It’s my birthday today! I’m four years old! I know Mom and Ruby have some fun things planned for me today. It’s going to be a great day!
Check out my birthday present! How cool is this!
Sunday Purrs: Visualization and Cats
Creative visualization is one of the core concepts of the human potential movement. The process uses the power of your thoughts to affect the outer world. Visualization has been successfully used in the fields of health, education, business, sports, and creative arts for decades.
The best book about creative visualization is Shakti Gawain’s classic Creative Visualization: Use the Power of Your Mind to Create What You Want in Your Life. In the book, Gawain outlines four basic steps:
Step 1: Decide on what you wantContinue Reading
See You at the National Capital Cat Show
I’m excited to announce that The Conscious Cat and Purrs of Wisdom are the Learning Ring Sponsor at the National Capital Cat Show! The show takes place September 7 and 8, 2103 at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, VA, right outside the nation’s capital.
The National Capital Cat Show is one of the largest cat shows in the country and features a huge selection of cat supplies, including cat toys, cat food, grooming supplies, and friendly people willing to help you with your cat questions. It’s truly a cat lover’s paradise.
Come visit us at our booth and purchase autographed and personalized copies of Purrs of Wisdom and Buckley’s Story. We’ll also have lots of fun freebies for you and your cat!Continue Reading
Sunday Purrs: Cats and Writers
“Authors like cats because they are such quiet, loveable, wise creatures,
and cats like authors for the same reasons.” Robertson Davies
Cats and writers just seem to go together. According to Barbara Holland, author of Secrets of the Cat: Its Lore, Legend and Lives, “a catless writer is almost inconceivable. It’s a perverse taste, really, since it would be easier to write with a herd of buffalo in the room than even one cat.” I think she’s right.
I certainly get inspired by my two feline mewses, Allegra and Ruby. I couldn’t write The Conscious Cat without their inspurr-ation. But the best piece of writing I ever saw about how cats inspire writers comes from Muriel Spark’s A Far Cry From Kensington:Continue Reading
Allegra, Ruby and the iPad
I had been considering getting an iPad for quite some time, and a couple of weeks ago, I finally took the plunge. The iPad is my first Apple device, and I like almost everything about it. I use it for various aspects of my business, and it has made my life easier – and isn’t that what technology is ultimately all about? And yes, I admit it: it’s also just plain fun.
What I didn’t expect is that Allegra and Ruby would also enjoy it. But why don’t I let them tell you about it.
Ruby: What is that flat thing that Mom keeps staring at, Allegra?
Allegra: I don’t know, Ruby. Looks likeContinue Reading
Sunday Purrs: Meditate with Your Cat
The benefits of meditation are endless: from helping us handle stress better to getting in touch with our true spiritual nature, meditation has been proven to make our lives better. In fact, there is so much evidence that meditation is good for you that it seems like meditation should be as much a part of our daily lives as breathing.
Once you’ve established a daily meditation practice, you can’t imagine not having it in your life, but until you get there, the thought of daily mediation seems to bring out a long list of excuses for most people. “I don’t have the time.” “I don’t know how.” “I can’t sit still.”
You don’t have to meditate for hours to gain benefits from mediation. Continue Reading
Sunday Purrs: Make Time for Summer Fun
Summer afternoon: to me those have always been the two most
beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James
Summer is my favorite season. I love everything about it, and even the recent heat wave doesn’t make me love summer any less. Hazy hot and humid days are just part of what summer is like in this part of the world, and you’ll rarely if ever find me complaining about being too hot.
Allegra and Ruby are indoor cats, but I think they, too, prefer summer over every other season. The sun puddles are more plentiful and last longer this time of year, and they get to enjoy summer breezes coming in through open windows. And on the really hot days, they get to celebrate the fact that they’re air-conditioned kitties!Continue Reading
Ruby’s Reflections: Ruby and The Lamp Shade
Hi everyone, it’s Ruby! It’s been a while since I got to write something for you!
Mom says I have a propensity to get myself in trouble. It’s not entirely clear to me what that means, but I’m pretty sure it means I like to have fun. And that’s true!
The other day, Mom opened the door to the “forbidden room,” (Ingrid’s note: I usually keep the door to our guest bedroom closed – no real reason, just habit), and I dashed inside before she could close the door again. Since I rarely get to go in that room, I love to explore! Mom said I could stay in the room for a little while, so I got busy! After a while, Allegra joined me and we both had a great time checking everything out.
All of a sudden, Continue Reading
Sunday Purrs: Getting Away From It All
I’ve previously written about the value of taking a break and playing hooky, and I do try to take my own advice. But there was something I hadn’t done in far too long: completely getting away from it all. Even though I love my life, and I love working from home, sometimes, a change of scenery and a complete departure from routine are just what the doctor ordered.
So last weekend, I flew up to Hartford, CT, and spent the weekend with three different friends in Connecticut. And with 20+ cats and kittens. I stayed at the home of my friend and fellow writer, T.J. Banks, on Friday. I had never met Tammy in person. There’s always a bit of trepidation when you meet an online friend in real life for the first time, but I needn’t have worried. We never once ran out of things to talk about, and we were comfortable with the occasional silence – a true gift when it comes to friendship.Continue Reading
Happy 4th of July 2013
Happy Independence Day
from
Allegra, Ruby and Ingrid
Please keep your cats safe during the festivities. A cat’s sense of hearing is much more acute than ours, and all the noises associated with the holiday are much more intense for them. Add to that the lack of understanding of what is going on, and you can have a very scared cat on your hands. Here are some tips for helping your cat cope with fireworks, thunderstorms, and other loud noises:
- Create a safe space for your cat. If you’re having a party, unless your cat is very social and doesn’t mind a lot of commotion, keep her confined to a quiet bedroom. Put her favorite blanket, bed or toys in with her, along with a litter box and fresh water. Shut the curtains and drapes and turn on lights to lessen the flash of the fireworks.Continue Reading
Sunday Purrs: Taking a Break
Even though the above quote above is attributed to Gandhi, it could just as easily have been coined by Allegra and Ruby! I’m going to heed this wise advice today and take a little blogging break. Don’t worry, it’s just for today – we’ll be back tomorrow!
I hope you’ll consider taking a day of rest, too, but if you miss your dose of Sunday Purrs, allow me to suggest a couple of our most popular columns for your weekly dose of feline wisdom:Continue Reading