and then live it. Ask your divinity when you're in pain. Dear God, Joe says, give me the strength and the courage to feel what I need to heal. Dear God, give me the strength and the courage to feel what I needed to heal in my darkest days. Folks, that mantra, it's all I would say hundreds of times a day. If you're in a dark place of pain today, try it. Why? Because your humanity isn't designed the reason humanity believes it's impossible to feel the deaths or pain. Because for humanity with just itself, it is impossible. Well, there's nothing impossible when your divinity gets involved, when you commune with the grander part of you as emotional support as this, as the position of strength, the source of your strength, the source of your courage. And yes, of course, have other people around you if that's your path. Path, yes. And we create a sense of we in the healing of our depths because literally human self asks higher self to give it the courage to embrace deeper self. I happen to be pretty practiced that, that I'm a living testimony that it works. In my silence, which now has become silence and stillness in a way that I haven't experienced in a really, really long time. I'm starting to hear a voice, and the voice is the voice of my dad saying, I'll take care of Zeus, son. I'll take care of him. I'll take care of Zeus, son. I'll take care of them. Folks, thanks for listening to me. We all are on a path that sometimes we remember days, right? Well, August 5th is a day that will be a book will be written about. August 6th when I'm recording. This will be part of my message now for a very long time. This is part of a podcast that I literally, for the first time, except the one I did, you know, right after my dad died in January, I knew what this podcast is going to be. I knew there was going to be emotional pain. I knew and I'm doing it. And I'm glad I made it. And I'm glad you're still here and I'm glad you're supporting me and I'm glad we're here together. The we podcast is doing something that's never been done before. And why is that? Because together your divinity is connecting to mine, and today your emotional sense of self is connecting to mine. If you make it through this podcast, you are a true spiritual warrior. Please tell other people about it and please remember to listen to Episodes over and over. And by design, we're creating a library of ongoing emotional support so that no matter where you are, you can be emotionally supported. Let my voice keep you company in your darkest times. Let my voice give you the strength and courage sometimes to feel things you didn't think you could. Let my voice, let my experience say to you. And I will say to you folks, if I can do it, you can do it. I am not special. I am simply practiced. And if I can do it, you can do it. If you're going through a divorce or you know somebody going through a divorce, be the supporter. Send them to that website. Divorce post. How easy is that? I don't know what it is. I just know it's cool. Either gain support from somebody if you're in pain or be the supporter of somebody in pain. Either way, that's how we heal humanity. And together, we're doing it together. We're embracing ourselves. We're holding each other. We're embracing the depths of emotion together. Together, we're living the impossible. We're making it on the other side. We're actually going to be able to heal things in a way that the world and yourself never thought you could, but you can. You literally are experiencing the emotional side of somebody who can't breathe right now, but able to have the strength to tell a million people. And if I can tell a million, you can tell one. And as we do that, together, we heal. As we all come together, we heal humanity. And together, we're making a difference. One smile at a time. And from around the world, please visit joe mitiga.com and download my book, Filling the Void. It's free. Joe mitigo.com I want to welcome everybody to We. So that's it for today's episode of the We Podcast. Head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show. One like listener every single week that posts a review on Apple Podcasts or itunes will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a $25,000 private VIP day with Joe himself. Be sure to head on over to wepodcast Global and pick up a free copy of Joe's gift and join us next time for the WE Podcast Sat.