I don’t understand why humans have such a hard time with what they call “living in the moment.” To us cats, it’s just living. Where else would you be, if not in this present moment? That’s where all the good stuff happens: it’s where the sunbeams are, it’s where the birds outside the window are, it’s where breakfast and dinner are. Why would you ever want to worry about what’s going to come next, or think about what already happened?
When we want to play, we play. When we want to nap, we nap. When we want to cuddle, we cuddle. I know humans have what they call “responsibilities,” the most important one, of course, being that they make sure we never run out of cat food, and I’ll concede that that requires some planning, but I thought I’d give you some pointers on how you can be more like a cat and enjoy the moment.
- Meditate. Cats are really good at this. For some humans, it can be challenging, so maybe they should watch their cats and learn from them. It’s not that hard. All you need to do is find a comfortable spot, and sit quietly, and breathe. Anyone can do that!
- Be mindful. Pay attention to what you’re doing in each moment. When we eat, we enjoy our food fully. We don’t watch tv, we don’t read a book, we just focus on our food. It’s one of the great pleasures in life! When we play, all we think about is how to catch or chase our toy. We don’t worry about the toy not being there the next day, or whether we should be playing with a different toy.
- Breathe. This should be obvious, but it seems that humans have a hard time remembering to do this, especially when they get stressed out over something. Watch your cats and how relaxed their breathing is when they’re at rest. We know!
Do you have trouble living in the moment? I hope my tips help you be more like a cat!
Thank you Allegra for teaching us these precious truths!!!! I wish we humans were half as wise as you kitties are 🙂
I try to live in the moment but; don’t always remember to relax and breathe. Allegra is a smart kitty.
And she knows it, too, Sue!
Our tortie sister Cookie could keep our human in line, and when she left us she gave instructions to Mimi on what to do with our human if she starts going in circles and dropping things. Still, our human does that thing with papers and pens and brushes and stuff, and she’s so totally focused we can walk all over her and she doesn’t pay any attention until she’s done. I guess we cats have made some progress with her.
Enjoy your sun puddle, Allegra!
Hello you gorgeous and very wise Tortie. I’m a real Tortie fan, so wonderful to have found you. Such important lessons we learn from our cats. Pity we’re such so learners 🙂
We’re glad you found us, too!
Cats are definitely great teachers if we remember to pay attention. Thanks for the article – I can always use a reminder!
I DEFINITELY need more work with that, thanks for the suggestions!
I think unless we’re of the feline persuasion, we all need more work that that, Caren!
One of my favorite things (among many) about cats is that they really do live in the moment….something I try to do every day but don’t do NEARLY as well as they do!
Pam
I know, Pam – cats make it look so easy!
Interesting Thanks!