I was reading in bed this morning with my little kitty Guinness fast asleep on my belly. This, if you don’t know her, is Guinness:

Little Guinness

She’s nine years old and only six pounds with no teeth! (She had to get them all pulled last year when we adopted her, poor thing.) Well, after I turned a page, I put my finger on her tiny paw and petted it. Just for a second. And from her deep little slumber, she started to purr like a big, steady motor.

Me and "Little G" on the couch

That’s how Guinness. She purrs all the time. And it only requires the tiniest provocation to get her to do it. Give her a quick glance and say her name? Purr. Pat the couch and call her over? Purr. Pick up her bag of food? Purr. Even the vet said that after they pulled all her teeth and she woke up groggy out of her anesthesia, she opened her eyes and purred!

Thinking about that this morning made me wonder: Why don’t we purr this easily in life? Why does it take us so much more to feel happy?

Here’s what I think we could do: Let’s think like Guinness for a day. Every time we see or hear or taste or feel or touch something that is good, let’s imagine a little purr of happiness inside. When you take your first sip of hot coffee in the morning? Purr. When you get a green light? Purr. When you greet your good friend? Purr. When you put on a soft, warm pair of socks at the end of a long day? Purr.

If we’re really paying attention, we could have our motors going all day long, just like Guinness does. They do say cats really life the life, right? Well, I think we can, too.

Did I cover the good stuff in my little list there? What makes you purr on a regular day?

You might also like:

The Little Things That Make Me Happy

Big love,

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 4th, 2012 at 10:41 pm and is filed under Optimisms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.