Month: February 2013

Sunday Purrs: How To Be Content

Sunday Purrs| 8 Comments

cat_on_massage_table

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize
there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. – Lao Tzu

When I think about what contentment looks like, I think of a purring cat. If there’s anything that illustrates happiness better, I don’t know what that would be. And it doesn’t take much for cats to be content: a sunny spot on the floor, a full tummy, a lap to curl up on – those are the ingredients for contentment when you’re a cat.

Why is it so hard for humans to reach that same state of contentment? Why do so many of us always look for the next best thing? For some people, the mindset for happiness is a never-ending cycle of always wanting more. Perhaps we’d do well to learn from our cats when it comes to mastering contentment.

Achieving a state of contentment is a mindset change and has nothing to do with making external changes to your life. Try the following:Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Be Your Cat

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cat_in_the_sun

Our cats do have the best lives, don’t they? I often say that in my next life, I’m going to come back as one of my cats. If I did, here’s what a typical day would look like:

I wake up when I’m good and ready. I stretch, and then I slowly get up. When I walk into the kitchen, breakfast is being prepared for me, and served on my favorite blue dish. After breakfast, I make the rounds of the house, and take a look out the windows to make sure nothing has changed while I was sleeping. After all that activity, it’s time for a nice long nap. The biggest decision: where to take that nap? It may be a bit of a toss up between a sunny spot on the rug, and the lap of the human I love most in this world. Most days, the lap will win.

After my nap, I wake up to find that the human is in the kitchen. Excellent! This must mean more food. Treats are immediately forthcoming. Then I get a nice massage, and my fur is being brushed until it shines. Now it’s decision time again: birdwatching? Playing? Another nap? Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Allegra on Happiness

Sunday Purrs| 13 Comments
cat_on_window_perch
Purring would seem to be, in her case, an automatic safety-valve device for
dealing with happiness overflow. – Monica Edwards

 

Two weeks ago, we tried to answer the question “what is happiness?” At that time, Ruby got to share her definition. Today, it’s Allegra’s turn.

In Allegra’s World, happiness is:

  • Sleeping on top of the cable box. What a fabulous invention, and how thoughtful of Mom to provide it for me.
  • Sleeping on my sunny window perch (do you see a theme here).
  • Breakfast, dinner, treats – I love all forms of food. And cheese! I love it when Mom shares a piece of cheese with me!
  • Snuggling up against Mom in bed at night.Continue Reading

Ruby’s Reflections: Feline Office Assistant Job Description

Ruby's Reflections| 25 Comments

feline_office_assistant_office_cat

Hi everyone, it’s Ruby! I have a big job: I’m Mom’s office assistant. Allegra helps, too, but I’m the one who sits in Mom’s lap most of the time while she’s working, so even though Allegra and I came up with this job description for office cats together, I get to present it to you.

Description: Feline Office Assistant

Feline Office Assistant Job Purpose: Assist human in maintaining hindering office operations by receiving and distributing communications laying on important papers; maintaining batting around supplies and sitting on equipment, paying particular attention to this thing called “mouse;” picking-up and delivering items (which means batting them to the furthest corner of the office); serving customers, training the human to serve.

Feline Office Assistant Job Duties:

  • Take care of correspondence by typing when human is not watching – this is also known as feline editing.
  • Maintain supplies by checking stock to determine inventory levels – this is especially important when it comes to food supplies. Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Yoga for You and Your Cat

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cat_on_yoga_mat

Guest post by Paige Guthrie Hodges

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few decades you’ve no doubt heard about the benefits of yoga. Our overall health and well being can thrive with a regular yoga practice, but did you ever stop and ponder how your feline friends can reap the rewards as well? Just the mere possibility is enough to make one roll out the yoga mat and start practicing some serious downward facing cat poses!

Cats are the ultimate yogis and they certainly don’t need us to mentor them in the art of relaxation, meditation, or how to stretch their bodies. They do, however, need us to create the ideal home environment so we can support them in being the little yogis they were meant to be.

Yoga is the purr-fect practice for investing in you while also benefitting Kitty at the same time. Continue Reading