Okay, meaaahhhooowwwmmmm.

Hello. Listen up.

This is Saco.

Actually this is my human channeling me for purposes of inter-species clarity. We cats understand you humans quite well but because few of you have mastered the reverse, I have decided to use this form of communicating rather than meowing directly.

Talk about species-centric, this business of humans speaking for those of us who have entered into the field of domestic animal – human relationships. I will overcome that problem, thank you, by speaking directly. Well, it’s channeled, but I’m initiating it.

I’m sure you are familiar with the expression “Dogs have masters. Cats have staff.” This is true. It’s a matter of a particular kind of purrsonal power. Something along the lines of “to one's own self be true.” It’s about integrity and, of course, the suchness of being cat. Those of you who are pathetically eager to please could learn a few things from us felines, in particular about self-confidence, self-satisfaction and the importance of avoiding unnecessary groveling.

Groveling accomplishes very little. Plus it feels seriously bad to actually do. I strongly advise against it. Healthy cats do not grovel. Conversely, healthy humans do not like being subjected to groveling. Think about this.

I do want to mention the importance of frequent naps. Naps put us cats directly in touch with the cosmic energy field and this reduces stress. You may have wondered about this, why we get so completely blissed out we sometimes fall off the things we’re napping stretched out on.

This nap thing is necessary when relating to humans. As a species, you are generally quite crazed, often restless, obsessed with being busy.  Naps help us felines deal with your condition. Little power naps. But I digress.

I have quite purrfect karma. I will tell you my story, at least the cat-human part. Too much self-revelation is neither becoming nor appropriate. There are things you humans simply do not need to know.

My original human family wasn’t too tightly wrapped. When I was a very small kitten, somebody dropped me in a US Postal mail storage box. This was not a cool thing to do. But we get what we get. It’s what we do with what we get that counts. I made a lot of noise.

That’s how I met my family of choice. The postmaster came and pulled me out of the storage box, and after a few missteps, took me home with him to meet his family. Well, actually it was his wife that did this, but he was a serious part of the rescue picture. Now we cats may have staff, but I want to be clear, there is no reason not to express pleasure when staff does a satisfactory job. I did this and it worked well. I imagine you can make it work, too.

I had some ups and downs in my new home, but by and large it was a bowl of cream, with a sardine on the side. However, you need to remember, I was an exceptional individual. Well, we are all exceptional; some of us, though, are truly outstanding. That was my case. I mean, how many cats do you know that have a major neighborhood following? An actual fan club? The fans would gather in the early afternoons after school to watch me do my exercise routines; chase things, leap in the air while displaying fearlessness and balance, run from room to room and pounce on whatever happened to be moving.  I was developing good muscle tone and coordination. Plus, I liked doing it.

We had a window over the kitchen sink that opened onto a sunroom.  My favorite was to start in the kitchen, jump into the sink and then out the window, kind of like flying. That maneuver used to get rave reviews from the fans.

But life is more than fun and games. Between the cat-naps, we have serious work that we do with our families, information we need to get across. That’s a part of the karma thing.  One of my jobs was to get one of my special humans to work on lack of attachment. I’ll tell you, we had quite a go-round with it.

I figured the best time to do my work was in the morning. Get it out of the way for that particular day. Plus, my student was right at hand, not off rushing around somewhere else. I generally favored Saturday and Sunday mornings, early, very early. Here’s how it went: I would show up in the bedroom, scan the scene and announce myself. This would be greeted with inattention. One thing I should tell you, we cats are very good at reading energy. We know what’s going down. Faking sleep?  No way was that going to work. I had a job to do.

My routine here was to jump up onto the bureau and announce my presence once more. Inattention again. At this point I would deliberately eyeball my human and knock something off the bureau. It helped if that something had special value to the human. Usually it took only one or two things hitting the floor to get the results I was looking for.

At this point you can probably imagine how the attachment deal gets you hooked. That’s your special something, it doesn’t matter too much what it is. You don’t want it messed with. You think it might be broken. It’s not, but you think it might be. You are all bent out of shape at this point. You’ve lost your center, you’re moving into some kind of un-cool emotion. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll admit that particular emotion has got you firmly in its grip. Maybe you even yell some. Now you really don’t feel so good. You get the picture. All this because of attachment. Pathetic, really.

Well, my human and I ran through this routine for way too long. I was beginning to give up any kind of hope for her personal evolvement. Then one day, well, she just got it. She stopped the sleep faking and greeted me properly with a genuine friendly “Good morning, Saco.” She even added how nice it was to see me so bright and early. I figured the absurdity of wrecking her morning over attachment to some silly trinket finally got to her so she made some changes in her behavior. Why then? I actually don’t know, but I must confess life was pleasanter thereafter. Plus I had the satisfaction of having furfilled my karmic obligation so I was off the hook. Job completed.

Let me sum it up:
Be true to yourself. Let your light shine.
Soak up those cosmic vibes.
Do the best with the paw you are dealt.
When you’re in trouble, speak up. It could save your life.
Show gratitude at appropriate times.
Don’t grovel and look out for those who expect you to.
And last, give up the attachments. It’ll feel better in the long run.
There. That’s my story. I could tell you more, but this will do for now.

Meaahhooowwmmmm.

Clip Art Courtsey of www.i-love-cats.com

© Pat Foley and Saco 2009

Pat Foley attempts to live a green/sustainable life just outside of Cornish, Maine. She is the owner of Earthrest, a retreat center operating on solar power which offers gathering space for groups and individuals. The underlying focus of Earthrest is on following Gandhi’s advice to be the change we wish to see in the world. You may contact Pat at \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   or (207) 625-4179.