Cats are good therapy

As I make my way through this rather exhaustive week, I'm acutely aware of how I'm feeling emotionally, physically and intellectually.

The most obvious of all is my physical being. I'm a wreck. All that work I've done with yoga, chiro and massage seems to have been for not this week... or is that "knot"? (sorry, bad massage humour!) I was saying to a friend today that I really must get on the physical fitness bandwagon big-time, because look at what a few simple downturns has done to me! His response?

"Dave, there are four things that are rated the top most stressful events in a person's life: A breakup or divorce, loss of a loved one, moving and changing jobs. You've had three of these in the last two months... you're entitled to be a wreck for a while!"

Doesn't change the fact that I feel "less-than" physically right now, and a little focus on my well-being is certainly in order. I'm also spending less time with my business these days: putting in half-days, not covering all bases, and in general looking for ways to get other people to do the work. OK, that last part is a fundamental of business in general, but for a guy who's "done it all" most of his working career, it provides for a dynamic shift in daily ops.

Emotionally, I'm a lot more stable than I had anticipated. Over the last number of years I've chosen to look at what I have rather than what I do not, and what's really great rather than what's going wrong. I think that this shift has been paramount in my ability to deal with all of life's little stresses as of late.

Intellectually, well, I'm surveying the whole thing in my mind a lot more than perhaps is necessary, but also looking at all of this with an open mind and a view to a learning experience like no other. It's no secret that things like a death in the family or a breakup will bring friends and family closer together, and indeed it has. In the last two weeks I've spent more time socializing with my closest friends and family than I have in a long, long time. That's something, considering I'm a pretty social guy on a regular day anyway!

So time will pass, pain will diminish and life will carry on.

I was working away on the sound system at the church the other day, and as is my custom, I throw in a cd to have on in the background while I'm there. My copy of Compadres "Buddy Where You Been?" has taken up residence in the sound rack there, and as I was listening away (while drilling holes in the pulpit... who gets to do THAT and get away with it, I ask you!?) these words caught my ear:


Mother and Father are both now gone;
Brothers and Sisters they are carrying on:
Try their ores in different waters,
Looking out for their sons and daughters.

It's all about carrying on, really.

What does this have to do with cats? Nothing. As the title of this post suggests, they are indeed, good therapy.