How to Think Like a Cat - Stephane Garnier 2018

Your Cat Focuses on the Essential

’What I like about the cat is the indifference with which it moves between luxurious surroundings and its native gutter’

CHATEAUBRIAND

I was observing how my cat Ziggy is so attentive to his personal hygiene and his appearance, yet will happily root about in the filthiest dumpster, when the surprising realisation came to me that not only does he care not a jot for luxury and material things, but in fact he couldn’t give two hoots about his appearance either.

I also recall a friend’s magnificent white angora cat with green eyes who regularly returned from its walks as dirty as could be after rolling around in cellars, and would settle down on the sofa cushions to give itself a thorough clean. The cat loved both environments and really didn’t care about looking like a dirty dishcloth as it strolled down the street, returning from its escapades.

We could all learn how to detach ourselves from our environment and from material things, just for a bit, and try not to give too much importance to them, as well as spending a lot less time looking at ourselves in the mirror getting our appearance just right. It would help us to find a little humility, and a little truth.

Cats cultivate neither materialism nor social status; their pleasures and desires are all that count. What do others think? What about their opinions and judgement? Cats don’t give a damn, as we have already seen.

What does a cat think when it wants something, or is poised to make a fresh discovery? ’Yeah, I’m going to get real dirty, so what? I’ll clean myself after. Now, where did that big thing with a long tail go? Ah, that way! Under that pile of filthy crap! Let’s go!’

Indulge in what you like when you want to, without worrying about the rest too much.

Don’t give too much importance to material things, for you know what they say: ’The things you own end up owning you.’