What My Cat Taught Me about Happiness

I brought Sesame home from a cat shelter one Saturday night. The next day, I cancelled all plans and called it the “Sesame Day”.

Determined to be a great paw-rent, I marched to Pet Safari store and load my cart with what I thought would make her happy.

I took a cat tunnel, a fluffy little cat house, a cat tease stick with unique technology that was guaranteed to “create maximum fun, development, and engagement” for my cat.

When I got home, I realized the claim was phoney. Sesame couldn’t care less.

The only thing she touched was the 1-dollar cat tease. And then she discovered her ultimate toy: the dry leaf fell down from a plant in the balcony.

She held it in her mouth, brought it in the house, dropped it on the floor near my feet, looked at me as if saying “Mommy! Look at this magical thing I found!”

She chewed on it, kicked it around, tucked it under the carpet, rolled over on her belly to wrestle with it. When she got tired of playing, she slept next to it.

Watching Sesame and her dry leaf reminds me of how in the past I’d spent time, money and effort to get something I thought would make me happy. But when I finally got it, I realized it didn’t. So I wondered what was wrong with me.

I didn’t know that the things that really made me happy was simple, inexpensive, often free. I also see this in the women I work with in my coaching program.

It’s not the promotion, the designer shoes, the beach house, the perfect lover, or the sports car.

It’s the moment when you sip your tea and watch the rain, a tight hug, a smile with a stranger while you both wait for the elevator, the smell on the bark of an oak tree, mango, a tiny pot of succulent on your desk, reading a book you love…

Creating the life you want can simply be saying “no thanks” to the people who gives you the cat tunnel. Insisting on taking your dry leaf with you.

And yet, this wasn’t clear to the women I worked with. After years in the headlong pursuit of false happiness - the “cat tunnel” - they lost touch with what genuinely make them happy.

But when I get them to be still, to feel, to reconnect with their hearts, they always can tell me about their “dry leaf” - the simple things that make them smile.

The next step is to do less of the things that they think make them happy. So they can make more space for the things that really make them happy.

(I bet you can’t imagine Sesame forces herself to run around the cat tunnel. Then complains that she has no time to play with her leaf.)

Creating the life you want can simply be saying “no thanks” to the people who gives you the “cat tunnel”. Insisting on taking your dry leaf with you.

So now I have 2 questions for you, beautiful one.
- What’s your “dry leaf”?
- Can you give yourself 10 minutes today to “play” with it?

If you can, that’s one baby step you take towards the life you want.