Sassy’s Blog (#2): Cultivating Happiness By Being Present in the Now
Sassy Cat
Welcome to Sassy’s Blog, named for the very astute cat of WRC’s Supervisor of Direct Service and Resource Coordination Counselor, Kai Qualls. The theme of the Blog is Resilience, which is especially timely given our shared uncertainty during the COVID-19 crisis of 2020. We hope you will enjoy and benefit from Sassy’s Blog, written from the perspective of our four legged feline friend!
By Kai (Sassy) Qualls
Hi! Sassy here, and I want to let you in on a little secret. My person likes to time travel. I know it sounds silly, but she does, and it makes her VERY unhappy.
When we are sitting together, and she is rubbing my fur, and enjoying me as I purr, sometimes she stops petting me, and I have to tap her arm to get her attention. Sometimes I even have to meow, or hit her with my head because she is so far gone.
In those moments, she is not here with me in the present, she is time traveling. That is, she is off in her mind traveling the regrets of the past or the worries of the future, instead of enjoying the softness of my fur, the subtle tones of my purr.. and just well.. me in general.
I try to tell her to stay in the moment by putting my paw on her and kneading, or even giving a little nip! That always gets her attention, and she’ll come back, but inevitably, off she goes again into her mind, worrying about things she cannot change or control.
Sigh.
Ultimately, if people want to be able to withstand the hard things in life, they need to stay here. In the present moment, as much as they can, even if it doesn’t feel so good.
The thing is, nothing lasts forever, so why spend time being upset about something that happened before this moment, or worrying about what will happen in the next? The only thing that I know for sure is that this moment will not last, so whatever hard thing is happening, just be with it, and soon, you’ll be on to the next good thing.
That’s how life works.
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