feline wisdom

Sunday Purrs: Getting Away From It All

Author's Life, Sunday Purrs| 28 Comments

store_cat

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

Sunday Purrs: Taking a Break

Sunday Purrs| 4 Comments

Sunday Purrs Taking a Break resized

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

Sunday Purrs: 5 Ways I Want to Be More Like My Cats

Sunday Purrs| 12 Comments

Guest post by Julia Williams

Hardly a day goes by that I don’t see my cats basking in a sun puddle and think, “Why can’t I be a cat for just one day?” I would get caught up on my sleep, that’s for sure. I’d have zero stress because I would not stir all day long, except to follow that warm sun puddle when it moves. I wouldn’t worry about where my next meal is coming from or if it’s going to taste good. Everything I could possibly need would be provided for me by my human servant. Which means, of course, that I wouldn’t have a care in the world.unless you count making sure the servant got out of bed when I said it was time for breakfast and not when the clock said.

Yes, my cats have a great life. And I admit I am jealous! I want to experience catdom for myself because frankly, I don’t think my kitties appreciate just how good they have it! Being human, I know they have it good, and I want some of what they’re having. It seems only fair. But alas, all I can do is dream.

Here are 5 ways I want to be more like my cats:Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: A Day of Rest

Sunday Purrs| 12 Comments

a_day_of_rest

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, and after spending the last three fun-filled days at the BlogPaws pet blogging conference, I am in desperate need of some rest! I’m going to follow Allegra’s lead and do absolutely nothing today.

I’ll leave you with this quote from Maya Angelou, on the importance of getting a day of rest:

“Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.” – from Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now

Perhaps, I’ll need to take this advice every week, not just after attending a conference.Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Accept What Is

Sunday Purrs| 12 Comments

Conscious_Cat_Sunday_accept_what_is

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. – William Shakespeare, Hamlet

One of the greatest sources of unhappiness is the inability to accept things as they are. Accepting what is, without wishing things were different, can trip up even the most serene among us. And yet, accepting what is is the key to living a positive, present life.

Accepting what is, like so many things, is about living in the moment. It’s about looking at the present moment without judgment. In order to live in the moment, you have to be willing to look at this present moment and say “this is what is real right now.”

Does this mean you shouldn’t want things to change? Not at all. But if you want things to change, Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Listen to Your Body

Sunday Purrs| 6 Comments

Listen_to_Your_Body

Guest post by Angie Bailey

I find I often make choices based on my schedule or to-do list instead of listening to my body’s wisdom. I’m pretty certain I’m not alone in this one. Sometimes choices based on schedules and lists are necessary – I’d certainly never blow off a job interview because I felt like I needed a nap; however, within the times of the day that really are flexible (despite what my planner pad says), I can certainly adjust my activities.

A cat is a master at listening to what his body needs and promptly taking care of those needs. When he’s hungry, he eats (if he’s freely fed, of course). When he’s tired, he has no qualms with curling up and snoozing until his body says it’s time to awaken. When he feels stiff or achy, he stretches. And when he feels playful, he plays! He isn’t ruled by some schedule that tells him he must wake up at a certain time and has to stop birdwatching to bat a jingle ball for a few minutes.

I, on the other hand, feel sometimes like I’m a slave to my schedule. Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Appreciate Life in the Face of Darkness

Sunday Purrs| 30 Comments

tortoiseshell_cat_chair

In the wake of the Boston bombings, many of us are still struggling with processing the horror of what happened, sharing the collective grief of  a nation whose peace was once again disrupted by an act of terrorism, and trying to make sense of something that is completely senseless. Even people who were thousands of miles away from Boston, and who weren’t worried about family or friends, found themselves filled with sorrow and hopelessness about a world where these tragedies can happen.

How do you find your center in the middle of so much darkness and turmoil? Is it even possible?

On Monday evening, I posted this on The Conscious Cat Facebook page: “Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the senseless attacks in Boston. Please keep the victims and their families in your thoughts and prayers, and hug your kitties for some comfort!” At times like this, we all hold our family and friends a little tighter, and for most of us, our cats are family. And spending time with cats is certainly one of the best ways I know to help us pull out of sadness and despairContinue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Get Over It

Sunday Purrs| 13 Comments

Conscious_Cat_Sunday_Get_Over_It

Life’s disappointments can knock the wind out of the best of us, and sometimes, it seems like we’ll never get over some of the bad things that happen. As humans, our tendency can be to continue to bring up our painful past, rather than working on healing the pain and moving on with our lives.

Cats don’t do this. They live in the moment. They don’t dwell in the past and constantly revisit it, nor do they use the past as an excuse for not being happy in the present. This is particularly evident with cats who were rescued from marginal or abusive circumstances. It is humbling to be loved unconditionally by an animal coming from a rough beginning. While some of these cats may initially be cautious around humans, most of them adjust quickly once they find their forever home and a person who is willing to be patient and allow the bond between cat and human to develop slowly so that it can turn into trust and eventually love. Cats do not allow their early life experiences to define them the way so many humans do.

So why is it so hard for humans to just “get over it?”Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: The Platinum Rule

Sunday Purrs| 17 Comments

Allegra close up

We’ve all heard of The Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Many of us strive to live by this rule. It implies the basic assumption that other people would like to be treated in exactly the same way you would like to be treated.

Then there’s The Platinum Rule: “Treat others the way they want to be treated.”

Think about it for a moment. The Golden Rule is all about you: you simply assume that everyone should want what you want, and you’re going to treat them accordingly. It’s all about control. This was brought home to me the other day, when Allegra gave me one of her rare lap times. Allegra is a supersweet, affectionate cat, but she does not like to sit in my lap, nor does she like to be held. As a result, the times when she does make one of her rare lap appearances are extra special. Continue Reading

Sunday Purrs: Allegra on Living in the Moment

Allegra's World, Sunday Purrs| 12 Comments

Allegra_The_Conscious_Cat

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.

Sunday Purrs: Be Resourceful

Sunday Purrs| 2 Comments

tortoiseshell_cat_face

Guest post by Angie Bailey

Have you ever had that “stuck” feeling? Like you’re just not quite sure how to move forward and you’re a little afraid to move at all, for fear you’ll make the “wrong” choice? I know there have been times when I’ve found myself in that position and, honestly, at those times I felt paralyzed. Sometimes I moved ahead and sometimes — again, because of fear — I did not and I occasionally wonder what would have happened if I’d just taken a chance.

Part of the reason I felt paralyzed is because I didn’t feel like I had the resources to advance in my preferred direction. And by resources, I mean money, time, connections, equipment…all types of resources. What I’ve found is that the resources I picture in my head aren’t necessarily the resources I really have to have to move forward.

Cats completely get this. They have no sort of expectationContinue Reading