Critter lessons

How often have you heard someone talk about how they'd like to simplify their life but don't know how?

These must be people who don't live with pets of any sort. If you have pets or livestock in your life, lessons in simplicity abound.

For a cat like Halo, daily life is simple - eat, sleep, play with the dog and snuggle with the people. That's it. No more. Her life wasn't always like that. She was a stray burdened with litters of kittens at a young age and struggled to provide for herself and her broods until she found her way to the local cat rescue - Paws and Whiskers. When she joined our family six years ago, she worked for a living - mousing in the barn - for a few short weeks. Then, as winter approached, she graduated to the heated garage where hubby built her a number of cozy, warm and soft retreats to choose from for her multiple naps.

Last year we sold the farm and moved. Of course Halo came with us and once again elevated her status - this time to house cat. Now she enjoys having her meals prepared and served in clean dishes twice a day, her litter box attended to on a daily basis, and an unlimited number of potential warm and soft resting places varying from my lap to the pillows on our bed - and all soft surfaces in between.

Life can be that simple for us, too, if we put things into perspective. A lot of the pressure people put on themselves revolves around wanting 'more'. That 'more' means you have to have more money, work harder or longer, and consequently have less time to actually enjoy the 'more'. If we can be content to learn to enjoy 'less', then we might really enjoy life more. Just my passing thought.