Life Lessons from a Cat
by Kate Everson
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2011 Kate Everson
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There is peace to be found inside your own heart. Relax and become it.
A golden sky called her. She had to go.
Rebekah looked up from the program she was watching and walked out the door into the light.
The sun was setting over the bay making a golden glow that was so powerful it felt like a summons. She walked blindly down to the dock. Then she turned and looked behind her. The eastern sky was lit up with a brilliant rainbow.
“Oh my!” she breathed. “This is breathtaking.”
The golden sky in the west began to change to a softer pinkish-purple, reflecting off the water. Rebekah stood on the dock and looked at the sky stretching out on both sides of her, the sunset on one side and the rainbow on the other.
Raindrops began to fall, making circles on the water. A ripple of wind pushed them along, expanding into patterns. Rebekah kept watching to see if the rainbow was still there and it gradually faded, leaving a trail of pink in the clouds. She sat on the wood stump at the end of the dock and felt blessed.
“Thank you,” she said to the sky, the sun and the rainbow. “Thank you to the drops of rain. Thank you to All.”
Rebekah waited until the sun had disappeared leaving only a pale glow on the horizon before heading home. When she came around the corner of her house a thin orange and white cat was drinking at the water bowl she had left out for her own cat. It ran when it saw her. She called to it softly, “Here kitty, kitty. I won’t hurt you.”
It paused and stared at her for a minute, hesitating. Then it ran away into the bushes. “A stray cat,” she thought. “Feral. It looks so thin.”
She opened the back door and there was her own cat eager to come out. It stared where the cat had disappeared, sensing its presence.
Rebekah wandered into the back yard, not wanting the magical moments to end so soon. Already she could see the little lights of fireflies blinking on and off in the shadows. She stood in the small garden she had made, a few green tomato plants trying to come up. A winged movement caught her attention. A bat! It dipped and whirled over her head, darting after insects. Then another! It was like the evening had come alive with magical creatures.
Rebekah felt blessed to be in such a beautiful part of the world, and especially where magical things just seemed to happen.
It had only been last week that she had found out about her secret guardian, a watcher that guided her through life’s journey. She had felt his presence before but never really believed it. Now, it seemed like everything was a message and she was finally getting it.
“I just have to listen and be aware all the time,” she thought. “Somebody is watching out for me and showing me things I could never learn by myself.”
Even her cat was part of the learning process. She had picked out Dahlia as one of those rescue cats that had been wandering along a road and taken in by the Humane Society. The sign above her cage had read, “Dahlia, the perfect cat.”
They became good buddies. And more importantly, whenever Rebekah was feeling a little down, or confused, or too busy, Dahlia would bring her back to a comfort zone. All she had to do was focus on that cat, pick her up, or just pet her and put all her attention on the cat, nothing else. It was like therapy.
“It’s very Zen,” she smiled. “I just stop thinking about my problems or whatever is going on in my life and just tune into the cat. Look into its eyes, pet its soft fur and enjoy its perfect feline ways. Cats are indeed magical!”
It was not hard to do, but it did take a little practice. Sometimes it was difficult to put those thoughts aside, the ones that bothered her, the silly things that people said or did that made her feel bad. But if she just tuned them out, and tuned into her cat it was like a perfect meditation. Like finding a place where there was always a rainbow and a golden sunset.
Inside those yellow eyes was a little bit of infinity. Something wild that does not conform to the constrictions of the world. A space connected to the golden sky forever.
Rebekah wished she were a cat. She would stretch out in the sun and just let the heat relax her whole body. When it was night, she would go out hunting. Her magical eyes could see in the dark even better than daylight. Rebekah would love that.
“Imagine seeing like a cat,” she thought. “I would never be afraid of the dark again!”
In fact, she would see life so differently. She would be in the moment, not worrying about anything in the past or future. Just be here now. The perfect way.
“I would listen with my heart,” she thought, “not my mind. Spontaneous. Moving with the flow of life.”
That night the stars came out in the dark sky and Rebekah stood under a canopy of the universe. Each star, each planet, each solar system, was all laid out exactly the way it was supposed to be. She was so small. Yet her life was blessed. Everything was exactly the way it was meant to be. Beyond understanding. In perfect harmony with a greater plan.
There were other life lessons that Rebekah learned from her cat. One was patience. Dahlia would sit at the door and wait until she came to let her out, even if it was an hour later. Or if she was away, Dahlia would lie out by the old pump and wait patiently for her to come home. She never seemed to mind, or get annoyed. Dahlia lived moment by moment. She was the perfect cat.
But Dahlia also knew how to choose her friends. She didn’t like any cat. There was one big male orange cat that came around quite a bit, but Dahlia remained aloof. If Oscar tried to get into the house, Dahlia guarded the door and spat at him. Otherwise, they would both choose places of position and remain there, quietly apart, but noting every movement the other made. If Oscar walked away, Dahlia pretended not to care, but she noticed. If Dahlia went out to chase a bird, Oscar came too. They seemed the perfect married couple.
“I don’t know if they like each other or just put up with each other,” Rebekah laughed. “But they do seem to get along… sort of.”
Rebekah thought she could use some of those pointers with her own relationships. Don’t let people take advantage of you, but keep your own space … unless you need company!
Sometimes on cold days, she let Oscar in the house and he promptly found a warm place to curl up and fall asleep. He just lived a few houses down the road, but he seemed to prefer their company. He would sleep on a chair for hours, while Dahlia would go hunting. Once, Rebekah came in and found them both sleeping together on opposite ends of her bed! Great bedfellows!
Rebekah felt she could learn a lot from cats. They never seemed to take life too seriously. They took it as it came. If they were cold, they found a warm place to sleep. If they were hungry they just waited by their bowl, knowing it would be filled. If they wanted to go hunting, they would sit for hours by a great place where they had once seen a bird or a mouse and just hope it came out. Patience was no problem! If it didn’t show up, no big deal. Just relax. Stretch out in the sun.
And so Rebekah watched the cats, God’s creatures, perfect in their own way.
“ All I have to do is be more like them,” she smiled. “Purrfect peace!“
* * The End * *
Read other Life Lessons books at: Life Lessons in a Canoe and Life Lessons from Home Sweet Home and Life Lessons from a Tree.