Sunday Purrs

Sunday Purrs: Finding Your Bliss

 Ingrid_King_The_Conscious_Cat

I was recently interviewed by Julie Shubin, a labor law attorney and adjunct professor at George Mason University, for her labor blog Helitzer Blouse Girl: A Modern American Labor Journal, where she features a “day in the life” series of people from all walks of life. In her profile, Julie called me “a modern day renaissance woman, finding a way to fit all her passions into a small business.”

I was incredibly flattered by this description, because I don’t really think of myself that way. But as I thought about it a little more, I realized that I’ve been on a journey of following my bliss for more than two decades now. Since my current bliss  involves writing about and working with cats, and since cats played a significant role in finding that bliss, I thought I’d share a little more about my journey today.Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: spring cleaning

tortoiseshell_cat_forget_me_nots

Spring is a time of new beginning. Nature renews itself, at first slowly, like those first spring flowers peeking out from underneath the dull winter grass, and eventually bursting into full bloom as the days become longer and warmer.

Spring can also be a time for mental and spiritual renewal, and for this, we can take our clues from nature. It’s time to emerge from the darkness of winter, time to open windows and doors to let the spring breezes in, both physically and in a larger sense.

For many people, this is also traditionally a time for spring cleaning – there is something very satisfying about airing out rooms that were closed up for most of the winter months, clearing cobwebs out of forgotten corners, and getting the dust bunnies out from under the bed. Clearing the clutter and getting organized for the new season on a physical level can also help clear your mental and psychic energy. Cluttered environments drain our energy. Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Replace fear with love

Buckley's Story: Lessons from a Feline Master Teacher by Ingrid King

Let go of fear, embrace change, and move toward joy. – Buckley

This was one of Buckley’s most profound lessons for me. I had grown up being a worrier. I could easily come up with the worst possible scenario for any given situation and turn it over in my mind endlessly, to the point where I often ended up paralyzed with fear. I knew that this propensity to worry was holding me back from really letting myself live my life to its fullest potential.

When I began to understand and really believe that we have the power to control our thoughts and that our thoughts are vibrations that affect what we experience in our reality, I was able to short-circuit the fear and worry cycle more easily. It became clear to me that wasting time being afraid of something that might never happen would only attract the very thing I did not want into my experience. Worrying also made a statement that I did not trust in the wisdom of the universe. I knew on a deep level that things would always work out.  With time, it became easier to redirect my thoughts away from fears about the future and focus on the present moment instead.

Buckley reminded me of this every dayContinue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Food as love, and finding your hug

cat being held in arms

Guest post by Holli Thompson

A couple of months ago, our cat, Little, became voraciously hungry.

Little is my son’s cat, and having been raised by a young boy, he’s never wanted anything other than food and my son’s love. Little comes running when my son whistles for him, and like many cats he’s always been independent.

Then something changed. Little began crying for food all day long, looking up at whomever was in the kitchen at the time, insisting loudly on being fed. “Did you feed Little?” Became the question of the day, and I began to give him little spoonfuls just to keep him quiet.Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Put a Stop to Anxiety

Put a Stop to Anxiety

Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry are caused by too much future,
and not enough presence. – Eckhart Tolle.

I’ve previously shared some simple steps to stop worrying. As with so many other things, my cats have been my greatest teachers when it comes to living in the moment, and when you do that, it’s pretty much impossible to worry. I try to listen to them whenever I find myself sliding back into my old worry habits, but when I find that I can’t break the worry cycle, then I know that there’s something else going on. And usually, that means that worry has escalated into anxiety.

Anxiety is worry’s ugly cousin. While worry happens in the thinking part of your brain, anxiety comes from the limbic system, which is responsible for our emotions. While worry and anxiety are closely related, it’s usually a little easier to short-circuit worry. Worry is  centered around something specific, whereas anxiety is a more generalized feeling of unease.Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Possibility

grey-long-haired-cat

I am where I am because I believe in all possibilities. –  Whoopi Goldberg

Guest post by Angie Bailey

As humans, we sometimes make choices based on beliefs that are self-limiting and rob us of the radiant joy we so generously deserve. Dwelling in possibility and opening ourselves to unlimited good can definitely feel a little un-comfort zone-y, but relaxing and embracing our divine infinite potential is a sure-fire key to real happiness.

One of my favorite quotations comes from inner peace guru Wayne Dyer. He talks about “having a mind that is open to everything and attached to nothing.” This means that, even if an outcome looks differently than we expected, we stay in the flow and meet it with gratitude and grace, knowing there is always possibility at every turn. And later, we are usually grateful for the turn of events.

I observe my cats doing this very thing.Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Energy Vampires

vampire cat teeth yawn

Cats are extremely sensitive to the energy around them, and, because of the deep bond between cat and human, they sometimes even take on their person’s problems. Due to the shared energy in such a close relationship, energetic imbalances are shared as well. Sensitivity to energy varies among people, but we’re all affected by it, whether we’re aware of it or not.

Have you ever felt completely drained after spending time with someone? Have you ever had an unpleasant exchange with someone, and just couldn’t seem to let go of the residual bad feelings? You’ve just encountered an energy vampire. They’re the complainers, nay-sayers, passive-aggressives, and doomsday predicters in your life. Like vampires, they feed off the life force of others around them, and they would love nothing better than to turn you into one of them. Misery loves company.Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Living an authentic life

Ruby-tortoiseshell-cat-face

The authentic self is the soul made visible. –  Sarah Ban Breathnach

Life is a series of conscious choices. Every moment present us with an opportunity to choose to be authentic. Merriam Webster defines “authentic” as “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character.” To me, living authentically means making choices that are in alignment with my value system. It means taking responsibility for my life, and for my choices.

It’s easy to blame things outside ourselves when life isn’t going the way we want it to, whether it’s the governemnt, the weather, or other people. We can’t control everything. Life happens, and trouble finds everyone at some point. Life is not meant to be perfect. But we can control how we react to life as it happens to us, and by making conscious choices, one moment at a time, we eventually create an authentic life for ourselves.Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: purging can make you purr

 cat-on-desk

No, not that kind of purging! What I’m talking about is purging your space of things that no longer serve you. While the picture above shows my desk as cluttered as it ever gets (and no, I do not consider Ruby part of the clutter!), I’m not as good with other spaces in my home, especially the inside of closets. And just because you can close the door on it doesn’t mean it’s not clutter.

I recently went through a couple of weeks of clearing out clutter – everything from books that I know I won’t ever read again to trinkets that no longer have sentimental value and are just gathering dust. In the process, I realized how good it felt to purge. Why, if I was a cat, I just might have been purring.

I was talking to a friend about this, and she pointed out to me that the word “purging” and the word “purr” share the same root. Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: The Value of Sleep

cat0sleeping-tortoiseshell-cute

We are a sleep deprived society. According to the National Sleep Foundation, we’ve managed to squeeze almost a month of additional work and commuting time into each year. Meanwhile, we’ve sacrificed 2 hours of sleep every night in order to keep up with the increased demands of our fast paced lives. On average, adults are  now sleeping only 7 hours per night as opposed to the 8 hours sleep specialists recommend.

I’m all about learning from our cats, and they are no slouches when it comes to sleeping. The average cat sleeps between 12 and 16 hours a day. And since you don’t see cats stressing out over their to do lists, they must know something we don’t.

While I’m not suggesting that you should strive to sleep 12 to 16 hours a day, I’m betting that many of you don’t even get the recommended 8 hours most nights. Here are some tips that can help you sleep better:Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Healthy Cats, Healthy Human

cats-on-cat-tree

My cats’ health and happiness is more important to me than just about anything else in my life. I spend a lot of time researching cat health topics, not just for Allegra and Ruby, but also to be able to bring you the latest information on how to keep your feline family members happy and healthy.

As a result of my strong interest in cat health, I also do a lot of research into human health and nutrition. The two go hand in hand for me. I’ve always eaten a reasonably healthy diet. I believe in moderation. While I eat mostly vegetarian, I do eat some fish and seafood, and I’ll even ocassionally indulge myself with some red meat.

My biggest challenge is my wicked sweet tooth. I grew up in Germany, a country with the lovely tradition of the daily afternoon “Kaffee and Kuchen” (coffee and cake) break. It’s a time when Germans take a mid-afternoon break to indulge in a little sweet treat and some conversation with friends or co-workers. When I worked at IBM Germany in the early 80’s, Kaffee and Kuchen break in the company cafeteria was a tradition that was never messed with, no matter how tight a project’s deadlines might have been.Continue Reading