Watch this “crazy cat” drink water. If only he’d learn that life can be easier than that! Us too!
I spent Friday at a client’s home office planning strategy and ideas for a new business concept.
As we sat and worked on our plans, one of her cats jumped on the kitchen counter and just sat there. No sounds. No meowing. No anything. She just sat.
And without saying a word, my client/friend rose from her chair, walked to the kitchen sink, turned on the water faucet with a small stream and came back to the table where we were working.
The cat took two steps from the counter top to the sink area. She put her paw in the water stream and then removed it and licked the water off her paw. She did this time and time again.
As I watched — my client was back to talking about the business and I could not even comprehend a business strategy at that moment.
I stopped her and said, “What the heck is the cat doing?”
Her answer, “That’s how he drinks water.”
My respond, “Doesn’t he know there’s an easier way? Will he drink out of a bowl?”
She said, “No” and went on to tell me the story of her cat.
They did not know the story of where he came from or how he got to where they found him. He was a teeny, tiny thing and they rescued him from the streets. They took him to the vet and the vet determined he was about 3 weeks old at the time.
They bottle-fed him formula but he always, always wanted his water from the faucet.
All they could figure out was he had found a leaky faucet somewhere out there in the big, bad world and had learned to drink his water that way.
She stopped me and said, “Watch him now.”
I turned around and he was putting his head under the water and then flicking the water drops into his mouth.
The entire process made me laugh and I had to share what I was learning by watching this “now pretty old cat” receive water – the substance of life.
Those lessons were:
- Sometimes there are easier ways to do things. We don’t want to entertain them because we know what we know and what we know is “comfortable” for us. Had the cat learned to lick from a bowl, he could have experienced the best of all cat experiences – drinking water from the toilet!! Sounds gross to us but there you have it. An always-full bowl and you don’t have to wait for someone to turn on the water so you can drink.
- Words are not always the way we communicate. Just like the cat and my client – no words or “meows” were spoken yet – my client knew what the cat needed because of his behaviors. She was in tuned to her cat and her cat knew it. In fact, her cat had trained my client very well. Are you watching the body language of your loved ones and friends? Are you paying attention to what’s going on in their lives. Sometimes they don’t speak the words they are thinking but their behaviors are – and so are yours!
- Be a survivor and ask for help. No one knows the back-story of this cat but the cat does. He knows what he had to endure as a tiny kitten in that big scary world out there. An owl or a snake in the grass could have eaten him. Some of us have endured snakes in the grass in our lives too and instead of finding cover or meowing for help, we decided to stay small like a 3-day-old kitten and not grow up. My client’s cat asked for help and now lives in the lap of luxury in a beautiful home surrounded by a loving family.
Hey my friends, there’s an easier way to live life. Don’t be afraid this week to try new things, explore new ideas and even ask for help if you need to.
And never, ever be afraid to be trained by a cat. My client is a great person and her cat has taught her well.
God bless you and God bless America.
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