Life is too busy in our modern world. I know you’ve heard that before, but it’s true. What’s important might differ from person to person but one thing is probably true, you don’t want to miss what’s going on in your life because you’re too busy with other things.
This is going to sound pretty funny but if you stop and take a moment each day to watch your cat they might be able to help you to be more present, to meditate and also show you what’s important: sleep, good food and a little play.
I know, I know, we can’t live our lives exactly like cats otherwise we wouldn’t get much done or be able to support ourselves, but my point is is that we have lost the ability to be in the present and be mindful. Please take this with a grain of salt because I know many of you practice mindfulness and meditate but my point is that if you feel like you need to slow down and be more present you can learn a thing or two from your cat (or a neighbor cat).
Let me tell you how I’ve done it. I decided that I’m on screens too much (for work, for communicating with friends/family, for entertainment, to write this blog, etc) and that on the weekends I am going to actively try to take some amount of time (could be very small amount at first) to be in the present without a screen. That seems easy, but is it? I bet it will be hard.
What does that look like for me?
Okay, so every weekend morning I get out of bed and don’t touch anything that has a screen, I make my coffee and I follow my cat outside. We sit in the sun (or clouds) and I listen to everything with her: the song birds, the squirrels, the cars, the turkeys, a weed wacker, you get my point. Then I follow her around (I know, what a creep) and take her lead to where she’s looking. It’s pretty simple and makes me more mindful. She looks at birds and squirrels and then sometimes she chases them. Ya I follow her and chase them too, that’s my morning jog. Just kidding. But honestly people you should try it. If you don’t have an outside area or your cat doesn’t go outside you could do this same thing inside. Really it makes you realize how many slight noises there are that you don’t really hear if you’re looking at your phone or distracted in some other way. Give it a try!