Having trouble letting go of hard feelings or emotions? Try holding a cat!
Angry cats can teach us an important lesson on letting go, here’s how.
Animals play an important role in our lives. Beyond being a loving companion, they can teach us about being present. One of my favourite quotes from Eckhart Tolle, the author of the Power Now is, “I have lived with several Zen masters — all of them cats”.
This quote is attributed to the fact that animals always live in a state of alert presence, they’re conscious of their surroundings and live with no thoughts, no concept or judgments. Similar to a newborn baby, you can see in their eyes gazing love and a beautiful soul.
We can learn a lot from cats, Eckhart points out certain truths about the nature of life beyond the veil of thoughts which manifest throughout most human existence. He points to the possibility of living a life free of judgments and concepts, to act in your natural state and be in the flow, like a cat, accepting life and the will of the universe with no reservations.
It occurred to me that cats can also teach us an important perspective on letting go of hard feelings or emotions, for example, the loss of a relationship or when our expectations are not met, like expecting someone to show up on time or show us respect. And of course, when we experience hard feelings, or are offended by the situation it’s hard to let go.
Emotions, or feelings and expectations feel real but they’re all made out of the stuff in our head. They are made from thoughts. Some thoughts come and go but when strong feelings are involved, it’s challenging to let go of that thought and it creates a form of stress and suffering. You can see how it plays when we think about holding on to anything else in life, for example a cat.
The cat as an analogy for the expectations we hold in our heads, to the mental clinging of what we cannot change, to a thought-form. At first, it’s nice to hold and pet the cat, a friendly cat always wants attention and it’s quite pleasant to hold on to. Problems begin when the cat wants to leave, when our expectations are not met. Of course with some force, you can keep holding onto the cat, but it’s likely not going to be pleasant. The more you cling, the more it will scratch, and you will feel the pain of an angry cat. If you could only pet that cat for just a few more minutes the mind says, “If he only saw that I want his best interest”. Now keep holding the cat and see what happens.
Intellectually, you may see how illogical it is clinging to any hard thought-forms and rigid expectations. Like with the cat example, the more you hold on to it the more you will suffer. However, there is another way, letting go, accepting and surrendering to the flow, recognizing that you cannot change the situation and that the more you expect things to be different the harder you make the situation for yourself and for others. Let go of the cat with love, let him be, that’s the only real thing you can do.
Meow.
