How to Think Like a Cat - Stephane Garnier 2018

Your Cat Is Always Honest

Your Cat’s Day

7.30: DINNERTIME

· If lunch was a bit rushed, owing to your short break, evening is an opportunity to treat yourself and cook a nice meal.

· Your cat has persuaded you to serve its favourite finely-chopped salmon in jelly, so there is no reason why you should content yourself with a tin of ravioli half-warmed up in the microwave and sprinkled with some grated cheddar you found at the back of the fridge.

· Cooking with or for someone else is always easier of course, but if you’re on your own, try to find some simple recipes you can enjoy solo.

· And do bother to get a decent plate out, even if it’s just to eat a Chinese takeaway — much nicer than picking noodles out of a greasy box. Nurture your wellbeing down to the smallest detail. And if you’re living with someone, take advantage of this moment to sip a glass of wine, discuss your day or gently rib them about under-seasoning the dish or cutting the potatoes wrong. A little banter goes a long way to take the drudgery out of cooking at the end of a working day, as well as making for a very pleasurable evening.

’A cat has absolute emotional honesty.

Human beings, for one reason or another,

may hide their feelings, but a cat does not’

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

We all tell fibs, sometimes. And the first person we lie to is ourselves. But those little accommodations with the truth never bring us much pleasure. On the contrary, we’re embarrassed by them, and not very proud of ourselves.

Cats never hide their qualms, their feelings and desires. They are always transparent and consistent in their attitude and with what is in their minds.

’Why do otherwise?’ they might wonder. Observing them, one might agree. After all, why act any other way than honestly towards others and towards oneself? At the end of the day, it’s the simplest approach.

If you’re honest, there are no games to play, no stance to adopt, no lies to remember so that you don’t contradict yourself. You don’t have to maintain a certain line, keep a particular attitude or undertake tasks stemming from something you boasted of in order to remain consistent vis-à-vis those around you, and not be taken for a massive mythomaniac.

Lying is exhausting. Particularly if you want to keep it up. Indeed, all compulsive liars end up being found out sooner or later, for the more they lie, the harder it is to maintain the accumulating falsehoods, which grow in complexity and start feeding into each other.

But you can stop with the fibs and the mythomania by being lazy and simply telling the truth. Be honest and transparent like the cat, and, as we have seen, you will gain in charisma and credibility.

Be honest for the sake of the trust that others will place in you, for your image, your peace of mind and your self-esteem.

Be honest, you have everything to gain from it.