The Case Always Knows Better - Article Example

?Leahy, R. L. February). How to think more like a cat…and overcome your worries. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http www.psychologytoday.com/blog/anxiety-files/201002/how-think-more-cat-and-overcome-your-worries The Cat Always Knows Better As a cat and sometimes worrier, this article caught my attention. Leahy (2010) who confesses to being a worrier, made many interesting points. He suggests that cats do not think about what they do because they are very confident about who they are and their needs. This article was not only entertaining, but it did have many things to think about and explore in one’s self. The article starts with a discussion of evolution. Leahy (2010) suggests that people have been evolving for many centuries and reinventing copies of themselves. He states that along with the evolution, man also evolved feelings and emotional content. The mammal we call “homo sapiens” is now full of anxiety and other emotions that stop us from being happy. Leahy (2010) also states that we do not see any of this behavior in cats. I agree. Cats are happy as long as they are fed, their litter box is clean, they have a comfortable and warm place to live, and they can sleep anytime they want. They do not seem to have the trials that we as humans have that would turn them into chronic worriers. They also like to play as often as they can, though as they get older, they slow down a bit. Leahy (2010) states that the reason we worry is because we have the belief that “any intrusive thought [that] occurs needs our attention” (p. 2). Worry also comes from the idea that we can almost psychically see our future in any situation and we can figure out how other people will feel about us or how they will treat us. Although Leahy (2010) is was providing these thoughts in a humorous manner, he did a good job of making the reader think about their own need to worry, and he brought into focus how silly it is to worry. I think this was one of the points to the article. We also have an idea of what is “normal” that usually is unrealistic, because it makes other people “normal” and says that there is something wrong with us (Leahy, 2010). Leahy (2010) as written two books on the subject of worry and how to “cure’ it, and he mentions these books in the middle of the article as a shameless promotion. He says that cats only have four thoughts at any time: “This feels good. This doesn’t feel good. I want that. What’s next?” (Leahy, 2010, p. 2). Cats do not worry about anything and they are always masters of their own fate. As an example, they go about their day in full confidence and not thinking ahead – they are very much thinking in the here and now (Leahy, 2010). In fact, Leahy (2010) suggests that cats have survived many centuries because they are able to stay cool, stay aloof if necessary, self-assured and demanding. I agree with him, in that people would be happier if they could adapt to life an dits changes as easy as cats seem to adjust to their environments. The human on the other hand, has too many things to think about that get them into trouble in their thinking and creates more worry. I can relate to this because although I attempt to not worry about things, I still worry. I have been exposed to a variety of media that tells different ideas of how to alleviate worry. Ideas like changing the way we think about live choices, understanding that thoughts are things, and what you think about, you attract. All of these issues and thoughts are written about in self-help books and tapes, but as Leahy (2010) points out, stopping the worry is difficult for humans, no matter how we try. It seems that there is always something we can think about to make us worry. No matter how we try to think positively, our unconscious mind will present us with something to knock us out of that positive thinking. Leahy (2010) suggests that cats do not have this problem because they do not think beyond where they are now. Leahy (2010) suggests that cats do not have this problem and those of us who are cat lovers probably also agree. But we may be giving human characteristic to cats, and I wonder what they would say from their point of view about humans. The article points out that humans are very complex and they have such expanded minds, that only make them more complex. This makes me wonder why, in all these evolutions, humans created such a complex system that they have overwhelmed themselves. Leahy (2010) points out that worry also crates emotions like anxiety and depression that lands some people to suicide. He says, “It takes a lot of thinking to be a neurotic” (p. 2). We would possibly say that all or many of us would be classified as neurotic if we actually thought about it. Cats have the ability to focus in a laser-type way. They are always focused on the present moment (Leahy, 2010). Is this because cats have manipulated themselves into people’s lives to have all their needs met? Is this why they can live without worry? Too bad we cannot do a focus group to really find out what they are doing. The four thoughts that cats have are very true. As an example, cats sleep more than humans and this could be one off the reasons that they are so amenable to their lives. Maybe if we had more sleep, but as humans it seems that we never get enough sleep and perhaps this makes us cranky. If cats experience something that does not feel good, they let their humans know immediately (Leahy, 2010). In contrast, humans are often in relationships where they do not want to hurt people’s feelings. They often stay in abusive relationships rather than confront the situation. Perhaps these are also reasons why humans worry and why they make their lives so complex. When a cat feels that something does not feel good, they do not dwell on it to continue feeling bad – they immediately do something else that feels good. Humans hold onto things and keep hanging onto them instead of letting them go. It is almost like something that is “normal” for humans to do. The more I read this article, the more I thought about my own worrying and I asked myself why worry is so important to me and to other humans. I came to the conclusion that worry is just a habit that we have gotten into. Worry distracts us from being happy, and it distracts us from living a full life. When cats see something they want, they go for it. Their thought is, “I want that.” They do not worry about how they are going to get it, they do not worry about where money is going to come from, they just do it. All of these thoughts create barriers to us and to our well-being. The thought of, “what’s next?” just says to the cat that there is something more they want to do in the moment (Leahy, 2010). Humans never know what is next because they are distracted with busy schedules, and worry about what they are obligated to do (Leahy, 2010). Leahy (2010) also calls attention to the fact that cats do not have busy schedules, and they do not worry about what a spouse or society thinks about them. Leahy (2010) also turns the reader’s attention to the fact that cats do not rely on cell phones or watches and they do not think about gaining or losing weight, and they ignore emails and phone calls; many people will wonder how cats do without all this modern technology. As I read the article, I came to a firm agreement that worrying never gets us anywhere, so it is ridiculous that we still do it. Worry distracts us from our real life purpose and it keeps us from having a full life. How much more would we accomplish if we let go of worry? Would we have more time to be creative? If we ignored phone calls and emails, would our lives be any different? There is no way of answering these questions unless we fully embrace our lives and release worry. Perhaps we just need to talk to our cats for more guidance and listen to what they tell us. Read More