{"id":976,"date":"2014-12-07T22:03:34","date_gmt":"2014-12-07T22:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/batesonline.org\/triciablog\/?p=976"},"modified":"2014-12-07T22:03:34","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T22:03:34","slug":"dec-7-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triciabatessmith.com:443\/index.php\/2014\/12\/07\/dec-7-14\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 12-7-14 Cat People"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cTime spent with cats is never wasted.\u201d ~ Sigmund Freud<\/em><\/p>\n

Happy Sunday!<\/h2>\n

My Niece L. lost her beloved cat a few weeks ago.\u00a0 Knowing that this was very tough for L. and that she had done so much to keep the little puss going this past year I went onto L\u2019s Facebook page to see how she was coping.\u00a0 L. was saying all of the right things to get through this tough time so I knew she would be OK.
\nThe thing that struck me was the photo that L. had posted of her kitty, it was a beautiful close up of the cat\u2019s face. I thought about our relationships with our cats \u2013 they really are quite personal. \u00a0Here was a picture of L\u2019s cat that gave to me a sneak peek into view a bit of the cat\u2019s soul.\u00a0 As a lifelong lover and owner of cats I know that it takes a whole lot of love and trust for a cat to give you that look, and she saves it just for her own one, maybe two, humans.
\nIt really doesn\u2019t matter how much of a cat lover we are, when we go to someone else\u2019s home and want to meet their cats we are out of luck.\u00a0 There are those that never come out, those that are just a flash across the room, and those that may rub our leg but then shrink down or run when we try to pet them.
\nAt Thanksgiving my Max set himself on the couch with all the company around, this action surprised me as he is OK with company, but never just laid out with people around.\u00a0 My feeling was that he just wanted his couch for his afternoon nap so he was doing what he wanted whether strangers were there or not.
\nSo where am I going with this?
\nA love connection with a cat takes a certain type of person. It takes a person who is willing to take the time to love with patience; a person who can give, and give, and give without the expectation of receiving anything back.
\nIf we humans were smart we would all be dog people.\u00a0 Those dogs just LOVE you until you can\u2019t take it anymore.\u00a0 They LOVE everyone they meet.\u00a0 They LOVE everything about life.\u00a0 They are such a great example of unconditional Love as long as some human has not messed them up.
\nBut, when we chose to come to Earth we signed up for experiencing the good and the bad, the struggle and the joy. You cannot know one without the other!
\nSo what does being a cat person tell me about myself?
\nIt tells me that perhaps I am willing to Love the difficult ones.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see myself as a great lover or a great giver.\u00a0 There are those people we encounter who just know the right thing to say or do to make us feel special \u2013 I don\u2019t think I have those gifts.\u00a0 I think my gift is acceptance.
\nI am able to accept people for who they are.\u00a0 In my past I don\u2019t think it was because I had an open heart to accept everyone as they are but more so, because of the \u2018golden rule\u2019; my mind believed they had the right to good treatment just I have that right.
\nToday I do believe I have learned to have greater compassion for others and am able to better understand their life journey to relate it to my own, I find empathy. I also know we are all part of the whole of \u2018All That Is\u2019.
\nI also think that loving a cat is a journey to find specialness.\u00a0 When you learn the patience and giving that a cat requires you are eventually rewarded with love being returned.\u00a0 But, the cat only gives that love to you so you are the special one.
\nA dog lover can never get that, dogs love everyone.\u00a0 A cat lover can say to themselves \u201cI am special because my cat loves me.\u201d
\nIs it worth it I wonder?
\nAt this point in my life I strive for the ability to unconditionally Love.\u00a0 I realize the downfall of wanting to be special as it separates and isolates me from all those I want to be joined with in unconditional love.
\nI want my being-ness to just radiate Love.\u00a0 From this place there are no difficult people to Love \u2013 ‘dog people’, ‘cat, people’, ‘no pet people’ are all the same. We are all aspects of God extended here to experience.
\nPerhaps I am forgetting a key aspect of living with at cat \u2013 the zen-ness of them.\u00a0 Whereas a dog can show his enthusiasm for life by running, jumping, kissing, rubbing \u2013 all actions of wanting to connect, the cat brings to the home the love of life in exemplifying just being in peace.
\nSo what is it about dogs and cats that draws them into our lives?
\nPerhaps they are like the Sufi say of all special relationships; they are the mirror back for us to experience ourselves.
\nI hope you enjoy the quote below by Rumi. \u00a0It is beautiful of itself, but I considered it as God speaking to me. I know myself as God extended so I have within me “All That Is”. \u00a0His gift to me is my beloved ones who are my mirrors of Self and my images of God.
\nNamaste’
\n\u201cYou have no idea how hard I’ve looked for a gift to bring You. Nothing seemed right. What’s the point of bringing gold to the gold mine, or water to the ocean. Everything I came up with was like taking spices to the Orient. It’s no good giving my heart and my soul because you already have these. So I’ve brought you a mirror. Look at yourself and remember me.\u201d ~ Rumi<\/em>
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTime spent with cats is never wasted.\u201d ~ Sigmund Freud Happy Sunday! My Niece L. lost her beloved cat a few weeks ago.\u00a0 Knowing that this was very tough for L. and that she had done so much to keep … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6],"tags":[38,58,78],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nCat People<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"reflections on what being a cat lover may say about ourselves\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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