Ready Is Not a Feeling: In Loving Memory of Joy

When Walt opened the show by sharing that his beloved cat Joy had just passed from kidney failure, “This is also my daily dose of happy. I really need it today,” the conversation instantly shifted from a typical Law of Attraction chat to a raw exploration of grief, love, and what it truly means to be “ready.”Walt described the brutal week leading up to Joy’s passing: “I literally spent every day with him, I think I gave him about 30 hours of lap time over a three day period.”He poured Reiki, time, and love into Joy, watching how the energy eased his suffering: “Every time that I did give him the attention, he calmed right down every single time.” Still, when it came to the ultimate decision to end Joy’s suffering, Walt was “absolutely locked up.”The episode’s core theme came from a TikTok-inspired title: “Ready Is Not a Feeling.” Joel explained that waiting to feel ready is how we get stuck: “Ready is a decision. It’s not a feeling. If you keep waiting for the perceived perfect conditions, they never come.”Joel shared stories of people waiting for the “right time” to have children, and then being surprised with triplets. He talked about job loss, sudden tragedy, and how life’s plot twists never arrive on our schedule. His point: you almost never feel ready, but you’re still called to act.Walt pushed the idea further by asking whether “ready” even belongs in the equation at all: “Is it possible that ready actually doesn’t play a significant role in any role?”Joel agreed it’s largely a story we tell ourselves. Life doesn’t wait for our readiness; it demands a response. That led Walt to reframe “responsible” as “able to respond,” not a burden handed down by society, but a sacred opportunity to choose our perspective and our next step.Yet both acknowledged that in the deepest pain, like when Joel’s son TJ died or when Walt was watching Joy struggle to drink water, choice doesn’t feel available in the moment.Joel admitted there was “no rational thought” in the early days of his loss; he survived by going to the gym over and over, just to make it to bedtime. Later, though, he chose what to do with that pain. He decided to work harder, study more, adopt another child, and live, in his words, for two people.Walt mirrored this with his own experience, noticing how our minds can eventually reshape trauma. He described how he once feared emotions would last forever, only to discover that intense feelings often pass in minutes if we allow ourselves to feel them fully.One of the most touching moments came when Walt revealed that, just before Joy was put to sleep, he whispered a secret password in Joy’s ear so that, when Walt eventually crosses over, Joy can greet him and confirm their eternal connection.In the end, this conversation wasn’t just about grief. It was about agency in the face of what we cannot control. We may never be ready for loss, for endings, or for sudden change. But as Joel put it, “Your power exists in your response.” And as Walt discovered, sometimes the bravest decision is the one that ends a loved one’s suffering, even when every part of you wants to hold on.You may never feel ready. You may never feel okay. But you are always, quietly, profoundly, able to respond.LOA Today Episode Page: https://www.loatoday.net/ready-is-not-a-feelingFollow the LOA Today podcast:  https://www.loatoday.net/follow#loatoday#lawofattraction#manifesting#vibration#podcast#deliberatecreators#Q&A#waltthiessen#joelelston#GriefAndHealing #ReadyIsNotAFeeling #EmotionalResilience #LawOfAttraction #ConsciousChoice #PetLoss #SpiritualPerspective #HealingJourney #LOAToday #WaltThiessen #JoelElston