Posted on

Breathe, breathe in the air

Breathe, breathe in the air. Don’t be afraid to care.

This simple lyric Pink Floyd fans know for sure. But how many actually understand this lifeforce and use it to its full power. How many of us stop and ponder the layer of oxygen engulfing out planet, from which we take sips every living minute.

To calm down we are told to breathe. Breathe deeply. Let it out slowly. Thanks for this oxygen. Under stress? Job killing you? Breathe, breathe in the air.

And that’s it. My morning meditation which works at least as well as my morning medication. Practice it today, right now.

Next week: Meditation for fish.

Posted on

Cats are cool

Hey, I forgot to tell you.

We have a new animal living in our household, and a new human. Well, the human is not exactly new. She’s our grown-up daughter, one of three.

So Emily needed a place to stay for an undetermined amount of time, and she came packing cat.

Her name is Yuki.

I had some trepidation. at first, wondering how the new cat would get along with our dog. Gus is a small male golden doodle or labradoodle. (Sometimes we just call him psychodoodle).

But she’s welcome to stay as long as I can feed her. The daughter, that is. Yes, the cat, too.

Did I mention the dog is estimated to be 16 or 17 years old? And that’s in ‘people’ years. We rescued her in mid-to-late 2007, in a shelter in San Francisco one block away from the church my wife, Catherine, was working at the time. A shelter worker told us Gus was about 1-year- year old.

I still had some concerns about taking in a cat beyond the two animals’ relationship. Will she go to the bathroom in a litter box that will not stink? Will she meow all the time? Will she be a nightstalker, something to trip over when I get up at night?

The answer is she exceeds expectations. She’s affectionate but will quickly move when shooed. She already seems to know which furniture she can jump up on, and which she probably shouldn’t. (Maybe Gus told her all the rules.)

And surprise surprise, Gus hasn’t tried to eat Yuki or chase her even. Gus pretends like he is ignoring her. But Gus will go get his plastic bone and parade it in front of her, daring her to go for it.

Yawn. Says Yuki.

She isn’t interested.

Then Gus takes a lap or two around the house with a bark or two for good measure. I laugh, Catherine laughs, They make us feel young again.

If, for a moment.