Meet Willie. This photo was taken a few months back in Mendocino. This cat, of the three in the household, knows how to take some of the best naps and vacations from cat life (running, jumping, chasing, eating, grooming and earnestly staring out the window). Could he be slothful? Perhaps. Do I mind his laziness? Not in the least. I envy his guilt-free ability to relax at any hour of the day.
Slothful is such a supremely graphic word. It conjures so many pictures of unworthiness in my mind. I wonder why this is, and I confess at this very moment I would like to be a little slothful. Ouch. I did say that. My problem is that I never stop………I mean never. I am compulsively addicted to being busy all the time. Never stop. Never look back. Keep moving fast, then faster, then fastest of all. I think it is slowly killing me even though that sounds a little extreme. I am fighting a bad cold again and thinking how I need to get better by Thursday so we can leave to climb our mountain, Mt Whitney. Guess I have been running myself ragged.
Is this the road to peace, the road not taken, the road that leads to simplicity, beauty, and awareness? Just a thought tonight.
I NEED TO GET BACK TO MY DOTS.
Oh, my gosh! You just put into words what I have been struggling with for so long… the insatiable need to continue to move and do and plan and…. I would love to come back in another life as a cat! Maybe then, I could be a sloth and sprawl all over the bed or sofa for hours, dreaming of mice… Perversely, I am glad I’m not the only one who suffers from this, but hope someday we all can find a cure!
Slothful …I can do that…perhaps my cat tought me
Seriously, I ran myself ragged for many years. Then one year I injured one knee dancing in the kitchen…with a friend…to ADDC….About six years later I injured the other one.
I lived for 17 years with bad knees…operations and therapy did not help…I could not walk far, always looking for a place to sit….long story later…including weight gain…I had my knees replaced three years ago. Now I am happy that I can walk again and I am learning to become active again.
Sorry to hear that you have a cold again ;( Get well soon.
I hope you feel better soon. I do think we make ourselves sick by being too busy. There is a pressure in our society to be that way too. Your path looks tempting.
Have you heard of Martha Ringer’s book, “Complete. Done. Finished.”? I have found it to be most helpful–if I follow its precepts, I get more done, feel much less stress and just plain enjoy living more. I try to start my day reading a page or two each day.
Take care of yourself and your cold will get better. No kidding!
Cats can be very content, can’t they. I am sending good germs your way….
cats provide a super example. i like them for that reason. they can be so quick and so slow. i know your problem. i started stitching to slow myself down….
There can be a gloriously positive spin on being slothful, after all, sloths are not lazy, thats a human interpretation, they are just doing their thing the best they can! Slowly slowly, it was what they were born to do! As humans, we have a little of all the beasts within us, and I am sure there is room for the slothful part of our personality to juxtapose with the busy, busy part! Here’s to guilt-free slothery when appropriate! xx PS, Willy is gorgeous! He looks so like my Chya, except Chya is more like you by the sounds of it, while I feel more like Willy! Perhaps Willy is with you to help you to learn to slow down a little sometimes, while Chya is with me to gee me up a bit when I am spending too long inching along the same branch at a snail’s pace…
Do you run up and down that “bridge”? I assum it is a work out ladder for developing the leg muscles. I can feel the burn right now. I so admire that you are climbing Mt Whitney. Sometimes it feels like I am doing in my interior life but really all is a flat plane.
And Willie, all cats are good and Willie looks like a treasure beyond compare!
Feel better soon. I can relate to the idea of being slothful. Sometimes try as I might to either relax or get going I end up caught in between somewhere. The cat whether slothful or not looks like he/she is having fun!