Most of us know how important self-care is to our physical, emotional and mental health. Then why are so few of us good at actually doing it (unless we’re a cat?)

Is it because we’re conditioned to think that it’s selfish to put ourselves first? The reality is that unless you make taking care of yourself a priority, you won’t have anything left to give to those around you. It’s like the oxygen mask on an airplane analogy: you’re supposed to put your own mask on before you help others.Continue Reading

Worry is a complete waste of precious time. When Karl Pillemer, the author of 30 Lessons for Living: Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans, interviewed 1200 elders for his Legacy Project, he heard over and over again that the one thing most people regretted was the time they wasted worrying about the future.Continue Reading

I’m delighted to introduce a new Sunday feature today: Sunday Purrs of Wisdom. We’ll be featuring photos of beautiful kitties, sometimes Allegra (above) and Ruby, sometimes others, paired with quotes.

Quotations resonate with us because they can express the essence of a subject with a few, well-chosen words. When paired with an image, they can touch an even deeper part of us. Quotes can make us look at life from a different perspective. They can teach us something new. And sometimes, they can even make us smile.Continue Reading

There’s no question that meditation is good for us. t helps us handle the stress of daily life, it has numerous health benefits, and it is a wonderful way to get in touch with our true spiritual nature. In fact, there is so much evidence that meditation is good for you that meditation should be as much a part of our daily lives as breathing.

And yet, many of us find excuses to not establish a daily meditation practice.Continue Reading

If you’re looking for a little Sunday inpurration today, may I suggest snuggling up with your kitties and a favorite beverage and watching The Secret of the Keys? And if you’re wondering why I’m telling you about a movie that doesn’t have a single cat in it, it’s because this film is packed with so much guidance and encouragement, I just had to share it with you.Continue Reading

How many times have you said “I don’t have the time to…” insert your choice of activity that you think you don’t have time for in your busy day? Do you ever wonder how busy people seem to get it all done? We all have the same amount of hours in a day. Super successful people like Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg and Oprah all  have the same 24 hours in the day as you and I do. So why do we constantly feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day, and how do these super achievers get everything done and we can’t seem to?Continue Reading

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. – Leo Buscaglia

Do you ever find yourself holding your breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop? Maybe life has been going really well for you, and it almost seems too good to be true? Maybe something bad happened, and you’re afraid it’s going to happen again?

There is no question that worry is a waste of time. Continue Reading

Winter is not all that long in the Mid-Atlantic, and this one actually started out on the mild side. Then in January, we got hit with a massive blizzard, and since then, it’s been quite cold. We even had a little bit of snow again yesterday. However, last week, we had a couple of wonderful, warm days, which made me long for permanent spring. Allegra and Ruby are, of course, indoor kitties, but they, too, enjoyed the warm breezes coming in through our screened windows, and they’re ready for more!Continue Reading

Cats remind us that we need beauty in our lives, and that we need to take time to appreciate that beauty. To me, few things in life are more relaxing than looking at beautiful cat photos, and what better day of the week than Sunday to spend time doing just that.

Today, I’d like to introduce you to a relatively new Facebook page, Come Curl Up With My Cats. Longtime Conscious Cat reader Barbara Crawford created the page to celebrate the four cats in her life. Frank, Tony, Stella and Fusco are all uniquely stunning, and Barbara has a way of capturing their personalities in her photos that, to me, is bordering on magical.Continue Reading