Learning the Love of Cats
It surprises me how many different definitions we all have for the same words. Especially the big ones, such as Love.
I’ve recently learned that animals, depending on the species, not only love in different ways but can teach us very different things about self love.
Turns out that cats and dogs have their own specific and very different love languages that they not only show us, but teach us.
I’ve always been a huge dog person, never had a cat nor ever really wanted one. My son has wanted a cat since he was really little but with all the dogs in our life I pretty much told him that he might just have to wait and get a cat when he’s older.
Well, the little dude took it upon himself to manifest himself a frickin cat, because when we drove up to our rental house on moving day almost two years ago, we found a beautiful calico sitting on the windowsill.
The neighbors told us her name was Loli, (Loli is pronounced like Lolita, not like lollypop) and that she didn’t really belong to anyone, which my son took as a license to adopt her.
I’m a sucker for any cute little furry thing, so Loli came and went as she pleased. And as we slowly took on more and more of her care, I found myself learning a lot from the way that she loved herself.
I’ve long heard that dogs have a very masculine energy and cats have a very feminine energy, in that dogs are more active and cats more passive. A dog looks at his human and thinks, “what can I do for you?” while cats look at their humans and say, “let’s see what you can do for me.”
I am fully fluent in dog, so interacting with my first cat as an adult was sometimes confusing because I had no idea how cats communicate. Everything with Loli was a learning experience.
The kid and I would listen to all her purrs and meows, marveling at their cuteness and hilarity. We loved seeing the evolution of her nap positions ranging from a small circle to completely sprawled on the bed as the intensity of her nap progressed.
We learned that cats show love just by choosing to be near you and showing that they feel safe in your presence. They consider this enough, the fact that they chose you. How many times have we done ridiculous, dangerous, uncomfortable, regrettable things, just to prove to someone that we love them.
Maybe being near someone, sharing space, choosing them, should sometimes be enough.
What surprised me the most about the way that Loli shows love is, she will crawl onto my chest, look me in the eyes and purr on my heart chakra.
As an energy healer I was amazed to learn that cats heal themselves with their purring and I take this as a very sweet gift from Loli to me.
After a few months of loving her, I marveled at her boundaries. Most grown women I know, don’t have the healthy boundaries that she has firmly put in place. I certainly didn’t have them when I needed them. She comes and goes when she wants, and wanting to control her, will assure me that she will simply leave.
She demands the best, because she believes that she deserves it. How many of us put up with scraps in relationships because we simply don’t know our own worth?
I love that teachers come to us in all forms, throughout our life. Growth and learning are our whole reason for being here, the reason why we experience pain.
We can’t avoid the pain in life. But we can decide to treat ourselves well and lovingly while we are going through it. Loli taught me that.
