Friday, September 28, 2012

TIME FOR CATS AND DOGS

I have been thinking about the subject of TIME recently. A lot. For one thing, I am about to interview and discuss this subject with a very interesting former New Yorker who now lives in England, Martin Boroson, author of The One Moment Meditation. He has thought a lot about TIME and our relationship to it, as I have since I recorded a segment of my first Moneylove tape album thirty years ago and called that segment, Take Your Time!  What I meant by that title, which I was also considering using for a book, was that we need to take charge of our time, that we needed to own our time instead of merely managing it.

I just listened to that 21 minute audio segment for the first time in years, and find that Martin Boroson and I agree that we can be much more in charge of this human construct known as TIME. 

And here's where I may offend or upset some of my dog-owning, dog-loving friends. Cats are great role models in the quest to master time. Dogs are time wastrels. I know it is hard for fans of either species to be objective, but consider this:

A cat knows exactly how much time it wants to spend in almost every activity, while a dog doesn't seem to have a clue. Cats choose to eat, sleep, play, sleep some more, eat some more, play some more. When a cat eats or gets some affectionate scratching from its owner (a dubious title to say the least), it has a point where its appetite for either is satisfied and it will walk away and go on to the next activity. A dog will keep eating until it gets sick or until the food runs out. A dog will lie there and let you rub its belly until you rub it raw. The concept of "enough" doesn't exist for dogs, nor does the concept, "It's time for something else." 

A dog is perpetually restless, while a cat is infinitely patient. When you return home to a cat after an absence of several hours, it might come up to give you a look of disdain, as if to say, "You fool, you missed seeing all the interesting and adorable things I was doing while you were gone."  A dog will rush over in frenetic delight, as if to say, "Oh master, I thought you were never coming home, I was bored out of my skull without you. I want you to pet me, I want you to feed me, I want to go out for a walk!" Let's face it, dogs are high maintenance compared to cats. 

Yes dogs can be great companions, and are more loyal than cats, even if their owners ignore or abuse them. Dogs do not have discriminating taste. If a dog loves you, no one is surprised, especially if you feed it. If a cat loves you, it feels like more of an honor, as if you earned something.  Oh, cats can be warm and affectionate--as long as it doesn't take too much time away from more interesting activities. 
                                           Jerry

Don't forget to check out my other blog, on prosperity. http://MoneyloveBlog.com

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