What I learned from Maxx
Maxx Christmas 2006. Doesn't that look cozy?
This is an article I wrote for my newsletter this summer, just after getting back from a week in the woods with my family.
Nothing like a bit of time away from everything to add clarity and perspective to life. While I was away I had a lot of time to catch up on my reading and actually breathe! I was lying in the hammock thinking about life when my cat, Maxx, when breezing by me on the hunt for a particularly irritating squirrel. I got this light of inspiration at that moment:
Why read hundred of books and spend thousands of dollars “pursuing” happiness and success when you can learn it all from your pet?
Maxx is a perfect sample of what it means to be happy and have a great life and I want to share some of my insights with you for how I learned happiness and success from my cat.
1. Maxx is incredibly persistent. Have you ever tried to pry a cat away from a tree that a squirrel is hiding in? I have, and let me tell you that cat has a one track mind and isn’t letting you derail its mission!
2. Maxx take life as it comes. Yes, she might be unhappy when I stick her in the car kennel to go to the vet (or on a fairly long road trip), but after a loud meow and some crying she cut her losses and re-prioritizes (comfort above all), and goes to sleep. This leads me to the next point…
3. Maxx has her priorities straight! Food, sleep, chasing bugs, sleep, cuddles. That is what her day usually looks like, and she “tolerates” the odd disruption, but always does her best to refocus on one of her priorities afterward.
Kim and Maxx (both as "babies!")...seems like yesterday. This was 2004?
4. Maxx can be happy without effort. Even when a cuddle is “forced” on her, she can express her disatisfaction with you by flicking her tail, but also enjoy the moment by purring. (She would never want YOU to know that she is actually enjoying it, but I happen to be a cat mind-reader and I can tell. Ok, I lied about the mind-reading bit…)
5. Maxx has purr-fected “living in the moment”. Yes, all of the above points have been leading to this last one. Maxx lives moment-to-moment. She has no sense of time, she lives on a schedule of her instincts and what makes her happy. You would never see Maxx intentionally hurting herself or calling herself bad names. You never see her struggling with self-esteem issues. She realizes her life is great and she is going to enjoy it!
Bad jokes and puns aside, we can learn a lot from those around us…even when “those” include 4 legged furry creatures.
