The Magic of Cats

This is what I have learned from living with cats. Or perhaps, this is the wisdom of cats that I have observed and would like to practice.

Living in the present. Every day is a new day, a new world to explore. I think about this each morning as I look out the window, wondering at the unexpected magic of sunlight filtering through leaves, same window, same trees, yet each day the shapes and colors are unique as I see them with new eyes.

Sitting in quiet observation, immersed in the small moments of daily life. A single blade of grass contains a universe when you commit your full attention. Everything has a smell, a feeling, a sound to experience. Each walk up the hill out back I pass the same rocks, same trees, yet each day they have new stories to share.

Showing up every day for those who need you and those whom you need. Finding joy and happiness in simply being around your people, with what you have, today, now. The freedom to forget old wounds, old problems, old failures; the days before are a part of you but they aren’t who you are today.

It’s an honor and a privilege to be a cat’s companion through their life. All of those months and years together would have never been enough, but that just means I do not know, may not ever know, a cat’s most essential magic: to transcend time and space itself, no past, no future, only the current moment forever, simultaneously letting go and holding on, being everywhere and nowhere all at once.

As I’m about to finish this, I discover my publishing software is out of date and needs attention. But outside, the sky is blue. The computer can wait and there are things to see, so I walk away, into the sunlight again.